Buttons and Pain Read online

  Oh my god.

  Cane saw the blood drain from my face and egged me forward. “We don’t have much time. Come on.”

  “Time for what?”

  “Bones’ men will be here any second.” He guided me across the road and into an alleyway. “Stay here, alright? Don’t move for any reason.”

  “What’s going on?” I demanded. “How do you know his men are coming?”

  “Let’s just say it’s intuition.” He kneeled in front of me with his gun held at the ready. He watched the street as Crow grabbed the other man and dragged him in the center of the road. After he maliciously tortured the man he finally put an end to his misery by shooting him in the head.

  Crow was a ruthless man. But I’d never seen him this brutal.

  A swarm of cars sped up the street then fanned out when they spotted the destruction on the road. Crow’s men popped up from their hiding places with the rifles held at the ready. Crow took cover behind a car with his handgun still held at the ready.

  “Aren’t you going to help him?”

  “My orders are to stay with you. We should be safe here.”

  “What about him?”

  He chuckled even though now wasn’t the time for jokes. “Believe me, he’s fine.”

  “How can you say that?”

  “Did you see him a second ago? He has rage on his side.”

  The battle took place and gunshots were fired. The echoing sound hurt my ears but I couldn’t cover them because my hands were still secured behind my back. The cacophony of noise echoed in the alleyway and it was pure pandemonium against my eardrums.

  Cane perched around the corner and fired along with everyone else but he never gave up his position. I tried to find Crow but I couldn’t see him across the street. I knew he was okay because Cane would be devastated if something happened to his brother.

  The war continued on for nearly five minutes. Bullets continued flying across the neighborhood as each side of the enemy was picked off. Men ran back and forth as they closed the perimeter around each other. It looked like a war zone rather than a street fight. I was back in time and witnessing one of the bloodiest battles of all time.

  I felt like Helen of Troy.

  When the guns finally died down it turned into man-to-man combat. I saw Crow emerge from his hiding place and push five unarmed men to the ground. They were out of bullets and out of time. Crow’s man stayed back, holding their positions in the distance.

  “Is he going to execute them?” My voice shook slightly as I spoke. I knew these men were evil, and if they had it their way, they would be dragging me off to be beaten by Bones. I shouldn’t feel sympathy for them, not when I knew they did this to countless women before me. But a small part of my heart tugged in sadness.

  Cane finally answered. “Yeah.”

  Crow put his gun away and pulled a long dagger from inside his jacket. I could see it gleam under the streetlight because the steel was spotless. He stood in front of the first man and stared him down coldly. He wasn’t the man I was used to seeing. This was the version of him he warned me about.

  A ruthless killer.

  One by one, he slit the throat of each man. It was so gruesome even I had to look away. Instead of giving them a clean death with a gunshot wound he made them suffer until the very end. It was a message the Bones and the rest of the world.

  When he reached the last man he put his blade away. The man stayed on his knees and didn’t show an ounce of fear. Even has his comrades bled out to death on the concrete he didn’t flinch. His loyalty was just as strong as ever.

  Crow stared him down, just as fearless. “Call him.”

  The man didn’t move.

  He held up the blade, still dripping with blood. “Do it and I’ll give you mercy.”

  He eyed the blade for a moment before he pulled the phone out of his pocket.

  “On speakerphone.”

  The phone played the ring over the line. The solider continued to hold it in his hand, but his fingers started to shake.

  Finally, his voice came onto the line. “Do you have her?” His deep voice sounded just as grotesque as I remembered. It was full of entitlement, brutality, and pure evil. I remembered all the terrible things he would whisper into my ear as he fucked me until I screamed. My blood boiled in a rage and I struggled to breath.

  Crow stared at the phone, his mocha eyes appearing black. “Don’t. Touch. My. Girl.” Crow took a step forward and stared down at the phone with venomous hate. Without raising his voice he possessed the authority of a king. He was powerful and majestic, terrifying and cruel.

  Bones gathered his thoughts before he spoke. His silence was an indication that he recognized the voice over the phone. To him, it was unmistakable. “I see that—”

  Crow threw the phone on the ground and stomped on it with his foot. It shattered into dozens of pieces and Bones’ voice died away immediately. He stepped back and pointed the gun right between his eyes. Without another word he pulled the trigger, and the man crumbled to the street.

  Three police cars drove up that instant, their lights flashing and their sirens screeching. They breaked hard into the street and threw their doors open. They all took their defensive stances under cover with their weapons drawn.

  “Shit.” Was this all going to come to an end?

  Crow turned until he directly faced him, his gun in one hand and the bloody blade in the other. He took a few steps forward without raising his gun. Without an ounce of fear he stared them down, seeing the dozen police officers stare back at him. “Leave now and no harm will come to you.”

  The police held their stance but snuck glances at each other. They didn’t exchange a single word but a conversation happened within their ranks. One by one, they holstered their guns then got back into the cars. The lights and sirens were turned off and they drove away, heading in the exact opposite direction of the war zone that just took up the entire block. He stayed his ground and made sure they were completely out of sight before he headed to the alleyway where I was hiding.

