Connor's Claim (Body Count, #2)

by Jolie Vines

Relief hit me in a flood. As Genevieve had said, the body work was done. Our men had removed a predator from the city. A danger to womankind eliminated.

I’d stood in front of my father and let him manage me. Obeyed him even after he’d given a vile order. Turned a blind eye to things he did that weren’t legal and strayed far from the justification of moral. I had to change. My calm acceptance of things that were wrong. The way others treated me. All of it.

“I’ve been doing this for over a decade in one form or another, starting with Phillips whose final words heard was me telling him his death was in your name. He laid his hands on ye, and his death gave me a purpose. I’m good at this. I have no intention of stopping.” I cupped her head, staring deep into her eyes. “This is me. The rawest form. I stalk the stalkers. I eviscerate the men who hurt. I don’t have the same limits others do, and that includes with ye.” “You’d never harm me.” “Never,” I vowed. “I’ll never let ye go either.”

‘Welcome to Deadwater’ sign. Once, Everly had told me how the city came to have such a grim name—something to do with the effect of the river water meeting the sea further down at the coast. It had been a big part of the draw for both Arran and me. It warned incomers of what to expect when they entered our city. Else the water take them away.

All I knew was how mine would fucking break if she reasoned and excused away our history. I’d loved Everly Makepeace since I was sixteen years old and I’d never once stopped. For much longer, I wouldn’t be able to hide the fact her father had me by the balls. With a single phone call, he could put me behind bars, and I’d be taken away from Everly for good. Which meant, as always, that to gain the future I wanted, I needed to act first.

“Why is that a turn-on?” I slurred. “Because it proves I’m capable of doing whatever it takes to protect ye.”

Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off him, unable to fathom how the huge amount of dick still there in the reflection was going to fit inside me. Somehow, my body gave way. Inch by inch, I accepted him.

This, I loved. Him taking what he needed from me. I adored having his praise and feeling how hard I made him. He pushed me endlessly, and I wouldn’t change any of it.

I wanted a person. My person. Someone I could eat with. Or hug. Someone who wanted me. In a mansion surrounded by my family, happy couples with a thousand kids, or here, with sex everywhere, I felt lonely. I didn’t like it.

“Everyone needs someone to talk to.” Riordan watched me for a long moment. “The last thing I need is someone else throwing me under a bus.” “Has that happened a lot?” “One story at a time, wild girl.” Wild… He’d nicknamed me? Fuck.

I wanted to hug him. I’d cleared the bed of the food trays and packed it all back into the bag, and the wooden board was slid away. It would be nothing to reach out my arms. Except I was already obsessed with this man and had no off switch for handling it. I couldn’t be sure what I’d do next.

I used to wish my mother had been mistaken about my birth father knowing about me. That he wasn’t such a terrible person and one day we could even be friends. I know that sounds insane. She couldn’t have been wrong.” My breathing came soft. Rejection hurt. Or worse—it could damage people permanently. My heart swelled for Riordan all the more. “Everyone wants to be wanted.” “Yeah, well, it’s a fantasy.

Either way, it’s the chance of a new start I wasn’t expecting.” He was resilient. Lesser men would crumble. Something uncomfortable registered in my thoughts. “Will ye leave Deadwater?” “I’ll go wherever I can find work. I can come back if my sister needs to see me. Sisters,” he corrected. No, no. I needed him to stay here. One glance at the brutally beautiful man who’d fought his way through the club to protect Genevieve and an arrow had pierced my heart. Dramatic but true. Ever since, I’d wanted him. I didn’t know how to ask. I’d never even touched my lips to a boy’s, but I was certain I wanted his to be the first and last. He was mine. His gaze landed on me and pinned me down in a way I wished his long body would.

“Riordan, I’ll keep this short but sweet. As soon as she’ll have me, I plan to marry your sister, so that makes us family. I want to offer you a job.”

