Tequila Sunrise [Love on the Rocks 4] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) Read online

  “I told you to meet me.”

  ‘“I don’t want that deal. I’ll get the five thousand somehow.”

  “What deal?” her father asked and tried to get up off the floor.

  “Your daughter is going to pay off her brother’s debt.” He chuckled as he pulled her toward the door.

  “No, where are you taking her? What do you mean?” her father yelled.

  He released Pina and pulled out his gun from his back holster.

  “Your daughter is a very sexy, beautiful woman. Made for a man like me.” He looked at Pina and licked his lips.

  “No! No, damn it, you can’t,” her mother said, and her father went to fight Jordene.

  Jordene smacked him in the head with the butt of his gun. Her mom screamed and lunged for him, and he hit her, too, then slugged her in the stomach. They were on the floor together.

  “No, please, Jordene, stop it. I’ll go. I’ll go with you. Just don’t hurt them. Promise to never hurt them again,” Pina begged and fell to her knees and hugged his leg.

  He was breathing heavy and looking at the two parents sobbing.

  “Don’t call the cops either. The boss won’t like that.” He grabbed Pina and brought her out the door to his car. She got inside, and they headed out of the neighborhood and to the park, near a few places he would collect from once he screwed Pina.

  * * * *

  Pina was shaking and crying. She couldn’t believe that this was happening, and she worried about her parents. They were older and had been through so much, and now they knew what Jordene intended to do to her. He was going to rape her, take her virginity, and make her his whore. She felt sick and angry, and as she thought about the expressions on her parents’ faces and the money they had scrounged and worked so hard for to pay off Brian’s debt—and still had gotten beaten down by this man week after week—she’d finally had it. Her full ride to college meant nothing anymore. This was what real life was. Survival of the fittest. The good people got worked over and used. Her brother had forced them into a debt they didn’t deserve along with violence and pain, which wasn’t fair. Life wasn’t fair. Life was about surviving, and right now she didn’t care if she lived or died. This was going to continue even after she spread her legs. It would never end. Jordene would always have a hold on her and would always threaten and hurt her parents.

  As he slowed the car down in the park behind a set of businesses, he killed the engine and then looked at her.

  “Come here,” he ordered, and she swallowed hard and didn’t move. “Don’t ignore me or your first time will be fast and painful.”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “I’m going to teach you things. Things men want and need from a woman. Now come here.” He raised his voice, and she tightened up and then started to move closer. He gripped her hair and pulled her close. He sniffed her hair and then licked her cheek.

  “Unzip my pants. First step in your lessons is how to give good head.”

  With shaking fingers, she reached for his jeans. Tears fell, and she thought about her life and how after tonight she wouldn’t be the same woman. She was supposed to be starting college, getting ready for her profession, whatever it may be. This wasn’t right or fair, and she had no one to help her and her parents. No one.

  She unzipped his pants, and he grabbed her hand and then pushed them down and whipped out his cock. She gasped, and he pulled her closer to his face. “You do as I say. Tonight you become my woman forever.”

  “You said to pay off Brian’s debt.”

  “I say when it’s paid off.”

  “But that isn’t fair.”

  “I tell you what’s fair.” He kissed her brutally hard on the mouth and then pulled back. “Put your hands on my waist.”

  He reached down and the seat slid all the way back. He pulled her closer and gripped her thigh. She cried out, and he tore open her blouse and cupped her breasts.

  “Show me how much you want it. Run your hands all over my body. Show me,” he said through clenched teeth. Now she was crying, shaking with fear and anger. She ran her hands up and down his chest.

  “Kiss my neck.”

  She leaned closer and kissed his neck. The seat went down the rest of the way. He forced her to straddle him, and he ran his hands up her skirt to her ass. He was groping her and sucking on her neck hard. “Keep running your hands over my body. Goddamn, baby, you have a great ass.” He thrust upward, and her hands slid down around his waist. She felt the gun.

  Pina’s heart hammered.

  “Keep touching me or I swear I’ll go back and kill your fucking parents. I’ll beat them so fucking bad they won’t look the same, and then I’ll slit their throats. I’m in control, not you. You’ll always be mine from tonight to forever.” He gripped her ass hard and tore at her panties. She lifted up.

  “Please stop. Please,” she begged, and he struck her mouth with his forearm. She felt the pain and then his fingers dig into her privates. She hated this man, and she didn’t want to get raped, taken like this, like some whore.

  “Touch me or suffer.” He growled at her and tore her blouse.

  She fell against his chest to stop him from seeing her breasts, touching them, and the anger tore through her system at the pain he’d inflicted on her parents and how there was no one to help them. No police, no safety here. His fingers dug deeper, stroking into her privates, and she cried out in pain. She was not going to let him get away with this.

  His hard, heavy hands groped and scratched her body. She didn’t want to get raped, to be used like this. She had dreams, and damn it, he wasn’t going to control her. She would rather die.

  She knew what she had to do, and in desperation, she kissed his neck and rocked her hips.

