His Prize (The Cleaners Book 1) Read online

  “What was that, girl? Speak up when you’re fucking talking to me, and crawl over here to greet your owner properly.” A shiver went through her frame, but she dutifully started to crawl, right through the sticky mess on the floor, until her fingertips touched his bare feet.

  “Don’t touch me with your filthy hands, just use your mouth.”

  Ty swore again, and Ren flipped him the finger, daring him to disagree with his treatment of the girl. His cock jumped further to attention when she nuzzled into his groin, and Ren fisted his hands into tight balls.

  “I’m sorry, Sir, but I did make you breakfast, too, and the men were hungry. I didn’t think you’d mind if I cooked them something.” She glanced up at him, looking for reassurance he was in no mood to give right now, and something hot and angry flashed in her eyes.

  “The next batch was going to be yours, and I was going to take them down to you. I can’t do that now, of course, because they’re all over the floor and ow…” Her voice trailed off, and the defiance left her eyes, when he yanked her head up by her hair.

  “Enough, girl. I’m in no mood to hear your excuses. You’re mine, and your responsibility is to me not my men. Of course, if you like them so much, you won’t mind me ordering you to suck them off, after you’ve dealt with this.” Her pupils widened, and her breathing sped up, and it was sorely tempting to pull his rock hard dick out, and make her give him the relief he so sorely needed right now. Susie tried to shake her head.

  “What? Don’t want to go down on my men?”

  “No, Sir, please … I…”

  Ren growled his annoyance, and she stopped speaking when he pushed her back down on the floor, and glared at her. “You’re here for me to fuck your holes. That’s what I want from you, not fucking breakfast.”

  Seeing her subjugated on the mess on the floor soothed the savage inside him that had risen the moment he’d seen her giving her attention to someone other than him.

  Susie didn’t say anything, made no attempt to defend her actions further, and guilt at his treatment of her followed hard on the heels of his outburst, not helped by Ty shaking his head, and the other four piling out of the kitchen. None of his men met his gaze, in fact, and as for his little pumpkin, the dejected fall of her shoulders made him feel ten times worse.

  “Go clean yourself up, and then come back here, and clean that mess you made.” His words came out much harsher than he intended them to, but, fuck it, he didn’t know what else to do with this strange tightness in his chest. It made him stop her when she would have risen to her feet.

  “No. Crawl, until I can’t see you anymore. Then you may walk, and hurry up about it.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He almost didn’t hear her murmured response, and watched her retreat out of the kitchen with mixed emotions. He wasn’t entirely surprised when Ty punched him hard on the shoulder.

  “Fuck, boss, why are you being such an ass? The girl did nothing wrong here.”

  Ren spun round to face the other man and blocked the uppercut aimed at his chin.

  Giving Ty a hard shove out of the way, he walked over to the sink, and poured himself a much needed glass of water.

  “Since when are you concerned about the way I treat the girls we bring here?” He countered Ty’s question with one of his own, and having downed the glass in one go, slammed it down on the sink.

  “Since you made it pretty clear that she is not to be shared. Fuck, Ren, you treat the working girls better than this, and we pay them well. She’s not one of them. You know that. She was terrified when she came into the kitchen and saw us all here. I’m pretty sure she expected us all to jump her or something, and had it not been for your earlier order we sure as fuck would have done. Your girl is fucking hot, after all.” Ty nodded when Ren smiled grimly at that.

  “Anyway, Josh was moaning about being hungry and the next thing we know, she’s asking us if you like pancakes, and if you’d mind if she made some.”

  Ren didn’t like where this was going, and the fine hair on his neck rose when Ty gave a short laugh.

  “You can imagine what Josh’s response to that was. The man only ever thinks with two things, his Johnson and his stomach. Needless to say his stomach won out, and he all but ordered her to make them. She still hesitated, wanting to know if you’d mind.”

  Ren swore softly, and Ty rolled his eyes.

