Dangerous Obsession (Men of Valor Springs #4)

Chapter Nine

Jax

Her hand is wrapped around my arm as I walk her to the front door of her home after spending the weekend at my apartment. I am a very busy man, and yet I couldn’t peel myself away from Arya long enough to get anything done.

Heck, I had to call in one of our men to take charge of the club on Saturday night, and it’s a relief that went over without issue. Now it’s Sunday, and I need to drop Arya home and finally have a talk with Vlad.

Valor Springs is a small town, and after the little show Arya and I put at the Lounge on Friday night, I have no doubt in my mind that Vlad knows about his sister and me. Even so, I have no intention of backing down.

I promised her that I would never let her go, and I have every intention of keeping that promise. In a short time, Arya Andreyev has become the most important person to me, and I will protect this relationship with my life. If Vlad and I have to fight it out, then that’s what we’ll do.

“What time is it?” Arya asks from my side, grabbing my wrist and bringing it to her face. “It’s not even noon. I don’t think there’s anyone at home. The staff will probably start arriving sometime after three. Do you want to stay until then?”

As if I would leave her alone in this massive home. My role as her bodyguard might have shifted to that of boyfriend faster than either of us could have expected, but her safety comes first. I am her protector before anything else.

“I’ll stay.”

“Great!” She beams, those golden eyes twinkling in the afternoon light, and my God, she is magnificent. How the fuck has no one claimed this girl before me? Why the fuck was it so easy to keep her to myself without having to fight an army of men for her hand? “Maybe we can go to my room and watch a movie while we wait for them to come home. What’s your favorite movie? Do you even have one? Oh, what about books? There is this book they just turned into a movie, and I was waiting for the right moment to watch it. If the movie is anything like the book, it’ll be great—”

I quickly cup Arya’s mouth to silence her and yank her firmly against me, all my senses going on high alert. I slowly pull her away from the view of the front windows to a flower bush, making sure we’re not visible from the front of the house. My heart is thumping as I scan our surroundings, every muscle tense as I make sure there is no one hiding in the front yard. I feel Arya’s quickened breathing against my hand, her eyes wide with fear.

There wasn’t supposed to be anyone in the house, and yet I spotted the shadow that moved across the window, and until it’s determined that it’s not a threat, Arya is not going anywhere in that damn house.

It occurs to me belatedly that the perimeter guards are nowhere to be seen. Where the fuck are they? There should be two men patrolling each side of the house at all times and another four at the main gate. Yet, we saw no one as we drove up. I was too wrapped up in Arya and what I will say to Vlad to notice when I should have. Fuck!

“Do you remember the three rules I gave you. princess?” She nods, but I decide to remind her just in case. “The first rule is you listen to everything I tell you. The second rule is you don’t leave, and the third rule is that you prioritize your own safety above anything else. This is the only time you can break rule number two.”

She doesn’t nod at my words, and I understand we’ve had this fight before. She was stubborn about agreeing to the third rule, but this is not the time or place to be stubborn. “Princess, you are the most important person to me, and I would go crazy if something ever happened to you. Whatever situation we get into, trust me to come out okay for you, but I can’t protect both of us if I am worrying about you. Promise me you will get as far away from the threat as you can when I tell you to. I want you to run the second I tell you.”

It takes her a moment, but she nods, albeit reluctantly.

I pull my hand from her mouth and carefully signal for her to stay behind me as I draw my weapon from my holster, and thank fuck I always have a gun on me. “Stay,” I mouth to Arya, and she nods, shrinking deeper into the bushes. Good girl.

I look around once more to make sure no one will attack from the back before inching closer to the door. I consider creeping around the house, but there is no element of surprise. Whoever is in the house already spotted us, so the only other option is to burst in and take care of whoever was stupid enough to break into the Andreyev mansion.

I kick open the door but don’t burst inside. A part of me is hoping that it’s Vlad, but my gut says it isn’t. It could be someone from the staff, but all my senses are telling me that it’s not.

Fuck!

“Come in, Jax, and bring the bitch with you,” calls out a familiar voice, and I curse under my breath. It’s not the staff alright, but it’s the last person I thought would ever try something like this.

