Bad Decisions Read online

  She cried out, “Don’t stop!” and I vowed to keep up the pace until she shattered in my arms. She made me feel like a beast, wild and invincible. “Yesss!” Keira shuddered and clenched all around me. My cock pulsed with pleasure as I followed her. I unloaded, blind with ecstasy as I tumbled into a black hole, lost to everything but the feeling of Keira all around me.

  I rolled off her, breathing hard. “I came inside you,” I said when I could breathe again. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  Keira rolled to her side with a smile. “I’m on the pill.”

  I should’ve been relieved but a part of me was disappointed. Spare me the lecture — I knew it was reckless of me to want to knock up Keira — but nothing would’ve made me happier to know I’d put a baby in her belly.

  “When this is all over…” I palmed her naked stomach “I’m going to put a baby in there.” Her sad smile told me she wasn’t sure that was ever going to happen. “This will end,” I promised. “And we’re going to win.”

  “How?” she asked.

  “It’s real simple, babe. Rey is going to come for you and when he does, I’m going to put a bullet in his fucking brain.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “Don’t cry for him, sweetheart. He’s not the man you grew up with. I don’t know who or what he’s become now but he’s fucking evil and he has to die.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “Why does it hurt though? I hate him for what he did but…for some reason, I still care. I’m not right in the head, either, I guess.”

  I wouldn’t listen to that bullshit. “Abused kids still love their abusers. You know how that works. A part of you wants Rey to be the kid who protected you when you were young but that kid is gone. The sooner you accept that fact, the easier it will be to cut ties.”

  She nodded, glancing at me with forlorn hope. “Do you really think it’s possible to start over after everything we’ve been through? After what I did to you?”

  “Baby,” I said, cupping her face. “There’s nothing to forgive. You did what you thought was best.”

  “I fucked up,” Keira said. “I should’ve trusted you. If I’d left with you that night instead of listening to Rey, we could’ve disappeared together.”

  “Maybe. Or maybe Rey would’ve tracked us down and killed us when we least expected it. No sense in looking backward, baby girl, ‘cuz we’re not going that way. Gotta move forward.”

  “Stop being so forgiving. You should hate me for what I did,” Keira said, tracing her fingers with a light touch down my scar. “I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself.”

  “Chicks dig scars,” I said with a half-smile. “You always did say I had a baby face. Now I don’t. Gives me street cred.”

  Keira laughed in spite of the grave topic. I’d missed that sound. “You’re impossible.”

  “No, I’m just determined.”

  Keira’s smile faded beneath the weight of our situation. “Kane…”

  “Shhhh,” I said, pulling her to me. She fit perfectly against the curve of my body. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow morning will come soon enough.”

  She nodded and I grabbed the blanket to cover the both of us.

  We were asleep within minutes.

  Keira

  We rose early and Kane pampered me with breakfast — well, coffee and donuts — and for a brief moment, I forgot all about everything that was a fucking shit-show in my life.

  Tucked away in an old house in the middle of nowhere, far from any luxury or semblance of modern life, I knew true bliss.

  “So, aside from plotting revenge, what else have you been doing this last five years?”

  “Furiously jacking off to thoughts of you,” he answered with a cocky grin that sent electric arcs zinging though my body. My immediate smile in return had him saying, “Don’t go looking at me like that or I’ll bend you over this kitchen counter. You’ll be choking on this dick for breakfast.”

  I liked the sound of that. “What if that’s what I want?”

  He growled, sexy and low. “Woman, eat your fucking donut before I make good on my threat.”

  I laughed, my heart light for the first time in years.

  Of course, like most things in my life, it wasn’t to last.

  Kane’s cell rang and we both knew it was Rey.

  “Don’t answer,” I said, hating that our stolen moments were about to end. “If you don’t answer, he won’t find us.”

  Kane’s short smile was meant to reassure me that he had it all handled but my stomach was already in knots and I wanted to run. The taste of donut soured in my mouth and I thought I might be sick.

