Deadly Obsession Page 6

  “You're welcome Miss Cortez.” No matter how many times I ask him to call me Winter he won’t. He is extremely professional. I walk up the stairs and open my apartment door, I leave the flowers on the counter and lock the front door. I walk over to the flowers and pull out the card that’s attached. My breath catches and I cry.

  You look so pretty when you dress professionally. I’ve missed you; I can’t wait to feel you cry out as I plunge into you. Hopefully, this time, you will stay conscious throughout, and it will be in bed, I hope you enjoyed your date yesterday. It will be the last one. You’re mine Winter. Nobody else is allowed to touch you. I forgive your indiscretion since you have been so good. Do not do it again. I will not be pleased. I’ll see you soon babe.

  I text Sophia telling her he’s found me again, and I return to my old ways. I sit in the corner of the living room and rock back and forth, sobbing.

  I’m never going to be free. He’s always watching me. He knows about Sammy. I can’t let Sammy be hurt by him.

  Chapter Five

  Sam

  She was raped. Some fucking animal violated her. I want to kill someone. I had so much anger in me that I had to leave the room, she had seen too much already. I walked out of Soph’s office and into mine where I slammed the door, that didn’t help so when my eyes landed on the laptop on my desk, I grabbed it and threw it across the room, that didn’t help and neither did putting my fist in the wall.

  She told me she was attacked, I thought she meant beaten, I didn’t think she meant raped, it all makes so much sense now. I want to do something I haven’t done since Smithy died, I want to cry. How can a man justify putting his hands on a woman? How can a man rape a woman?

  I finally compose myself and go back to Soph’s office, her door is now closed. I’m about to knock when the door opens, and I’m looking into the tear stained face of Sophia. My heart clenches when seeing a woman I know is the strongest woman I know have tears in her eyes. I look to her left and see Winter has tears as well. My heart sinks at the sight.

  “Sweets can we talk?” She looks straight at me. I stop myself from flinching at the raw pain in her eyes.

  “Not right now Sam, we’re going to lunch.” My eyes widen at her calling me Sam, she never does. What the fuck is going on? I stand there for a few minutes trying to see what the hell just happened, and I’m completely lost.

  I try to focus on work, try to take my mind off things but I can’t. All I can hear is ‘I was raped’ over and over again. I think those words are going to haunt me forever. She sounded so scared, the words came out so haunted. It will probably take over the nightmares I have of Soph being tortured. It was so fucking hard to watch, seeing them whip her, hearing the crack every time it hit her back was unbearable. We tried for weeks to try and get out of those bindings and it took forever Ryder and I seemed to break free at the same time, he jumped up and went straight for Mullah, whereas I helped the others get free. We needed everyone free at the same time.

  I look at the clock and realize it’s been over two hours since they left. I get up and walk to Soph’s office, she’s not here, I walk down towards the kitchen, still no sign. I see her come in the lobby and she doesn’t stop when she sees me, she just calls out.

  “I know you want to talk, I don’t have time, I have a meeting in ten minutes and so do you.” She walks into her office and closes the door. Fuck I forgot Ryder called a meeting. Damn, I really don’t want to be here for that. I’m not in the mood for the bullshit that’s about to come my way. I don’t have a choice. I go to my desk and gather my notes and go to the conference room. Everyone is already here waiting except Sophia.

  We’re twenty minutes into the meeting when Sophia’s phone beeps, she picks it up, and the blood drains from her face. She stands and starts gathering her stuff.

  “Whoa, Soph where you going?” Oscar asks her, worry clearly evident on his face.

  “I have to go Winter needs me.” With that statement, I’m out of my seat. I don’t give a shit. I’m leaving, and nobody had better stand in my way. I see Soph go to say something.

  “Don’t. I’m going, end of discussion. I’m driving.” She glares at me, and I’d be dead if looks could kill.

  “We’ll debrief you later, Ryder,” I say not giving him a chance to respond. They all have a shocked look on their faces, I never talk this way, I’m usually laid back.

