The Virgin Duet Read online

  Immediately, I pull out my cell and start calling Hank. When he doesn’t pick up, I know it’s bad. I try three more times just to be sure, and when there’s still no answer I give up. I’ve got to get Tink out of here before I can worry about Hank. He’s a big boy and well trained. If he’s not dead, he’ll find a way home.

  “Here,” Dr. Long says, and hands me her keys. “I’m parked in the private lot out back, take my car and get out of here safely. Rebecca is a little shaken up, but otherwise okay to leave. I have no idea how the press found out you were here, but I’ll find out and take care of it. I promise you this won’t happen again. I can come to your home for visits from now on.”

  “That would be much appreciated, thank you,” I say, and pick Tink up.

  “I can walk, Bray,” she whispers in my ear, but I ignore her. We both know Hank being gone isn’t a good sign and if this is the only thing I can do right now to protect her, I will.

  “This is why we don’t leave the penthouse,” I say through gritted teeth. I’ll never get used to how bad the press can be and how harassing they are. I just get better at hiding in my tower and only coming out for work and certain events.

  “Take us back, I’m scared.”

  “I’ve got you. No one will touch my fairy.”

  “Still no answer?” Tink asks from the tub.

  “None. And his tracker is off. His phone must have been disabled. I’ve called a few people and they are looking into it.” As soon as we got back I put her in a warm bath to relax while I made phone calls.

  I talked to five of my guys that I use besides Hank and the last trace we can get is near Nico’s club. I’m not shocked in the least. I’m also pretty sure Nico is the one who let the media know about the baby and where we were to cause a scene. I’m sure he’s disappointed he didn’t get Rebecca at the same time, and my rage boils at the thought.

  “Maybe you should come get in the bath with me for a bit. I think you need to relax, too.”

  “You and I both know what will happen if I get in that bath.”

  Tink giggles a little and spreads her arms wide as if in invitation. “That's the point, Vanilla.” It amazes me how easily she’s able to emotionally process things in a situation like this, but then I remind myself that she’s had a hard life too, and this isn’t the worst thing she’s been through.

  “All right, but no funny business,” I say, and she gives me a wicked smile.

  I strip down and get in the tub behind her, letting the ungodly amount of bubbles surround us.

  “How many bottles of bubble bath did you use?”

  “Don’t act like you don’t enjoy them. Look at all the fun we can have,” she says, and turns around in my arms. She’s giving me a big smile and then leans back a little at my questioning face.

  “What kind of fun can we have with bubbles?”

  “Well, for example, these are edible bubbles.”

  “What?” I ask in confusion.

  “I picked them up before I um…took off.” She hesitates at her own words but quickly covers it up. “And they are still here, so I thought I would use them.” I can see she’s hesitant to mention when she left me, but having her with me now takes away those dark clouds.

  “So we can eat our bath? I love you, Tink, but that seems a bit much.”

  She giggles and leans back a little more. “I love you too. Suit yourself, but I thought for sure you’d want a taste.” At that moment she grabs her breasts and pushed them together, letting the bubbles pile up in her cleavage. She leans down a little and licks the crease covered in bubbles and my hard cock is now at fully erect and at a painful level. I’m not sure if it’s gone down in the past twenty-four hours.

  “Mmmm, Vanilla. Not bad,” she says, and goes back to licking her breasts.

  I snap and pull her hands away, letting her breasts go. They bounce a little, and I lick my lips, needing to taste them myself. I pull her to me and make her straddle my lap, while my mouth finds her nipples covered in the sweet suds. I lick and suckand moan around her skin and I feel her lean down and put her tongue on my neck.

  “Fuck,” I moan around her nipple. “This is the best idea you’ve ever had.”

  Before I know it, my cock is inside her and we’re kissing and tasting our vanilla-coated skin as I fuck her slowly. When we both finally cum, we decide to take a shower and rinse off the sticky mess. When the shower leads to more sticky messes we give up trying to get clean, and I put her to bed.

