Enforcer’s Obsession

Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN

Hope

“You want another waffle, Sebastian?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

“No,” Nico said.

Sebastian laughed, and I smiled.

“Well, if you change your mind,” I said, gesturing toward the batter left in the bowl. Then I looked at Nico. “I’m going to go to the backyard.”

He nodded, but didn’t look up, and Sebastian and Enzo said nothing, and I made my way down to the garage and outside.

What the difference a day made.

A week ago, I’d been terrified by Sebastian, and this morning I’d made him waffles.

And then there was this. I couldn’t even remember when I had asked, but at some point, I’d mentioned to Nico that I wanted fresh air, and he’d shown me how to get to the backyard.

Now I knew how to get out of the townhouse.

An important piece of my plan.

Because I had to get out of here.

There was no question.

So I took this opportunity, as I had the others, to study the yard.

It was a small rectangle of real grass, not synthetic, that was enclosed by what had to be a seven-foot privacy fence.

Like always, I heard traffic outside, but the sound was dim, so I figured the traffic was at least some distance away.

And there was another unit attached to Nico’s, but no one lived there, or at least I hadn’t seen anybody. I had no doubt that if someone lived there, it would be an associate of Nico’s because there was no way he would let someone be that close to him and not know exactly who it was.

So trying to make a mad dash for the unit next door wouldn’t get me closer to out of here, which meant I would continue to bide my time. It was my only choice, really.

Nico had given me more freedom, if access to his backyard could be considered that. He also hadn’t tied me up again. Being here was starting to feel…normal, and that feeling made my need to escape that much more urgent.

But despite my desire, I was no closer to making my escape, and everything inside me screamed I needed to do it now.

Sebastian, Nico’s cousin Enzo, and another man that Nico hadn’t bothered to introduce had come over a lot the last couple of days.

Those same instincts told me something was going on, and I knew that I had to make a move.

Strange how a few days could change everything, but it had. Whatever his motives for taking me, and something told me I could believe Nico when he said that he did what he did to protect people.

Still, I couldn’t let myself get caught up in his world.

I wouldn’t .

So I hung out in the yard, breathing the fresh air and reading a book for several hours. To my surprise, Nico enjoyed reading and had introduced me to his favorite sci-fi series, one that I found I enjoyed immensely.

When I ventured back inside, Sebastian and Enzo were gone, a clue to me that they’d finished talking about the day’s business. They had a pattern where would they come to Nico’s then huddle together to whisper their plans.

Or at least that was what I thought they did. They never, ever , talked about anything of importance while I was around. But without fail, after those visits, there was tension in Nico, something that both scared me, and made me want to reassure him.

Like I could do such a thing.

The same was true today, but his tension was even more acute. It was evening now, and after I prepared a dinner of chicken, broccoli, and brown rice, Nico was pacing and still incredibly tense.

“It might help if you talk about it,” I said quietly.

He stopped pacing and glared at me with angry eyes. Despite myself, I felt a shiver of fear, I didn’t react.

“Talking about it won’t help,” he finally said, his voice rough as gravel.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

He stalked over to me in three long, hard stomps, then cut off short when less than a foot separated us.

“You want to talk about it, Hope?”

He wasn’t yelling, but his ice-cold tone might have been worse than the loudest scream. But I fought to stay firm and met his eyes.

“Do I want to talk about it? Not really, but it might help you. And one thing’s for sure, you’re not going to solve anything by being so wound up.”

“What the fuck do you know about being wound up?” he asked, his expression incredulous.

I chuckled, though there was no humor in the sound. “All I know is that I unloaded all my shit on you, and no, talking didn’t change anything, but saying those words out loud made me feel better. And that’s not nothing,” I said.

As much as I hated to admit it, what I said was the truth.

For days, I had lamented telling Nico how much that conversation had helped me. I hated myself for that, maybe even more than I hated myself for wanting him so much, but after I said the words, it felt good to have the truth out there.

I wasn’t totally sold on the idea that confession was good for the soul, but talking about my mother and what happened to her was something.

“You never asked where my scars came from,” he said.

It took me a long moment to process his words. I’d been sure some “work” issue was bothering him, so I hadn’t expected that. When I could finally speak, I responded, “You weren’t going to tell me.”

To my surprise, he chuckled, though the humor only lasted a split second.

“No, I wasn’t. But maybe I will now,” he said.

He sat on the other end of his mile-long couch and looked at me.

“A fire. When I was seventeen,” he said. His voice didn’t tremble, and his body was still, but when I looked at his hands, I could see they were clenched and seemed to be where all of his tension was located.

“So it was bad,” I said.

