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

Chapter Forty-Two

Carter

I let the little dove sleep in the backseat, laid out right where I left her, a light and whimsy exhale coming from her dreams. After our long night, the sun is finally just daring to rise over the skyline and bounce off the cityscape.

Ernesto turns us into the bustling morning traffic, and I lean back into the passenger seat, drained after the lovely session I spent with my assistant at the lounge. I had more toys I wanted to use, harsher props that would send her into a spiral of pleasure, but our time was limited.

My eyes are trained on the road ahead, but I can’t stop turning to check on Bella in the backseat every time I hear her precious, slumbering whimpers. Ernesto catches it, his focus pulling from the bumper of the car in front of us and to the rearview mirror, just long enough for me to notice him doing it.

“Why not just have me take her to her apartment, Carter?” he asks, at least keeping his voice down in his unwarranted suggestion.

“Because I want her with me,” I mumble simply. “When I want her to go home, I’ll ask you to take her there. Until then, she seems rather comfortable in the back seat.”

He chews on his lower lip for a long moment, watching traffic limp over the bridge. “I’m starting to be worried about you. I’ve hardly seen you do any work the last few days.”

“Of course, I’ve been working. I’ve also been putting my time into other things as well.”

We both flick a look at Isabella in the backseat as she sleeps in utter bliss. I look at her in pure adoration with a hint of pride. She’s so beautiful and perfect and innocent.

If I wanted her any more than I already do, then I would be forced to admit I’m obsessed.

“I’m not saying it’s not a bad thing that you’ve found yourself a steady date, Carter. I think it’s better than the alternative you’ve had for the last few years.” He hesitates, and the glimmer of nostalgia I see twinkling in his eyes is so familiar but also forbidden to speak of. “Am I supposed to ignore her likeness?”

I fill my lungs with a deep, calm breath. I can’t explode now because we’re in dense traffic, and the dove in the backseat will undoubtedly wake up if I lose my temper. Neither of those circumstances will be good for anyone in this SUV, and I’m not in the mood to argue over this topic.

Again.

“Ignore her then,” I reply. “It’s not a concern of anyone’s who she happens to look like. I have a type, just as any man doesn’t. Women have a type, too; they’re just too shy to admit it. Hair color, eye color, body type—it all has to do with preference.”

“You’re not doing this because she has brown hair. You chose her because she looks exactly like Brooke Blackthorne, and everyone knows it.”

I feel my jaw lock, almost to the point of breaking my teeth as they clench in an effort to keep my mouth shut. I’d love nothing more than to unleash my venom in this car, but as I already imagined, that would be a terrible drive for everyone involved.

“Well? Are you going to speak on that, Carter?”

“I don’t have to,” I inform my dutiful chauffeur. “It is a coincidence of my preferences which I’ve already explained. I don’t need to go any further into that.”

He shakes his head, unsatisfied with that answer, and I’m still unhinged over the audacity of him to even ask me such a question. She has attributes I admire, and no matter what I’ve sought out to do with her in my possession, it’s not like I walk around calling her that name.

Calling her Brooke’s name—that is.

“You’re too easy to read, Carter,” Ernesto points out. “You were angry about what Brooke did, and we can all understand that. Taking it out on this hapless little secretary is equally just as terrible, though. Isabella isn’t the one who—”

“I suggest you shut up,” I say, more so command. “If you speak any further on this topic, we’re going to have bigger issues to deal with than this fucking traffic.”

He concedes, although it doesn’t last very long.

“This riff with the Lacey family doesn’t seem to be bothering you anymore.”

The conversation has changed, but the fueling feud of a fire in my chest is still rather predominant.

“Why should it bother me? Jacob is pathetic. He couldn’t shoot me even if he sent someone else to do it. He’s tried. Besides, I kind of enjoy watching him try to make a dent in our business. I’ve already undermined him on the deal with Frances. He’ll go broke before I let him hurt anyone.”

“He already has,” Ernesto snaps. “He shot at the mayor, Carter, and killed some of our family in the middle of it.”

“The shooting could have been anyone. I’m not pinning it on Lacey just yet.”

“And what about Tristan? How about him going after Jacob and getting a bullet to the back?”

“He made a foolish move,” I mumble. “He knew he shouldn’t have made any kind of rash decision making, but he did it anyway. He paid the price for it.”

“He almost bled out and had a bullet yanked out of his flesh, and meanwhile, you’re only concern is fucking Brooke’s damn lookalike!”

I lean over and throw the SUV into park, the engine rumbling in disapproval of such an action, but we’re already at a standstill on this highway, so I doubt it did too much damage.

Ernesto pulls his hands off the wheel and throws them up in surrender. “I shouldn’t have said that, Carter, but I—”

“Get out,” I growl.