  “Yeah, you get the picture now, I take it. Anyway, she got to cooking, they tucked in, and fuck, I tell you, that girl makes a mean pancake. They’re some still in the oven to keep them warm, so go eat them, and then you’ll see. We were all having fun, until you turned up with a giant stick up your ass and go all caveman on the girl.”

  Ty fell silent, seemingly letting his words sink in, and when Ren sighed and opened the oven door, he continued.

  “She wanted to make you fresh ones. Otherwise, she’d have been down there already with those ones.”

  Picking up the oven gloves Ren took the little plate piled high with pancakes out of the oven, and his stomach rumbled loudly when the delicious smell hit his nostrils.

  “They sure smell good.” He murmured the words under his breath, and then closed his eyes, as he took his first bite.

  “Told you, they’re fucking good, right?” Ty’s gruff voice softened slightly with hidden laughter, and sure enough, when Ren opened his eyes it was to see his second in command openly smirk at him.

  Ren flipped him the finger again and carried on eating. The flavor and fluffy texture exploded on his taste buds. He savored every mouthful, until his gaze fell to the mess on the floor, and his appetite left him.

  Arms crossed over his wide chest, Ty stood right in the middle of it all, and Ren pushed the plate away with a sigh.

  “All right, I admit it, I fucked up. But the girl is my property. She’s not here on freaking vacation and we don’t pay her to cook us breakfast, so…”

  His words trailed off, as Ty’s expression grew murderous.

  “That’s bullshit, and you know it, Ren. I’ve never seen you act like that around a bit of pussy.” He smirked when Ren shot out of his chair.

  “Don’t you fucking call her that!”

  “Why not? That’s exactly how you treated her after all, which would be all fine and dandy, if I hadn’t been there when you took out that Brian fucker. This was personal from the start, and as a result, we’re gonna have weeks of clean up in front of us, not to mention a fucking turf war. The Priestly asses had it coming, but you can’t tell me you’d have been this bothered about a turf violation, had it been any other chick involved.” He laughed when Ren kept quiet and glared at him. “Yeah, thought so. You’ve got it bad, boss, and that’s why you’re taking your shit out on her ass.”

  Ren continued to glare at Ty, and it was on the top of his tongue to refute the other man’s ridiculous accusations, but Ty knew him better than anyone. They’d been through too much fucked up shit, had shared too many women, killed too many assholes together for Ren to even entertain the notion of lying to him.

  “Fuck! I don’t need this shit right now.”

  Ty laughed in answer, strolled across to the utility room, and pulled out the bucket and mop.

  “From what I can gather, one never has time in one’s life for that. At least that’s what my old man always said. You just know when it hits you, and it’s up to you to figure out what to do about it. The way I see it, Susie ain’t going nowhere in a hurry, though I dare say after that earlier scene she’ll wanna run far away from you.”

  Ren made a disgusted sound at the back of his throat, and chuckling to himself, Ty dumped the bucket under the tap to fill it up.

  “Go, make your peace with her, or, if you don’t want her around, let her go. I know what outcome my money will be on, and for what it’s worth, you couldn’t have picked better. The girl is fucking hot, she can cook, and she’s yours by proxy. Win-win, if you ask me.” He heaved the bucket out of the sink, and swirled the mop around in it with great flour
ish. It reminded Ren of their time in the army, when they’d been mere rookies, and had had to clean out their quarters.

  “Go, I’ll clean this mess up. You’ll either be fucking her brains out, or escorting her out of here. Whichever it is, she won’t be cleaning this up herself.”

  “Smart fucking ass.”

  “Always.” Ty countered. “Compared to you, Ren, I’m a fucking genius, after all.”

  Ren punched him in the shoulder, and Ty’s mocking laughter followed him all the way down the corridor. He scowled when he came across Josh lurking outside the door, leading to the cellar. The younger man stared him down, and Ren inwardly sighed. It seemed Susie had made another ally in the former MMA fighter, because face set in a stern mask, he pushed away from the wall and got right into Ren’s face.

  “If you’ve got something to say to me, spit it out already, Josh, otherwise, move out my fucking way, so that I can get to my girl.”

