Feathers and Thorne Series Books 1 - 3: The Complete Collection

Chapter Six

Isabella

The weekend is my escape from Jacob’s deal. He wouldn’t show up at my apartment, at least I hope he wouldn’t, and that settles my running nerves for now. As long as I have time to avoid his handsy grasp and his wandering eye for two days, I can relax.

My father’s cancer treatment is moving forward, and I have to stay away from him for now, as his immune system is wounded from this entire ordeal. Spending my weekend not worrying about my father and not glancing over my shoulder looking for Jacob Lacey, I try to catch up on chores.

The laundromat is my first stop before I have to go to the store, too preoccupied with my many troubles running laps in my mind to watch where I’m walking. I slam straight into a brick wall of a chest, daring to fall back on my business attire heels, before a meaty palm curls around my wrist and yanks me upright.

“I’m sorry,” I breathe.

My head is spinning as I stare up toward the dark eyes of the stranger. His jaw is taut, the veins in his throat throbbing, and I swallow at the sight of the daunting wall of muscle standing before me. In the sunlight outside the market, I can’t help watching the blue of his eyes percolate in my brain.

They’re cold, familiar, but distant in thought.

“I should have been paying more attention,” I squeak, demure under his brooding manner.

Even though his face is stuck in a scowl, he nods with a forgiving smirk. “It’s okay, no harm done. You should really be watching where you’re walking, though.”

“I know,” I confess with an exasperated sigh. “It was a mistake on my part. I’m sorry, I was just so lost in thought.”

I brush past him, aiming to walk into the store, but that hand reaches for my wrist again. I shudder at his warmth, shocking for a man built with such a callous chill of an exterior. He’s at least a foot taller than me, his black hair brushed back with an exuberant dollop of hair gel, leaving his pale jaw and cheekbones in a porcelain sheen of his complexion.

He’s beautiful, so why is he stopping to talk to me?

“What thoughts do you have that warrant you walking into strangers?”

I scoff at his words. It’s like he’s accusing me of a crime when it was just a simple mistake.

“I don’t think that concerns you, sir. I already apologized—twice. I have some shopping to do, so if you would please let me go,” I gust, “I would appreciate it.”

Both of our eyes fall to his palm gripping my hand, leaving lacing red marks where his fingers easily wrap around the entirety of my wrist. He releases it at once, but the worn marks stay put, raising my brow at the calm, almost pleased look in his eyes.

“Let me make it up to you,” he says, pulling a black card from the pocket of his expensive blazer.

He hands me the heavy business card, the exterior made from some form of black metal, the silver letters engraved on it illuminated in the sun as I tilt it through my fingers.

“Meet me there tonight. I promise I can get your mind off your distracting thoughts.”

I watch the man leave before examining the card further. “Blackthorne Lifestyle Club,” I read, my thoughts stifled by such a business venture. “What is a lifestyle club?”

For now, I tuck the card into my purse and head into the store, still rummaging through that odd interaction while going about my day. The chores are overwhelming, and by the time I lug home all my groceries and laundry back to my lonely apartment, I’m too exhausted to peel myself out of bed. My stomach groans, my heart aches, and I settle into the covers for the night.

I move through Sunday in a haze.

Every fiber of my existence weighs heavily on Jacob Lacey. I’ll have to see him tomorrow, and knowing his determination won’t quit until he satisfies his desire to bend me over his desk, I’ll have to tread carefully around him for a while.

Maybe he’ll change his mind, but the money I stole is still a hard factor to accept. I shouldn’t have taken it from his office; it was only a dent in the bills piling up on my coffee table for my father’s treatment, and now I have to be a sex toy to my boss.

I sulk into my seat, running a palm down my face as I would typically go to my father for advice in hard times, but I can’t even do that. My college days were simpler and easier to maneuver than this, and I miss the days when I would attend track practice, go to class, and call my father, who was happy and healthy in our family home.

Everything I once had is lost.

I slip into something tight, something comfortable, and take the stairs down to the bustling city below before jogging toward the park down the block. It’s a simple loop lined with benches and water fountains and just shaded enough to keep the sun off my back while I pretend I’m back at the college track, distracting myself from reality.

Stopping to catch my breath, I reach for a water fountain nearby, my lungs dry and dusty from the run I’ve been on for hours now. It should have calmed my nerves by now, but Jacob Lacey’s slithering voice still runs rampant through my mind.

“Whoa, watch out,” someone breathes, hands finding my shoulders as I turn from the fountain and dare to continue my sprint down the sidewalk. My heart seizes at the handsome stranger standing before me now, the same as he had at the supermarket. “Still lost in thought, I see.”

I stammer backward at the sight of him. “You again?”

His brow furrows, insulted by my crass tone. “Don’t sound so disappointed.”

He is wearing a damp, white T-shirt that collects his sweat and a pair of crimson red shorts. I eye the small emblem sewn into the breast of his shirt, making out a petite, black rose in black thread. I recall the business card he gave me, the unfamiliar business he told me to meet him at last night, and how I completely skipped the offer.

Is that why he is in the same park as me now?

He watches my lips, among the rest of my body, and shakes his head with a crease of discontent. “I looked for you last night at the club, but you were nowhere to be found. Did you get lost in your mind and stand me up?”

The audacity of this man is overwhelming. “I don’t ever remember agreeing to meet you anywhere,” I bite. “I don’t know you.”

His grin settles into something resembling a grimace. “Carter Blackthorne,” he answers with pride. “There, now you know me.”

I take an automatic step backward, hearing that name before but in a different capacity than just a friendly invite to a club. I should have realized it before from his business card. The length and posture of his last name are definitely something worth remembering, especially when paired with an equally enticing face and cold, cyan eyes.

“You’re…” I stammer, flinching when he takes a long step forward, reaching for me, but I break his hold on my wrist instantly. “You came by Jacob’s office the other night—he said your name.”

He hardly seems insulted by my revolt in realizing I’ve seen him before.

“I have to go,” I breathe.

“Isabella, wait,” he barks, grabbing at my shoulder and pulling me back to face him.

I cough and choke on my sudden inhale, his hand rough on my skin in trying to yank me toward him. “You know my name, too? Whatever Jacob told you about me, it isn’t true,” I groan, my face heating up quickly in humiliation from that night. “I didn’t want… it wasn’t my idea. I had…”

I shake my head, fighting back terrified tears in my eyes.

“Leave me alone, please.”

I bolt down the trail, glancing back over my shoulder a few times every minute until Carter Blackthorne is no longer in sight. He probably thinks I’m Jacob’s slut, on her knees in his office after daylight when it’s nothing like that at all. Whatever reputation I’ve started building in this city isn’t one I’m proud of.

I’ll be damned if I’m only known as the receptionist whore of Lacey Construction.