His eyes go wide. “You can’t be serious! We’re in standstill traffic.”

“Then I’m sure there’s a taxi on this bridge. Find one.”

My driver and dear family member shakes his head but utterly gives in, unbuckling and stepping from the car. He walks off through the parking lot of traffic, and I meander over to the driver’s seat, climbing in at once.

I have no reason to argue with Ernesto, so I won’t.

When I pull the SUV forward to fill the small space between the bumper of my car and the one in front of me, I double-check the backseat, seeing Bella curled upright, her eyes wide like a doe and worried like they naturally are.

“Did you just kick the driver out of the car?” she whispers, speaking so low it’s hard to recognize her voice at all. “What happened? Why would you—”

“Don’t worry about it, dove,” I breathe. “He’ll find an empty cab somewhere in this traffic. Besides, he just earned a day off with pay. There are worse jobs out there. Ernesto will be fine.”

She looks away from the mirror where our eyes are locked. After the difficult few days we’ve had, I can only imagine how much she despises her job right about now. I can’t blame her, either.

The shooting at the mayor’s office, the incident at the hospital, and the way she watched Tristan bleed and suffer on my bathroom floor. The dinner with the Phillips’ son wasn’t too great either, nor was my ferocity with her when she tried to fake an orgasm.

Her main punishment was swallowing my cock, and if we had more time before I got this work call, I would have sunk it deep into every other of her holes too.

Her job does seem rather stressful, and I’m not even paying her for it yet.

“I don’t feel very good,” she mutters under her breath, folding her arms across her chest and stomach while a strained look comes over her eyes.

I stare at the mouth of the bridge, traffic finally starting to ease as the lanes multiply outside of the downtown district. I have to make this meeting as soon as possible, knowing it will lead to the answer about who shot at the mayor’s press conference.

Jacob’s ammunition shell casings may have been at the scene, and that is why Tristan acted so irrationally before, but getting a call from my contact in the Bronx may be the puzzle piece on who was supposed to die and why they were the target.

I want to bring Isabella along, mostly to parade her as eye candy under my arm to the rest of my family, but also because I wanted her to see a softer, more refined side of this work.

I don’t think that’s showing well right now.

“If you had eaten at the dinner table last night, then you’d be feeling a lot better than you are.”

Her eyes drift again, and I feel an unusual pang of guilt strike at my gut. She doesn’t need me to scold her, I’m sure, and frankly, I had been pushing it a little too much with the vibrator at the table.

She was so turned on it was almost impossible for me to not lay her down on the booth and spread her perfect thighs. Nevertheless, she doesn’t deserve to be berated for not eating dinner. It was clear she was uncomfortable with the conversation about Jacob Lacey, and having Donovan there wasn’t helping.

“We’re going to one of my family estates, dove. There are some spare bedrooms where you can catch up on sleep, and I’m sure one of my many aunts will be itching to cook up a full-course breakfast if I ask them to. Try to relax for now.”

She lights up with a fresh set of eyes, hopeful and excited. I can’t help but drink down the sight of her like this. Her innocence feeds the beast inside of me that is wildly untamed, and she hones into my every damn dirty desire just by a wide-eyed look.

“Can I ask you a question, sir?”

I smile, and my cock prods to life behind the zipper of my slacks. I’d rather her be screaming that nickname while tied eighteen different ways to the headboard of my bed right now, but I think my name would suffice for this occasion.

“You don’t have to call me that, Bella. Only when I’m mad.”

She bites down on her puerile grin. “You’re always a little mad.”

“Only when I’m mad at you,” I correct. “Although not often, I’m sure you can decipher the difference.”

“I can,” she gleams. “Well then, Carter. Are you going to mention why Ernesto was kicked out of the car?”

“I will not,” I counter quickly. “He crossed into a line of conversation I didn’t want to touch on.”

She nods with that claim, but I can see it in her downtrodden face that she already knows the topic. She’s just struggling to piece it together in her beautiful mind.

I pray she never finds out the whole truth. She’s already suspicious of the things I don’t tell her; the things I will tell her could only push her away from me. I refuse to let that happen, so I keep the details close to my chest, and I will keep her innocence out of my dark, plagued mind.

“Did you say your aunts will be at the house?”

I look up, exiting the highway at last. “Yes, most of my family is gathered there for a birthday party anyway. It just happens to be a convenient place for meeting up to swap details.”

“So, I’m going to be meeting your whole family today?”

“You will be. Is that something you can handle, dove?”

She shrugs. “Why wouldn’t I be able to handle it?”

A smile pulls at my lips as I guide us toward the gated community. “We’re the Blackthorne family. We do things a little too intensely. We’re a bit too loud, and considering today’s circumstances, they will be more inquisitive than usual.”

“Why’s that, Carter?”

“I’ve never brought a woman home to meet my whole family.”