The Vessel Read online

  Time stood still; everything moved in slow motion. I couldn’t breathe.

  He looked at my mouth then back at my eyes. Over and over again. I knew what was about to happen before it did, before I saw him start to lean in, before I felt his warm breath on mine.

  “Tell me to stop,” he said softly, as if speaking to himself, as if trying to talk himself out of it. “I should, Elise,” he groaned.

  He was so close to me, just a few inches separating our faces. Lucius looked me in the eye, and I felt everything in me tighten. “I don’t want you to stop, Lucius.” There, I’d said it, which I knew would set everything else in motion.

  And it felt… exhilarating.

  Before I knew what was happening, before I could take a breath, before I could truly think about this and possibly talk myself out of it, Lucius had his hand wrapped around my nape, pulled me in closer, and pressed his mouth to mine. The small gasp of surprise left me at finally feeling what it was like to kiss Lucius.

  I couldn’t breathe, the world around me dizzy as Lucius explored my mouth with his lips and tongue. He ran that muscle over the seam of my lips, gently at first, but then added a bit of pressure, becoming more demanding.

  I opened on instinct and let him in, let him explore that part of me as well. I imagined him moving his tongue over every square inch of my body, which caused a chill to race up my skin, a moan leaving me.

  My heart was racing, a flush stealing over me. His groan of approval spurred me on, had my arousal moving even higher. I was gripping his biceps, not even realizing I reached out to hold onto him, to pull him closer. I didn’t register how hard my grip on him was until I heard him hiss. I was about to break the kiss when he groaned again.

  “No. Give me more, Elise.” The way he hummed those words against my mouth told me this was the beginning. This was the start. So I let everything else go until all I felt, tasted, heard, and smelled was Lucius.

  I walked up to my apartment in a daze. It was a very pleasurable haze, this intoxication that filled every piece of me. I could still feel Lucius’s lips on mine, and I lifted my fingers and placed them on my mouth, feeling the flesh tingle, loving the sensation that moved through me right now.

  I opened the door and stepped into my apartment, closing it behind me and then leaning against it. I closed my eyes, breathing out slowly, pleasurably. I shouldn’t like the way this felt, shouldn’t have let it get that far. But I hadn’t been able to stop it or myself.

  I had tomorrow off, and for the first time since being employed, I wished I picked up yet another extra shift for the sole purpose of being able to see Lucius. But I knew it was better this way. It would give me a chance to think about all this, to rationalize what was happening and weigh the pros and cons.

  But I already knew the truth.

  I wasn’t going to try to stop this, rationalize it, or even talk myself out of what I felt for Lucius.

  Because it was clear he felt the same way.

  16

  Lucius

  I sat in my car and looked at the piece of shit house in front of me. I contacted my IT guy I used for all Blacksmith affairs after I dropped Elise off. It had been late, but I knew Mason was a man who kept late hours. I trusted him with legal inquiries, as well as the not so legal ones I asked him about.

  He never asked questions if I needed him to do some digging for me. And it had been easy enough for him to find the information I needed on the fucking landlord after I gave him Elise’s mom and aunt’s names.

  And he found the info I needed in less than three hours.

  And here I was the next morning, doubtful the man inside that shack of a house would be accommodating in my request.

  Rodney Johnson. Fifty-two-year-old high school dropout who owned five equally piece-of-shit rental properties.

  But the properties weren’t how he made his money. The illegal gambling rings he ran in three of those properties was where his real money came from.

  I clenched my jaw as I thought about the asshole, as I pictured him giving Elise a hard time. He messed with the wrong woman, and now I was going to make sure that never happened again, make sure he never gave any female an issue.

  I climbed out of the car and made my way up to the front door. The closer I got, the more pissed I became, picturing Elise’s bruise, wanting nothing more than to give him one that matched hers. But I wasn’t here for violence... not unless he pushed me to that point, which I was precariously close to as it was.

  Once I was at the front door, I opened the metal screen door and brought my knuckles down on the scarred wood one, and I curled my hands into tight fists at my sides to keep myself from breaking the damn thing down. A long moment passed, and I was about to lift my hand and beat on the damn thing again, my patience wearing thin, when it was finally opened and a disgusting display of a man stood on the other side. His beer gut protruded from his stained gray shirt, his hair—what he had left anyway—was slicked back, greasy in appearance. He smelled like a combination of old cigarette smoke and stale beer.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he asked with annoyance in his voice as he looked me up and down. “You a fucking tax collector or something with that get up on?”

  I didn’t even bother giving a reply to that. This guy was a worthless piece of shit, which I knew before even standing in front of him. He had a police report as long as my arm, mainly petty shit, theft and a little bit of marijuana possession. I just got right to the point. “You have two tenants at your 38 Dexter Corner.”

  “Okay? What’s your point? You wantin’ to buy that piece of shit?”

  I clenched my jaw as my patience wore thin with him. “I came here to talk to you about letting them leave their garden up and allowing them free-reign with anything pertaining to that.” I was going the adult, professional route at first. I didn’t want to stoop to his level with profanity or anger, but I was right there if he pushed back.

