Shiver of Deception (Soul of the Sinner- Book 5) Read online

  Candy pushed away from the desk and wrapped her arms around my neck. “There is something else I want, Oliver.” She licked my neck and I backed away, disgusted.

  “How about I introduce you to everyone?” I placed my hands on her hips, swinging her around.

  I am a sick bastard. I knew Bryn was downstairs, so taking Candy downstairs was just to rub salt in the fucking wound. Taking her by the hand, I led her downstairs to the bar.

  “I would like to introduce you all to our new accountant,” I yelled to get everyone’s attention.

  “Accountant?” Adele questioned, and her eyes narrowed when she looked between me and Candy.

  “Yes, accountant. I gave her a different title because bookkeeper sounds too simple. Candy and I will be working very closely, and I wanted to make sure the title is a perfect fit.”

  “Hmmm…. I love a perfect fit,” Candy whispered, but she was still loud enough that everyone heard her, including Bryn whose face turned a different shade.

  As everyone introduced themselves to Candy, I noticed Bryn sneaking away and walking toward the back hall. Tormented by confusing emotions, I followed her as everyone chatted with Candy.

  “Bryn, wouldn’t you like to meet the new accountant?” I said the words tentatively as if testing the idea.

  She didn’t answer me and walked past me to go back into the bar. Her eyes were red and watery. It was this moment I realized what I’d just done. The problem is I didn’t just see what I did, I felt it and it fucking hurt.

  My life slowly spun out of control during the three weeks following me hiring Candy and Bryn beginning work behind the bar. I had alienated every employee that worked for us. It had gotten to the point where several anger management pamphlets had been left on my desk, and one was even put on my windshield.

  I walked into the bar area and everyone disappeared. Both Alex and Adele just looked at me with pity, but they had been keeping their distance. Frank called a special meeting tomorrow morning, and I was sure it had something to do with me and my new attitude.

  Bryn

  “Can you help me?”

  The color drained from my face as I stared at Candy. I swallowed with difficulty and found my voice. “What did you need help with?”

  “I can’t figure out how to use this thing,” she muttered uneasily.

  I glanced around the bar noticing everyone else was busy. This must be the only reason Candy would ask me for anything. I had made it my purpose to ignore her and pretend she didn’t exist.

  “That’s a calculator.” My eyebrows rose in amazement.

  “I know it is, but it’s new, and the box said it was a ten digit one and I don’t think I have been trained on a ten digit one,” she replied in her ditzy valley girl voice.

  I tilted my head, staring at this stupid ass girl that replaced me. Why would Oliver think she was qualified to handle holding a glass let alone do the books? I stammered in bewilderment realizing that Candy would be the obvious choice. She was too stupid to ask questions and figure out what was really going on here at the club.

  “Candy, what’s going on here?” Oliver asked as he pulled off his jacket and stood between me and Candy.

  “I was asking for help. You bought me this new calculator, and I wasn’t trained on it. I know what I can do. At my last job, we created job aides all the time! Maybe I can figure it out and write myself a job aide, so I have instructions for the next time!”

  Oliver narrowed his eyes and looked between me and Candy. I didn’t need to hear the response to that brilliant idea, so I walked away.

  I watched as Oliver rubbed Candy’s arm and spoke to her. She smiled big and leaned into him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. I chewed on my lower lip and stole a final look at him. As Candy walked back to his office, Oliver walked over to me.

  “Bryn,” he said with a significant lifting of his brows.

  A warning voice whispered in my head. I kept my eyes down and again walked away. I was good at walking away, of hiding from people I didn’t want to see. Just thinking of it shattered me. Am I that cold and heartless that I can close out the people I love? Why was I even comparing Oliver to the people I love? The thought tore at my insides.

  I kept walking and didn’t look back, despite feeling his eyes on me.

