Page 34 of Laila Manning (Shadeport Crew #3)
“Not yet.” I shook my head, looking back at Ryker. Senator Lupold was a disgrace to humankind, but he was powerful. Whatever we did, it had to be smart. “We can’t make a move on him.” I hated saying those words, even if they were true. “Not right away, at least.”
“Why the fuck not?” Jed snapped, standing up from his spot at the island and tipping his stool over.
“We all fucking know what that scum bag did to her.” He yelled, losing his composure as his imagination ran wild.
Where his mind was racing, mine slowed down.
Moves I could make played out in perfect succession like a chess match, showing me the right and wrong ones in cinematic fashion.
“Because he deserves worse than that.” I replied, and Ryker smirked, already knowing what I was thinking from years of working side by side.
“He’d be too prepared for it.” Ryker added, holding his hand up to Jed as his temper boiled over. “Zeke’s right. Killing him swiftly for whatever crime he committed against Laila is too kind of a fate. And his security is too tight for a blitz attack. ”
“Then what the fuck are you suggesting?” Jed threw his hands up. “We finally have a fucking name, and you want to sit here and strategize? Fuck that!”
“No.” I shook my head, staring at the countertop.
“There’s only one way to do this.” I glanced up at Laila’s brother and finally saw him for what he had been all along.
Her biggest protector. It was ingrained in his DNA to keep her safe, and knowing he had failed had led him to act out and fight for control of the situation. “We have to do this her way.”
“Her?” He froze, “You seriously think she should be involved in this? He abused her! She nearly lost her mind last night just from seeing him!” He turned to Ryker, pleading for reason. “You have to agree that involving Laila in any of this would just hurt her further.”
“I don’t agree.” Ryker said easily. “I think it should be up to her completely.” He nodded in my direction.
“Like my mother.” Ellie stared at me head on, before glancing at Jed. “I killed my mother for what she did to me.” She shrugged, “Okay, maybe not firsthand,” She smirked almost ironically, “But I gave Zeke the command on when and how. And it gave me an incredible sense of power when I did it.”
“No.” Jed started pacing. “No!” He roared, and Carly stayed peculiarly quiet in her chair as her man lost it further.
“I don’t want her near death!” He turned on me.
“I fucking lost everything to protect her from it the first time! I’m not going to just make that all for nothing by forcing her to expose herself to it now! ”
“She’s not a kid anymore.” I tried reasoning with him, even though I could empathize with his panic.
“And neither are you, Jed.” I leveled with him, “She’s stronger than you give her credit for.
And she thrives on being in control of things, even if she doubts her ability to do so at first. She deserves at least to have a say in it. ”
“It will just re-victimize her.” Carly said quietly from her spot, which she hadn’t moved from.
“You didn’t see it.” She shook her head and closed her eyes as haunting tears spilled over her cheeks.
“You didn’t see what it was like for them.
” Her voice cut out as she opened her eyes and stared right at me.
“You didn’t see what they did to her.” She shook her head, causing more tears to spill, and my chest ached from her pain. “Don’t make her relive it.”
“She relived it last night.” Elora added calmly, trying to reason with her best friend. “She was right back inside that building last night when I got to her.”
“And what do you think killing the man who tortured her will do?” Carly snapped at Ellie as she stood up.
“Because I did that.” Her whole-body shook.
“I killed Frankie for what he did to me, and I regret it every single fucking day. Every single fucking day I remember that moment, I know you all are so fucking desensitized to the brutality of murder—” Carly cried before turning to me, “But I’m not.
Laila’s not.” She grabbed her coffee off the counter and poured it down the drain.
“I don’t know if it’s up for a fucking vote or not, but my vote is to leave her out of it.
” She looked to Ryker and Ellie, “I’ve spent the most time out of all of us working with her through her trauma and I’m begging you,” She turned to me and pled with her teary eyes, “Don’t put more darkness on her soul. ”
She turned and walked out of the kitchen towards her house, and Jed hung his head in frustration, moved by her plea.
“My vote is no.” He tossed his hands up in the air, looking from me to Ryker, “But we all know you two don’t care what my opinion is where my sister is concerned.
Or you would have respected it from day one.
I brought her here because I thought she’d be safe.