  He was silent for a moment, eyeing me, the stench of him so strong I curled my lip again in disgust.

  “The fuck you talkin’ about? Who the hell are you? You think you can come to my place and start demanding shit?” He bared his yellow, crooked teeth. “Get the hell off my property before I call the cops.”

  Okay, so we were going there. So be it.

  “You’re not going to give them any shit about what they plant or what they build. And you’re going to have a fucking big smile on your goddamn face every time you go over there, with a polite demeanor.” I looked him right in the eye. “Do you fucking understand me?”

  His eyes widened a second before he composed himself and snarled, “You want an ass whooping?”

  “Or we can call the police and let them know you’re running illegal gaming operations at three of your shitty properties.”

  I saw the look of shock on his face, followed by nervousness. He looked around, his dark, beady eyes seeming to take in everything behind me, as if he thought this was a set-up. “Who in the fuck are you, and what are you talking about? I don’t do no illegal shit anymore. I’m a legit, law-abiding business owner.”

  Right.

  “You a cop?” He narrowed his eyes at me.

  “No, but if you don’t stop harassing your tenants at 38 Dexter Corner, the cops are going to be the least of your worries.” I took a step closer. “You understand me?” I wasn’t a violent, threatening man by nature, but I found when it concerned Elise and those she held dear, I became someone I didn’t recognize but embraced the hell out of.

  He was silent for a second, but I saw his throat work as he swallowed. He was scared. I could smell it coming off him. He was at an impasse, a three-strike rule already. One more offense and his ass would be facing hard time.

  “Yeah,” he said, still looking around nervously. His paranoia was thick. “Yeah, okay,” he mumbled again. “I hear you loud and clear.”

  I could tell by his expression and the tone of his voice that he knew I wasn’t bluffing. Good, because I wasn’t above get
ting fucking dirty to make my point known, especially where Elise was concerned.

  And I would go to any lengths to make sure she—and those she loved—were safe.

  17

  Elise

  I was confused and shocked at what my aunt just told me. “Really?” I stopped in the middle of my living room and stared out at the parking lot of the apartment complex. It had been a full day since I’d seen or spoken with Lucius, and I wondered if him staying away had been as hard for him as it was for me.

  But I refused to contact him, and I was thankful he gave me space. Especially after the kiss we shared.

  Lucius said somebody would pick me up for work and bring me home. For every shift. And it was nearing the time I normally left for the subway, so I was a nervous wreck as I waited to see if it would be Lucius who stopped by this morning or the man he called Charlie.

  “Can you believe it, Elise?” My aunt’s animated voice snapped me back to the present.

  “No, I can’t.” I felt my brows knit.

  I really can’t.

  My aunt telling me that their landlord had come over last night to tell them their garden could stay up, and that he also didn’t mind anything else they wanted to do in the back or front yard, took me by surprise.

  “Yeah, it’s the craziest thing. He came over yesterday afternoon all smiles and polite, telling us we could do whatever we wanted. He said we could even build another raised bed.”

  I felt my brows knit harder as disbelief claimed me. That certainly didn’t seem like the asshole I talked to just the other day. Although I hadn’t told my mother or aunt that I paid a visit to him, something felt a little bit off with Rodney’s sudden “have no cares about what his tenants did” attitude. He’d been a real prick to me, but he was now okay with them having the garden? Maybe me talking to him had made him have a change of heart?

  Unlikely.

  The sight of a dark, very expensive—and out of place in my neighborhood—looking car pulling into the driveway had my internal thoughts waning. I knew it was for me without even seeing the driver. I hadn’t been paying attention to what my aunt was saying, but I picked up little bits and pieces on the fact that she was clearly excited about this new change of heart from Asshole Landlord.

  “Beanie and I are going to build another raised bed. She wants more marigolds.”

  And as I continued listening to my aunt tell me all the things they’d plant, as I watched Lucius climb out of the driver side of the car and start heading toward my building, I realized it wasn’t me who changed the landlord’s mind, nor had Rodney had a sudden change of heart.

  No, this was no coincidence that in the span of a day, after I told Lucius about all the troubles of my aunt and mother, everything was now solved.

  I didn’t know how to feel in that moment. Should I be upset he did this behind my back? Should I be elated he helped my loved ones out? Should I be weirded out that he even found out who the landlord was when I hadn’t told him a name or address?

  I didn’t know what I should feel, but what I felt in that moment was gratitude and happiness that this man went out of his way to make my aunt and mother’s lives a lot easier.

  And in my book, there was nothing wrong with that.

  The drive to Lucius’s house was a little silent, and that was all on me. I knew he could feel the weirdness coming from me, but after he’d come to my apartment door and I followed him out to his car, my mind had been a whirl of emotions and thoughts regarding the landlord situation.

  I could feel him looking at me, and I was embarrassed that I inadvertently put the stiffness between us. It wasn’t my intention, but surprise, confusion, and just not understanding why he’d done what he had with the landlord weighed heavily on me.

  I glanced over at Lucius and offered him a smile, but the worry on his face tugged at my heart.