  It’d been three months, six days, and forty minutes since I was with Oliver. I spent most of my days avoiding him. When he walked into the bar, I made sure to be on the other side of the room. When he looked at me, I looked away. I have to be honest, it was getting hard. I missed the hell out of him. The sound of his voice. The way his hands felt. The way he completely dominated me. I felt loved and protected when I was near Oliver.

  “Team meeting!” Alex yelled, and we all gathered around the bar as he, Frank, and Oliver stood in front of us. I sat in a chair, my fingers tensed in my lap. I could feel his eyes on me. He seemed to be peering at me intently. Every time his gaze met mine, my heart turned over in response.

  He looked at me like he was photographing me with his eyes.

  “We thought it would be fun to have team building exercises for the club. It will be fun and mandatory. We will be split into three groups, not to be determined by us, and the teams will be put into an escape room.”

  Oliver’s gaze bore into my silent expression.

  “What exactly is an escape room?” I asked.

  “Six of us will be locked in a room and we have sixty minutes to escape. The team that gets out the quickest, or at all, wins. We’ll learn how to trust each other more,” Alex explained.

  This couldn’t work out in my favor, could it? The number was uneven, which meant someone wouldn’t get to play. Maybe that can be me?

  “The number is uneven! I don’t need to participate,” I volunteered, and Alex laughed.

  “Nice try, but we already have someone on vacation that day, so you should already be assigned to a team.”

  Oliver’s gaze roved and lazily appraised me.

  Alex ripped the envelope open to reveal the teams. He reminded everyone that the employees at the escape room company picked the teams. He thought it would be the easiest way to be fair and impartial. Alex pouted after finding out that Adele was on Frank’s team. I fought back tears learning I was on Oliver’s team.

  Oliver pulled the team aside to tell us what day and time to meet at the escape room. I tried to throttle the dizzying current racing through me.

  I suddenly felt faint. I was going to be locked in a room with Oliver. It shouldn’t have bothered me because there would be other people with us. It still bothered me… a lot. I couldn’t do this.

  “Not fair! I wanted to be on Oliver’s team!” Candy whined as Oliver and Alex consoled her, and for a split second, I hoped I was the reason she didn’t get on his team.

  Whiny ditzy bitch.

  I didn’t get much sleep that night. I felt chocolate brown eyes on me and felt firm hands. I could even smell his aftershave. Eventually, I fell asleep thinking about being locked in the escape room with Oliver.

  This couldn’t be happening.

  “I have bad news.” His eyes blazed amber fire.

  Nope. Can’t be happening.

  “What is it?” I shot him a cold look, waiting for the other team members to arrive.

  “We are the team.” His left eyebrow rose a fraction.

  “Excuse me?” I countered icily.

  “Apparently, everyone else on our team is claustrophobic.” He chuckled nastily.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I shook with impotent rage and fear.

  “Nope. They are here but in the restaurant. We’ll have to win it for the team.” His brows set in a straight line. I gave him a hostile glare. “I had nothing to do with this, Bryn,” he replied sharply.

  A few minutes later, we were locked together in the escape room. It was just the two of us, and we had to work together, which involved talking. We had sixty minutes to get out unless we could figure out how to get out sooner.

 
; Please, let us get out sooner.

  The room was unnerving. The wall was brick, and there was a wooden table in the middle of the room. There was a fireplace that obviously didn’t work. A beautiful chandelier hung from the ceiling, and a wooden chair with a skeleton sitting in it was placed in a corner. I only hoped that wasn’t the last person who tried to get out of this room.

  His hoarse voice broke the silence. “Are we going to do this?”

  Yes, I want to do this, but more importantly, I still want to do you and that is the problem.

  “Bryn?” He tilted his brow, looking at me uncertainly.

  I tingled as he said my name. His nearness was overwhelming. My heart thumping erratically, I gave him a small nod.

  Oliver started reading off the series of puzzles that we had to solve to escape. Each puzzle gave a clue, and the final clue led to the key to unlock the door. The first five puzzles were easy to solve, so it didn’t take us very long. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw we still had forty minutes.