  “That’s it. Oh, yeah, Pina, I knew you would like it. You need to be controlled, and I’m the man to do it.” His palm slid up her ass to her lower back as he tortured her.

  Pina gripped the gun and didn’t think twice as she pulled it from his holster.

  “What the fuck?” he exclaimed as she pressed it to his stomach.

  He went to hit her again, and she pulled the trigger. His body jerked back, his eyes widened, and then she lifted off of him and slid to the passenger seat of the car. He turned and dove at her, and she shot again.

  “No! I hate you. I hate you, and I won’t let you hurt my parents ever again.”

  She stared at him, and he stopped moving. She opened the door and slid from the car. She looked back inside, feeling shocked. She killed him. She looked around the car, making sure nothing of hers was there. She went to run and then stopped. She’d killed him, and whoever L.R. was, he would still want the money if she got away with this. She remembered what Jordene had said about keeping money in the car, and she opened the glove compartment and saw drugs and a lot of cash. She put the gun on the floor mat and grabbed all the cash, some falling onto the ground, which she didn’t bother to pick up. Sirens blared in the distance, and her heart hammered. She needed to run. If the cops caught her, even though she’d killed Jordene in self-defense, it wouldn’t matter. She and her parents would be killed by his boss.

  She heard him moan and then lift up. He wasn’t dead. She was feet from the car and saw the gun on the floor, but there was no time to waste. She ran down the field past the building and got behind it as two police cars pulled onto the scene. They got out, guns drawn, and she watched, wondering what to do. Should she go to them and tell them what had happened? Should she take her chances, take this money and get her parents out of the town, out of the state, and run?

  As she stepped to the side to look again, she heard the voices.

  “Freeze. Stop right there.”

  Then she heard the roar of another shot fired from the car and then another. The police officer fell back onto the ground. She covered her mouth and stifled the scream. Jordene was shooting at the cops. The other officers fired back, shooting Jordene multiple times, the gunfire lighting up the inside of the car. Sh
e turned around and ran.

  * * * *

  Six Years Later

  “When are Knox and Dane due back? We have these shipments coming into the warehouse tomorrow morning, and I don’t want any issues. After the last few months and the shit that went down with the Hunt brothers, we still have some unresolved issues. I want the extra security,” Jonah said to Clark Mondave about their brothers.

  Clark sat in the leather business chair and looked out the window. “They’ll be there. Don’t worry. I expect them tonight,” Clark said, not even looking at his brothers.

  Jonah stared at his back. His brother was so damn quiet and pissed off all the fucking time. Would he ever recover from his experience and the injuries he sustained? He felt somber, and that pissed him off more.

  “Did they call or text you and not me? Because I didn’t hear anything about them returning,” he said to Clark.

  “Texted a little while ago and said they’re on the private jet and heading back. They ran into a problem.”

  “What kind of problem?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “You didn’t ask them, Clark?”

  “Why would I ask them?”

  Jonah’s cell phone rang. “Hello.”

  “Yes, just Niall, Trace, and I will be attending, Marie. I know it’s tomorrow night at six. Yes, that would be great. Thank you.”

  He ended the call.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the gallery event with us?”

  “Yes. I am sure,” Clark mumbled.

  Jonah sighed. He wished there was something he could do to get through to his brother, hell, to even make him smile. It seemed like a lost cause though. At least Clark was working with the company and no longer hiding out.

  Now his concern was for Knox and Dane. What had gone down? Would it effect the shipments of antiquities coming in from the Middle East? He hoped not as he felt that twinge of uncertainty.

  His cell phone rang again.

  “It’s Knox,” Jonah said to Clark. He put it on speaker. “What’s going on? Are you guys okay?”

  “We made it through. The stuff is on the plane and heading to the States. We had a holdup before customs, and it was fucking heated. So much so that on our way to the airfield we had some company,” Knox told him.

  “Company? What kind of company?” Clark asked.

  “Some shitheads interested in maybe ripping us off. Jonah, we exchanged some gunfire.”

  “What the fuck?”

  “I know. We handled it and called in Merk and Rome. They had to take care of about three things.”

  “Shit. Are you guys okay? No injuries, right?”

  “We’re just freaking aggravated that’s all. With the crazy shit that has been going on lately, I’m not taking this lightly, Jonah. There’s some serious shit happening. We need to look for better suppliers, too.”

  “The demand is so high though. I suppose with what’s in that shipment we can meet the present demands and cut off the others. How long before you’re here?”

  “Three hours.”

  “Okay, have a safe flight. I’ll touch base with Mercury.”

  “Will do.”

  He ended the call and looked at Clark.

  “I should have gone with them,” Clark said to him.

  “You didn’t need to. This was supposed to be an easy shipment. We need answers. Why don’t you talk to Rome James and check damage control? If need be, since you’re not attending the gala, you can help Knox and Dane figure out what the fuck went wrong.”

  “I’m fine with that.” Clark got up and slowly walked out of the room.

  Jonah ran his fingers through his hair. He felt uneasy as he picked up the cell phone and called Mercury.

  “Mercury, how are you? Got anything yet?”

