Beautifully Brutal (Southern Boy Mafia #1) (19 page)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Just breathe.

“They found the little girl,” Leyton explained when he stepped out onto the back porch. “She’s on her way back to her mother.”

Max nodded but didn’t move from the chair he’d been sitting in for the past few hours. He didn’t have the energy to do much more than that. As it was, he’d watched the fucking grass grow, trying his best not to think about Courtney, and never had it actually worked. He’d thought of nothing but her.

But the point was, he’d tried.

“She was in Mexico. As they predicted, he was running with her. I had Shark run him down. He brought them back across the border, took them to a safe location before he called it in. We left word with the local police and got word that she’s safe.”

“Does Courtney know?” Max asked, still gazing out at the lawn.

“I haven’t called her. I wanted to see if you wanted to do that. But I will, if you need me to.”

Max nodded again. “I’ll call her.”

He knew he should’ve left that task to Leyton, allowed him to deal with Courtney, because the last thing Max needed was to hear her voice, but he couldn’t seem to pass up the opportunity.

“I’ll be in the office if you need me,” Leyton told him before leaving him alone once again.

Max retrieved the fifth of whiskey sitting on the ground beside him. Lifting the bottle, he looked at the level and groaned. He’d damn near downed the entire bottle, but still the numbness he’d been seeking hadn’t come.

Taking a swig, he retrieved his phone from the table beside him. He scrolled through the contacts until he found her number and punched the button to place the call. His heart lurched when it began to ring.

“Hello?”

Max closed his eyes when he heard her voice again, fighting the emotion that flooded him. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t get anything past the lump that formed in his throat.

“Max?” she whispered.

“Yeah,” he finally said. “It’s me.”

Neither of them said anything for a few moments, and then before he could come up with something to say, Courtney spoke.

“Thank you,” she paused momentarily. “For what you did. RT told me they found her.” Another pause before she continued, “So, thank you … for finding the girl.”

Max didn’t respond, just listened to her breathe, wishing she’d remain on the phone for the rest of his life so he could hear her. It was hard enough that he couldn’t be with her, couldn’t hold her in his arms. Listening to her breathe would suffice for a little while.

“I should—”

“No, don’t go,” he said in a tortured whisper. “Don’t hang up. Just breathe, Courtney. It’s…” He choked back the emotion. “Just breathe. Please.”

Courtney didn’t respond, nor did she hang up, and he could hear her breathe, which was all he needed as the night descended around him.

If only their time together could’ve been more like this. Less chaos, more peace.

There was no doubt in his mind that he’d never be content without her, never be able to move on. As it was, he was contemplating calling off the wedding because he couldn’t go through with it. Not only because he wasn’t willing to walk into a trap—because no matter the angle, the fact of the matter was Angelica had orchestrated this shit—but also because he would never be able to let Courtney go.

Not entirely.

But he also knew he could never have her.

She was stubborn, always pushing him away when the only thing she needed to do was pull him closer. He’d protect her. He’d love her. Hell, he’d give her the fucking moon if she wanted it. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.

Their relationship had always been rocky. From the very beginning, they’d been thrust into this by outside forces, and as each day passed, Max was closer to figuring out what those were.

Now that he had something to go on, he was working to find out the truth.

He still replayed the conversation he’d had with his father over and over in his head.

And what’s the point of your story?

What I didn’t bother to tell you was that, at the time, your mother had a boyfriend. Nice, well-off young man who’d promised to marry her and give her a perfect life when he got back from the military. He was quite a bit older than she was, but younger than me.
A bit of a prude if you wanna know the truth. Never touched her.

She was thirteen! How old was he?

Seventeen or eighteen, I think. Anyway, that doesn’t matter because she was mine. But that boy, he wasn’t happy that he’d lost her, although he’d started a new life, waitin’ for her to grow up, to be old enough for him to claim her. Accordin’ to Genny, he was comin’ back for her. She used to love throwin’ that in my face.

Did he?