  We rush to my truck and as soon as Soph is buckled I take off. I know she’s dying to say something, Soph isn’t usually one to beat around the bush, she has something to say, she says it. I’m not disappointed.

  “I don’t understand why you’re here? Haven’t you fucked with her head enough today?” What the ever loving fuck?

  “Soph, what the hell are you talking about?” She glares at me and huffs.

  “You. You motherfucking asshole. I watched you find out my best friend who had just started to trust you announce that she thought she was back in the alley where she was raped, and what do you do? The person she spent yesterday with? The person she started trusting? What did you do? Oh yeah, that was it. You walked away! You’re a fucking coward.” FUCK! That’s why she was distant, why she called me Sam.

  “Soph, listen. I was angry. Angry that some piece of shit put their hands on her and violated her. Some bastard has her jumping at shadows. I had so much anger that I didn’t want her to see it. She had seen enough. So I went to my office, and I threw my fucking laptop across the room, and I put my fist into the wall. Not because I’m a coward.” She thinks I walked away.

  “Shit, okay Sam tell her that, she will listen.” I nod. I’m finally able to take a breath and think clearly.

  “What’s going on now?” She sighs. I hear her mumble Hulk alert, but that makes no sense.

  “Winter says the bastard found her again.” Huh? What?

  “What bastard?” I’m confused who’s found her. The next words coming out of Soph’s mouth have me on high alert.

  “Her rapist.” I swerve and press down on the brakes and turn and glare at Sophia.

  “I’m sorry but what?” she turns and faces me. The pain and anger are evident on her face

  “Okay but this has to be quick because I don’t want her alone for too long. So, he found her in Maui, he called her, I don’t know what was said, I told her to come home, and she did. Now he has found her again.” I put my foot down on the accelerator, and I speed towards my apartment. I know I shouldn’t, not with Soph in the car, but Winter needs us.

  I make it to my apartment in ten minutes. As soon as I park, Soph and I are out of the truck and running into the building. Soph pulls out her keys as we make it to the hall to our apartments, she opens the door. We walk in, and I can hear muffled crying. I quickly walk further into the apartment and stop dead in the living room. My heart clenches at the sight of Winter in a ball in the corner with her arms around her bent knees and her head on them, rocking back and forth while crying.

  I make my way over to her, and I start talking, at the sound of my voice her head pops up, and she watches me.

  “Sweets, look at me, I need to tell you something. When I walked out of Soph’s office this afternoon, it wasn’t because I gave up. It was because I had so much anger and I didn’t want you to see it. You have seen so much rage in your life already that you didn’t need to see mine too. I promise you Winter, I still want you. Nothing is going to change that.” She starts crying harder and I get closer to her and kneel down beside her.

  “He’s going to get me again. He won’t leave me alone. You’re better off without me Sammy. He will hurt you, and I can’t live with that.” I do something I’ve been wanting to do but never wanted to upset her, I reach for her and pick her up and place her on my lap.

  “Listen to me. He’s not going to hurt me, and he’s sure isn’t going to get any chance to hurt you again. Heed my words Sweets, he will die before he gets an opportunity to harm you again.” She nods and rests her head against my chest, I feel the wetness from h
er tears seeping through my shirt. “Do you believe me, Winter, I meant everything I just said including that I haven’t given up on you.” She raises her head and looks into my eyes. She must see her answer.

  “Yes Sammy, I believe you, but I don’t want anyone getting hurt.” She has so much fear in her eyes that I want to break something.

  “Don’t worry about me, I’ll take care of both of us.” She nods and lays her head back against my chest, I rub my hand up and down her back trying to comfort her, I don’t know how long we sit like this, but I feel her whole weight sag into me and her breathing even out. I know she’s asleep. Sophia comes in with a small piece of paper in her hand and her phone up to her ear.

  I stand up with Winter in my arms and carry her to her bedroom, I lay her on the bed and walk back to Sophia. She has tears streaming down her face. She walks over to me and hands me the piece of paper. I realize it’s a bit of card, I look down and read the note. I have to read it twice just because I need to make sure I’m not seeing things. That fucking dick thinks she’s his.

