Hiding Read online

  What I gave her.

  The first taste of her vulnerability.

  We aren’t gentle or tender as we take what we want from each other.

  She wants the truth.

  I want her forgiveness and trust.

  This is a battle, each of us fighting for our prize.

  We rip and bite, scratch and pull, taking and giving, breathless in our quest.

  Maria leaves a long line of bite marks down my neck and over my shoulder as her hands grope to remove my pants. It fuels my ravenous need to consumer her, take her, claim her, own her.

  I don’t stop to undo the button or the zipper of her jeans. I tear them open and the pop of the button and shredding of the zipper gets lost in our pants and grunts for more.

  When she finally has my jeans open, she wraps her hand around my hardness and squeezes it.

  “Fuck, kitten,” I growl into her ear as I palm her full breast tightly.

  I shove my hand down her gaping pants. She’s so damn wet, it makes my mouth water. I take her mouth again in a hungry kiss as I plunge a finger inside her.

  She rides it, rubbing herself against the heel of my palm, taking what she wants.

  Goddam her, she’s going to make me blow right in her hand.

  Not before I make her scream.

  Her beautiful tits are bobbing and shaking in my face as her wetness drenches my hand. Lowering my mouth to suck one pebbled peak in, I flick it with my tongue as I curve my finger and find that sweet spot inside her. Maria’s back arches off the wall, pushing her breast deeper into my mouth. I suck harder, flick my tongue faster, and grind my hand onto her clit as I work her G spot until her walls clamp my finger. She screams out loud and long as her body goes rigid and her walls spasm around me.

  Pulling my mouth from her, I bury my face in her neck but don’t let up on her pussy. “That’s right, come for me, kitten. Fuck my hand until you can’t stand up.”

  As the last waves of her orgasm roll through her, she slumps against the wall, panting.

  Standing half naked in front of me, her skin flushed from her release, the sight of her makes my heart pound.

  Our eyes lock. “What are you going to do?” she hisses seductively.

  Taking a nipple between my thumb and index finger, I pinch it hard and whisper roughly, “I’m going to fuck everything else out of your mind but me.”

  She moans. It’s the sweetest fucking sound and grips my balls like a fist.

  Removing my hand from her pants, I throw her over my shoulder and take her to the bedroom. I drop her on the bed and stand in front of her.

  “You’re either an angel or a damn demon. My salvation or my destruction, kitten. Either way, you’ve possessed me.”

  Her eyes glint wickedly at me as her lips curl into a smile.

  “Then I own you, Rico. And I’m going to take what’s mine.”

  She has no idea how true that is. I don’t know how it happened, or when, but she does own me, body and soul.

  I gave myself to her when I bared my soul.

  Bending, I take a handful of her hair. “What do you want, kitten?”

  She stares into my eyes. “You. I want to taste you.”

  Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.

  “One taste, then I’m going to devour you.”

  Maria is a fuse, hot and lethal, as she slowly lowers my pants and boxers. I kick them to the side, then plant my legs firmly in place. One touch of her lips on my cock and I’m sure I’m going to explode.

  So slowly, so incredibly, deliciously, painfully slowly, she begins the tortuously wonderful exploration of my shaft with her mouth and tongue. Beginning at the base, she works her way up with licks, nibbles, and kisses. When she finally places her mouth at my tip, I’m wet with precum. She pokes her tongue out and licks it off before closing her mouth over the entire head and grasps my balls in her hand.

  I fight the urge to come the first time in her mouth. I want to be buried so far inside her, there’ll be nothing left but me.

  I push her off by her shoulders and she lands on the bed in front me.

  “Open those legs, kitten. It’s my turn.”

  My voice is husky and my dick is yelling at me, he was almost there.

  Fueled by my intense need to consume her, I grab her pants and underwear at the waist and pull them off her so hard, she has to hold on not to be dragged to the floor. I lower to my knees between her legs and spread them wide, opening her up to me. She’s goddam ambrosia. I feed my hands under her knees and yank her down so her ass is hanging off the edge of the bed.

