Page 28 of Burned
As though he knew every inch of my body, like he wrote the book on Kenzi Horton, his mouth moved to my entrance, licking and sucking, bringing him closer to the truth.
Placing his hands on either side of my inner thighs, he pressed his palms against my hot skin, pushing them apart. My breathing grew deeper and I could feel my imminent release. I was dying. For every second of pleasure, there were ten seconds of pain. This was his way of getting what he wanted. It was working. How much longer could I hold out before I would break?
Pushing my legs farther apart, I could feel myself losing it. I couldn’t take any more. The pain took over and pleasure was all I hungered for. “Axe,” I panted with deep breaths. “It was Axe that I was with.”
River stopped his movement, but instead of leaving me hanging on a thread, he plunged deep inside me, thrusting and moving deeper inside me, until I no longer had anything to lose. My release came with an explosion, and my scream of satisfaction ricocheted off the walls.
~
After dinner, I ended up telling River everything about my meeting with Axe. “I’m sorry, River, I should have told you yesterday about the meeting, but I knew in my heart that nothing he had to say would change anything. I love you, River. Not him.”
Scooting closer to him, I snaked my hand through his arm and got closer. “Since I told you about the meeting, are you going to tell me what Jed Turner meant?”
There was a moment of silence before River spoke. “Fourteen years ago, Jed Turner offered to help me start my own business. He knew that after my wife died, I was in a bad way. I was in a dark place, drinking too much and losing myself to a man I didn’t want to become. His offer came at a price. Of everything I have regretted in my life, taking him up on his offer was one of the biggest.”
“What did he want you to do?” I asked, afraid that what he would tell me would change everything between us.
“He wanted me to kill a man. Someone who stood in the way of his success.”
There it was. The one thing I didn’t want to hear. I couldn’t believe River would kill someone. Releasing my hold of his arm. I met his eyes and tried to understand the man I fell in love with. “Who did you kill?”
“My father.”
~
River was quiet most of the evening after confessing to me what he had done. The way he described his father, he wasn’t a good man. Technically, River didn’t kill him, at least not the conventional way, with a gun or knife or his bare hands. His father died from his own ignorance. Even though River had set him to take the fall for a drug deal that went badly, the number of people that suffered or died because of his father’s greed deserved to be vindicated.
Sitting alone with my thoughts while River worked in his study allowed me to reflect on some decisions I had made and regretted. Listening to Levi being one of them, and trusting Axe being another. We were a pair, but at least there were no more secrets between us.
Pushing from the patio chair, I headed back inside the penthouse to see if I could talk River into watching a movie and sharing a pizza. When I slid open the patio door, River’s angry voice filled the large space. “What do you mean you can’t find him? How hard could it be to follow one guy?”
I wasn’t sure which guy he was referring to or who he was talking to, but with the way he was yelling and pacing back and forth, I knew he was angrier than I had ever seen him. The call ended with him flinging his phone against the wall next to the entertainment center. The crash was so powerful that it shattered the phone into a million pieces. He placed his hands on top of his head and began forking his fingers through his thick, dark hair—something he always did when he was upset. When he turned toward me, he froze in place. “Not a fucking word, Kenzi.”
Even if I wanted to say something, which I didn’t, he didn’t have the right to take out his anger on me. Disgusted and hurt, I walked past him on my way to the bedroom. My eyes met his, and I gave him a disappointed look. “You really need to treat people better.”
River took hold of my arm and brought me close to him. “I’m sorry. I should have never talked to you that way.”
Knowing that he was beside himself, I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek. “Everyone has a bad day now and then.” I looked over at where his cell laid in pieces. “I hope you had insurance on your phone.”
We looked at each other and the mood lightened when we both broke out in a laugh. “This isn’t the first time I’ve thrown my phone in anger. I have others.”
Smiling, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “How about we relax with a good movie and pizza? Since the meeting with Mr. Turner ended without us eating, I’m starving.”
“I could think of other ways to relax.” River pressed his lips to mine, and all thoughts of a movie and pizza vanished.
~22~
River
After we devoured a large pizza, worshipping Kenzi was a great way to relieve the anger built up inside me.How the hell could Mark lose sight of Axe Riley?All rental cars have a GPS tracker and it doesn’t take a genius to hack into it. He had him, but just like that, he lost him. Luckily for him, I knew exactly where he was staying. Once Kenzi was in the shower, I headed to my study and activated another cell I had on hand. My first call was to Mark to let him know Axe was staying at The Ritz and to get his ass over there. Before the call ended, I threatened to fire him if he lost Axe again.
With one task done, I was about to join Kenzi when my cell rang. Looking down at the screen, Mark's number appeared. “Please don’t tell me you lost Riley again.”
“No, sir. I wanted to let you know that he, Davian, and the team of men are headed to the airport. I believe they are leaving Chicago and heading back to Atlanta.”
This was the best news ever. “Monitor their every move. I don’t want you to take your eyes off them until their plane is in the air.”
“You got it, sir. I’m sorry about my earlier mishap. It won’t happen again,” Mark relayed regretfully.