  A muscle ticked in Josh’s jaw, and seconds passed by, during which Ren readied himself to take the guy down a notch. Not that he was looking forward to that. Josh threw a mean punch, and that was when he wasn’t personally invested, which he clearly was right now.

  “So you remembered she’s your girl, at last then? Funny that. After the shit you pulled in that kitchen, we all thought your orders last night were chicken shit. You don’t treat her like that, boss, ever, do you hear me?”

  “Or?”

  Josh stepped back and cracked his knuckles.

  “Or I’ll have something to say about it, that’s what. The girl is an innocent, you fuckin’ know that after last night, and we don’t mess with those. Least of all when she’s under Huntly’s protection, and knows enough to blow the whistle on all of us. I don’t wanna fucking kill her, but if she tries to run, because her owner,” he mimed quotation marks around the word, “is treating her like shit, then us cleaners will have to hunt her down. None of us fucking want that. So, you sort it, boss.”

  With that Josh stalked away. The front door slammed shut behind him with enough force to rattle the window frames, and Ren smirked.

  What was it about his little pumpkin that garnered such loyalty in his men?

  Chapter Seven

  Susie stood under the hot spray and let the water wash away the hateful words that seemed to have lodged in her skin. It also hid the tears she couldn’t hold back anymore. Tears which made her angry at herself. Why couldn’t she simply stand up to him, and tell him to take a fucking hike? That’s certainly what she would have done before, if any other man had tried to pull that stunt on her. The urge to disobey him, to call him out on his crap had been overwhelmingly strong for all of one second, before he’d grasped her hair, exerting his dominance, and his disapproval at her action had robbed her of any suitable comeback.

  She still felt the injustice of it all. It festered in her side like a poisoned dart and warred with the need to please him. She still couldn’t understand what she’d done so wrong. His men had to eat, after all. It’s not as though she’d tried to run away. The thought of freedom made her cry harder with the knowledge that that thought hadn’t even occurred to her. No, like the lamb to the slaughter she had trotted right past the front door, and entered the kitchen. Her stomach cramped, reliving that moment she’d pushed open the slightly ajar door, and had found herself at the receiving end of five pairs of assessing male eyes.

  Each one of Ren’s men was a drool-worthy specimen male in its prime, and that’s without the underlying air of danger, leashed aggression, and pure male dominance that was an almost palpable force in the room, as their attention as one shifted to her. Susie didn’t have the visceral reaction to Ren’s men like she had to him, but she was certainly not immune to them either.

  No woman would be with that much testosterone filling the space. Josh, the biggest and meanest looking of them all, had tipped his chair back on its legs and given her a sinful smile that had promised all sorts of wicked delights. Like the majority of them, he’d been shirtless, wearing just loose fitting pajama bottoms, and Susie hadn’t managed to look away from the myriad of tattoos gracing his impressive chest. He looked the sort to hit first and ask questions later, and she would have backed away, had the “sin brothers”, as these two members of Ren’s team were known among the dancers, had not come up behind her, and barred her escape from the room. Six foot three of lean muscle they had surrounded her, one large hand on each of her shoulders. Not restraining her exactly, but letting her know she wasn’t going anywhere either. She’d flicked a nervous glance at each one of them, and Alex and James Synn had both grinned at her. Alex, the older one, had more muscle mass than his slightly leaner brother James, but they’d both still towered over her, making her feel small, feminine, and like the prey they were about to devour. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to leave Ren’s protection.

  Two sets of identical amber eyes had crinkled up at the corners in seeming amusement at her clearly far too obvious thought processes.

  “Relax, little lady. If we wanted to eat you, you’d be strapped to this table already,” James said, and Alex laughed and ran his thumb up her neck, over her rapidly beating pulse point.

  “You’d enjoy it too, wouldn’t she, bro?”

  James winked at his brother’s statement, and Susie had swallowed hard.

  “The boss would have your hide, so leave her alone.”