Anton Andreyev is Vlad’s first cousin and has been competing for Vlad’s position. This war has been going on long before the two were born with their fathers fighting for power, and their rivalry was inherited by their sons. Except Anton Andreyev is nothing like his father, who fought for the position to his last breath. Anton is a coward, using sneaky, indirect methods to undermine Vlad and get on his nerves instead of facing him like a man.

I’ve never paid much attention to him, because like Vlad, I believed him to be weak. Vlad was also content to ignore him until he attempted to hurt Arya months ago by messing with her brakes and causing the accident that could have been fatal.

He is probably the one behind the attempted kidnapping too. I’d thought we’d seen the last of Vlad when he confronted and nearly killed Anton after Arya’s car accident. But unlike Vlad, Arya is an easy target.

Well, not anymore.

“Jax, I said bring that bitch in here. You work for the family, so that means you work for me!”

I try to locate his position by his voice, and it places him in the living room, which is on my right. I grip my gun tighter in my hands and creep into the house, making sure not to make a sound as I approach the living room.

Anton is seated in an armchair with his arms folded, and he is truly a discount version of Vlad Andreyev. He has all the family features and could easily pass as Vlad and Arya’s brother.

“I thought Vlad took care of you,” I say with irritation. After finding out that Anton caused the accident, Vlad set out to teach him a lesson, and Anton disappeared, which prompted me to think we had seen the last of him. I guess I was wrong.

“He let me go because I am family,” Anton scoffs, and I nod. I will not make the same mistake Vlad did. Anton will not leave this place in one piece if I have anything to do with it. “Now go call that little bitch inside. I know she’s with you.”

“What the fuck will killing Arya get you?”

“I’ll admit, my original plan was to kill her just to hurt Vlad and shorten the line of succession. But now I see the error of my ways. So, I’ve made a deal with the Italians. They’re going to help me take back what is rightfully mine from my bastard cousin. In exchange, they get Arya. What they want with her, I don’t know. I don’t really care either, so long as I get what’s mine.”

Anton’s words have me seeing red. Enough chatter. I raise my gun, ready to shoot the chatty motherfucker when I feel the press of metal behind me and I freeze. Fuck, I can’t believe I underestimated the little rat and thought he would come alone. No wonder he was so cocky and barely blinked when I pointed the gun at him.

Some bodyguard I am.

“Now drop the gun and get that little bitch in here. I promise to make your death as painless as possible.” Anton cackles, and I calculate how I can dislodge the person behind me without having bits of my brain blown out.

It seems like a hopeless situation, and my only hope is that Arya will make a run for it. If she moves fast enough, she can make it through the gate with these men none the wiser and call someone to get her. Preferably her brother or the police.

Please, princess.

As I contemplate my next move, a noise disrupts the stillness. I catch a loud angry yell followed by a pained one and a thud as someone drops to the floor. Everything happens so fast and in such a dramatic way, but I don’t waste time trying to make sense of what is going on and strike while the other two men are distracted.

I whirl around to find the gunman on his knees, clutching his head with his gun lying a few feet away from him, and looming above him, is the most gorgeous girl I have ever seen. She’s glaring at the whimpering man with a bloodied rock clutched in both her hands. Her hair mussed up and curtaining her face, and Jesus Christ, she is a sight to behold.

If I wasn’t already in love with this girl, this is the moment I would fall for the stubborn minx.

“You just broke all my rules,” I scold gently, kicking the gun away from the gunman on the floor. Arya sidesteps the man and rushes to my side, dropping the rock as she does so, and as luck would have it, it falls right on the man’s foot. He bellows in pain, but I don’t pay him any mind, turning to Anton whose cocky grin has been replaced by a terrified expression.

“This is the man that approached me at the Shadow Lounge and called you a lackey,” Arya says, pointing to the man on the floor and pressing her tiny body against me. “When you left me at the club, he approached me and tried to get me to leave with him. Then he threatened to hurt you, Vlad, and Rue if I didn’t leave town like Vlad wanted, so I agreed. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Jax, please don’t be angry with me. I couldn’t stay knowing he was going to hurt you.”

Christ, how can I be mad at that? This girl just saved my life from my own stupid mistake. She cracked a rock over a man’s head to save me. I’m supposed to be the one keeping her safe, and I will make sure this is the last time Anton puts Arya’s life in danger. I will make an example out of him.