  Sophia walks up and wraps her arms around my waist and cries into my chest. I wrap my arms around her and hold on. I want to cry. I want to scream. I want to kill the prick that thinks it's okay to stalk the woman he’s raped.

  “You’re different around her, you’re not the laid back Sam we all know. You’re really intense when it comes to her,” Soph tells me, I know, and I don’t know what to think about that.

  “I know. I can’t help it, I see her and the vulnerability she has, and that has nothing to do with the attack. I want to protect her. I don’t know if that is a good thing or not.” I reply distractedly, I’m scared my intensity is going to scare her off.

  “It’s a good thing as long as you’re not smothering her or dictating her life,” Soph says and has no real heat behind the words, she knows I’m not like that.

  “I wouldn’t do that. You know me, Soph.” She nods and takes a step back.

  “Yeah I do. I know the man who’s a man-whore who’s never slept with the same woman twice, I know the man who doesn’t know the meaning of commitment.” I’m about to say something when she holds her hand up to stop me.

  “I also know the man who would die for me and those he loves, the man who would drop everything he was doing to help you out. The man who gives up a night with a woman to come and stay at his friend’s house because she had a dickhead after her. I don’t care that you’ve never had a girlfriend Sam, I don’t care that you’re a man-whore. Fuck I don’t even care that you got the clap.” I’m going to kill Nathan. The bastard sold me out. I told him once when his woman was scared, and he felt helpless, it was a way of easing the tension.

  “What I do care about is a man that I love who seems to have strong feelings for my best friend, doesn’t hurt her in any way. Which means you need to tell her everything, because Sam if you both pursue this and bump into one of your one-nighters’ while you’re with Winter, and because woman are jealous bitches, they find out you are now serious about someone they are going to try and rip her to shreds. You have to prepare her for that.” Damn it. I didn’t think about that. I don’t want to fuck this up, I don’t want to lose her.

  “How do I tell her that? Huh? How do you let someone you like know that you’ve fucked half the women in New York? I don’t want to hurt her.” I look at Soph and see her eyes are wide as saucers. I turn to my right and see Nathan standing there with a smug grin on his face, I have a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. Hearing Nathan speak has me dreading the next few moments.

  “You just did. That’s karma for putting your hands on my wife.” I see Sophia’s head swing his way.

  “I’m not your wife.” She growls at him. Nathan always says this to her, it gets her riled up.

  “Yet!” He growls back at her, and I give up and turn and see Winter standing in the doorway between her bedroom and the living room. I sigh and walk up to her.

  “So how much did you hear?” I ask her and watch as she bites her lip. Knowing that the woman you care about knows how much of a player you are hurts, not knowing what she is thinking has my stomach in knots.

  “From Soph saying it’s a good thing as long as you don’t smother me or dictate my life. I was going to come out, but you both needed to talk. I didn’t intend to hear as much as I did.” Her voice is neutral. Fuck, I know she heard most of the conversation. I can’t read her face. I'm not sure if she’s upset or not.

  “Are you mad?” she frowns and steps closer to me, I notice she’s changed clothes, she’s now wearing pajama pants and a tank. Her feet are bare. She’s curling her toes up.

  “Why would I be mad, look we all have a past, some are worse than others. We take the good with the bad, right?” She’s so amazing.

  “Can I hold you?” She bites her lip as if trying to hold back a smile.

  “You can. I trust you, but we need to take it slower, it was rushed before, and since I didn’t fully know you, I jumped to conclusions.” I wrap my arms around her and just hold her. She relaxes into my hold. I look to my left and see Nathan is holding Soph. I lean my chin on the top of Winters' head.

  “This is going to suck Sweets, but are you ready to talk yet?” Her whole body goes still, and she starts to shake. I place kisses after kisses on her head while trying to calm her down. “You’re safe here, I’ve got you. You’re safe.” It doesn’t seem to work, so I do the only other thing I can think of. I pick her up and carry her to the sofa. I put her on my lap and start stroking her back again trying to get her calm. Sophia and Nathan come in and sit too.

