Page 3 of Darkest Dawn

“I’m pulling my best friend card.” I blink, then blink again before bursting out in laughter.

“Becca.” Laugh. “That.” Laugh. “Isn’t a…” I take in a lung full of air before standing straighter and finishing my response. “Thing, babe.” She frowns at me. “Look…” I start, but Becca straightens her own shoulder, sending me a glare, then cuts me off.

“What if I go and someone slips me drugs and takes advantage of me?” I narrow my eyes at her. She knows my thoughts on this topic. “You know Amber and Jamie wouldn’t stay with me. They would find hook ups and ditch me within the first five minutes of being there. I’ll be all by myself.” She sticks out her lip and pouts again, but I keep my eyes narrowed on her. This is a low blow.

I turn on my heel and start looking through racks of clothes for a minute before I ask my next question. “Where is the party anyway?” I glance over at her when she doesn’t answer right away. “Becca?” I ask drawing out the last syllable of her name.

She waves her hand flippantly in the air. “Some frat house.” She turns toward the dress she noticed earlier. “This is so pretty. What if I was a sexy angel? This dress has cute, feathered wings and a little halo.” She smiles wide, turning towards me, holding up the dress to show me, but I just stand there expectedly. “Does it matter where it’s at? We are going to have fun.” A shy smile graces her pink lips, but I’m not fooled.

“Who’s frat house?” I ask again, making sure I’m firm but direct. Letting her know I’m not letting this go.

Becca lets out a long, overly dramatic sigh before her shoulders slump. “Garrett’s.” She peeks up under her dark lashes and I give her a dull look. I had a feeling it was going to be there and I knew she would have waited till we left our dorm room to tell me if I hadn’t bought it up now.

“Dawn. Think of it as a revenge mission. You could get dressed up all sexy and show that asshole what he is missing out on. Who knows, you could even get lucky.” Becca wiggles her eyebrows then stares over at me with hope filled eyes. Do I wanna get laid? Only one person comes to mind when I think about any type of naked, sexy time and I don’t even know what he looks like or what his name is.

My own shoulders slump this time. Becca takes it as my defeat and starts bouncing like a damn pogo stick with excitement. Damn cheerleader energy. I already knew I was going to get dragged out tomorrow at some point, but I had to hold out as long as possible to make a point.

A crazy thought comes to mind as Becca grabs my arm and begins talking a million miles a minute about costume ideas as she drags me down the next aisle. What if I could make my stalker jealous enough to want to play with me? Maybe even to show his face. A plan begins to form in the back of my mind. Oh yes, tomorrow might be worth it.

Chapter 4

Ciaran

AfterwatchingDawneatlunch with her friend, I head to go meet with my father. He said he had important things he needed to discuss with me. Probably more boring ass business stuff. Worst case, he is trying to set me up with another woman who is only after one thing. What marrying me would give her. Money. Power. Most importantly, good dick.

I pull up to my family’s home and sure enough see an extra car parked in the driveway. So, either a business associate or a desperate bitch who I will have to turn down again. Walking up the steps, I pull out my phone to check on Dawn. My GPS has her heading towards the mall. Hopefully, I can wrap this up quickly, then head that way and see what kind of trouble she is getting up to.

Entering the foyer, I hear deep boisterous laughter coming from down the hall where my father’s office is located, so I head in that direction. I don’t bother knocking as I push open the thick wooden door. Immediately, my nostrils get assaulted with the scent of cigars and aged whiskey. So, father is celebrating, but what?

As usual my father sits behind his heavy oak desk, as he leans back, puffing on his Cuban cigar. “Ah. There he is. Ciaran, you made it. This is Johnathan Marino.” I nod at the man who mirrors my father’s actions. I take him in fully. Around the same age as my father with salt and peppered greased back hair. He appears to be in good shape, but wrinkles have formed around his eyes. The man is dressed similarly to my father as well, in a light gray tailored three-piece suit. He has an air about him that screams danger, so my guess he works in the same line of work as our family as well.