  “Sleep for a little, Tink. When you wake up, I’ll have some food ready.” She’s barely conscious enough to nod her head against the pillow before I hear her even breathing.

  BECS

  “Wake up, my little fairy.”

  I feel Bray’s warm lips on my cheek. I love when he wakes me like this. I crashed hard after our bath. I’m not sure if it’s the baby or the events that have happened over the past few days, but I was exhausted. Maybe it is a little bit of both. I can’t remember how I made it to the bed, or how long I’ve been asleep. Reaching out, I try to pull Bray to me, but he resists.

  When I open my eyes, I can see the worry on his face. It’s such a big change from the man he was when I met him. Instead of ice-cold indifference all the time, he lets some of his feelings show. Maybe I’ve just learned to read him better, but either way it warms me to have that now.

  “What’s wrong?” I question, sitting up in bed. The soft light flooding the room indicating I’ve only been asleep for a little while, because the sun is just setting.

  “They found Hank. He’s fine,” he finishes before I can ask if he’s okay. But he can’t be fine from the look on Bray’s face.

  “What’s wrong then?”

  “They said someone knocked him on the back of the head. He’s been in the hospital and just woke up. They had no idea who he was because he didn’t have anything on him.”

  “Oh my God! But he’s okay? Was it a robbery?” I pepper him with questions as I try to get up from the bed. We should get to the hospital and check on him.

  “Tink, calm down, he’s fine, like I said. It’s just, I should go see him and—“

  “Then let’s go. What are we waiting for?” I say, rising from the bed in search of clothing. I put on cotton pants and grab one of Bray’s Harvard University shirts before slipping on some flip flops. When I turn I see Bray sitting on the bed watching with a worried look still on his face.

  Cupping his face I try to reassure him. I know Hank’s been with him forever. “Bray, you said he’s fine. There’s no need to worry.”

  Pulling me into his lap he buries his face in my hair.

  “It’s not just that. I don’t want to take you out of the here after what happened, and I also don’t want to leave you alone.”

  “I promise I won’t run again.” I feel his body stiffen at my words. I know we still have so much to work through, but I want him to know that I won’t do that to him again. It only makes me miserable, being without him. I ran because I thought I couldn’t fit into his world but I don’t care if I do anymore. We can live in our own world if that is how it has to be. I’d rather stay in the bubble he’s made for us, than live outside it without him.

  “You’re never leaving me again,” he says through clenched teeth and I can’t help but smile.

  “Never,” I promise. I’ve never felt so sure of anything in my life. If Bray truly wants me here, then I’ll be here. After my confirmation, I feel some of the tension leave his body.

  “You can’t keep me trapped up here forever.”

  “I know. Trust me, I’ve thought about it enough times, and I might have searched for a few castles I could hide you away in,” he says, pulling back and looking at me. His clear gray eyes search mine as if gauging my reaction. What reaction, I’m not certain, but I do know he’s not joking.

  “Bray, if you’ll feel better having me stay here, then I will. If you want me to go with you, then we’ll do that. But like I said, I’m not leaving you,” I reassure hi
m once again. I know what he’s saying is deeper than just about tonight. The way he’s been acting since I’ve returned also has me rethinking a lot of things. That maybe I’ve been misunderstanding him.

  “I think it would be best—” Bray’s words are cut off by the sound of the front door opening. The sound is faint but it’s the only thing it can be. I remember Bray giving me his spare key, and his telling me there’s only a couple of people who have one. I’ve never known anyone to just walk into his home in all the time I’ve lived here.

  “Stay here,” he says, placing me on the bed and storming from the room.

  Moments later I hear shouting.

  “She’s not here!” Bray yells.

  “Yeah, fucking right. I see the way you look at her. Trust me, I know that look.” Nico’s voice sends chills through my body. My stomach turns at the reminder of the time I spent with him. He’s freaking crazy. My priority is keeping the baby safe, so I try to think fast.

  Picking up the phone on the nightstand, I call 911 and rattle off the address before hanging up, ignoring the woman's questions on the other end of the line.

