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His thumb once again roamed over my bottom lip, this time less tentative, a bit firmer in its movement. “Oh, Taylor. What am I going to do with you?”
I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t know. I didn’t know a lot of things, apparently, and what Creed was going to do to me was only one of them. It was like his stare had hypnotized me, captured me and stunned me, like he’d charmed me with magic. I couldn’t explain the way I felt, or how it was happening. I couldn’t do much of anything besides let myself get caught like cornered prey.
In that analogy, Creed was the hunter. He was the hunter and I was the prey, but you know what? I didn’t think I’d mind too much.
He let out a labored breath and took a step back, pulling his hand away from my face. “I should clean up, and you should start unpacking all these bags. I can help you bring them to your room.” Creed said nothing else, turning away from me as he grabbed the to-go containers on the coffee table and moved around the sectional, heading into the kitchen to toss them out.
Though a part of me was sad he’d pulled away, the majority of me was relieved. Maybe because I’d been so confused at what I’d felt right then; he’d been less of a stepbrother and more an attractive man I felt a connection with.
Yeah. That wasn’t right. I’d looked up to him for years before he’d left. Back then, he’d been my brother. I guess I was old enough now to realize we weren’t related by blood… and that lent some form of temptation into this whole thing. I mean, he was definitely one of the hottest guys I’d ever seen in my life.
But again: wrong. It was wrong, so I had to shove those feelings and wrong thoughts down, pretend not to have them, until they stopped appearing altogether.
Easy, peasy, right?
Chapter Six – Creed
Days went by, and it got harder and harder to keep things straight. I struggled with myself and my control when I was with Taylor. I couldn’t fucking help it. The way she’d look at me with those big, green eyes, wordlessly asking me to save her; how could I not feel a certain kind of way?
I needed a job. I needed to take a job so I could have some time away from Taylor and figure this all out. She was my sister. Stepsister. Whatever. We were family, and there were certain lines you just shouldn’t cross.
I left Taylor alone and went to the Hooting Owl. A shitty name for the place, but it was as inconspicuous as something could come. Jeff was working the bar, only a few customers around, since it was early afternoon. All other Guild members.
Jeff looked up. “Hey, man. Long time no see. How you been? No, scratch that, I don’t give a shit about you.” He leaned on the counter, giving me a smile, his eyes lively. “How’s that cute sister of yours?” The way he said it, coupled with the glint in his eyes, made me frown at him, because I knew what he was thinking.
Jeff was just like most men, and most men when they looked at someone they thought attractive only had one thought. One desire.
I walked up to the counter, my hands shoved in my pockets. I wore a suit; looked like a businessman. In a way, that’s what I was. My work just didn’t involve paperwork. “Don’t,” I warned him.
“Don’t what?” Jeff asked, acting innocent. “All I’m asking is how your sister’s doing. It’s just a question, dude.” The man could handle himself among dangerous clients; it’s why he worked here. And yet, if things got down to it, he wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to me or the others higher up in the Guild.
“We both know it’s not just a question,” I growled out. All this time around Taylor, and I’d had to work to hold myself back in every respect. She thought she knew the real me… but she was wrong. She didn’t know the real me at all.
Jeff opened his mouth to say something, probably equally as stupid and more than likely something else that would only serve to piss me off, so I cut in and asked, “The Lioness in the back?”
“Yeah, she’s taking a look at the books,” he told me. “Why? Looking to take another job already? Your stepsister driving you insane or something?” He laughed.
“Yeah, something like that,” I muttered, walking away from him. Oh, she was driving me mad, but not in the way she should’ve been.
I headed to the back, where a wooden door sat just aside the far end of the bar. It was labeled in big, bold lettersemployees only, and an obvious security camera hung on the wall nearby, blinking its quiet stare, watching anyone who went in or out. Pushing through, I entered a dim hallway that seemed to narrow the further in you walked.
In what was the back end of the building, an office sat. Its door was closed, but the moment I reached it, a woman’s voice called out, “Come in, come in.” Short, snappy, and to the point, just as the Lioness always was. She’d probably seen me on the cameras and knew exactly how long it’d take me to walk down the hall.
I headed inside the closed office, shutting the door behind me. The Lioness was a middle-aged woman, hard around the eyes. Her hair was a dirty blond color, much the same as a lion. She wore a pinstripe suit—very gangster-looking—and dark red lipstick. She sat behind a desk, stacks of money before her in various piles. She had a cigarette lit, and it was with that hand that she gestured for me to sit in one of the chairs facing the desk.
I tossed a glance over my shoulder, seeing a wall of televisions that played the security footage live from all angles of the place. Even the bathroom had cameras, though the stalls were private.
Once I sat down, she didn’t speak right away. She finished counting her current thick stack of money, and then she took a long puff from her cigarette. The smell of tobacco didn’t bother me, so when she blew the smoke out in my direction, I didn’t even blink.
Pausing in her counting, she leaned back in her high-backed leather chair and gave me a smile. “Black Wolf,” she spoke my codename for the Guild. “What can I do for you today? I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“I was hoping you’d have word of another job coming up,” I said. “One for me.” The Guild was often a whoever-got-it-first situation, but certain jobs required a certain touch—and then there were the clients that wanted to pick from the roster of eligible members.
“Looking for a job so soon? Normally you take a few weeks off between jobs, don’t you?” she asked, cocking her head at me and inhaling her chosen poison again. The Lioness was the head of the Guild for a reason; she knew each and every member. She had to.
“Yes, but… I was hoping to flex my muscles a bit.”
She hummed, the corners of her red lips curling up in a serpentine smirk. She lowered the cigarette to the crystal ashtray, tapping the cigarette against its lip. Ash fell from it, collecting in the tray. “Would this have anything to do with the girl that met you here the other night?”