  I’d never seen him in action and never knew exactly what he was capable of. The only side I saw of him was the softer version, the man who was wise in wine and treated his employees like family rather than workers. He told me about his darkness but he’d been nothing but gentle with me since the moment we met. I never knew this kind of ferocity and war raged inside him. But the beast broke through the gates once it’d been provoked. The second they took me he launched into action and showed the kind of brutality he warned me about. He stopped being a man and turned into a monster.

  Crow turned to me when he saw him approach. “And you still think he doesn’t love you?”

  ***

  Crow walked to me at his normal speed but his tense arms and clenched jaw told me he wanted to run until he his hands were finally on me. The second he reached me he cupped my face, my hair stuck underneath his palm, and he examined the wound on my head. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine.” I didn’t care about the bleeding or the fact my back was killing me after being thrown at full speed against a full grown man. All I cared about was being safe from Bones and the man standing in front of me. “I’m sure it looks worse than it feels.”

  He pulled a handkerchief out of pocket and wiped the blood away. Like a mother hen attending to her young, he cleaned me up until everything was gone. Some of the blood that was stained on his hands soaked into the handkerchief. I couldn’t tell the stains apart. “You want to go to the hospital?”

  “I said I was fine.” A few weeks in bed would put me back together. The soreness would fade away and the wound would close up and become a scar to add to the collection.

  His hands were on me again and he pressed his face to mine. He took a deep breath like he was inhaling my scent before he kissed me hard on the lips. His abrasiveness directly contradicted the concern he just showed a moment ago, and he kissed me like we hadn’t seen each other in years.

  Without warn
ing he pulled away and scooped me into his arms. Like I was seriously injured he cradled me to his chest like I was lighter than a feather. He didn’t need to carry me because I was perfectly capable of walking on my own, but I didn’t resist. Feeling him hold me sent shivers down my spine. After the ordeal I just went through, I actually felt safe. My arm wrapped around his neck and I rested my head against his chest.

  He directed Cane with a bark. “Get the car. You’re driving.”

  Cane rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, boss.”

  Crow carried me to the back of an SUV and he placed me in the back seat. The moment he was beside me he pulled me back into his lap then pressed his face close to mine, our lips practically touching. The car turned on the road and we headed home.

  Home.

  He pulled the hair from my face and fisted it with a single grip as he examined me. His eyes rested on my lips like he could read them before he turned his gaze back on me. Instead of being black as coal, his eyes had turned back to their coffee colored brown. “Did they hurt you?”

  “A little. But it was nothing I couldn’t handle.”

  His hand squeezed my hair. “I should have tortured them more when I had the chance.”

  “Not necessary. I pushed one out of the car on the way here.”

  The corner of his lip rose in a half smile. “That’s my girl.” He pressed a kiss to my cheek, a nurturing touch that was soft and intimate. It didn’t crush me the way his other kiss did. This one had a completely different meaning. “Did they…?” When he couldn’t finish the sentence I knew what he was asking.

  I didn’t bring up the groping I received on the way here. There was no need to mention that and make him feel guilty for not saving me sooner. “No. They were told not to touch me.”

  He hid his relief as much as possible but he couldn’t keep it from me. “I’m sorry, Button. I shouldn’t have left you.”

  “Don’t do that…”

  “Or I should have taken you with me.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.” I was the one who chose to tough it out on my own. I didn’t expect to be kidnapped the second Crow left the city. The timing was horrendously poor. “I didn’t take your warning seriously when I should have.”

  “I still shouldn’t have walked away.” He rested his face against mine and closed his eyes. “I won’t make that mistake again.” His arms circled me and he held me closer to his chest. Our foreheads rested together and we listened to each other breathe on the ride home. There were so many things we couldn’t say with Cane in the car. And there were so many things we couldn’t do with him in the car.

  But as soon as we went home, things would change.

  ***

  Crow didn’t say goodbye to his brother when he left the car and carried me in his arms. Cane didn’t say anything either, possibly out of anger or he didn’t see the point. His brother was clearly more concerned with me than having good manners.

  He carried me into the house and through the entryway. Lars stepped out of the kitchen when he heard the front door open and shut.

  “Your Grace, you’ve returned. I’m glad you’ve brought Miss Pearl with you.”

  Crow kept walking like he hadn’t heard a word he said. “We don’t want to be disturbed for the night. Leave dinner outside my bedroom door.”

  He didn’t flinch at the command. “Of course, Your Grace. Have a good evening.”

  My arms remained circled around his neck and I stared at his face as we ascended the stairs. His usual five o’ clock shadow was thicker than usual because he hadn’t shaved since the morning before he left. He wore the same clothes as the morning he walked out my front door, and I wondered if they still contained my scent from sitting on my bedroom floor all night. All could smell was him, masculinity mixed with a hint of mint.

  He carried me into his bedroom, and the second we entered it felt dormant. He hadn’t been sleeping there for nearly a month and the air remained undisturbed. Nothing had changed since I left two months ago. The bedding was identical, the curtains were the same, and it was spotless like it’d always been.