No, he didn’t.
He didn’t come back for her because he made a new life for himself, established a reputation that people respected, fell in love with a good woman.

Who was he? What was his name?

Casper Kogan.

Max focused on Courtney breathing softly into the phone. He wondered if she knew, but he couldn’t ask her. He didn’t want to know that everything that’d happened between them had been a lie. He was a strong man, but he doubted he could physically survive if he found out she’d played him the entire time.

He needed to believe that she had loved him. Even if that was over, he needed to fool himself into believing at some point it had been true.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Happy birthday, love.

Sixteen months ago

“Where’re we goin’?” Courtney asked, laughing as Max dragged her through his house.

He’d hardly given her enough time to get dressed. She’d never seen him quite like this.

“You’ll see,” he told her. “Now close your eyes.”

“What? Why?”

A tingle of trepidation ran through her. He didn’t seem upset, but with Max, she never knew what to expect.

“Close them,” he insisted, stopping abruptly and turning to face her when they were in the hallway that led out to the garage.

With a heavy sigh, she gave in, closing her eyes as she waited patiently for whatever it was he was going to do.

“Don’t hurt me,” she said softly.

Even with her eyes closed, she could sense Max’s reaction to her words.

“Never,” he told her, his warm lips pressing to her mouth. He cupped her face in his hands. “You should know that by now. I’d never hurt you.”

For some reason, she believed him, despite the knowledge that she had of him. At this point, she knew who he was, what he did, what he was capable of doing.

And her feelings for him were complicated. She loved him. She feared him.

Sometimes she even hated him. Hated him for the things he’d done, such as making her watch Weston die. But even then, she had understood his reasoning. It didn’t make her feel good that she could so coldly shrug off a man’s death, but Max had told her that Weston had known what he’d been signing on for when he’d been brought into his world.

It was logical. As logical as anything could be in a world wrought with murder.

Max was smart. He’d admitted to knowing who she was and what she was after, never pretending not to know what she was up to, which made it difficult for her to stay away from him. It gave her an excuse to be with him, an opportunity to get closer, to try to find out something.

Or so she had told herself.

Truth was, she had done the unthinkable and fallen in love with him. Her heart now ruled her actions.

“Keep your eyes closed,” he whispered against her mouth.

Courtney nodded and then linked her fingers with his when he took her hand.

A door opened, and she was being pulled behind him. She didn’t peek, didn’t try to see what he was doing, which spoke of the trust she had in him, despite knowing better.

“You ready?” he asked when they came to a stop.

“Yes.”

“Then open your eyes.”

Courtney did, glancing around at the garage. It looked the same as always, still held seven … no, make that eight cars.

Wait.

“Holy shit,” she said softly. “That’s a nice car.”

“You like it?” he asked, sounding proud of himself.

“Who wouldn’t?” The newest model convertible Corvette Stingray was likely the sexiest car of them all. She’d always had a fondness for sports cars, but she’d never been truly fond of Corvettes. At least not until they’d recently released the Stingray again.

Max stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the car. “Happy birthday.”

“How…?” Confused, she studied him. “How did you know?”

“What? That it was your birthday or that you’d want that car?”

Courtney peered around him. “That… That’s for me?”

“It is,” he told her. “Now go check it out.”

Feeling slightly off-kilter, Courtney slowly moved around the car, her gaze darting between Max and the sleek shark-gray metallic car.

“Seriously, Max. This is… Well, it’s incredible, but you know I can’t take this car.”

“Yes, you can,” he told her simply.

The top was open, so she peered inside, taking in the sexy, jet-black leather interior. She wondered what it would feel like to sit behind the wheel.

“Get in,” he told her as he opened the passenger-side door.

When he slipped into the car, she grinned. What the hell. It wouldn’t hurt to take it for a test drive, right?

And then, when they got back, she’d tell him she couldn’t keep it. Because falling in love with him was one thing. Accepting a car that likely cost him close to a hundred grand was something entirely different.

