War, page 15
War had reluctantly left Bin’s in the small hours of Christmas morning.
Reluctant indeed, he thought, idly tapping his fingers along the side of his cocoa mug while observing the unusual sight of his parents’ snowy backyard. He could still see Seela, a tempting vision, warm and naked beneath thick covers. The glow from a slowly, dying fire had continuously illuminated her face.
He would not lose her again. The determination to remain true to that vow was somehow overshadowing the vicious craving for payback that he’d held onto for so long. Oh, the necessity of putting his brothers away was still high on his list of priorities, but the angry motivation that fueled it all seemed to have dialed back several notches. He didn’t need to guess why, he already knew. It made sense to give his reuniting with Seela all the credit, but he knew there was more to his newfound attitude than a second chance with the woman he loved.
It sickened him, knowing the insidious nature of the scheme between his family and the VanStys. The knowledge tapped into more than his rage or some need to avenge past wrongs. The people of Buetree Island, New Island and those residing on all the other VanSty owned properties had endured evil on a plateau War wasn’t sure he ever believed existed. Sure, as a soldier he’d seen all manner of heinous acts one could level against another.
But this...the enslavement of one’s own-now and in this time. That such an operation had existed successfully for so long...it was a horrifying reality- one lurking like an oily dark menace ready to ensnare whomever it desired. His brothers were horrifying in their own right, but they were nothing next to this reality. He would do what it took to see it destroyed.
He understood Seela’s need to be involved. He believed that need was about more than revenge for her now too. This was no longer a Guthrie, Noble, Hammond and Taylor, Croix, Desmond feud. It was a war between those who wanted to see the world burn and those who didn’t. Regardless, battling alongside her wasn’t an ideal arrangement. He could at least admit that to himself.
The screen door creaked open behind him and War realized how pervasive his dark thoughts had become. He could hardly see the white Christmas morning beyond them.
“Hey man, you good?” Fray called to his cousin. “Uncle Linc and Aunt Val wanna know if you’re done eating?”
“Miss Val says three helpings of grits and eggs is nowhere near your limit,” El teased.
War grinned. “Thought I’d save some for Moira. She said she plans to eat breakfast at every house she visits today.”
El stood with her arms loosely linked around Fray’s waist and laughed. “I believe that!” she said.
War was about to ask the couple to let his parents know he was done eating when his phone buzzed in his jeans pocket. He was smiling even as he read the text. The smile froze, vanishing altogether by the second read.
~18~
“She-she’s...dead?” Ellia’s voice was quiet in the den where she and Fray had joined War after he’d received the news.
Zyon and Moira had gotten there while War was making calls to confirm the information he’d gotten via a hasty text. The message was accurate.
“What happens now?” Moira’s voice shook.
Everyone looked to War. He hadn’t said much since they’d all gathered in his parents’ den. The news didn’t require him to rethink the strategy he and his people would be acting on in less than 24 hours, yet it was indeed a blow.
War didn’t look away from the miniature tree with its blinking lights in an assortment of colors. “Nothing changes,” he said. “We leave tomorrow.”
“Hey man,” Zyon’s tone was whisper soft, cautious. “Sure you don’t want to give it a few days-”
“A few days won’t change what happened.”
“War? You still feel that way?” Moira challenged.
“Yes, Moy, why wouldn’t I?” He asked, while drawing the dreads from his face and wearily massaging his neck.
“You know she’d want to be there.”
“Well that won’t happen now, will it?”
“War, Moy’s got a point,” El spoke up. “How do you plan on stopping her? If sidelining her before was hard, it’ll be impossible now that Justine Renneaux is dead.”
War couldn’t argue that point. Not when he agreed with it. The hard news in Stan Kasey’s text had certainly changed things. Justine Renneaux’s body was found in a vacant lot near the store where she’d worked. Foul play was a given, but War’s men knew it was hopeless to expect any real investigation by the so-called local authorities.
“What about Renneaux’s friend? Tara Wheats?” Fray asked.
“Greg says they have her stashed somewhere. Her and her family,” War shared.
“Has she said anything useful?” El asked.
“Quite a bit,” War confirmed. “She witnessed some pretty damning behavior. Especially from the store’s owner Carl Greeley. The VanStys didn’t do him any favors letting Renneaux’s body be found so close to his property.”
“No surprise they’d frame one of their own,” Zyon noted.
“I don’t think that’s why they did it,” War put in. “This was a message-they could’ve disappeared Renneaux easy. Leaving her there ensured Stan and Greg would know what was done to her.”
“Greg, Stan and her best friend,” Zyon pointed out. “A ‘keep talkin’ and you’re next’ kind of message.”
“If they know about Stan and Greg, they know about you.”
“Jock.” Moira said as if to punctuate Ellia’s theory.
“No one’s heard a peep out of him since Buetree,” Fray said.
“Then it won’t be hard to find him when I get there,” War decided.
“Which brings us back to El’s question. How do you plan to sideline Seela?” Moira asked.
War seemed to be considering that very answer, when his phone chimed.
“Fuck,” he muttered and rushed from the room without another word to anyone.
