A Monster Is Coming, page 6
It was five o’clock on Monday morning, I’d already put the kettle on, and checked the fridge to find only a few essentials. Enough for breakfast, and maybe a couple of meals. She’d already told me she ate at the diner for lunch. It was one of the perks of working there.
I also noticed she didn’t have a lot of cutlery. There was enough for two people, I imagined because it was cheaper to buy in twos than to go singular.
I had set the small table in the kitchen when Niamh suddenly appeared. She was dressed in her gym clothes, and she held a small backpack. This is the bag I knew she carried at all times.
“Peter,” she said.
“Niamh.” I nod at her. “I would have made you breakfast, but I get the sense you’re a cereal kind of girl.” Also, she didn’t have any bacon or eggs in the fridge.
“Uh, yeah, I’m not a big breakfast person.”
“And you like instant coffee,” I said, holding up my mug.
She looked like she wanted to run away.
Kissing her last night had been the first step, but I had felt how tense she had gotten in my arms, which was why I slumped as if I was about to fall asleep.
“Yeah, I like instant. It’s … cheap,” she said, pressing her lips together. I saw how flushed her cheeks were and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was thinking about me and that kiss last night. I hoped that was exactly what she was thinking about.
I knew I enjoyed the feel of her lips. They were soft and plump. In fact, glancing down the length of her body, which I knew she’d gotten completely covered, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to fuck her.
Ivan had given me the mission. I’d do what he said, but now, I had a feeling I would actually enjoy fucking this woman. She’s pretty. Skittish, but pretty.
Over the past four weeks, I had come to love her eyes. That twinkle she couldn’t quite disguise when she had figured something out, or she’d been able to do something. She was breathtaking.
I poured her a mug of coffee and placed it on the table where the milk, sugar, and cereal were waiting.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, pulling out her seat and sitting down.
“Fine.”
“Fine? No hangover? No need for some magical cure to help ease your poor head?”
I shrugged. “I don’t get hungover.” Not exactly a lie. I don’t drink enough to ever get hungover.
People took advantage of drunks, and I made sure I was never put in a compromising position, so it would never happen to me.
“You know, a lot of people are going to hate you,” she said, smiling. “So, if you don’t get hungover, do you forget things?”
“I remember I kissed you last night.”
She stopped pouring cereal out and glanced over at me. I stared right at her, and I watched her cheeks go flush.
“Oh,” she said.
“Do you want to talk to me about that?”
“It’s fine. It was a mistake and you were drunk and it is never going to happen again. We don’t have to talk about it.”
She was cute when she rambled.
“It wasn’t a mistake.”
She jerked the cereal up, and several pieces spilled out of the top, landing on the table, and a few ended up on the floor. I made her nervous.
“I, uh, I don’t think we should talk about this.”
“Talk about what? The fact that since I first saw you at the diner, I’ve been thinking about kissing you?” I asked.
“You shouldn’t say those things.”
“Don’t you like the truth?”
She pushed her chair back and took a step away. I got to my feet, and it didn’t take me long to close the distance she was trying to create. Nor was it hard to manipulate her movements and have her pressed up against the door of the fridge, with no way to escape.
If, for even a second, I thought she was afraid, I’d back away. I’m not here to scare her. I’m here to … well, arouse her. To get this party started.
I couldn’t waste more time with bounty hunters on the loose, potentially tracking her down. Putting both of my hands on either side of her head, I stared into her eyes.
“Peter?”
“What’s the matter? Are you afraid of me?”
“I … no, I’ m not afraid of you.”
“Then what is wrong?”
“There are other women who want you, and they will do anything you want.”
I close the distance between us, so that she could feel the hard ridge of my cock pressing against her stomach. “No other woman makes me feel like that.” I had to stop playing the long game, and instead play the short game.
Ivan, for whatever reason, needed this woman pregnant. It was my job to get her pregnant, and training her, touching her, wasn’t doing the trick. I could no longer attempt to flirt or take my time. I needed to get into her pants, fast.
“Peter?” she asked.
“Is there another guy?” I asked. “Is that why you don’t want me? There is someone else you want.”
“I don’t know what to do with this. I’ve never been put in this position. I … I…”
She was struggling and that was when I realized something. Niamh didn’t have a clue what was happening right now. Even though her father was Finn Byrne, and I had been under the assumption she knew exactly what was going on—sex, fucking, making love, whatever word people wanted to call it—Niamh didn’t have a clue. I was attempting to seduce a woman who’d never experienced it. Did Ivan even know this?
I didn’t know the extent of the abuse she’d suffered at the hands of her father. All I could do was make assumptions.
Sinking my fingers into her hair, I decided to just go for it, and I took possession of her lips, kissing her hard. She gasped, and I used that to my advantage, plunging my tongue into her mouth, and hearing her moan. She tasted like mint toothpaste. She’d not even gotten to sip her coffee, and her cereal wasn’t eaten.
Niamh smelled good, and she tasted good. I ran my other hand down her body, and knew she felt good as well.