“What did you need me for if business has worked itself out?” I question, motioning to both men, annoyed that I had to leave my Little Sunshine for this. I look over at my dear old dad while shoving my hands in the pockets of my jeans. My father sneers over at me for half a second before he smooths the expression over in the presence of our guest. He hates when I act casual around him and his so-called friends; but I have better shit to do than listen to them suck up to each other to get what they want. I’ll get an ear full later about my blatant disrespect towards him in the presence of someone else.

“Well, Ciaran, we needed you to meet…” his words faded as I heard the door open behind me, making me turn to see our newest guest. I glare at the newcomer as father’s last words echo around in my head. “… your new fiancé.”

I whirl around to see my dad standing now, hands out wide like he is excited about the explosive bomb he just threw in my lap. “Fiancé?” I ask, sounding confused because I’m hoping I heard him wrong because last I checked I hadn’t proposed to anyone lately.

“Yes, son. Your fiancé. This is Sonia Marino.” The woman who just entered the room bats her overly fake as fuck lashes at me as she saunters up to me, placing her hand out to me. She continues to smile up at me waiting for me to take her talon dipped hand, but I just simply sneer at the offending thing. I give Sonia a once over. She is dressed like she is about to go to a club, or maybe her night job on the corner. I take in her face next. Bleach blonde hair lays flat against her back but I can’t seem to look away from all the makeup she has caked on. I’ve seen catfish, and this is waving all the red flags that she is fake 100%.

I turn back towards my father, glaring daggers at him as the bimbo next to me giggles at my obvious brush off. “You can’t be serious?”

“I am, son. Sonia needs a good husband and you need a wife for when you take over the business in a few months. She is prepared to give you an heir to the Adonis throne as soon as possible as well.” He grins wide as he speaks, looking to the other man in the room who nods in return as if to confirm.

“I’m not doing this.” I state, turning on my heel, prepared to leave and never bring this topic up again.

“You will be married and have an heir on the way before you take over, Ciaran. So, you better get that through your thick skull, son. You will marry Sonia or else.” He threatens, but I’m already out of the door and down the hall. I hear him reassure Jonathan and Sonia that the arrangement is still on and that I always come around but he’s wrong. I won’t fall in line for this. Not this time.

There is only one woman I will have to bear my heir or even marry at this point and I think it’s time I make sure she knows that.

I pull into the mall parking lot fifteen minutes later, slamming on my brakes as I whip into a spot near the back. Rage and annoyance still run through my blood as my father's words echo in my head. He thinks I will just marry some woman so I can have a kid. Just so I can officially take over the family. Him and his obsession over continuing the family name. He thinks I’m stupid. It’s a business transaction like my mother was. He never loved her, but she gave him a child and after I was born, his father handed over the family business. What he doesn’t understand is I couldn't care less about the family business. I mean yeah, this lifestyle runs in my veins, it’s all I’ve ever known, but if it all burnt to the ground tomorrow, I wouldn’t even bat an eye.

I know I’m losing control when the sound of creaking leather breaks through to my thoughts. I peer down realizing I’m gripping the steering wheel so tight my knuckles are turning white. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing out-of-control thoughts when I remember why I came to the mall in the first place. My little Sunshine. Dawn.

Taking one more deep breath, I finally release my ironclad grip, allowing blood to flow back into my fingers. I pull out my phone, pulling up my GPS app that I used to track Dawn daily. When I see the tiny green dot still somewhere inside, I finally move to get out of my car.

Once outside, I give my body a long stretch, allowing my muscles to fully release and relax. Seeing my father always leaves me in a nasty mood and only seeing my dirty little obsession do I ever feel less stressed.

I head into the mall, checking my surroundings as I go. Being the son of a mafia boss, I always need to be on guard. Especially when I’m stalking my woman. I don’t want that side to touch her, but my filthy thoughts are another thing. All the dirty, depraved things I plan to do to that woman would probably scare the shit out of her if she knew, but I don’t care. I still plan to do them and make her love it.

---