It didn’t matter, they were right behind him.
***
Binta Hammond’s yard teemed with emergency vehicles and police cruisers. The scene was over the top by anyone’s standards. Given that the woman’s holiday guest list was a who’s who of local, national and international significance, the scene was far less chaotic than it, by rights, could have been.
War had barely pulled his jeep to a stop before he was jumping from the vehicle and running into the confusion. It took several deputies and the Chief himself to keep him from the sideyard where the bulk of the official vehicles was parked.
“Easy War, easy,” Chief Sagers urged as he might some wild, dangerous animal caught in a fit of rage. “She’s alright, man, she’s-”
“Where is she?” War demanded.
Sagers extended a hand in a silent request for War to follow him. “Please,” Sagers encouraged when the upset man’s expression clearly indicated his low level of trust. At War’s stiff nod, Sagers nodded in turn toward the deputies who then relinquished their straining holds.
War’s stalking strides slowed as he and the officers approached the front porch. There was Seela surrounded by her parents, her cousins and his cousins. Her eyes met his and he barely gave her time to breathe his name before he’d covered the distance to the porch. He vaulted up the steps to kneel next to her chair.
“I’m okay,” she said once he’d released her from a crushing hug.
“What the fuck, See-See?” he said in reply and with no regard for those present on the porch.
Seela laughed.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” the Chief said. “She broke the asshole’s jaw-” he cleared his throat suddenly. “Apologies Miss Serena, Miss Bin, ladies,” he tipped the brim of his hat.
Bin offered the chief a patient smile. “I think we’re all past the point of caring about bad language, Cassius.”
Seela was fixed on Warwick’s expression while he frowned over the injuries she’d suffered. “I promise I’m okay,” she said.
Clearly not believing her, War looked to Serena Desmond.
“The medics say she’s fine,” Serena confirmed.
“A few more bruises than we approve of,” Hayes Desmond gruffly interjected and then smirked. “As long as she came out on the winning side, though...”
“Agreed,” Cassius added. “Your brother Scofield’s been hiding out in cellars across the island,” he told War. “Nothing on Bin’s property was disturbed when we searched after he showed up here the other night. We figure he must’ve been hiding out in the ones on some of the more remote island properties.”
“All that action,” War shifted another stony look in Seela’s direction. “You must be tired. Let’s get you upstairs.”
“War-wait, um,” Seela looked to her parents, the Chief and Binta. “Could y’all give us a minute?” she asked.
“Scofield said Jock was behind it,” she shared once she and War were alone with their cousins and their fiancées. “The brandings, everything. Fray’s dad didn’t need much prodding to come up with the details, but the motivation was all Jock.”
“But why?” El asked.
Seela smiled tightly. “Unrequited love, apparently. According to Scofield.”
“And tried to make it out to be your fault that this happened, right?” Moira mused, her mouth curling into a sneer when Seela confirmed with a look. “Fuckers,” she muttered.
“Yeah well, we can discuss his hurt feelings when I see him,” Seela looked at War then. “When are we leaving?”
“Seel?” El prodded. “Haven’t you done enough? Thanks to you, we’ve got two of those creeps in jail.”
“And the third is living the high life in Virginia and doing God knows what to women like Justine Renneaux,” Moira tacked on.
Again, Seela looked at War.
“She’s dead.” He said nothing more after that, simply stood with Seela in his arms and took her into the house.
“I won’t stay here while you go up to Virginia,” Seela informed War once he’d carried her out of earshot and they were heading up the back stairway near the kitchen. He remained mute even when she slammed a fist into his chest.
“Dammit War, I thought we were going to do this together?”
“Turns out, I can’t afford what that would cost me,” he said.
“And what about me? You think it won’t cost me the same?”
“I keep telling you it’s different.”
“And I keep telling you it’s not. I have as much right and reason to be part of this. War?”
He refused to respond, even when she slapped his chest again. “Do you hear me?”
“You’re not going, See-See. If you hate me for going back on my word, that’s just how it has to be.”
Seela stayed mute until they reached her guest bedroom.
“How it has to be?” She snapped once the door closed at his back and he set her down. “Just like that? Are you serious?”
“End of conversation, Seela.”
“It’s not the end of the conversation!” She used both hands to shove at his chest and gritted her teeth when he didn’t so much as sway against the contact. “You have no right-”
“I have every right,” he moved in to shadow her with his height. “This is my mission, See-See. My crew. My crew, my rules.”
In an attempt to rein in her fury, Seela crossed her arms over her chest. “Just what do you expect to do to keep me here?” She set her head at a challenging angle.
War smiled now, looking as if he were doing all he could to resist giving into full blown laughter. “Overconfidence would be a mistake here, See-See. Especially if you’re basing it off that run-in with Sco. He can’t fight for shit and always had a weak jaw.”
She put more space between them then. “So you think you can just say no and that’s it?”
“Think about it, See-See,” he moved in closer. “What do you think you can do?”
Now, Seela was the one trying to rein in laughter. “Are you saying I don’t stand a chance because you’re built like a tank?”
“I’d never touch you in anger, See-See.”