  “So fucking perfect,” I rasp out and glide my nose up her folds. “I love how you smell.”

  “Rico,” she moans as she grips the blanket beneath her.

  “That’s right, kitten. Say my name.”

  I lower my face to her wetness.

  And I feast.

  She is heaven and hell, sin and fulfillment, and I never want to stop.

  When she grips the back of my head and pushes me further onto her, I slip a finger inside her heat. I know she’s close.

  Her hips move and grind, smearing her sweetness all over my face.

  I add another finger.

  “RICO,” it comes out long and guttural.

  I pull her beautiful little swollen nub between my lips, grip it tightly, my fingers buried in her cunt, and assault it with my tongue.

  She screams out my name as she wraps her legs around my head and comes all over my face.

  I pull away and stand. Stroking my shaft, I say, “I need to be inside you, Maria.”

  “Right now, Rico,” her eyes are glazed and her body is glistening with a thin sheen of sweat.

  She’s fucking stunning.

  I reach over to the nightstand, grab a condom, roll it on, and guide her up the bed.

  Covering her body with mine, I stare down at her.

  My chest hurts.

  This isn’t sex.

  This is a goddam union, and I know I’m about to lose myself completely in this woman.

  I was a fool to think I’d be able to walk away.

  “There’s no turning back now, kitten. No more running, no more hiding.”

  Whatever passed between us, whether it was my confession or her acceptance, I’m not sure which, it dissolved the barrier between us.

  It doesn’t matter.

  We’re here.

  She bites her lip. There’s a flash of something in her eyes.

  Hope?

  The moment it’s there makes my heart pound.

  “I know,” she whispers.

  That hint of emotion is all I need. I kiss her deeply. I need her to know what I can’t say.

  I need her.

  I need this.

  Just as much as she does.

  As I push my length inside her, inch by inch, taking her, marking her, making her mine, I stare into her eyes. I have to watch her. I need her to watch me. She has to see everything I’m feeling in my face.

  We begin to move. First it’s slow as our bodies begin to fuse together, melting into one. I watch as rapture begins to take her over. It makes me swell to an almost painful point.

  Our bodies get hungrier and more demanding, slapping together, our nails digging into each other. Our mouths connect as our eyes stay locked on each other. Our teeth sink into our flesh. And as the wave is about to crash over us, I find her clit with my finger as my cock thrusts in and out of her heat and send her soaring. I follow quickly behind her as everything inside me explodes.

  We lay tangled together, our breaths coming fast and heavy, our hearts pounding.

  “I’m not going to let you run anymore,” I whisper with her body pressed tightly to mine.

  “Good,” is the only thing she says.

  She breathes out a sigh.

  It’s all I need.

  You’ll give me your secrets. Soon. Then you’ll be free.

  “Right now, I have to feed you,” I smile.

  I can feel her smile against my chest.
“The first course was perfect.”

  I laugh. “That was only a taste.”

  She laughs too. “Then it’s a good thing I’m starving.”

  I roll us so she’s pinned underneath facing me. “I plan on introducing you to many different tastes, kitten.”

  Her eyelids dip as a smile curves her lips. “I can’t wait,” she whispers.

  And I’m going to find out everything your hiding, my sweet Maria. No more secrets.

  RICO

  CHAPTER 9

  I’m so fucking screwed.

  Being with Maria was life changing.

  I’ve heard the myth about two people becoming one with sex. I thought it was bullshit, nothing but romance story crap.

  It’s true. It grabbed me by the balls and consumed me. She breathed life into my lifeless body, resuscitated my dead heart and soul. I’d been existing, and she turned my dark grey world into a panoramic full color living picture. I never want to go back. As bad as my life has been, I haven’t been as happy to be alive as I am now in so long, I’d forgotten what it felt like.

  Maria is burning passion. Her flames scorch everything and everyone, even herself. She can’t live in the darkness; her intensity is too strong. Her flames licked me and seduced me, melting my fortress of solitude and secrets until all that was left was my soul, bare and vulnerable.

