Page 10 of Owning Emma
Chapter 6
SHAW
The first weekwith Emma was interesting. Lots of dirty looks, back-talking, and grudging conversation, and I didn’t just mean from Emma. Mike, her worthless father, had a mean stank eye, too. The apple apparently didn’t fall far from the tree where they were concerned.
Still, I sat back, letting them do their thing while I did mine, entertained by the hateful vibes and dirty glares thrown at me. They could give me all they had, and it still wouldn’t even dent my shields. Live the life I had; I dared them; they wouldn’t bother wasting the effort after that.
“I don’t know why she needs a babysitter. Do you think my daughter isn’t safe with me?” Mike would complain every day, and if he thought about it, Emma obviously wasn’t because if it weren’t for him, Emma never would have entered our world. She never would’ve been exposed to all the ugliness we carried with us that we tried to get rid of.
It amused me, it did. If he put half the effort into his sales and his shop as he put into complaining, it would be an amazing outcome. If his desire to succeed in business matched his desire to piss me off and get under my skin, he would excel at the top of the business world. But it didn’t. I sat in my corner, watching and listening to him, and it’s astounding how dense and uneducated his decisions were.
I turned my attention back to my computer screen, determined to focus on the dreary task at hand. It was necessary; I got that. But shifting through business transaction records wasn’t exactly a day at the ballpark. But, as Roman liked to remind me, we all had our place in our structured little community. Each guy had his own area where he excelled, and well, for me, that’s computers, numbers, and software. That would make anyone consider me a geek, but I could guarantee that was the furthest from the truth when it came between the sheets. Although I had to admit that had been longer than I’d like to admit.
Nordic god? Yea, maybe.
Fuck, what I wouldn’t give to show Emma just a tiny ounce of my godly power. Although I suspected with fucking lush lips like hers, she’s the one with the power. My mind drifted to her pouty lips wrapped around my cock, and I swear I was instantly hard as steel. Add in the thought of her hair billowing around her, brushing my thighs, with those fucking giant green eyes looking up at me, begging me to give her all I had, and I was ready to blow.
Fuck.
Focus.
I rubbed my palms over my eyes, trying to scrub the image away, forcing it out, banishing it from my brain. Focus. I needed to focus if I was to ever figure out where the error was in the group's finances. Sitting and dream about getting sucked off until I was seconds away from blowing my load in my fucking jeans wasn’t the way to accomplish that.
My eyes zoomed in on the screen, slowly scrolling through, taking notes on the pad of paper next to me whenever I deemed necessary. Once I was actually in the zone, it was easy to forget where I was, so simple to tune out the coming and going of customers. If I really shut it all down tightly, I could almost forget about those damn hideous bells that jingled every time the door was touched.
The ticking of the clock overhead soothed me, helping me keep my focus as I tapped the pen in my hand to its rhythm. Something was off, so completely off with the income flow and expenses, but without all the paper records in front of me, I was afraid figuring out our problem might be futile.
The air changed around the room, filling with stifling tension and the smell of tobacco. I was so absorbed in the screen in front of me that I almost missed it. Almost. But the stress and fear radiating off Emma snapped me out of my daze, bringing my senses to attention. She wasn’t near Krank, in fact, a whole counter sat between them, but still, she feared him and his power.
I sat back, watching from my corner, unnoticed, willing myself to not step into the situation unless it directly affected Emma. She was my only concern, the reason I was here in the first place. Any issue past her, not my problem. But Emma, he couldn’t even breathe in her space without running into the wall of my chest.
“I’ve come for my payment, Mike,” Krank announced, talking to Mike, but looking directly at Emma. “Unless you’ve changed your mind, in which case, I’ll take the girl. She would be a fine piece in my personal collection.”
Emma visibly recoiled. I probably would have too. The thought of her being just another one of his objects, his filthy fingers touching her porcelain skin, corrupting her against her will, caused my stomach to churn. I would die or kill him before he touched her, and that was a fucking promise.
“I’ve got most of it,” Mike confirmed, stepping in front of his daughter to block her from Krank’s view. And I had to hand it to the guy. He may be meek, but at least he attempted to protect her. Not like it did a lot of good because, again, he got her into this mess.
“The deal wasn’t for most of a payment. It was for the full payment. Each week. On-time.” Krank spit a disgusting pile of saliva onto the bakery floor in a display of power.
“How do you expect me to pay rent, buy supplies, and be able to live if you are taking eighty percent of my earnings every week?” Mike questioned, trying to distract Krank’s leering away from his daughter.
“How you support your business is no business of mine. The only thing that concerns me is money, or that girl standing behind you.” He took a step closer to the counter. My muscles tightened in anticipation.
Mike took the five steps to his register, typing in a code that caused the till to pop open with a ding. Reaching inside, he emptied the money into a pile on the counter, offering all he had to Krank. Leisurely, Krank approached the counter, gathering the bills into a neat pile before counting them. “You’re short.”
“I know.” Mike’s head hung in defeat.
Krank sighed dramatically, looking up while placing his hands on his hips under his jacket. “I told you the options.”
“It might be a little late, but I’ll get you everything I owe.” Mike’s eyes pleaded, his voice practically begged Krank to be satisfied and leave.
“I trust that you will, in the meantime, the girl is coming with us.” His sidekicks, who I’d met quite personally before but couldn’t be bothered to learn their names, stepped out from behind Krank, making their way to the half-size swinging doors that were attached to an opening between the case displays. They were a foot away from the door, still leaving me unnoticed from my little table in the corner. Their lack of perception left me unwatched, so when I stood, sliding my body over the side counter and placing myself between Emma and Krank’s thug, the priceless look of utter confusion that crossed all three of their faces didn’t fail to amuse me.
“You’re not taking her,” I stated, my arms crossed over my chest, the power of my muscled biceps on display.
Krank’s head tilted upward, straining his neck to stare at my looming frame. “Says who? My issue is with the baker, and it doesn’t concern Roman or any of his puppies.”
“It does when you’re taking something under his protection,” I informed him, not breaking my stance or lightening my glare.