More information had been released on the latest murder, and I copied the link for Genevieve and Cassie. For convenience, I made a chat group for us, titling it ‘The Skeleton Girls Detective Agency’ then pasted in the article. Almost immediately, someone was typing back. Genevieve: I’m finishing up a lecture, then I can read this. Cassie: Intel! I just woke up but I’m all over it. Cassie: Love the group name. Can we get stickers made? With a grin, I cleared away my very late breakfast things, then had another idea and typed a message to Connor, asking if he minded me inviting the two women up to the apartment. Connor: It’s your home, too. Have your friends over whenever you like. Another reply came in hot on its heels. Connor: Just don’t let Cassie touch my knives. I sent him a heart emoji then wrote to my group.

Two enthusiastic responses came back immediately, and I got a bolt of happiness at having a friendship group for the first time since school. I’d asked and they’d said yes—a lesson for the day. I needed to take action, in multiple areas of my life.

“People are already queueing outside. Pervy fuckers. Ye should have heard the chatter about the game last night. They are all so desperate to watch a group of women get hunted.” Genevieve joined me at the counter, nodding enthusiastically at my offer of an iced coffee. “This is a real money-spinner for the club. They sell bedrooms with live stream access to cameras in the basement, and those go for wild sums of money. Like, life-changing amounts that the club uses for all kinds of good purposes. Arran and I are going to make a statement later about our participation and how successful it was.” I goggled at her. “Is that necessary?” “He’s the organiser. It’s expected of him, and honestly, I don’t mind. Everyone who’s going to be there already watched us have sex for the first time. Guaranteeing to them that we continue to do so and are now planning the rest of our lives together seems kinda pale in comparison.” She accepted her coffee, and I admired her bravery. She’d gone into Arran’s game by accident but had come out stronger for her ordeal. Even after, she hadn’t let the club consume her. She was doing her own thing with her degree. She wrinkled her nose. “I’ve messaged Riordan to make sure he doesn’t watch, just in case. I wouldn’t want to traumatise him.” Her gaze slid over me. “He’s a decent man, our brother. He can be quiet and disappear off the radar, but I’ve learned that’s because he’s tackling problems on his own. He doesn’t share his stress. Like, ever. He keeps...

Why did I do it? Why did I give him a decade of my life for no thanks when he was lying to me the whole time?”

“Then after you’ve told off your old man, ye get to pick your own life. What does that contain?” “Connor,” I said immediately. “I’ve been in love with him since I was a teenager, but he was so far off the table it was never going to happen. That doesn’t mean things with him are perfect, so that’s one of the first things I need to fix.”

At a sound from the screen, I twisted back to watch a holding pen full of angry men, all wearing masks, some with black paint across their eyes. “Why do they do it?” I asked softly. “Predator-prey is one of the biggest and most underserved kinks. The violence within it has an impact on those willing to bond with someone else over it. It takes trust to let someone else willingly hurt ye.” “How did it come about?” Still occupied at the table, Connor replied, “Do ye recall me telling Cassie I knew her brother, Jamieson? He and Arran once had a conversation about sex and kinks. Jamieson wore his preference on his sleeve. He’s da to three or four kids now and happily married to a lass who shares his likes. Arran took notes. He told me he wanted others to be able to bond like that and not fear the extremes, but my guess now is he wanted it for himself, too.” “Have you ever gone in there?” “No. My kink is you being unable to run from me.” Hence the sedation. He pressed against me from behind. “Also your tits. They make me so hard I might go insane. Your soft belly is another obsession. Touching your skin. Feeling how curvy ye are. Don’t even get me started on your arse.”

“Ten years ago, the most beautiful boy I’d ever seen showed up on my doorstep as my new stepbrother. The sun couldn’t hold a torch to how brightly he shone, and I was blinded. You were beautiful, Connor, in every way. Never in a million years did I think you would be interested in me in the same way that I instantly wanted you. We couldn’t be a family in the true sense of the word. There wasn’t enough time, and our parents fell apart quickly. And yet with you, I found home. I found the only person who could make me feel safe and valued when I’d known only hate and control. I’ve never told you what it meant to me when you’d come home and I’d tell you about my day, and you’d listen. You’d congratulate me for acing a test or just coping with an exam.”