She knew that. She didn’t care very much to be reminded of his touch just then however, with the bed they’d abused the night before less than 3 feet away.
“You know that, don’t you Seela?”
“I know that,” she managed to pull back from the erotic thoughts seeking to swamp her brain.
“So I’ll see you later?”
“Why?” She raised one shoulder in a noncommittal shrug. “Are you asking me to see you off?”
War halted mid-stride as he moved toward her. “And if I am?” he asked. “Would you be too mad to wish me a safe trip?”
“No.” Her reply was sharp with annoyance but given without hesitation. “I love you, War. I’d never be that angry with you.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” His steps resumed, a sly grin beginning to take shape on his provocative mouth.
“I’m pissed, yes. But that’s got nothing to do with how I feel about you.”
Once again, he was looming above her. “Remind me again?”
Seela rolled her eyes, even as her body warmed in reaction to how adorably uncertain yet fierce he appeared while biting his bottom lip while he waited. She’d been infatuated with him all her life and knew that would never change.
“I love you Warwick Christopher Noble,” she said.
He laughed and dropped what was intended to be a quick kiss to her lips. The ‘quick’ peck turned inflammatory when Seela’s tongue darted out to stroke his mouth. Sounds of surprise and yearning escaped War’s throat and, in seconds, he was sampling the warm, sweet cavern of her mouth.
“War-” anything more from Seela, was swallowed as his hungry tongue stroked hers, bathing its top, swirling around it.
Seela lost herself to sensation. She felt deliciously overwhelmed by the barely concealed power that surged like a living thing beneath the hard lines of sinew, bone and the broad planks of muscle that were unyielding, unforgiving to the touch. She shivered, delighted when he settled to the deep charcoal gray armchair next to her bed. For a time, his lips seemed to find her earlobe too much of a temptation to resist.
Shivers took hold of Seela when his attention to her earlobe transferred to the side of her neck. War descended the slender column until his perfect teeth were nipping at her clavicle. His touch was like a dream. The last thing Seela wanted was for him to stop. The time, or rather, the place made stopping very necessary.
“War...we can’t...the whole family’s here...”
“Just like they were last night,” his muffled voice rose from where his face was buried deep in her cleavage.
Seela heard the distinctive grate of a zipper being tugged. She put a shaking hand over his and had it tugged behind her back in response.
“Everybody saw us come up here-” her words caught on a quaking cry when his tongue circled a nipple she hadn’t realized he’d bared. She’d been so focused on his zipper...she rested her head on his shoulder while he feasted.
“War...” she could say no more as thick waves of need stirred from the meal he was making of her nipples. Both were exposed and his pulls on the pearled tips showed no signs of cooling. Valiantly, she tried once more to urge calm.
“War-”
“What was it you said to me last night?” he interrupted her. “Oh yeah, we’re adults.”
Another erotically charged cry vibrated from her throat and into his shoulder. His hand had found its way into her panties. His middle finger was taking slow and thoroughly indecent liberties with her sex. She moaned her favor into his shoulder as her hips arced in a slow, timeless rhythm. Intimate muscles clenched, squeezed...she was desperate to keep his finger where she wanted it.
“Am I hurting you?”
The query stumped her, until memory replayed her earlier activities. She’d nearly forgotten her battle royale with Scofield Noble.
“No, I-I’m fine,” she moaned anew when he added another finger to the scandalous caress.
“War please...we have to stop...”
He was sucking fiercely at the supple underside of one breast. “Do you want me to stop?”
“You have to...”
“Not really an answer...”
She smiled, loving the soft refreshing scent clinging to his dreads when she turned her face into his hair. “I don’t want you to, but-” the gasp she gave to the air was closer to a shriek. Somehow, her jeans and panties were past her knees. He’d driven beyond the silken petals of her sex with one long plunge from his.
War’s mouth slackened where he’d been savoring Seela’s breasts and he rested his head against the high, curved back of the decadently upholstered chair. His low, grunts of approval hummed in the room. His wide palms supported her round bottom as he lifted and settled her in a way that ensured every impressive inch of his dick was properly treated to the sensation of her silken walls gloving it.
Seela winced, the pleasure and the expertise of its delivery shoved her unapologetically toward an explosive climax. Moans crowded her throat, escaping when War found nourishment at her breasts once more.
The attention, his lips, tongue and teeth at her nipples, his erection stretching her with superior skill...Seela gave herself over to all that the seduction demanded of her. War joined her on that potent wave mere seconds later...
They remained intimately joined for long moments afterward. Gradually, the sounds of labored breathing quelled, replaced by the sound of fabric shifting on fabric as clothes were set right.
War stood with Seela in his arms. “See you later at the ball,” he said against her cheek.
“I love you,” she said, relishing the kiss they shared before War returned her to the chair.
She favored him with a slow smile when he looked her way again, before closing the door at his back. She hugged herself, still smiling and treasuring the remnants of their interlude.
Minutes passed, her expression sobering while she contemplated. Her bag was within reaching distance on the bed. It took but a few seconds to drag her phone from inside and locate the number she wanted.