“Look,” Anton says shakily, raising his hands in surrender, but I am not Vlad, and Anton is not my family. Months ago, when Arya did not belong to me, she was Vlad’s responsibility and it was up to him to take care of threats against her, but now…Arya is mine. I will take on every threat to her life and deal with them accordingly. With my gun aimed at Anton, I take out my phone and start rapidly texting, making sure to use code words to avoid detection.

“Are you calling the police?” my naive and innocent princess whispers from my side.

“No, just some guys that will take your cousin and his lackey to little room where they will wait for me to have a little chat with them.” Whether they leave that room alive or in pieces will depend on the mood I am in when I get there.

“Will you be able to convince them to leave us alone?” Arya asks, and I lean down, pressing my lips against her temple and breathing in her soft scent.

“It will be physically impossible for them to come after you ever again,” I say, sparing her the details. Anton visibly shudders at my words. He has been part of the family long enough to know what awaits him.

While we wait for help to arrive, I tie up Anton and his goon. Then I ask him what he did with Vlad’s guards. I’m relieved to find out they’re fine, but more than a little irritated they fell for Anton’s ruse that Vlad called them away without confirming the order with me.

Soon, three of our men walk into the house. They don’t blink when they see Anton Andreyev or question why I am holding the man hostage. Next to Vlad Andreyev, I hold the most senior position in the family, and my orders can only be challenged by the boss himself.

Unwilling to have Arya witness any of it, I turn to her and brush her hair behind her ear. “Princess, how about you go up and wait for me in your room? I will be there in a few.”

“Are you sure everything is over?”

“I promise.”

“Okay,” she says uncertainly but complies. I wait until she’s disappeared upstairs and I’ve heard the sound of her door closing before turning to the men with instructions to take these two and lock them in one of the warehouses until I’m ready to deal with them.

“You can’t do this,” Anton yells at them as he’s hauled away. “I am the leader of this family. You work for me—”

I slug his jaw once, and the man crumples from that single punch. Fuck, I don’t even get the satisfaction of hurting the fucker, and he’s already down. Later. Once I am sure Arya is safe and surrounded by people, then I will break away to teach these fuckers a lesson. Only then.

I nod for the men to take them away and watch as they are led and tossed into the back of a van before it tears down the driveway. It’s only after they are gone that I go seek Arya. I don’t know what I expect to find, but it sure as hell is not for her to be seated on the bed in nothing but a bathrobe.

“Oh, I was about to take a bath. Have they left already?”

My heart is racing as I drop the gun on her dresser and stalk toward her like a predator would prey, and my God, what a perfect, tempting little prey she is. “You like teasing me, don’t you, Arya?”

She straightens, causing her robe to part and reveal her perfect milky breasts, her pink nipples slowly pebbling in the cool air. “What do you mean?” She blinks up at me innocently, giving me the same look she gave me the last time I was in her room, which tells me that it was on purpose even then.

Her big, beautiful eyes track my movements as I approach until I am standing right in front of her. I reach down and tug the robe, exposing the rest of her body, which has my erection jutting against my fly and leaking a stream of precum.

Fuck, this girl is a dream.

“Lie back on the bed for me, princess,” I rasp, and my obedient girl does as I instruct, parting her legs for good measure. A rush of air slips from my mouth as I drink in the gorgeous girl, every perfect inch of her.

I know the staff will be back soon, followed by Vlad and Rue, but I don’t care about someone walking in on Arya sobbing with pleasure as she rides my tongue or my cock thrusts into her tight heat.

Groaning raggedly, I climb onto the bed and position myself between her thighs, her golden eyes fluttering closed when I lean in to brush my lips softly against hers. “I don’t want you to ever worry about feeling unwanted ever again. I want you. That will never change.” Her eyes snap open and lock with mine, and I can tell she wants to say something, so I kiss her mouth before she can. “You are mine, Arya. I will protect you to my last breath. Treasure and love you. I will be your bodyguard, your friend, your lover, your husband…whatever it is you need.”

She blinks rapidly, trying to hold back her tears. “I want all that and more. You have no idea how long I have loved you.”

“Well, now you have me. Always.”

She nods, wrapping her arms around my shoulders, and kisses my jaw before pushing back so our eyes are locked on each other. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, I am the lucky one. I love you—want you,” I say gruffly, rocking my erection against her thigh. “I will always want you.”

She smiles, and her eyes light up with something akin to mischief. “Okay, then prove it.”

And I do. Over and over again.