  “You want the ransom, you got it. I’ll pay it and you disappear,” I hear Bray say as I slowly sneak down the hallway to get a better look at what’s happening. Maybe I can give Bray a sign the police are on their way. I’m not sure if he knows just how crazy Nico really is.

  “Let me ask you something, Mr. Hotshot. What price would you take for her, if the tables were turned?”

  “Nothing!” Bray snaps out instantly.

  “Then you know how I feel.”

  “I’ll never tell you where she is.”

  “I thought so. But a couple bullet holes in you might change your mind, or she might just come out on her own at the sound of you screaming.”

  Nico’s words are like daggers to my heart. I finally have a family and it’s about to be ripped from me. I got Bray into this, and now he might lose his life over it. If I can just stall maybe the police will get here in time. I can stop him from hurting Bray. I know he doesn’t want to kill me. Hurt me, maybe, but you never know with fucking crazy.

  When I reach the end of the hallway, Bray is facing the entryway. His eyes snap over to mine, and we both know he just made a mistake.

  “Come out, Becs. Or do you really want me to shoot him?”

  Bray shakes his head at me, but I know I have to. What choice do I really have? Rounding the corner I see Nico standing in the entryway with a gun pointed right at Bray. His eyes look wild, and I can tell he’s using. His usually tan skin is now pale with a sheen of sweat. His dark hair is messy and unkempt, and it looks like he hasn’t seen a shower in a few days. He’s still as big as ever, but he’s so twitchy from the drugs that it’s like he’s scarier. I’ve seen the same look on my brother’s face.

  “Nico, please,” I plead, placing myself between him and Bray. “I’ll come with you, just let me get my things.” It’s all I can think of to say in order to stall for time. But he shuts that down quickly.

  “No, you don’t need anything. Come over here and kiss me.”

  Jesus, he’s fucking crazy. I think his obsession with me started because I was the first person to tell him no. I didn’t fall at his feet and do what he said, so he saw me as a challenge. Now, with all the drugs floating around in his head, his fixation on me has eaten away at his sanity.

  Bray growls from behind me, and I turn in time to stop him from charging forward. Nico laughs and points his gun at my head, and we both stop moving completely.

  “Nico! Calm down,” I say. “I’ll leave with you. Please, just don’t hurt him. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  “Do that again and I’ll shoot her.” He glares over at Bray who looks like he might explode any minute, but puts his hands up. “In fact I think it’s time for a lesson in manners. How about I let Becs suck my cock, and if she does it good enough, I’ll let you live.”

  “Over my fucking dead body,” Bray seethes. I can feel the anger roll off of him in waves, filling the room with it.

  Nico aims his gun back over at Bray. “That can be arranged,” he taunts, and I have no doubt he means what he’s saying. He’s looking for a reason to hurt Bray.

  “You’re fucking crazy,” I yell, trying to get his attention back on me. Just a little more time, I reassure myself.

  “I’m crazy? I’m fucking crazy? Did lover boy over there tell you his father killed his mother because he was so obsessed with her? Crazy is what you get if you stay here. I mean look at the guy. It will only be a matter of time before that happens to you.”

  My heart breaks for Bray. I know what he told me was painful and having Nico throw it in his face must hurt.

  “See, he didn’t even deny it, did he? You that obsessed with her?” Nico asks, drawing our eyes over to Bray. I can see the shame he feels at the question. But isn’t this the pot calling the kettle black? At least Bray’s obsession is loving and caring. Nico’s is just fucked up.

  “You’re right, I’ll go with you like I said I would.”

  “That wasn’t up for debate, Becs. What is up for debate is how bad you want Bray over there to live. I want a little payback for him taking you from me. Does he know you showed me your pussy? That I got off at the sight of it?”

  Bray takes two steps forward at Nico’s taunt, making him point his gun back at me. This time it’s aimed at my stomach. “Tsk, tsk,” he says with a smirk on his mouth. “Now, come over here and get on your knees, Becs. I won’t ask again.”