  We were on the final puzzle and had only twenty-five minutes to find the key. We were stumped. It didn’t feel like we would be able to solve it. Oliver and I stood side by side as we stared at the puzzle. He stood so close I could feel the heat from his body.

  Our eyes locked as our breaths came in unison. A hot ache grew in my throat. An even hotter ache grew between my legs.

  My lips found their way instinctively to his. Oliver pulled me against his body before lifting me onto the table. He pulled me to the edge and stood between my legs. I could feel his bulge and I knew it was all over for me. I would no longer be able to keep him at arm’s distance. I wanted this man and he wanted me.

  I wanted him to have me.

  His large hand took my face and held it gently. “I have missed you so much,” he whispered before pushing down my pants and pulling out his rock-hard cock.

  Within seconds, Oliver was thrusting into me as I fell back onto the table. He leaned over, placing his hand over my mouth to keep me from screaming as he forced himself into me and pulled out. In… Out… In… Out… His thrusts gave no mercy. My body trembled as he used me, and with one hard push, I came. After two more even harder thrusts, he also came.

  Oliver collapsed on top of me, and I could only think about the magnificent man that was in my arms. My trembling limbs clung to him. When we climbed off the table and got dressed, our focus was on each other.

  “We only have seven minutes. If we don’t figure out this last puzzle, our team will lose,” I reminded him.

  He stepped forward and clasped my body tightly to his.

  “Fuck the team. We have already won.”

  Oliver

  My team lost the escape challenge. None of them understood why I came out as a loser and had a smile on my face. They didn’t understand that I had gotten what I wanted in that room. I wanted Bryn and I had her. I followed her home and had her several more times, too.

  I couldn’t get enough of her, and I didn’t think I ever would. I could admit that I still had the nagging little voice in the back of my head telling me that she was hiding something. I guessed until I was hit with concrete evidence, I’d ignore that voice.

  It’d been one month since the escape challenge, and since then, Bryn and I had spent every night at her place or mine. I don’t think I could’ve slept without her next to me at that point. I hadn’t mentioned our relationship to anyone, especially Alex or Adele. It had been hard to stay away from her while at the club, but it was even harder to work in my office with Candy, knowing I wanted it to be Bryn.

  Bryn didn’t like Candy at all, and I could see her biting her tongue when we were in the bar and Candy would casually touch me. Of course, I didn’t mind proving to Bryn that she was the only woman for me in the back hall.

  I think Adele got a little suspicious when we came back into the bar within seconds of each other. Bryn’s hair was fucked up and she had a certain glow.

  I never thought the woman I would want to have kids with would show up at the club. I had been so jealous of the other guys, and my woman walked into my life without me having to search for her. I wanted Bryn to be the woman that had my kids. I knew she was on the pill, so she wouldn’t get pregnant, but I wanted to talk her into not taking them.

  If I had my way, Bryn would be getting pregnant the next time I was inside her.

  I closed my eyes and imagined Bryn being pregnant with my kid. She wouldn’t need to work at the bar anymore. Hell, she wouldn’t need to work at all. I had enough money that we wouldn’t have to worry about shit. She and the kids would be well taken care of. I thought I’d like to have at least five. Hopefully, there would be four boys and one girl, not that I could plan any of that shit. I just wanted sons that could take my place in the business. I didn’t think I could handle having more than one daughter. I would probably end up in prison for murdering some little boy for dangling his dick near her. However, if I had sons, we could avoid any of that shit happening.

  “Hey, why don’t you return calls anymore?” Thomas asked as he barged into my office, ending my daydreaming.

  “Candy, can you please give us a moment?” I asked, and Candy pouted as she eyed Thomas and walked out.

  “What’s up?” I ask.

  Thomas narrowed his eyes before taking a seat. “Do you remember when you had me do the background check on Bryn?”

  I squinted as I glanced up at Thomas. “Yeah, why?” I quirked my eyebrow questioningly.