My arousal wasn’t forced. I wanted to be inside her. This was not going to be a hard task.
All too soon, Niamh pulled away and nibbled the corner of her lip. “I don’t know what to do,” she said.
I think it could be the most honest she had ever been with me.
“Normally, you kiss me back.”
“I, uh, Peter, I … Pickle Quest is not my home. I don’t intend to stay here too long.”
“You’re moving on?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned. “I don’t know, when it’s the right time. I’m traveling, you know. Making enough to be able to move on.”
Now that was a lie, but I wasn’t going to call her out on it. Niamh wasn’t leaving Pickle Quest alone.
“Then how about you and I have some fun while we’re at it?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I can’t have fun.”
I wasn’t going to be swayed. Winking at her, I pulled her in and kissed her again.
****
Niamh
I didn’t want to go to the pool that morning, but Peter was a giant pain in the ass, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He drove me to the gym and told me to hurry up. We did the usual warm-up, only this time as he helped me into certain positions, I wondered if he was doing it on purpose. His fingers seemed to linger, like he wanted to remind me of his hands on me this morning.
It was impossible to forget the kisses Peter had given me. The one last night and the few this morning. Even when we were alone at the gym, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to kiss me again. He didn’t.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. That was all I could think about—him and kisses, and so much more.
This was totally inappropriate and insane, and so many different things all wrapped into one. I shouldn’t be thinking or feeling this way. It was only a matter of time before I had to leave Pickle Quest, and I didn’t really know Peter.
Getting into any kind of relationship came with serious consequences. My father would kill him. Not out of any parental concern, but because he was my dad. He would do anything to hurt me, especially if he thought I had feelings for Peter. Which I didn’t.
I didn’t know what love was, or how you were supposed to feel about a man. I didn’t even love my parents. To me, love was a feeling that was meant to be strong. It was a feeling that had power over everything else. I wasn’t stupid, I didn’t think love would heal all wounds or any of that crap. I knew love had the ability to make pain heal.
I didn’t know why I was thinking about this now. The lunch shift had already come and gone. Now was the lull, when I cleaned tables and filled empty containers. Customers didn’t like when salt or pepper were out. I also had to replace mayonnaise.
Taking a deep breath, I glanced around the diner, checked to see the familiar faces, trying to make sure no one snuck up on me. I’d been tempted to phone my mother lately, to see if I could get an update. I know she’d lie for my father. If I called her, that might alert her to my presence. This was all insane.
This was the part of running away I didn’t think about. The part of not knowing what he was doing. If he even cared what was happening. I didn’t even know if my father was out looking for me. There was no way to get in touch. I hated this. All I wanted was to live my life as far away from him as humanly possible.
I wanted to be alone and be free. I didn’t know if I would ever get that.
Being the bastard daughter, I thought I would have more freedom. I wasn’t a good enough child for him, and yet there were times I did feel more trapped by being this person to him. What did he want with me? If I wasn’t a good enough daughter, why bother to find me? I could spend days trying to figure something out, but the truth was, I think it was a power trip for him.
Why did Peter have to do this? I didn’t like the challenges this caused.
That kiss shouldn’t mean anything. I was a woman of twenty-five and yet, that was my first kiss. But it was just a kiss. People kissed each other all the time and it didn’t have to mean anything. For all I knew, Peter was just using me to have his own fun, and that wasn’t a problem. Or was it?
I was so confused now.
The lull picked up for the dinner rush, and I was pleased to not think about Peter. It would only be a matter of hours before he was waiting for me, or maybe he wouldn’t be. Maybe one of the women who kept flirting with him at the gym would finally pique his interest.
I was not free now. I didn’t have the freedom to kiss a random guy.
The minutes ticked by, and finally, the dinner rush came to an end, and all too soon, I finished helping with the cleanup, and then it was my time to leave.
The other waitresses were used to my lack of conversation. I didn’t make friends easily as a kid, or as a grown-up. It was hard to make friends when you didn’t know how your parents were going to react. My mother didn’t like me bringing friends around. She always wanted to make sure her home was free and available to Finn at all times.
Seeing as he didn’t do everything legal, that meant no friends. It probably didn’t help matters that I was also socially awkward. Like with Peter. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.
He kissed me, and I pretty much stood there like a statue, not sure what to do next. He must be so embarrassed of me.
Stepping out into the night, I was not surprised to see him waiting for me. Like so many times before, he leaned against his car.
“You know, you don’t have to wait for me. If you’ve got stuff to do, I’m happy to walk home on my own.” I’d been doing it before he came around.
He released a sigh and stepped closer. “I know you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, but this time I’m not going to let you be.” He pulled open the door to his car. “Come on. I’m taking you back to my place.”
“Your place?” There was no way I was getting into that car. Maybe this is what it was all about. Luring me into a false sense of security, and when my guard was down, he would throw me into his prison cell. It made perfect sense to me. I was a little afraid. Who wouldn’t be?