  Kane answered, holding my apprehensive gaze. “You found my message,” he said, the picture of calm as he put Rey on speaker phone.

  “You’re one dumb-ass motherfucker,” Rey said, his voice sending chills down my spine. “Where’s Keira?”

  Kane motioned for me to remain quiet. “She’s here. Come and get her. We’ve got a score to settle.”

  “You’ve got a death wish, my friend,” Rey said. “I thought you were smarter than this. You should’ve stayed gone. Now I have to kill you.” Rey sounded pleased at the prospect of ending Kane’s life. I could see Rey in my mind’s eye, hear the barely contained glee in his tone.

  “You can try.”

  “Oh, I will succeed this time,” he assured Kane with smug confidence. “And I’ll make it hurt. No one touches my sister. You done fucked up royal.”

  Except you, I wanted to scream. Shame curdled my insides but Kane’s quiet strength kept my urge in check.

  “So you say,” Kane said, unfazed by Rey’s threats. “You gonna come or puss out and send one of your posse?”

  “I’ll come for you, motherfucker. I want the satisfaction of ripping out your guts and feeding them to you.” A beat followed before Rey said, “Put Keira on the phone. How do I know she’s alive? She betrayed you. Why would you keep her alive?”

  Kane let the silence balloon between them before he answered, “She’s alive.”

  “Prove it.”

  Kane motioned for me to respond. I found my voice, though it trembled. “I’m here.”

  “There. Now, let’s end this, once and for all.”

  But Rey wasn’t finished. “Keira…did you go with this fucker? How’d you let this happen? Spoiled little bitch. I knew I should’ve kept you on a shorter leash. Women…” That last part was said with such contempt I wanted to scratch his eyes out myself but Kane jumped in before I could snap back.

  “Shut the fuck up, you toxic little shit. I gave you proof that she’s alive. You have the coordinates. If you want to see Keira again, you know here to find me.” Then he clicked off.

  I released a pent-up breath. Fear soaked my muscles and I wanted to puke. “He’ll bring back-up. We’re outnumbered. I told you he won’t fight fair.”

  “You think I didn’t already plan for that?” he said with a brief smile. “Baby, I’ve had five long years to prepare for this moment. I left nothing to chance.”

  “What’s going to happen?” I asked fearfully.

  “Either we win and we go on to live our lives or we die.”

  Simple terms. Yes, that’s the way it needed to be. Black or white. We win or we fail but we wouldn’t go down without one final say in this battle.

  “Don’t let him take me,” I said, knowing my punishment would be severe if Rey got his hands on me.. “Promise me you’ll kill me before Rey can get to me.”

  “He’s never going to touch you again,” Kane promised, folding me into his arms. I sagged against his strong chest, desperate for a shred of hope against what felt like impossible odds. “If it comes down to it, I’ll take us both out.”

  An odd sense of relief flooded through me. Choosing death over forced association with Rey bolstered my nerves. If I was going to die, I would choose the way I went out. Death with the man I loved was far better than life with a man I despised and feared.

  “Let’s do this, then,” I said, determined to b
e brave. “I’m ready.”

  Kane

  I’d told the truth — I’d been preparing for this moment for five years. I’d been stockpiling cash, weapons, and building my own little empire away from the 13th Street Boys influence.

  But for what I was doing today, I went a different route. I trained with survivalists to make use of the terrain. So when Rey showed up with this posse, they were going to find themselves in a whole lot of hurt.

  I knew how Rey operated. He’d send in his disposables first, then he’d step over the carnage to be the big man of the hour. But that fucker had a rude awakening coming for him.

  I wasn’t the same man he’d sliced open five years ago. I was harder, meaner, smarter and fueled by vengeance.

  Especially now that I knew what Keira had been through at her brother’s hands.

  I hungered for Rey’s blood.

  “How’d you find this place?” Keira asked, finding me in the living room as I cleaned my gun. “I feel like we’re on the moon.”

  I chuckled. “You need to get out of the city more often.”