  Before I can move, I catch movement behind Nico, causing him to turn. Suddenly, two shots ring out from the entryway. I panic and drop to the floor shielding my stomach, and I feel a body blanket over the top of me. I know instantly it's Bray covering my body with his. His smell fills my lungs, and I try to focus on that instead of how scared I am.

  “He’s dead.”

  I jerk at the words, knowing who they came from.

  “Sam!” I gasp, trying to break out from under Bray. He realizes my intentions and helps me up. When I try to go to Sam, he wraps an arm around me and holds me back.

  Sam looks like he’s taken a good beating, and hasn't slept in days. Almost a shell of his former self.

  “I’m so sorry, Becs. God, I’m so fucking sorry. You’re all I have in the world and I did this to you.”

  Before I can respond, the room is flooded with cops. They spot Sam holding the gun and he’s slammed to the ground. It’s then I finally notice the white marble floor covered with Nico’s blood, his unmoving body in the center of it.

  The next hours are chaos. I’m never far from Bray’s reach as he gives me comforting touches, but he seems distant once again. He tells me he’ll hire my brother the best lawyer he can find, get him the help and rehab that he needs.

  It turns out that Nico got into Bray’s place by knocking Hank out and taking his keys. All the information is a lot to take in but I feel relief in it all. It’s all over with. What’s done is done and the rest will have to play out, but I’m safe, Bray’s safe, and most importantly our baby is too. Maybe some good will come out of this and Sam will get the help he needs.

  I look over at Bray who stares at me with pleading eyes, like I’m no longer his. I can’t wait for everyone to leave, because if Bray thinks I’m no longer his, he has another think coming.

  Freshly showered, I sit in the middle of our bed, waiting for him to finish his shower. After everyone cleared out I excused myself to clean away the filth I felt was on my skin. I was in the shower for over twenty minutes before I realized Bray wouldn’t be joining me.

  When I finally came out he was just sitting on the end of the bed with his head in his hands. When I tried to brush my fingers through his hair he flinched away from me and mumbled that he was taking his own shower now that I was out. Thirty minutes later, he’s still in there. I think he is trying to outlast me. Hoping I pass out before he comes out. Not happening.

  “You’re still awake? You should really get your
rest, Rebecca.” The use of my name only makes me glare at him.

  “What. The. Fuck. Vanilla?” I whip back at him. I have no clue what his deal is.

  “Let’s not do this tonight, get some rest and we’ll talk about it in the morning,” he says in a defeated voice. I’m tired as fuck, but I’m more tired of the ‘we’ll talk about it later’ shit.

  “No, now. You were hoping I would be asleep, weren't you? Just admit it. You didn’t want to talk to me.”

  Making his way over to the bed, he sits down next to me, brushing a finger up my jaw before tucking my hair behind my hair.

  “You need new color. This has washed out too much. I got you more dye. I left it on the sink. I checked, and it’s okay for pregnant women to use.”

  I roll my eyes at his statement even though I want to throw myself at him and kiss him until I can barely breathe.

  “Answer me.”

  “You’re right, I wanted you to be asleep when I came out here,” he says without telling me more. It looks like I’m going to have to pull it from him.

  “Why?” I say, dragging out the word to show my annoyance.

  “I wanted one more night. To hold you in my arms before you push me away.”

  “You’re shitting me right now, aren’t you?” It comes out harsher than I mean, but I wasn’t expecting him to say that. I’m not really sure what I thought he was going to say if I’m honest with myself. Maybe that I am more trouble than I’m worth. It feels like he is pushing me away, but Nico’s words ring in my head. ‘He’s obsessed with you.’ The idea of Bray being obsessed with me thrills me. Hell, it turns me on.

  I climb onto his lap ignoring the shock on his face. “Because you’re obsessed with me?” I taunt, letting a smile play on my lips. His eyes jerk up to mine and he just stares at me and says nothing. “Are you going to lock me in a room and never let me out?” I joke.