I wanted to hug him, tell him I was sorry, but I remembered when I’d been sitting in his position, knew how vehemently I would have rejected that.

“Yeah. It was bad. It killed my two sisters, my brother, my father, and my mother. My whole fucking family,” he said.

He glared glanced off into the distance, then looked back at me.

“And I won’t let that happen again,” he said.

“People die in fires, Nico,” I countered, for lack of anything else to say.

After I said the words, I worried he might be angry, but he nodded his agreement.

“They do. But my family didn’t have to. And they wouldn’t have, either, but the boss…”

He trailed off, then looked at me, seeming to make a decision.

“The boss, he thought it was all talk, said that nothing would come of the threats. And because of his inaction, my family got incinerated,” he said.

“What happened?” I asked.

He shrugged, looking disgusted. “The usual shit. Beef over territory. Someone not wanting to pay their taxes,” he said.

I huffed. “I feel like you don’t mean their quarterly employment taxes.”

He smiled. “No. But for your purposes that’s a good enough analogy. Anyway, there was talk of problems, but the boss brushed them off. My family paid the price. And that day, when my uncle pulled me out of that burning house as my family screamed, I swore would let anything like that happen ever again.”

“So you got the scars trying to save them,” I said, the sudden realization dawning on me.

He nodded. “Yeah. Trying to save them. And I failed. I won’t fail again, no matter how much the boss wants to stand in the way,” he said.

He looked at me with fire in his eyes, with certainty, and another realization hit.

“You’re trying to protect people now,” I said, the memory of his earlier words coming over me.

He nodded, and I didn’t know how to react.

I believed him, had believed him when he had said that, but it felt different now.

Felt more real.

Because he included me in the group of people that needed to be protected.

Something no one, not even my mother, had ever done.

I never doubted that my mother loved me, would never forget the countless beatings she’d taken for me or the way she’d tried to shield me as best as she could.

But what Nico was talking about was something I had never experienced, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

No, that wasn’t true.

I knew how I felt about it.

I just didn’t like it.

Hated it, in fact, because I liked it so much.

I felt myself moving toward him, feeling almost incapable of controlling my actions.

Nico had slept next to me every night since that one, but hadn’t touched me.

In a way, I was grateful for that, but now, I needed him.

I stopped in front of him and almost ran when he widened his legs. But I didn’t. Instead I stepped into the new space and leaned forward, my hair brushing his face as I brushed my lips against the corner of his mouth.

Then did it again when I heard his growled exhale.

I felt both powerful, and shy, the same contrasting emotions that Nico drew from me, emotions that shouldn’t surprise me anymore. I tried to focus on the power and not the shyness.

I wasn’t sure how men responded to me. I made it my business to stay out of their line of sight, to do everything I could not to attract attention.

But I wanted his attention.

Craved it.

I pressed my lips against his, pretending that I knew what I was doing.

When he kissed me back, I took that as sign enough.

I broke the kiss, locked eyes with his as I dropped to my knees in front of him.

My eyes were on his as I reached for his belt and opened his pants with certainty and authority that I didn’t have to. He did nothing as I moved closer and pressed my cheek against the growing bulge.

I shifted and kissed his cock through his pants and was rewarded with a twitch.

I smiled, feeling wanton and powerful as I carefully peeled his pants and underwear down.

When my fingers found his shaft, I broke contact and stared at him in fascination.

The thickness and weight of him in my palm made me clench and reminded me of how it felt to have him inside me.

I stroked his long length, watching in fascination as he grew in my palm.

When he was at full attention, I stroked him again, my fingers smoothing the thin skin of his heart and shaft. Placed a kiss at his crown and he jerked in my palm, so I did it again.

And again.

“Hope—”

Whatever he was going to say was lost on a sharp inhale as I opened my mouth and sucked him in, the foreign taste exciting against my tongue.

It was my turn to moan as the clean, salty taste hit my tongue.

I circled his head, then sucked in deeper, letting my instincts drive my movements.

I took him in deeper and heard a sound that I realized later was my own moan.

He curled his fingers in my hair, pulled, the stab of pain only making me moan more.

I sucked him in deeper, and then deeper, but paused when I started to gag.

But only for a moment.

I felt possessed, my need to taste him driving me.

I went farther, then swallowed.

His big body shuddered as I took him deeper, and he tightened his fingers in my hair.

I let out a surprised moan when the first splash of cum hit my tongue.

On instinct I swallowed, surprised when I found the taste so pleasing. I continued to swallow and then held him as he softened in my mouth.

He pulled out, then pulled me to my feet, his eyes locked with mine.

I shrieked when he picked me up as though I were weightless, and carried me into his bedroom.