  “What I’ve got so far is little but enough to indicate you got someone who wants to fuck up your operations. That inspection that went beyond the regular time period was to detain your brothers and the shipment. It doesn’t take a military background to figure out the sons of bitches were planning a hit to rip you off. Good fucking thing Knox and Dane were heading security, or you’d have a bunch of dead men and millions in lost merchandise.”

  “Shit. Who the fuck would have the capabilities to pull off this kind of operation and without us knowing? I thought we had the inspections officers in our good graces. We never take any illegal shit from the Middle East. We pay top dollar for the antiques and items. I don’t understand, Mercury.”

  “I think there’s more investigating to do. I called in a few favors. What I didn’t like was the connection to Russian ammunition. Plus two of the three men your brothers took out were of Serbian and Russian descent, and one was German.”

  Jonah bit the inside of his cheek, and his anger grew. “I want answers. I know you have your own problems, and it seems the same individual is fucking with both of us, but we do this together, Mercury.”

  “I’m fine with that but get the feeling that this goes beyond one asshole. Someone is pissed off that you’re dominating the market with these imports and exports.”

  “Obviously, Mercury, they think tainting our company by attaching blood and death to the process will make buyers think twice about buying from us. I can’t have that happen. Most of the business is international imports.”

  “Of course, and believe me, Jonah, as your friend and a man you pay for additional security, I don’t want you losing business either. We’ll figure it out and be in touch.”

  “Excellent.”

  * * * *

  Pina walked into her boss’s office with a pile of papers for him to sign. She was gathering last-minute financials for the firm and trying to finish up early so she could get ready for the gala tonight. Considering her boss ran a small business, he had lots of money tied up in numerous investments, never mind his philanthropic aspirations, yet always claimed to be struggling with money. He was full of shit.

  He was talking on the phone. “I’ll buy whatever you got your hands on. Fifty grand is a fair price. We’ll finalize tonight. Thank you.”

  Pina wondered what Nolan was discussing and with whom.

  “Will you be needing a check?” she asked, and he turned around, seemingly surprised by her entrance into his office. He looked a bit panicked, and his cheeks flushed.

  “Oh, no, it’s personal. What do you have there?”

  “Some papers for you to sign and a final report on expenses for the museum.”

  He leaned back and sighed. “I need more help with this. It would be smarter for me to have some big names backing this project. Then the donations will come in tenfold and I won’t need to hire a fundraising committee.”

  She smiled.

  “You knew what you were getting into, Nolan. We discussed it, remember?”

  “Oh, I remember. You told me from the start to gather some financial supporters instead of spending so much of my own money, but I was being selfish.”

  “You’re not selfish. You’re building a museum and art school and even helping less privileged students with scholarships to attend. It’s a fabulous idea.”

  “You’re only saying that because it’s almost complete. I still need backers. Perhaps tonight I’ll get to negotiate some big names into helping out financially.”

  She looked forward to seeing the fine art on display and especially the items imported from Germany that would be on display at the gala tonight. Considering it was a small venue, it catered to the very wealthy and was by invitation only. Guests were required to give a donation to one or more of six charities. Her boss owned and operated two of them but was pushing investment into his latest project, a museum and college art program for elite artists.

  It all kept her very busy, and it had been her college professor, whom she’d bumped into after graduation, who hooked her up with meeting Mr. Nolan Potts. She was finally making some good money, had paid off her parents’ house for them, and had only a small mortgage left on hers. It was quaint and
only a block from the beach. She was fine with that. She knew what it was like to have difficulty making ends meet. Even now, pretty well-off financially, she still saved and budgeted everything out.

  She had her dress ready and, of course, was looking forward to seeing Louisa and the Hunt men. It had been several months since Louisa had been out for an event, and Pina couldn’t help but to smile.

  “Nolan, you had asked me earlier about expenses. I went through everything, and I have the financials all set and balanced. It’s critical that you either approve or disapprove the spending this month, so we know where we stand when you meet with Tougher Jerrico.”

  Her boss, Nolan Potts, turned around in his seat with a very serious expression, and as if he hardly paid attention to her statement. He could be so frustrating sometimes. He moved papers around and shook his head.

  “We have a situation.”

  She raised her eyebrows and braced for the so-called “situation” he was referring to. Her boss tended to panic quite often over very solvable things.

  “What situation would that be?” she asked.

  “Delores. She isn’t coming. She has the stomach flu.”

  “Aw, that’s terrible. Does she need anything? Should I drop by?”

  He raised his palm. “No, no, no, you could catch what she has and then what? No, instead I need you tonight for this meeting with Tougher. Delores was my eye candy to help persuade Tougher to work with us on this new project.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Do you really think you need eye candy? I mean seriously, Nolan, you’re investing two million dollars in this new art school and museum. Do you need Tougher’s financial backing?”

  “I need his connections to fine art and antiques to actually display at the museum and school. I don’t have other connections willing to back something like this when truly it’s more philanthropic and not for profit. God, if I could land some assistance from someone like the Mondave brothers, that would be superb. But I can’t.”

  “Why not?” she asked.