□»«□»«□»«□

“Pull over,” Max instructed when they were hidden by a copse of trees deep on his land. He’d wanted her to test-drive the Corvette, but admittedly, he’d had something else in mind, as well.

Another birthday present for her.

Courtney stopped the car, frowning when she looked over at him.

“Don’t look so upset,” he said with a smile. “Now get out.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of concern in her eyes, but he shrugged it off. He didn’t want to think that she’d fear him for any reason. She’d surprised him earlier when she’d muttered for him not to hurt her, and he had to wonder where that was coming from.

Then again, she knew him, knew what he was capable of. But in the same sense, if she ever thought he would hurt her, she didn’t know him well at all.

Once she met him at the front of the car, Max turned to her, taking her into his arms and crushing his mouth to hers, his hands trailing down her hips, over her thighs, and then back up beneath the thin fabric that covered her. She’d worn a skirt, which had been his suggestion, and again, he’d had something in mind when he’d made the request. He had to wonder whether she’d figured that out yet or not.

Easing her onto the hood of the car, Max pulled back enough to look at her.

“Kick off your shoes. Wouldn’t want you to scratch the paint.”

Courtney grinned, and her shoes hit the ground.

“Now for my next gift,” he told her.

“And that would be?” she asked.

“An orgasm. On the hood of your car.”

“Hmm. I like the sound of that.”

Max lifted her legs over his shoulders and bent down, pressing his mouth against her panty-covered mound. He teased her briefly but then slid her panties to the side and drove his tongue through her wet slit.

Courtney moaned, her hands clutching his hair as she pulled him closer. He licked, sucked, tormented her with his tongue while she writhed against the hood of the car. He could sense she was holding back, drawing out her pleasure, and he gave her what she needed. He maintained a slow, sensuous pace, even worked her panties off of her at one point.

When he pushed two fingers inside her, she cried out, her hips bucking as she tried to force him deeper while he sucked her clit firmly between his lips, flicking his tongue over the sensitive bundle of nerves until she couldn’t take any more.

“Max! Don’t stop!”

He had no intention of stopping, and she should’ve realized that by now.

Long minutes passed while he feasted on her sweetness, alternating between fucking her slowly with his fingers and driving her mad with his tongue. Fast, slow, fast, slow. He wasn’t giving her enough to send her over the edge, wanting to ride this out with her.

When she shifted, putting one hand on the hood of the car, the other gripping the back of his head and jerking him closer, burying his face in her pussy, he laughed, making sure she felt the vibration on her clit.

His dick was hard as steel, eager to seek the warmth of her body, but he wanted to wait, wanted to send her careening into bliss before he turned her over and fucked her right there in the open.

“Max!” The way she growled his name told him she was close.

Adding a third finger, he began fucking her slowly while he flicked his tongue over her clit, circling the little nub until she was once again bucking against him.

“I’m gonna come, Max! Make me come. Please make me come!”

Her body tensed, her thighs gripping his head as she screamed his name over and over, her orgasm rocketing through her.

The instant she relaxed, he pulled her from the car, turned her around, forced her chest down while he shoved his sweatpants down.

“Fuck me,” she pleaded. “Fuck me hard.”

She sounded desperate and he knew how she felt.

He quickly filled her, thrusting his cock deep into her, the wet warmth of her cunt gripping him. The position made her tight, and the pleasure ignited an inferno in his bloodstream.

Out of control, he pounded into her, fucking her hard, holding her hair in his firm grip. She continued to plead, to beg him for more as she thrust her hips back against him. Within minutes, he was sweating, although the cool breeze should’ve helped.

It didn’t.

Then again, when it came to Courtney, nothing kept his blood from boiling. She made him want, ache, need. She made him hungry, and he never seemed to get his fill.

“Fuck, baby.” He groaned. “That’s it, squeeze my dick.”

He pounded into her again and again while her muscles clenched around him.

“Fuck!” Courtney screamed. “I’m … coming again!”

The beautiful sound of her voice had him letting go, coming hard and deep inside her.