” He turned and walked out after Carly, leaving a thick silence in his wake .
“He sacrificed everything for her.” I stated to no one in particular, “Maybe he has a point.”
Ellie shook her head, standing up out of her husband’s arms and taking a deep breath. “My vote is we ask her opinion, at least.” She stared at me with eyes that reminded me so much of her father’s unwavering stare. “But we can all agree that the man will die.”
“I’ll agree to that much.” I nodded, already knowing that Lupold didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as Laila any longer, but not sure of anything else past that, thanks to Carly and Jed’s opinions.
“My vote is with Ellie.” Ryker gave his input, “But that puts it at a tie.” He put his hand on my shoulder as he passed by me, “Which means at the end of the day, it’s up to you.
” He sighed, lending me his years’ long friendship with just a touch.
“No one here knows her better than you do, Zeke. Think about it and let me know. Either way, you’ll have my support.
” He smirked, “Not that it would stop you if you didn’t. ”
I smirked humorlessly and nodded my head, “No, not when it comes to her, it wouldn’t.”
“The old boy has officially been bitten by the love bug.” He joked, “Who would have thought we’d see the day.” He left the kitchen, pulling his wife with him as I stood there, now more unsure than when I walked in, hell-bent on vengeance and burning the world at Laila’s feet for her.
“Sure as hell not me.” I muttered, taking another sip of my coffee, and walked out back to the barracks.
Back to her.
When I got back into her apartment, she was standing in her bathroom with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. “Did you use your key?” She mumbled and then rinsed her mouth before propping her hip up against the doorframe .
“Does that bother you?” I questioned, taking my shoes off and walking toward her, unable to stop the attraction pulling us together.
“Not in the least, actually.” She smiled, letting her eyes rove over my body as I slowly started unbuttoning last night’s shirt I put back on this morning. “Where did you go?”
“To the mansion.” I undid the last button as I came toe to toe with her and pulled it off, tossing it onto the chair next to her bed. “But I’m back now.”
“Hmm.” She smiled against my lips when I leaned down to kiss her. “I thought you were gone for the day, off being Mr. Important Boogeyman.”
“Boogeyman?” I sucked her bottom lip into my mouth and bit it lightly. “I thought you weren’t scared of me.”
“I didn’t say I was.” She placed her hands against my bare stomach, and her eyelids fluttered closed as she explored, and whispered, “Do you have to leave?”
“Not today.” I replied, though I knew I had plans nearly every hour of the day.
But fuck every single last one of them. The mood in the room told me I wasn’t going to leave this apartment any time soon.
“Today, I’m yours.” I left out the part where I needed to erase all of the thoughts of her past by perfecting her present.
I needed to give her whatever she wanted.
“Mmh.” She moaned, leaning into me. “Make me yours.” She licked my lip shyly as I gripped her hips and pulled her closer. “Make it real.”
“Say it.” I growled, sliding my fingertips under her shirt and across the smooth skin of her flat stomach to the cute little bow at the front of her pajama shorts. “Tell me what you want. ”
“I want you.” She whispered, raising up on her tippy toes so my fingers slid inside the waistband, right above the bare skin of her pussy that I had explored last night. “I need to feel you inside me, Zeke.”
“Say it.” I repeated, hanging on by a thread to my sanity. “Say the words, Laila. The dirty and depraved things that you’re requesting.”
She faltered, but took a deep breath and pushed forward.
“I want to start with exploring your body.” She slid one dainty hand down my stomach to the tented front of my slacks, palming my cock where it grew down my leg.
“I want to touch and taste every inch of you. I wanted it last night, but you told me no.”
My cock jumped in her hand, and I felt it leak from her dirty words. “I don’t want to take anything from you, Dove.” She tightened her hold on my cock, and I groaned, fighting the urge to thrust it through her tight hold like an animal. “I just want to give to you.”
“Then give me this.” She flicked the button on my pants open, and teased the zipper down, one metal tooth at a time until it was all the way down before she slid her hand inside. “I need to feel you lose yourself to me. And then I want you to make me yours.”
“Fucking hell, Dove.” I growled, cracking my neck as I fought to remain in control. “I don’t know how to do that without triggering you. How to take without reminding you of everything else.”