  “Is it crazy that I’m actually enjoying being here? I mean, it could use a woman’s touch — and modern appliances — but it’s actually kinda nice.”

  “Better than the fortress you’ve been living in with Rey?” I asked.

  She didn’t hesitate. “A thousand times better. I’ve never liked that fucking place. It’s a prison.”

  Maybe a part of me worried that Keira would miss all the money Rey’s lifestyle provided. I wasn’t dirt poor but I wasn’t anywhere near Rey’s level of cash flow. Insecurity was a bitch, right?

  But I should’ve known that Keira wasn’t about that life and never had been.

  She played a part to stay alive.

  Keira slipped her arms around my back and hugged me tight. I wanted to grow old with this woman. I wanted her to have my babies.

  But first, we needed to survive the hell that was coming for us.

  I turned to Keira. “The woods are rigged and booby-trapped. When Rey sends his men in, we’ll know.”

  Keira’s gaze turned to impressed awe. “Where’d you learn how to do that?”

  “I’ve been busy this past five years. I knew coming for Rey was going to take more than just a gun.”

  “Who are you?” she asked with a slow smile as she brushed a kiss across my lips. “And what have you done with my sweet Kane?”

  “I’m different,” I admitted “but my love for you has never changed. Trust in that, Keira. No matter what you see going forward.”

  She shivered beneath the seriousness of my gaze. “I trust you.”

  Her unwavering faith was like a warm blanket for a cold soul. I kissed her hard and deep. A loud and distant boom followed by screams broke the moment. We both looked to the window as I announced grimly, “Get ready for company, baby.”

  “What should I do?” she asked.

  “Go to the bedroom, lock the door and don’t come out until I say it’s clear.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” Keira said, the picture of stubborn sass. “We’ll face this together.”

  “You’re not leaving, you’re staying safe. I can’t do what needs to be done if I’m worrying about you.”

  “Give me a gun and you won’t have to worry.”

  I grinned, loving that she was a bad-ass. “Lucky for you, I brought extra,” I said, handing her my gun. I strode to the antique buffet and pulled out another gun I’d stashed. At Keira’s apprising look, I added with a grin, “Always be prepared. Now, get your sweet ass in that bedroom.”

  “Only because I have a gun now,” she said with a rebellious smile before disappearing behind the closed door.

  I checked the gun, made sure it was loaded and ready. It wouldn’t take long before Rey showed up, assuming his obsession for Keira was stronger than his sense of self-preservation.

  I took a defensive position and watched the booby-traps do their work. True to my estimation, Rey had sent in those he thought were disposable first. I counted four dead bodies so far. Likely, Rey had thought this was going to be a slam dunk and only brought six people for back-up, which meant there were still two people left to consider, aside from Rey.

  I heard movement. I peered out the window and saw two men creeping up on the house, heavily armed.

  I didn’t waste the bullets. They were walking straight into another trap.

  Seconds later, the agonized scream of a man caught in a hidden bear trap, bone crunching beneath iron jaws, pierced the silence.

  A shot rang out as Rey put a bullet into the man’s head, cutting off the screaming with abrupt finality. “You’ve been busy,” Rey called out. “Someone’s playing Rambo. Why don’t you come out and face me like a man instead of hiding like a rat?”

  I wouldn’t let him bait me. He was trying to get me to give up my advantage but it wasn’t going to happen. As much as I wanted to crush him with my own hands, I wasn’t going to pop off like a fucking kid. I had too much to lose to let my ego run the show.

  “No? You always were a scared little bitch,” Rey taunted with a chuckle. The direction of his voice changed as he crept closer. “You think she’s going to stick with you after all this? She’s poison, man. I tried to help you. She’s got your head all twisted, man. Trust me, she’s not worth dying for.”

  I adjusted my grip on the gun just as the back door was kicked in. I whirled but not before someone managed to bum rush me. I grunted as a bear of a man tackled me to the floor. He got in one good hit before I landed a knee to his nuts. I rolled away and came up firing. Blood splattered as the man died against the wall.

