Moron.
“You’re an idiot, get the fuck out of my ring,” she sighed. “Next.”
Monte went up and Monte’s ass came right back down. None of them could even land a finger on her. She was ten times better than I remembered her being.
But then again, she had spent five months training. God only knows what these fuckers had been doing in those five months…most likely blowing my…our…the family’s money away. It would’ve been funny if I wasn’t so pissed off and turned on by her all at the same time. The way she breathed, how her hair whipped back and forth, the amount of damage she did. She was beautiful, even covered in blood and sweat. It reminded me of when I first saw her.
Damn it, calm down. Calm down.
I could not face her with a hard on.
When Declan got into the ring, I grinned. I grinned so wide I must have looked like the Cheshire cat. Declan met my gaze and glared.
This is what your bitch ass gets.
But, she didn’t fight him. Instead she began to unwrap her fists.
“How many of our people have betrayed me, Declan?”
This isn’t fucking jeopardy. Kick his ass.
“Two?” he asked eyeing her carefully. “Patrick and Adriana.”
She smiled. “Wrong.”
With that she jumped up and kicked him square in the fucking jaw. The child in me wanted to fist pump. In my peripheral, I saw Coraline stand and glare into Mel’s back.
“Three. Patrick, Nelson, and Adriana,” she said as she resumed taking off her wraps. “After Patrick had been set on fire, I assumed none of you would want to follow in his footsteps. But I was mistaken. Loyalty is the price you pay to us. Every moment of every second, your life’s goal is to please us. And yet I know one you cocksuckers is still stupid enough to try and one up us. Patrick, Nelson, and Adriana are all dead. I will find you. I will break you. And when I do, you will have to crawl into hell to find relief. No one has the benefit of the doubt. I do not trust any of you. It saddens me that it has to be this way, but it is what you all chose. If I think you are betraying us, I will torture and kill you, slowly. Blood…” She looked at Declan, Neal, Olivia, Sedric, and Coraline. “Or not. I have my own to protect, and if you think that in any way makes me weak, you are sorely mistaken.”
Glancing outwards, she waited for me to add something as if I had anything else to add to her display of power.
“Things are going to change,” I said to them all as I walked towards the ring. “From now on, we will personally call on you at random, even if it’s to tie my fucking shoe. If you fail, you will die. If you disappoint me, you will die. If we have to remind you of something twice, you will die. I hope your vacation was well spent. You have streets to run, correct? If I were you, and I’m glad I’m not, I would start double checking them. I feel like I’m losing the money. How about you, dear?”
Mel raised an eyebrow and frowned. “My pockets do feel lighter.”
“So why are you all still here?” I snapped at them. “Do your jobs and make us fucking giddy!”
They left quickly, trying to hold on to any sliver of pride they had left.
“Liam, can we talk?” Neal asked me.
“Is it about our personal lives?” I questioned, as I entered the ring with Mel. I knew he had to take over much of the family business while I was away, and I was going to make sure he knew that that had only been temporary. Power was far more addicting than any drug. He had tasted it and my instincts told me to trust him least of all.
“It can wait.” He frowned, taking a step back.
“Mel, I’ve scheduled interviews…” Coraline started to say but my wife cut her off.
“Why?”
“We need the image boost, it must be done,” I interrupted. Mel and I locked eyes. “We’re going to need a moment.”
She looked so beautiful.
“Why get me alone, so you can keep calling me an idiot for not running to you?” Mel questioned once they left.
“Why waste my breath, Melody, you don’t give a fuck anyway,” I snapped at her.
“Don’t speak for me, Liam Callahan, especially when you do not know what you’re talking about—”
“Don’t I? You are—”
Before I could get the words out, her fist came flying towards my face so quickly I didn’t even have time to think. I just reacted. I kicked into her side and she flew back. It was an automatic response, not something that was deliberately done. I thought I’d enjoy watching her hurt, but looking at her as she crumbled to the ring’s floor just made my heart lurch. I couldn’t look at her anymore.
“I’m not in the mood to play anymore of your games.”
I didn’t want to do this.
“Good fucking thing this isn’t about you!” she hissed, and once she was up again, and her fist flew.
I grabbed onto it and she headed butted me square in the jaw, causing me to squeeze tightly, and pull down on her arm. She elbowed me in the face and I grabbed her by the neck and pinned her to the ground. Her fingers pressed into my eyes, and her legs snaked around my waist as she tried to blind me.
“I will hurt you,” I sneered through clenched teeth, as I squeezed her neck even harder.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” she sneered through a wheeze.
What the fuck did that mean?
Letting go of her, I saw the marks on her neck from my hand and tried to back away slowly, but she held me in place.
My eyes went to her breasts as they rose with each passing breath. With one hand, she grabbed my hair and pulled me down to her lips.
It felt like home and I couldn’t resist biting into her bottom lip. Using my tongue, I begged for entrance and couldn’t stop the groan from escaping as I felt her tongue collide with my own. I cupped her breast and groaned even louder as she pressed into me.
God, I fucking missed—no!
Forcing her legs to release me, I freed myself and moved as far away from her as possible.
“I can’t.”
I turned away and tried to leave.
“I want a divorce,” she called out behind me.
What?
I couldn’t even think enough to form words. How dare she? Turning back to her, I stared into her eyes, she didn’t move. Instead, she lay on the floor where I’d left her, staring up at me.
“You want a divorce?”
MELODY
I knew him, his blood was boiling. This cold block of ice he was fronting…like he wasn’t mine. He was like this to outsiders and I was his wife. So I took his options off the table. He wasn’t going to be able to just glaze over this. He was going to have to assert his dominance another way. It was who he was.
Come on, Liam.
“You want one and so do I. It’s better this way, then we won’t continue to hurt each other,” I replied, as I got up off the floor.
His nose flared as he walked forward and grabbed onto my arm. He pulled me towards him taking my lips with his, they were hard and hot. I felt his hands grabbing at my body before finding purchase on my top, both of his hands pulled, ripping it off of me.
“Liam—” I moaned into his mouth as I pull at his belt.
“Don’t talk,” he muttered as he kissed my neck. We fell towards the hollow floor of the ring together. His hands once again roughly finding a place on my body, he pulled so hard on my leggings that they ripped. His breathing matched mine; short and fast. My own hands found themselves in his hair, tugging and caressing him. I could feel him tugging on his trousers and before I could register him at my entrance, he slammed himself into me, over and over again with a relentless and punishing pace.