Peter closed the distance between us. I should learn to turn on my heel and run, but I have a problem. When under threat, I can’t seem to make myself move. It was impossible.
Suddenly, he gripped the back of my neck, and before I even knew what was happening, his lips were close to mine. I couldn’t think or form any words. I was at his mercy.
“Trust me.”
And then he kissed me. At first, it started out soft, gentle, almost the merest breath of a whisper. Until he changed, and then I found myself putting my hands on his chest. Only, I wasn’t pushing him away, but in fact fighting for him to get closer to me.
That was what I wanted—him, as close as possible, which made absolutely no sense.
****
The Beast
I was used to wiping away blood from my hands. It was no different than wiping dust, or engine oil, dirt of any kind. The man that was now dead was part of Finn Byrne’s clan. He’d been getting a little too close to Ivan Volkov’s current problem.
Speaking of Ivan, he chose that moment to step inside the mess. We were currently working from an abandoned warehouse. I’d already called my cleaning crew and they were on the way over. Ivan needed to be gone before they arrived.
“What did you find out?” Ivan asked, not even bothering to glance at the body.
I found this odd. Ivan was a mystery to me. On the one hand, he seemed to be the meddling sort, always sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. Then there were times he seemed to always be one step ahead of everyone else, while also maintaining this rather blasé exterior.
“Not a whole lot. Some stuff we already knew. He’s planning to start with your area six. Other than that, this guy didn’t get too close to Finn Byrne.” I thought it was clever of me to refer to all of Ivan’s Brigadiers as areas. It didn’t matter who was in control. Area six felt a lot quicker than, say, Oleg Pavlov’s territory before he died, very wordy. Area six was much better. The same area I knew Ivan had offered to me and … The Butcher.
There was no way I was sharing any territory with that bitch. She was a fucking nightmare. It was bad enough having to deal with the same problem with her.
I liked to think of myself as finesse, while she … well, it was a complete and total nightmare and shit show. The Butcher didn’t care about the mess she left behind, whereas I did.
“Makes sense,” Ivan said.
See, I just told him that another bad guy intended to take over his turf, and he didn’t seem to care. It wasn’t like it was news to him. I doubt it was. The man had been in charge of the Volkov Bratva, and where the previous Bratva had a small territory, they hadn’t thought big, like Ivan. He’d already made ten times the Bratva than his previous predecessor.
Like now, Ivan walked to take a seat in the corner of the room. He stared at the mess of the man that was now dead, and it was like he was staring into space. Death didn’t bother him.
“The word has been put out. Finn Byrne is looking for his daughter. It now doesn’t just extend to the bounty hunters. He’s got men and women, anyone who wants the reward.”
“How much is the reward?” Ivan asked.
I didn’t know if Ivan was curious because he wanted the reward, or if he was just curious.
“A thousand.”
Not going to lie, a thousand bucks to find someone’s daughter wasn’t exactly a great incentive. Finn Byrne was pretty much announcing to the whole world that even though he had a daughter and wanted her, she wasn’t that important. To me, this meant she could end up back in her father’s care a little more broken than when I found her.
“That it?” Ivan asked, and then laughed.
“Do you think he knows the danger he is putting his daughter in?” I asked. I wasn’t sure exactly how much Ivan knew of Finn. As far as I was aware the two had never crossed paths, not personally.
Ivan may have pushed Finn Byrne out of his territory, but he’d been losing it long before Ivan came along.
“He knows,” Ivan said.
Once again, he was this mystery man. I didn’t know if he was upset or didn’t give a fuck.
Tapping my fingers against my leg, I continued to stare at Ivan. He wasn’t exactly known for small talk, and I wasn’t used to having anyone look at my craftsmanship.
“Can I ask you a question?” I said. Even if Ivan said no, I was going to ask it. I was merely attempting to sound polite. Didn’t mean I was going to be polite.
“What?” Ivan asked.
“What does this girl mean to you? I mean, she’s no one. She’s not important. Even her father hasn’t put a high enough price tag on her head, and she also ran away, which tells me she is either a brat or knows what the hell she is doing.”
Ivan smiled at me, and it wasn’t a nice smile. This was the deadly side of Ivan. The one no one could read. “That’s none of your business.”
“Seeing as I’m here, cleaning up any problem Peter and Niamh might have, I figured I had a right to be in the know.”
Silence filled the space between us. If it were anyone else, I’d have killed them. Ivan wasn’t just anyone.
It took a lot for me to be afraid. Living my life, surviving day to day, the life I led, what I did for a living, I was used to basking in fear, and channeling it into my work. There was a price tag on my head, and so far, no one had been able to take me out. No one would either, that was how good I was. Also, the fear of what I’d do. Most people that put a hit out on me didn’t last the week. So, even though there was a price on my head, it never lasted.
I didn’t expect Ivan to answer, but when he started speaking I turned toward him.
“Let’s just say, Niamh helped me at a time that I needed it.”
I waited for more, but he didn’t say another word. So now, I had more questions than answers. How the fuck did Niamh Byrne help someone like Ivan Volkov?