  He set me on the bed then immediately pulled his shirt over his head. It was stained with blood, mine and the men he killed. Underneath the fabric was his chiseled physique. It was identical to the last time I saw him. Abrasions, cuts, and bruises didn’t permeate his skin during the battle that raged in the streets of Rome.

  His gun sat on his hip and he pulled it out of holster and set the safety on before he placed it on his nightstand. Sleek and shiny, it reflected the dim light of the rising sun outside the window. I’d never seen him with a gun other than the night he snatched me from Bones. I wondered how many he had stowed away in the house.

  He got his jeans off next then removed his boxers. Like always, he was hard and ready to go. He leaned over the bed and gently forced me to my back, his hands on either side of my waist. With eyes glued to mine, he removed my jeans and panties until my lower body was naked.

  The moment didn’t feel sexual in nature. It was a level of intimacy we never shared before. With hearts beatings as one and the fear still heavy in our chests, we clung together like magnet and steel. He got my shirt off then my bra before he lay on top of me, his naked body hard and defined. His lips brushed past mine as he positioned himself over me, and his arm hooked around my torso until he had an iron-clad grip on me. If he were going to fuck me he would have already shoved himself inside me. Every minute passed with anticipation, and he took his time focusing on my eyes rather than everything else.

  He slid inside me slowly, taking his time like he was in no rush to reach the finish line. His usual look of prevalent darkness was absent. Instead of looking like a man who just killed dozens of men, he looked like a man who just returned from a venture out to see. His brown eyes were warm and he sunk into me purpose. When he was fully situated inside me he slowly rocked into me. It was the kind of sex we had just before he walked out of my apartment for the last time. Slow and tender, it about more than just feeling each other in the most pleasurable ways. It was about every touch and every kiss.

  It was about so much more.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Crow

  Despite the exhaustion burning behind my eyes I couldn’t sleep. Normally when Button was beside me I was out like a light. Now I sat in my study and depleted my storage of scotch and brandy, wearing my pajama bottoms with a black t-shirt.

  It was five in the evening but she was still asleep. After what she’d been through, I couldn’t blame her for being depleted of energy. She was chased down in her own home then drugged before dragged onto a plane. Then truck crashed into the vehicle she was in and sent her against the opposite door. She was banged up and bruised, and after a day of rest they were bound to look more gruesome.

  She deserved the rest.

  Cane walked in a moment later, his briefs tucked under his arm. He plopped down onto the couch and immediately helped himself to my glass of scotch. He downed half the glass before he set the folder on the table.

  I poured myself another and ignored his subtle attack of disrespect. “What’s the news?”

  “Our people cleaned up the street and disposed the bodies. We jacked some of their cars. After a thorough cleaning and license plate fix, we’ll have more toys for the yard. We got some cool guns too and they’ve been added to the collection.”

  “The police?”

  “They came back to check on things but didn’t file a report. They aren’t stupid.”

  “You mean, they aren’t suicidal.” I didn’t mess around with cops. They protected innocent people throughout our country and did their jobs the best they could. People like Bones and I were above the law, and just because they got in our way didn’t mean there needed to be casualties. With a clear warning, they usually backed off our territory and turned their cheeks. Besides, we were criminals that only killed other criminals. We weren’t exactly a threat to the people of Italy.

  “Whatever.” He f
inished his scotch—mine—and filled it to the brim. “I haven’t gotten any intel on Bones. Have no idea what he’s doing.”

  “Not a thing?”

  “Nope.” He shook his head. “I suspect he’s not in Italy. He’s probably gathering reinforcements to take us down. After what we did to him, I’m sure he wants our heads on silver platters. I mean, we’ve taken Pearl from him twice now.”

  “Maybe if he had a bigger dick he could keep her around.” I wanted to set this man on fire and watch him burn. I had serious blood rage when it came to the people who hurt Button, but there was a special place in my ferocity for that man. I would revenge for my sister, my family, and for her. “We need to take him our once and for all. If we don’t, Button will never be able to go home and move on with her life.”

  Cane was just about to open the folder when he flinched and turned his gaze on me. His look was frozen like the artic and just as unforgiving. He opened his mouth to say something insulting but then quickly changed his mind. “You know what…forget it.” He turned back to the paperwork and flipped through it.

  “Forget what?”

  He shook his head and didn’t answer.

  “Cane, if you have something to say just say it.”

  He slammed the folder down. “After all the shit we went through to get that woman you seriously are prepared to send her back?” Cane said vicious things to me before but he never meant them. While his words weren’t hurtful, his tone implied paramount hatred. He despised me in that moment—completely and utterly. “You took out a whole brigade of soldiers almost completely on your own then executed the survivors like a general in the Austrian army, and you’re still gonna look me in the eye and say you don’t love this woman?” That artic look never disappeared as he stared me down. His brown eyes identical to mine contained only hatred, not affection. My younger brother was actually disappointed in me. “I’m done talking about this. It’s pussy shit anyway.” He found the map of one of Bones’s factories then handed it to me. “I think we should strike here. It produces most of his commodities and if we trash the place it’ll lure him out. The guy is always on the move so we should draw him out to us.”