Payback (Dueling Devils) (11 page)

Demon pressed his foot
down on his neck. “You don’t have shit I want to hear. He removed his foot and delivered a swift kick to Louis’s head. “Boys, come in here and pick up the trash.”

He walked back out front to the room crowded with his people.

“What you want us to do, D?” Lefty asked as he anxiously glanced at the door. Odds were no one would call the cops, but he didn’t want to linger. Lefty liked shit to go down swiftly.

“
No loose ends.”
The last thing I want is this coming back to bite us in the ass.
Bullets whizzed through the air and each one that found his mark weighed on his heart.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

“And this one?” Lefty nodded down at Louis who groaned as he slowly came back to the land of the living.

“Let this bitch go up in flames with his ship.”

Lefty’s eyes rounded. “
Fuck, okay…get him in a chair, douse this place with gas and let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Time sped up while
the bodies were dragged into a pile and laid at Louis’ feet. Bound to the chair and gagged, he slumped. His eyes were at half-mast and the puddle of blood on the ground below him, told Demon he was already halfway to meeting his maker.

“As you take your final breaths
, I want you to think about these men. All of this was your fault. You never should have come back here and tried to take me on.” Demon shook his head. “Light them up.”

Lefty covered his mouth and lowered the gas covered torch to the blankets they’d soaked and placed beneath the pile and above it. The smell of burning hair and flesh filled the room.

His stomach turned in protests. “We’
re done here. Everyone get back and head to the club. I got the prospects throwing one hell of a party. If anyone asks, which I doubt they will, we’ll have an alibi.”

A rumbling of agreement and cheers filled the air.

“You guys did me proud tonight. I won’t forget it. Lefty hang back with me. I want to make sure this is put to bed properly.”

“Yep,” Lefty replied
.

As the others disbanded
, leaving the carnage behind, he watched the building go up in flames.

“
You think this is over?” Lefty asked quietly.

“I sure as fuck hope so. I
blew the warehouse, so there’d be nothing to come back for. I know we could’ve used it, but in the end, I don’t think it’d be worth the trouble it might cause.”

“Good call.”

“I hope so. I want this shit put to bed. You call in a marker at the station.”

“Ye
p, gun trade gone wrong.” Lefty nodded.

They lapsed into silence
as the building crackled, popped and smoldered.

Ardy watched
Demon from the back door as she finished the dishes. He’d been stoic for the past two weeks. He’d come home reeking of smoke and gasoline. He’d pulled her into his arms, held her tight and never said a word. It terrified her. Watching him pull back had been a painfully slow death, but she’d given him the space he needed. Now, she needed to pull him out of the darkness he’d been flirting with. She placed the last plate in the cabinet and walked to the sliding door.

Out on the deck
, she approached him slowly. “Hey.”

“Hey. The kids finally asleep?” He glanced up.

“Oh yeah, after a whole afternoon in the park they were out once they hit the bed,” she answered, running her hand down his back.

He glanced down at her
.

Ardy released a sigh
. “Are we going to talk about what happened?”

“You know we don’t talk business with our women. That protec
ts you too, you know?”

“I know
, Jonah.” She leaned against his side, resting her face against his arm. “But something it eating you up and we’re not going to be able to move forward until you talk about it. I’m not asking for details. I just want to know what’s weighing so heavily on your shoulders.”

He slowly leaned his head back and peered
up at the sky. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Ard.”

“Say whatever it is you want to say. Be blunt, be a dick if you need to, but say somet
hing. Every day, I feel you slip a little further away. Did you change your mind about wanting to be together?” She sucked on her bottom lip. “I don’t know where I stand, or what direct—

“No.” He placed a finger on her lips. “Don’t ever doubt the way I feel about you Ardy. Nothing’s changed there. I just needed to get this shit in my head straight. I’ve done a lot of bad shit in my life. I can handle the weight. But I never had to deal with wanting to be worthy for someone. How can I come to you with all this death clinging to me? It’s like
tainting you.”

“What?”

“You’re pure and good. It drives home how much of a bastard I am for keeping you.”

“Keeping me? Like I’m an object that can be idly tossed aside.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then explain
it, ‘cause this is sounding like a kiss off.”

“
Fuck Ardy I don’t want to see you look at me with fear or disgust. I can’t handle it and eventually it’s going to happen. Don’t you understand that? I can’t keep the two worlds separate indefinitely and then what? I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t. Where is all this comi
ng from?” She cupped his face with her hands. “Talk to me.”

“I took them all out Ardy.
I made sure every last one of them was dead and I burned everything that meant anything to them down to the ground.”

“Good.”