“You made me happy. And all I wanted was to do the same for you.”

“I thought you saw me as a sister until I confided in you about my assault, and you took it upon yourself to right that wrong. You killed for me, Connor. It changed everything. I already loved you, but when you told me what you’d done, I fell so hard, I knew I’d do anything to protect you.”

“Then my father bruised you. I can’t even remember what threw him into a rage that day, because I was used to it. I’d handled him for years. But the moment he took his fists to you, it broke me. It killed me to see you go up against him and defend your mother from his rage. You’d told me in the darkness of my bedroom how her previous boyfriend had been handy with his fists. How she stayed regardless. I knew your mother wasn’t going to be the one to save you. I had to get the two of you out of the house and away from my father for good.” Her breathing shuddered. My disquiet turned to horror. I didn’t want to hear this. I couldn’t stop her from speaking. Everly didn’t let up in her explanation or in her efforts to use her body to drive me insane. Though I couldn’t move, I felt every lift and slide. Every pulse of her body claiming mine. “I asked my father to let you and your mum go. Want to know what he said? That he didn’t have time to train somebody else up in her assistant job. I begged him. He refused. I needed to come up with another tactic.” A flash of anger swept through me. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t grab hold of her. “Your plan was us all leaving together. Your mum already told you she planned to run and warned you to get out. You intended to take me. I knew it couldn’t happen in all cases. My father told me so the day before you left. He came home early and found me packing my bag. Unequivocally, he informed me he knew his wife’s plan and she was insane if she thoug...

“You were mine, and I claimed you with my whole heart. I never stopped loving you, Connor. You’re wanted, needed, loved. We owned each other, but I set you free, and it was the worst mistake of my life. If you forgive me, I will never say no to you again.”

Thoughts swam through my head, none of which I could express beyond heartsick sorrow at what she’d endured. A lifetime ago, I’d blamed her for being shallow and fickle, for not caring about me in the way she’d pretended she did. I’d been so wrong. She’d given it all up for me and my mother. And the woman had stolen my ability to tell her so. Fucking hell did I need to punish her. For doing this. For existing. For being the single source of my lifeblood, my heartache, and my love. When the drug that held me in its grip released me, I’d show Everly exactly what her revelations meant.

I had to be crazy. That was my only rationale for how I luxuriated in his touch. How I welcomed the sting of pain and pleasure I’d always associated with him and which now had a focal point. The happiness and fear. The safety and panic. The love which had once combated the pain of needing to let him go.

Misery sank me to the floor, and I braced myself for the loss that was to come. History was repeating itself. In this very house, I’d fallen hard for Connor, then my hopes and dreams had been shot down by the realisation I couldn’t keep him. It had happened again. I loved him beyond reason, and I had to let him go. My father knew about his crimes. He didn’t make empty threats. If he said he had evidence, then he did. If I didn’t obey him, Connor would go to prison. I couldn’t allow that. No matter what he thought of me, I only wanted his life to continue unchained.

But in my quest to ready myself for a man worse than even my father, the edge of the tape covering my inner arm tattoo caught on my clothes. I hadn’t looked. Hadn’t even peeked. Suddenly, I needed to know. I dropped the dress to the floor and peeled away the tattoo’s opaque cover. A word was revealed, black ink written into my skin in beautifully executed script. CLAIMED. My breath hitched. My heart pounded. Spinning around, I peered back to the mirror and lifted my cami, tearing away the tape over my lower back. WANTED. The next were at the top of my back and then my thigh. OWNED. NEEDED. The word under my breast gave up MINE. My laugh came out as a sob. He’d threatened his name, but the delivery was just as perfect. My hip declared LOVED. Oh God. I had one last tattoo to read, and it was the smallest, inked right behind my ear. FREE, the mirror told me. I wasn’t free, not yet, but a burst of hope suffused me. I’d been wrong about his rejection. What he’d done to me was the evidence of Connor’s claim, and it changed everything. Now, I’d do all I could to end this horror show in the best way possible.