  Ty Mason, Ren’s brooding, dark haired second in command, and the one man apart from Ren, who Susie knew best, intervened, and she flashed him a grateful smile. Chuckling, the sin brothers stepped away from her. They’d still barred her exit route, however, and when Josh rose to his feet, gathered his shoulder length brown hair and tied it back behind his nape, she took an involuntary step back.

  He’d smirked and addressed Ty, his deep gravelly voice sending shivers of unease through her.

  “So, if we can’t eat her, what’s for breakfast, Ty? I’m fucking starving.”

  Ty had shaken his head, but before he could say anything the last remaining member of Ren’s team, had spoken up. The enigmatic Ace Jackson had made her more nervous than the other four put together.

  “She looks as though she knows her way around a kitchen.” His dark eyes had taken a leisurely tour around her body, making Susie feel as though he could look right through her protective layers. He’d licked his lips lingering on her breasts, and his cruel looking lips had curved into the semblance of a smile, which had only served to send yet more adrenaline through her body. Ace so rarely smiled. It didn’t bode well when he did. Susie had never wanted to run more, yet she also knew she wouldn’t get anywhere. So, instead she’d crossed her arms over her chest and dropped her gaze to the floorboards.

  “After all, you don’t get those curves unless you like your food.” The inherent insult had brought her head up, and she’d done her best to glare at him. Not that it had any effect on the man. He’d simply stared her down, raised an eyebrow, and smirked some more.

  “What are you doing here, girl?” Ty’s gentle voice had broken the tense moment, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Not thinking of the consequences she’d blurted out the first thing on her mind.

  “Well, Ren is still asleep, and I figured he would want some breakfast.”

  A collective murmur had gone through the men. Cocking his head to one side Ty had studied her with the most curious expression on his face.

  “You’re telling me the boss is still sleeping, and doesn’t know you’re here?” he’d asked.

  She’d only managed a nod in response, as the tension in the room seemed to hit boiling point again, and she jumped at Josh’s response.

  “Well, I’ll be fuckin’ damned. You best get on with making that breakfast then, girl. What’cha thinking of doing?”

  “Pancakes?” She’d hated the way her voice had wobbled, but Josh’s grim face had broken into a wide grin, and he’d slapped his rock hard abs.

  “With bacon and stuff?” he’d asked. “Not the flimsy ki
nd you chicks like, right?”

  “If you like….”

  Josh had sat down and hitched his thumb over his massive shoulder.

  “Get on with it then, girl. I’m hungry.”

  That had set the mood for the rest of the hour, and the men had become rapidly more relaxed, once she’d started cooking. In truth it had felt good to see them all enjoying her cooking for them so heartily. They’d cracked jokes, and for a few precious minutes Susie had forgotten why she was there. It had felt as though she’d belonged in this kitchen, safely surrounded by men who meant her no harm it seemed, even though they all looked as though they could break her neck without even breaking into a sweat. That was until Ren had walked in, all furious and cold.

  She should hate him, but the opposite was true, and she knew full well that, should he turn up now, she’d be putty in his hands again. It was freaking insane, that’s what this was. How had she managed to successfully run from Brian, only to be ensnared by someone far more dangerous than that man had ever been?

  Ren’s dark words came back to haunt her.

  He’s fish food, baby… he hurt you.

  That had made it sound as though he cared about her, as though she meant more to him than just a convenient fuck, but after the impersonal way he’d treated her in the kitchen, and in front of his men…

  Susie angrily blinked away her tears. He had no right, and she would tell him so. Consequences be fucked. As though she’d conjured him up with her thoughts the sound of the door guarding the wet room opening and shutting made her flinch. His scent enveloped her seconds before his heavy hands landed on her shoulder and pulled her back against his naked frame. Against her will her breathing hitched, as she felt him hardening against her ass. He kicked her legs apart, and she put her hands up against the tiled wall for support, as he slid his hair roughened thigh between her open legs. Ren brought his hands slowly round to her front, cupping her heavy breasts as though to test their weight, and her traitorous body responded to him like a puppet on a string. She ought to be screaming at him, not pushing against him, melting under his touch as he flicked his thumb over her nipples, and nuzzled into her neck.