“What?” His voice shook.

“They tried to kill me and the kids. I have no sympathy for them.
I wish I would’ve been there to see the look on their faces. You don’t fuck with me or my family. I might be petite, but I’m not weak. The Irish are made of sterner stock. I love you. That’s not a fair weather emotion.”

“
You remembered?”

She smiled. “W
ell now, you just confirmed I wasn’t dreaming.”

“Tricky.”
He arched a brow at her.

“I have to be when it comes to you.
Don’t you know how much you mean to me? I left behind everything for you.”

“But what happens when you regret it. This isn’t your world.”

“It is now. The moment I chose to step up and be your old lady your world became mine. Your burdens rested on my shoulders. You’re the strength and the head leading the operation, but I’m supposed to be the heart. I get that. I need you to trust me enough to let me try.”

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I’m going to burn in hell for doing this, you know.”

She snickered. “That was kind of implied…given your name.”

“Smart ass.” His lips twitched
.

“Made you smile.”
She grinned up at him while batting her eyelashes.

“Yeah, you’re good at that.”
He smoothed his hands down her hair. “Fuck, I love you, Ardy.”

The words made her heart race. “I love you too.”

He
wound his fingers in her hair and pulled her body to his. “I don’t know how I lucked up on you, but it was the best thing to ever happen to me.”

“Before you came along I
think I was asleep, going through the daily routine on autopilot. Then you came and opened my eyes. You woke me.”

“You might be sleeping beauty, but I’ll never pass for Prince Charming.”

“Maybe I was waiting for a black knight.”

“I can be that all day long.” He slid his hands down to her
to ass and squeezed.

She giggled. “Are we okay now?”

“We were never not okay. I was just lost in my head. It happens. I have a lot of shit going on up there and I’m not used to sharing it with anyone. “

“Well, I’m here
now and I want to be involved. I can take it, okay?”

“Alright. My little woman is fierce, huh?” He bent down and brushed her lips. “It’s kind of hot.”
He squeezed her ass again and lifted her up, carrying her to the railing. “Spread your legs baby.” His hands trailed up along her legs, beneath her skirt and massaged her thighs. “I want to taste you with the stars above us.” He captured her lips and rubbed her pussy through her underwear.

Her breath hitched in her
throat. Her breasts grew heavy and moisture began to form in her underwear.

Demon
trailed a finger down the crease of her thigh. “You going to give me that cream?” His fingers slipped inside her underwear and trailed down her cleft. “That’s it, get wet for me.” He gathered her nectar and circled her clit.

“Jonah.”

He growled. “You know I love it when you call me by my name. That’s something just for you.” He eased a finer inside her and she flexed her muscles. “So damn tight for me. You got the best pussy, baby.”

He
r nipples became turgid points. They brushed against her bra and she moaned. He pumped inside her once, twice and pulled out. “Do you know how good you taste?”

“No.”

He held the glistening tips of his fingers up to her mouth “Give it a try for me.”

She opened
her mouth and a salty sweet taste filled her mouth.

“So fucking sexy.”
He leaned in and slid his tongue in mingling their flavors while he tilted his fingers inside of her

Ardy
rocked toward him, eager to relieve the pressure built up between her legs.

“You
going to come on my fingers, sweetness? Squeeze my fingers with that tight little pussy.” His dirty words wound her up. “I can’t wait. I gotta taste you.” He knelt down, shoved her panties to the side and flicked her clit.

She cried out, gripping his hair tight. He blew on her clit flicking it again
and she arched toward him. He sucked her into his mouth, thrusting fast and she tail spun, coming hard. She leaned forward to keep from falling off the railing in her stupor.

Pulling away
, he placed a kiss on her pussy and stood slowly. “I’m nowhere near done with you, Ardy. Let’s take this into the bedroom.”

“Take me lover, I’m all yours.”

“Yes, you are.”

The passion
burning in his eyes melted her. He was a walking contradiction, fire in his eyes and a fierceness laced with gentle, sweet caring, most wouldn’t believe him capable of. He was all the things she’d dreamt of in an unlikely and extremely sexy package.

“Okay you guys,
let’s get our hands washed, so we can start getting ready to eat dinner,” Ardy said, helping them remove their painting smocks. “We’ll leave our easels out here on the porch and let the paintings dry.”

They rushed inside and she smiled. Things had been much better since D
emon opened up. They’d fallen into a routine, almost as if D had a nine to five. He went to work and she stayed home with the kids. They usually did breakfast and dinner together, sometimes lunch, if he had nothing going on. They ran legit businesses to keep the Feds at bay and he often oversaw most of them at some point during the week.