  “Is everything okay?” His voice was even, calm, but underneath, I could tell there was concern laced in it. “If this is about the kiss the other night—”

  I shook my head, which had him stopping. “It’s not about the kiss.” At the very mention of that kiss, my lips tingled. I’d been dreaming about it—fantasizing—and replaying it over and over in my head.

  “Okay,” he said softly and waited a moment before continuing. “You’re quiet today. Did I do something wrong? Did I overstep bounds?” I heard the tightening of his hands on the steering wheel, the leather slightly creaking.

  “No, you didn’t.”

  He gave a slight nod, his focus on the road ahead. “That’s good.” He still sounded so unsure. “But in all transparency and honesty, I don’t regret kissing you. I don’t take it back. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable, but the way you held onto me, opened for me, let me in….” His voice changed pitched as he spoke, going deeper, sounding huskier.

  God, my body was heating all over again, and the way he shifted on the seat told me he was reacting the same way. “It’s not about the kiss, Lucius. I promise.” He gave a brisk nod, and I watched as his throat moved when he swallowed, as if he was trying to regain his control.

  Just ask him.

  I cleared my throat and shifted on the seat a little bit so I could fully look at him. Traffic was awful in the city this time of morning, so we were going at a snail’s pace. “Did you talk to my mother and aunt’s landlord?” There was this heavy silence that hung between us, and I could practically see his mind working to come up with an excuse or maybe the answer he thought was right.

  “I did,” he finally said after a moment, and his tone brokered no remorse.

  I couldn’t lie; that actually turned me on knowing he was proud of what he did. He was proud of standing up for me and my family.

  “Why?” Truth was, I didn’t care why he did it. But I was curious about his motives.

  He glanced over at me for only a second before returning his attention back to the road. “Because it was important to you and your family. And I saw that bruise on your face, and it infuriated me.”

  I exhaled slowly and licked my lips. “Did you hurt him?”

  Again, Lucius tightened his hands on the steering wheel. He slowly shook his head. “No, but I wanted to. I wanted him to push my buttons so it’d come to that.” He glanced at me again, and I knew he was trying to gauge my reaction. “And if I would’ve hurt him, what would you have thought about me then, Elise?”

  I heard his unspoken words. A monster. A bastard. Unstable and violent.

  But I didn’t think any of that to be honest.

  I pictured it in my head, played that scenario out, with Lucius decking the landlord in the face. I didn’t feel disgust or anger. I didn’t feel anything on the negative side. In fact, a part of me wanted him to hurt the asshole.

  A very big part.

  “What would you have thought about me?” His voice was pitched low, with a note of uncertainty, as if he really didn’t want me to answer.

  “I wouldn’t have said anything. I wouldn’t have thought anything bad about you, Lucius.” He glanced at me again, and my body heated. “In fact, I actually like that you stood up for me and my family. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I do.”

  I should have asked how he found the landlord, but the logistics of it didn’t matter. Lucius had money and a wide variety of help at his disposal. I had no doubt he could find just about anyone or anything if he wanted.

  He didn’t say anything for long seconds but then turned off onto a side road, taking it down to an alley before pulling to a stop at the curb. We were alone, with just a few cars parked down the street and no one in sight.

  I was a little taken aback by his sudden actions, not sure what he was doing, but then he put the car in park and shifted on the seat to face me.

  “Lucius—” Before I could ask him what he was doing, he had his hand on the back of my neck, a very dominant act that had me melting for more. I found myself leaning forward involuntarily.

  He had his lips on mine, and for a second, I felt my eyes w
iden. This was sudden and unexpected, but God it felt so good.

  I closed my eyes and moaned, tilting my head to the side to accept his kiss, to deepen it.

  I couldn’t breathe as I let him kiss me. Here I was, making out with my boss in his luxury car, heading to his home because I worked there. It all seemed so unbelievable… but also right in every single way.

  “You feel so good,” he murmured against my mouth. “You smell so good.” He groaned and kissed me harder.

  I reached out to hold him, pull him closer, but one of my hands landed on his hard, muscular thigh, the material of his slacks silky under my touch. The material was soft, and my hand slid forward on its own. It was then I felt the very hard, very large outline of the erection he sported.

  He was massive.

  I went to pull away, suddenly feeling embarrassed, but Lucius clamped a hand right over mine… right over his cock. I gasped again, and he pulled back, this drowsy expression on his face.

  “You feel that?” he asked so softly it was barely audible.

  I licked my lips and nodded slowly.

  “That’s all for you.” He applied pressure on my hand, and when my palm pressed harder to his erection, he groaned. “God, it feels good having you touch me, Elise.” He rested his forehead against mine. For long seconds, we didn’t speak. I had my hand on his big dick, he cupped my cheek gently, and the flavor of him laced my lips and covered my tongue. I was already addicted to Lucius, had been before our first kiss. Now, there really was no going back.

  “Let me take you out,” he whispered against my lips, his warm, cinnamon-scented breath brushing along the sensitive flesh he’d just been devouring. He still had his forehead resting against mine, and I could hear so much need in his voice. “Let me take you out properly, show you off, Elise.”

  Show you off.

  But as I let those words sink in, as reality finally settled inside me, I knew our worlds were so different. I was so different.