  “I didn’t find anything on her, but I pulled her social security number from the files.”

  “You did what?” I pinched my lip and noticed the worry in Thomas’ face.

  “The Columbos are looking for her. Apparently, they got a hit that I was looking into her and paid me a visit. They wanted to know where she was and why I had her social security number.” He lifted an eyebrow.

  “The Columbos?” I whispered.

  “Yep.” His brows drew downward in a frown.

  I didn’t hear anything else after Thomas confirmed that the Columbos were interested in Bryn. The family ran Boston, and there was an oath one took when associated with the mob. No one fucked with another family’s territory. If they were looking for her, they would expect me to hand her over, preferably in a body bag. It would explain why she wore the wig when she went into the bank. The Columbos had people working for the Feds. They would know she needed money, and where is money? It’s at the fucking bank.

  I told Thomas not to mention this to anyone else and that I would handle it. The problem was, I didn’t know how I’d handle it because the Columbos weren’t getting anywhere near Bryn.

  When Thomas left, I did research on the Columbo family. I knew plenty about them, but now I didn’t feel like I knew enough. It bothered me that they were looking for Bryn. I had no idea what to do about it. I knew she was hiding something, but this wasn’t what I was expecting. I’d need to get the truth out of her that night.

  I would get the information out of her, once I pulled out of her.

  My mind was in Boston, but my body was covering Bryn’s. Her legs were wrapped around me, pulling me in further. Her fingers clawed at my back and I could hear her moaning as I impaled into her tight, wet pussy that grasped my throbbing dick like a vise.

  I grabbed her arms and pinned them above her head as I sat up. I pounded into her harder and harder until I could feel her wetness dripping down my cock. When she tried to squirm away, I pushed into her further and came.

  Bryn laid in my arms, and I listened to the change in her breathing. She was asleep, but I needed to talk to her about the Columbos and Boston. I unwound her legs from mine and climbed out of bed. Bryn was a heavy sleeper and didn’t wake as I paced around the bedroom watching her sleep.

  When Bryn reached over to my side of the bed, she woke to find me leaning against the wall staring at her.

  “Why are you wearing pants? I am not done with you,” she whispered as she stretched, sitting up in bed. Her eyes wid
ened when I pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat.

  “What’s wrong?” Her brow creased with worry.

  I stiffened at the question. “Why are the Columbos looking for you?” I asked.

  She nervously moistened her lips. “What are you talking about, Oliver? How do you know about the Columbos?” Her slender hands unconsciously twisted together.

  My jaw clenched, my eyes slightly narrowed. “Answer the damn question, Bryn.” I sat forward and looked at her intently.

  “I was engaged to Steven Columbo, and they think I killed him.”

  I sat very still, my eyes narrowed.

  Steven Columbo was Ralph Columbo’s son.

  Ralph Columbo, as in the fucking Don.

  It was expected that Ralph was to retire at the end of the year, and his son Steven was going to take over. I stared at Bryn, not knowing if I could believe her. It would have been major news if the crime boss had a son that was killed. I guessed his body could have been disposed of; it’s not like we hadn’t ever done the same thing.

  Bodies disappeared all the time in the mob world. What I didn’t understand was how she would have walked away? How in the hell did she hide from the fucking mob?

  “Oliver, please, say something,” she whispered in a small, frightened voice.

  “I need time to think, Bryn. I have to go.” I stared at her, baffled.

  I can’t tell you how the hell I got home. I was in shock from everything I’d found out. All I knew was I didn’t have any idea of what I was going to do.

  Bryn

  I slowly walked into the bar. I could hear voices but didn’t comprehend anything that was being said. Glancing around, I looked for Oliver, but he was nowhere to be found. When he left the night before, I thought about running again. He knew the secret I’d been hiding. I was wanted by the mob for a murder that I didn’t commit. I didn’t know how he found out about the Columbos, but I was too shocked to ask. Now, I was risking my life by even showing up at the club.