  “Skye’s on her way and so is Connor,” Nathan says, and I see Sophia glare at him.

  “Why the fuck is that douche bag coming?” Soph sneers. Yeah, I’d like to know that as well.

  “I’ve asked you not to call him that. He’s made a few mistakes, but he’s my best friend...” Nathan says, and it seems like this is an ongoing argument they have. Sophia rolls her eyes.

  “Like Winter wants to see the guy she kissed in her home.” Umm, what?

  “I’m sorry. What?” they both turn and face me.

  “Look, Sam, there is a lot you don’t know, it’s not up to us to tell you what happened.” I get it, we have a lot to talk about. We don’t know very much about each other. I doubt I’ll find out about Winter and Connor yet.

  Then Winter speaks. “Okay Sammy, the night I was raped Maddie, and I went to the club, we were drinking and having fun. Then Maddie started talking to this guy, and they hit it off. Anyway, she left with him. Leaving me alone in the club with no way home since I had no money. I did the only thing I could. I started walking home. I was walking past an alleyway when I was pushed into it.” She takes a deep breath and looks away from me. Her body shaking against mine “Anyway, I blamed Maddie, it's irrational I know, but I couldn’t help it. She kept talking about how great this guy was and how much she liked him. This was when Soph finally came home after being hurt, I got mad. How dare she be able to live her life while mine was ruined. So I did the only thing I knew how. I kissed him.” Her voice has so much pain in it. I look at her, and she looks embarrassed, she doesn’t need to be, she’s done nothing wrong.

  “Sweets, I don’t know what to say.” She nods and lays her head against my chest.

  “You’re amazing Winter, all that you have overcome, it shows how truly special you are. Not everyone can fight back, you have. I’m fucking proud!” I hear her sniffling and Soph hands her a tissue. She wipes her eyes and raises her head to look at me.

  “Thank you, Sammy.” She reaches up and kisses my cheek, but before I have a chance to say anything, there’s a knock at the door. I watch as Nathan goes and opens it. I can hear voices, then in walks Skye, Oscar, Ryder, Connor, Dwayne, Asher, Scott, Luke, and Hailey. I feel Winter tense as Hailey walks in. Whoever invited her is an idiot.

  “What the hell? Who invited all of you? I’m pretty sure only two of you were asked, even though only one should have been.” Soph say
s with a pointed look at Connor.

  “Well when I got a phone call from Nathan, I was with these two,” she throws a thumb up, pointing behind her to Ryder and Oscar. “They told me if you two were here as well then something big was going down and they were coming too,” Skye says with disdain. She doesn’t really like Hailey and I never really understood it, but she’s glaring daggers at her right now.

  “Hey! I’m here for Winter, if she’s in trouble, then I’m going to help.” Oscar says, and I see the shock in Winters' eyes.

  “I’m here and so is Luke because she’s our fucking family, Dad should be here as well.” I want to punch Scott right now. He said it as though him not being here was an insult.

  “Look, Asher and I came in case you needed us,” Connor says. Fair enough, after everything that happened to Soph, having everyone around is the right thing to do.

  “That doesn’t explain who invited her.” Skye sneers. I have never heard Skye talk to anyone like that. She’s usually the quiet one, she doesn’t get involved unless she has too.

  “What have I done to you? Why do you hate me?” Hailey says. We don’t need this drama on top of everything else. The phone rings and everyone stops talking and we all look at Winter.

  “Leave it, if it’s important, they’ll leave a message.” She says still tucked into my chest. The phone beeps letting us know it’s gone to the machine, what comes next has me standing ready for a fight.

  “You’re having a party, and I’m not invited? Now, Winter, that’s not right, you are MINE after all. I will be seeing you real soon babe.” Sophia picks up the phone and starts talking to the fucker. It’s still recording so we hear everything that is being said.

  “Listen to me you sonofabitch you will not get to her again, you will have to go through me, and I swear to you I’ll put a fucking bullet between your eyes before you get within two feet of her.” She is breathing hard, her face is red, she is in a rage. We all are furious, but Soph is right. Together we won’t let anyone get her.