  A bullet shattered glass and seared across my shoulder, barely missing its mark by the tiniest slip of grace.

  I dropped and spun away from the direction of the shot but not before Rey kicked in the front door and started firing. I dove behind the old sofa, seeking cover but not before popping off a few rounds of my own.

  My breath was harsh as I waited and listened for signs that either Rey had been hit or he was adjusting his position.

  I prayed Keira stayed in the bedroom, hidden.

  “All this for a woman?” Rey asked, his breathing labored like mine. “Pussy is never that good, man. Dime a dozen. You could’ve been my lieutenant. We could’ve ruled together but you threw it all away, man. I always thought you were smarter than that.”

  “You’re a sick motherfucker,” I growled from behind the sofa, getting an idea of where Rey was within the house. “I know what you did to Keira.”

  “Yeah? Well, don’t let her tell you that she didn’t like it.” Rey’s chuckle made my skin crawl. “She loved every minute of it. She’s playing you, man. Getting you to play the hero when she was the aggressor. You think I didn’t fall for it, too? Man, I loved her. I never would’ve hurt her but she’s like a temptress…a devil in disguise. I was helpless.”

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked, disgusted. Rey was fucked in the head. “Taking you out is doing the world a fucking favor.”

  “Maybe…but it won’t be you, you pussy-whipped coward.”

  Suddenly bullets sprayed through the sofa, sending puffs of stuffing everywhere, narrowly missing my body as I flattened against the floor. He had a semi-automatic weapon. He’d make mincemeat out of me before I could get a better position.

  “A temptress?”

  My blood ran cold at Keira’s cold snarl. Damn it, woman, why couldn’t you stay put?

  “Hey little sister,” Rey said, almost conversationally. “I knew you went willingly. Knew it in my bones.”

  “And if I did? Would that be a surprise?”

  “No, I guess not,” he said, chuckling. “But that brings us to this moment. What to do? Once again, I’ve got your boyfriend’s life in my hands and you’re the key to saving his life. Don’t you get tired of saving his sorry ass? I’m thinking I didn’t do such a good job of teaching you to find a man of quality.” A beat of silence followed until Rey said, “So
are we going to end this and go home? Or am I going to paint the wall with your pussy ass boyfriend’s brains?”

  I slowly rose from my position to see Keira in the doorway, locked in a silent test-of-wills with her brother. Pain and rage radiated from her gaze but her hand was hidden behind her back. I knew in that moment what was going to happen and it felt right — no matter that it wasn’t going to me handing down Rey’s sentence.

  “What’s it going to be?” Rey asked, a slow grin on his smug face, believing he’d won again. “Are you going to do the right thing?”

  “I’m going to do what I should’ve done years ago.”

  I didn’t think it was possible for Keira to move that fast and neither did Rey.

  He never saw the bullet coming. One minute Rey was standing…the next, he wasn’t.

  His lifeless body crumpled to the floor in a heap, Keira’s gun still smoking as she lowered her arm to stare at the man who’d become a vicious stranger.

  “Goodbye brother,” she whispered in a choked tone. “It’s over.”

  And it truly was.

  Epilogue

  A few months later…

  * * *

  The wind ruffled my hair from the open top of the convertible as we drove the Pacific coast line toward San Francisco. The cool air was a welcome change from the stifling heat and smog of inner Los Angeles.

  I smiled into the wind, peace with me for the first time in my life.

  “God, you’re so beautiful,” Kane said, casting an appreciative look my way as he negotiated the curves of the road with a masterful touch. “If you keep looking like that I might need to pull over and get a little taste before we make it to the hotel.”

  I laughed, deep and throaty as I responded with a coy, “I wouldn’t complain” and his Adam’s apple bobbed. I knew without having to check that his cock was probably bursting through his jeans, throbbing and ready.

  I wasn’t lying. He could pull over wherever and fuck me in full view of the passing traffic, I wouldn’t mind.