Page 35 of Poisoned Pawn

CARTER

God fucking help me for the words that just left my mouth. For wanting this woman when I know it’s a path to fucking misery.

My dick throbs painful as she swipes her tongue inside my mouth, and my hand tightens around her throat. Star Kavanagh is a succubus, but I’m not sleeping. I’m wide a-fucking-wake.

I suck on her tongue, releasing her throat and grip the bottom of her t-shirt, then slip my hands inside, trailing light fingers up the side of her body. She groans into my mouth as I take her tits in my hands, cupping them as I graze my thumb over her hardened nipples through the thin lace of her bra.

Fuck! I want to do unimaginable things to this woman. I want to hurt her and soothe her. I want to ravish her and worship her. I want to fuck her until we are both spent.

But I can’t do any of that right now because we need to have a conversation.

As though she can sense I’m about to put a stop to this, her hands grip my hips and tug me forward between her legs before breaking the kiss.

“My safe word is illicit like the club we met in. I don’t know my hard limits yet, but I’m willing to bet you can find one,” she whispers against my lips.

Her words are like a match to a flame, and white-hot rage sparks inside me at the idea of another man touching her. I growl low in my throat as I grind my hips against her core. Then I lift her from the stool, spinning around to pin her against the wall.

“Who? Who the fuck touchedmygood girl?” Every word is laced with threat and a savage possessiveness cloaks me like a shroud of darkness.

“Half a dozen nameless faces,” she says, then she grips my face, but before she can say another word, the burner phone I set up last night rings in my pocket.

Reluctantly, I gently lower her back to the floor, then take hold of her face. “Nameless or not, I’ll fucking find them.” I kiss her, pulling back quickly then turn as I pull the phone from my pocket, noting the withheld number, and answer it. Bringing it my ear, I say nothing and just wait.

“You’re on borrowed fucking time, Carter Beckett! Put my sister on this phone right now or your little friend Koda here is going to be next to useless without any fingers.”

Star’s head snaps up as soon as she hears Roxanne’s voice, and she moves closer to me. Roxanne Lawler’s threat isn’t empty, but I know she won’t kill her only chance of finding us.

“I wondered how long it would take you to find me. But you’re not quite there yet. And I wouldn’t waste your time trying to torture my location out of him because he doesn’t know jack fucking shit.”

“Guess we’ll find out when Zak starts removing his magic tech fingers one by one.”

“Roxy, I’m okay,” Star calls out, but I slap my free hand over her mouth before she can say anything else. She scowls at me and tries to shove my hand away.

“Star. Star,” Roxanne calls down the line. “You’re a fucking dead man, Carter.”

“Now, now, Roxanne. Not the best idea to threaten the man currently keeping your sister safe. Maybe you should put your energy into finding the man who put a bounty on her head.” I hear someone whispering in the background followed by a growl of frustration.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” comes a male voice this time, and the lack of Irish accent tells me it’s either Maddox or Zak Lawler. I’d bet money that if Kavanagh was there, he’d have found a way to kill me down the phone.

“Is Koda there? Can he hear me?”

“Yeah, he’s fucking here, and he can hear you, for now.” The threat added to remind me my friend’s life is at stake, but we all know I hold the bigger card.

“Koda, any luck with reclaiming your server back?”

“Nah, man. Whoever they are, they fucking locked me out tight.”

“Fuck!” I release my hand from Star’s mouth and run it through my hair as I pace. “Show them.”

Rustling and then the tapping of fingers on keys echoes down the line as Koda brings up the thread and the bounty put out on Star.

“Is this for fucking real?” another guy asks.

“It’s for fucking real,” I tell them. I consider whether to fill them in with what else I know, but I’m not ready to share every fucking secret with these three. Something doesn’t add up, and until I know it has nothing to do with the Lawlers or Kavanagh then I ain’t sharing shit, least of all my location.

“Who is it?”

“You think he’d still be breathing if I knew that? But Koda is your best chance of finding out.”