  Maybe it was exposing my secrets, letting her in, allowing myself to be raw.

  She needed it. I’m glad I gave it to her.

  Each of us overcame something. Something that controlled us, had power over us. We took that power back, and became stronger.

  She’s still cautious, I know. Whatever she’s hiding scares the shit out of her. I hate that she hasn’t told me, but she will.

  Soon.

  “Fuck.” A bad feeling creeps over me when I look at my phone.

  Carlos is calling.

  “You got something else?” Ignoring my initial reaction to ask what’s wrong, I force my voice to remain neutral.

  “Rico.”

  Every hair on my body stands on end.

  It’s bad, whatever it is. It’s real fucking bad. I can hear it in his voice.

  “Tell me what happened.” I grip the phone so tightly, the screen cracks.

  “Jesús got jumped last night.”

  Ice freezes my blood as every instinct within me demands me to kill, to annihilate, to exact revenge. The animal inside me, the demon that I am possesses me and all I want to do is rip out the jugular of whoever did this with my goddam teeth.

  Carlos, Jesús, Alex, and me, we’re like brothers. They’re my family. We’ve been through hell and survived, and came out the other side. We’re all scarred, we’re all damaged, but everything we’ve gone through has made us stronger, it had to or we’d be dead.

  I’d do anything for any of them. Anything. I already have, and I always will.

  I know this isn’t coincidence.

  We don’t get ‘jumped’.

  This wasn’t random.

  He was targeted.

  “How?”

  “He had to go out, the place was close, so he walked. They must have been watching, because when he turned the corner, they hit him on the back of the head with a bat.” Carlos is furious, his voice is hard and cold.

  “Why?” Rage is unfurling inside me, hot and thick, growing with every single word Carlos speaks. “Why him?”

  This makes no sense. The boys have been off the street for over fifteen years, ever since Carlos got out of the Army and he and Jesús started working for Alex. When Alex began the business transactions with the gang we’d all belonged to, they started working for Alex, amongst other gang members. The gang thought this was a good thing and released them from under their thumb, as if they were investing a personal interest in Black Inc. enterprises. Little did they know that is exactly what Alex had planned.

  At that time, I’d already left New Jersey and decided to become a police office and work on the right side of the law. I thought it would redeem my sins. I’d been gone for years after what had happened with Isabelle. I’d vanished after those five gang members mysteriously disappeared, the ones who cornered us in the alley that day.

  Alex, Carlos, and Jesús took care of the rest of them after I left.

  “Apparently it’s the beginning of a vendetta. They gave him a message.” Venom is dripping from his voice.

  My jaw clenches.

  No, it can’t be…

  “Jesús said it was, ‘Tell Rico we’re coming for him.’”

  A frozen chill spears down my spine.

  I don’t want to ask, but I already know.

  “Who are ‘they’?”

  One hand is gripped tightly around my phone, the other is tapping out the seconds on my desktop, like the ticking of a bomb.

  Los Muertos.

  “The little brother of one of the guys from the alley.”

  BOOM. First fire aimed, locked, released, the waves of the shot echoing in the silence of the call.

  I take in a heavy breath as the reality of the situation becomes clear in the residual smoke from the first shot. War has just been declared and he struck hard. It took him twenty years. Twenty years of watching and waiting, planning and getting stronger. Twenty years for a boy to become a man, enough time for him to gain the power and skill.

  “Revenge.” It’s barely audible.

  “Yeah,” Carlos grits out. “But we’re not sure from who yet.”

  The tapping on my desk becomes faster. “Is he affiliated with anyone?”

  “I don’t think so. Jesús wasn’t the only one involved, neither were you and me,” he’s referring to Alex and how we extracted our revenge for Isabelle’s death. “There’s too much money at stake and too many business dealings to be jeopardized. Nobody wants trouble.”

  “Has anyone else been contacted?” In other words, has he or Alex been threatened as well yet.

  “No.” One word, but it tells me so much.