“I’ll make this brief. Everly is leaving with me. She’s out of your clutches for good, and ye willnae contact her ever again. Even on your fucking deathbed.”

The reality of the situation crashed around me. Connor couldn’t have taken three men prisoner in the space of time my father had abducted me. He’d already put this in motion, which meant he knew exactly what risks he was taking. And he’d done it all with the purpose of setting me free. I linked my gaze to his again and saw all the devotion and care I felt for him reflected right back at me. Without saying a word, he told me everything I needed to know.

And my heart broke for Riordan. Our father really had known all about him and done nothing to be part of his life. For his sake, I was both glad and full of sorrow. I wished I’d never asked.

Connor pulled me tight against him, touching his forehead to mine for a second of bliss. Then he whispered an order. “Go to the car. You’re leaving with me.” Walking away now felt like the worst thing I could do, but I had to obey. In a reversal of our awful parting a decade ago, I smiled and managed a shaky, “Yes.” This time and always.

“We’re free,” I promised between kisses. “This is us now forever.” In the time we’d been reunited, little about us had been tender. I hadn’t. I’d treated her roughly. Taken the control she’d readily allowed, but not carefully. I’d sought to own her on my terms only and I’d been wrong. Everly shuddered, dropping her head to breathe against my shoulder. “Our start-again. We finally made it.” “I won’t take from you and I won’t hide anything from you,” I promised. “Which means a confession before anything else is said.” She exhaled a shocked breath. “How bad can it be?” I’d kidnapped her, drugged her, locked her up, and tattooed her while forcing orgasm after orgasm into her flesh. It made sense that she expected worse to come. I forced myself to say the words. “Two things. First, I put a tracker in ye. Years ago. Just so I could be sure ye were safe.” Her lips parted, but I wasn’t done. “And I swapped out your contraceptive pills. If the universe has anything to say about it, you’ll be pregnant with my bairn sometime soon.” That shock changed to another emotion I couldn’t identify, and her fingertips pressed my chest to give her space. Everly stared deep into my soul. If anything other than darkness gazed back at her, I couldn’t be sure, but I brushed my thumb under her breast, touching the word she needed to understand. “I went too far in my attempt to keep ye, but I’m not sorry. You’re mine.” Everly watched me for long enough that panic tightened my gut, but then she reache...

I’d been so worried about him, and happiness filled me to have him back. No matter his darker moments, he was always there for me. I wanted to make him feel just as loved.

He kissed me like his world started and ended with me. Like he’d been deprived of all things essential until now.

“I have a proposal to make. One day, I’ll marry ye. I want us to be a family and I want to give ye my last name.” I took a breath of joy. “Is that you asking?” “Almost.” A teasing smirk curved his lips. “But no. I’ll do it properly when we aren’t under siege. For now, I want to make good on my threat to ink my name into your skin.” He had threatened that, but I’d still wanted it. “Regardless of whether you’re pregnant right away, I want ye to know you’re mine. I’d die for ye, Everly. I’ll kill, too. Your father, Piers, they’re both dead men, I’m just biding my time to the point when I know the connection between them and until your father is no longer useful. But both have no right to live after what they did to ye. Same as anyone who looks at ye wrong. I’ll protect ye forever. Right now, I want ye to have my name.” “Another tattoo.” I squirmed on my seat, a burst of fresh desire waking inside me. “Where?” “Forehead still out?” I swatted his arm. He grinned and collected my left hand. “I thought here, around your finger where a ring will go one day.” It was the perfect idea. Holding in tears, I placed my hand on the counter in offer, and his eyes gleamed.