  He wanted to send me a message, whoever he is. A very loud message. And he knew the best way to get to me is to hit someone I care for, my family. Just like I hit him. A fucking tit for tat.

  “How’s Jesús?” Guilt consumes me, knowing he used the hit on Jesús to get to me.

  Carlos takes in a heavy breath.

  Fuck. No!

  “The doctors put him in a coma. He has severe brain swelling. They’ve done everything they can do. Now it’s a wait and see game.” I can hear his pain, and it guts me.

  Not again! I can’t lose anyone else because of what I was. First Isabelle, now her little brother. Her blood will always be on my hands. If Jesús dies, I WILL kill every one of those motherfuckers with my bare hands. I’m going to hell already; I’ll take those scumbags with me.

  “Rico,” Carlos continues, “it seems like very strange timing.”

  My mind is swirling with images of the day Isabelle was killed and how I made those son-of-a-bitches pay.

  “Twenty fucking years is a long time,” I grit out.

  “That’s not what I mean.”

  The pieces finally start clicking together as the fog from my guilt begins to part.

  “You think because I asked you to check around about Ivan, that’s what pulled this fucker out of hiding?”

  “Jesús was the one who got the intel. If this guy’s been waiting all this time, he’s been watching. All of us. And Ivan is a very well-known ghost. For the people who matter.”

  The guy, I don’t know which one was his brother, has had a long time to get his plan perfected. He didn’t exist before last night. None of us even considered anything like this happening. That day in the alley was a horrendous lifetime ago.

  It’s perfect. He’s had two decades to prepare, to watch us, to learn everything about us, to know our weaknesses and habits, our strengths and our Achilles heels.

  The dead have come back. They have no names, no faces, not a fucking word has been spoken about this since then.

  We�
��re going to have to resurrect every one of those corpses. They’re the only ones who are going to tell us anything.

  We’ve got to find out who the brother was.

  “We need the names,” I tell Carlos.

  “We’re working on that.”

  “Call me as soon as you have them.” Nothing on paper, no electronic communications.

  Until I know who, and what, I’m dealing with, there can be no trail of any kind.

  Carlos said the guy knows who I am, how I was involved, and where to find me.

  And he’s coming for me.

  Bring it motherfucker. I’ll be waiting.

  “Keep me informed on how Jesús is doing. How’s your mother?”

  Hilda doesn’t need any more pain in her life. Burying a daughter was horrible. Seeing another one of your children close to death would be the end of her.

  “She hasn’t left his side,” his voice cracks with emotion.

  I did this. I brought agony back into her life, back into everyone’s life. If I hadn’t made Isabelle cut school that day, she’d be alive. Now, if I hadn’t called and asked them to get me information, Jesús would be in Alex’s obnoxious Hummer, smiling that shit eating grin of his.

  “Tell her I’m sorry,” I can barely choke the words past the vice grip around my throat.

  “Don’t blame yourself, Rico. It apparently was a matter of time.”

  Maybe, maybe not. As far as I’m concerned, that doesn’t matter.

  If it hadn’t been for me being selfish all those years ago, none of this would ever have begun.

  “Listen, Rico, be careful. You’re by yourself down there.”

  He’s worried about me. All this is MY fault, his sister is dead, his brother is in the hospital in a coma, and he’s worried about me!?

  “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.” Carlos’ concern makes me hate myself even more.

  “I know you can take care of yourself, bro, but we don’t know who or what we’re dealing with. They could be anybody, anywhere. Look at you, you’re a cop down south. No one would ever have imagined that twenty years ago.”

  The reality that my past could finally be catching up with me, threatening to destroy me, along with everyone I care about, slams into me.

  Maria!

  After a lifetime of existing within a cold and emotionless solitude, a ship floating without a destination, one woman melts away all my resistance with her smile, one look from her deep, dark eyes, my blackness completely evaporated. She burst into my existence and brought life to the unliving, hope to the hopeless, and gave me the one thing I thought I’d never have again.