Green (Black's Christmas) Read online

  Green

  (Black’s Christmas Story)

  T.L Smith

  Copyright © 2018 by T.L Smith

  Green (Black’s Christmas Story)

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Warning

  This ebook contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. This ebook is intended for adults ONLY. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

  Cover – RBA

  Edited – Swish Editing

  Proofread – Contagious Edits

  Contents

  Blurb

  1. Black

  2. Rose

  3. Black

  4. Rose

  5. Black

  6. Rose

  7. Black

  8. Rose

  9. Black

  10. Rose

  11. Black

  12. Rose

  13. Black

  14. Rose

  15. Black

  16. Rose

  17. Black

  18. Rose

  19. Rose

  Also by T.L Smith

  Acknowledgments

  Distorted Love Excerpt

  Blurb

  Things have changed, some things stay the same.

  One thing I know for sure, no matter what, Rose will forever be mine.

  In this life and the next.

  Even if I break her wish, even if I break her heart.

  Some things are hard to let go.

  Harder than I anticipated.

  And that’s okay.

  I’ll have to keep it hidden, even on her favorite holiday of the year.

  I will keep this secret.

  Merry ‘Black’ Christmas.

  1

  Black

  It happens when it is at its darkest, when the night’s sky is black, when the cold wind hits you hard. Pinches at you and uses you as its weapon.

  That’s when it happens.

  That’s when I do the unthinkable.

  Something I never thought I’d do again.

  But the darkness, the blackness takes hold of me, as it has on more than one occasion. And when it calls. It’s almost impossible to say no.

  The crunch under my boots brings back memories, memories of times when I never had to think about anyone but myself. Honestly, at that time I couldn’t have cared less about anyone.

  But now I have more.

  Way more than I ever intended to have in my life.

  My life is almost picture perfect.

  My family’s complete.

  My life, to some, is almost perfect.

  She makes it that way just by being herself.

  My Rose.

  Except.

  Inside.

  Deep fucking inside.

  The darkness threatens to sneak through and come out to play. And sometimes, just sometimes, I have to let the dark out to play. It’s the right thing to do.

  In so many ways not keeping it caged is correct—it helps me be the right type of man for Rose. Or so I believe.

  It helps me to keep being the man she wants, no, deserves me to be at home. Keeps me being the father I should always be. Because they all have my fucking heart, every one of them holding onto pieces of it. No one else had a chance. I’m not even sure how it happened, Rose must have taken it that moment when we were sixteen years old. To be honest, I’ve never had a hold on it since that time.

  And that’s okay, I want it this way. She deserves it. If anyone can look after my heart, it’s Rose. I would gladly pull out the one that beats in my chest and hand it to her, so she fully understands that it only beats for her. Just her. Without her, I’m a dead man walking.

  “Not you.” His words fail as his hands drop to his sides. He shakes his head, taking a large step back.

  I can feel the disappointment that Rose will have, it leaks from me, but it doesn’t stop me from what I’m about to do. It can’t stop me.

  “You shouldn’t be here.” He tries talking again.

  The wind picks up and slaps across my face, my heavy black boots stay exactly where they are as I watch him. My right hand clenches the gun, the silencer already screwed into position.

  “You stopped.” He tries again, frantic now, especially because I don’t respond to him. His eyes search past me, but there’s no escape.

  The girl behind him moves.

  I thought she was dead, I guess I was wrong.

  He looks back at her then quickly to me. “I found her like that. I swear it. You must believe me.”

  He’s lying.

  Fuck! He is so lying.

  The girl comes around. She manages to sit up, her mouth moves to open in a scream, but I shake my head in warning as I watch her.

  “Go,” I yell.

  She scrambles to her feet, but he steps in her way not letting her pass.

  “You can’t let her go and not me. I was only trying to help.”

  Tears fall from her eyes as he touches her midsection. She’s scared of him. Frightened. Terrified. But most of all horrified as the gun in my hand rises.

  His hand drops from her waist, and she runs, straight past me and out of the alleyway.

  Now, it’s just him and me.

  My finger begs me to pull the trigger. To end it right now. Finish him.

  He’s sick. I watched as he struck the girl and dragged her down the alley as if she were nothing but a toy and he had every right to touch her.

  He didn’t.

  She didn’t give him that kind of permission.

  Rose.

  She pops into my head.

  I shake my head.

  Right now, I should be at home with her. In the same bed, snuggled up and kissing my way down her neck, pushing her long, beautiful blonde hair out of the way and curling it in my fingers as I pull her to me.

  She likes it rough.

  “Come on, man, we can work this out.”

  He snaps me out of my daze from the place I should be right now. Where my woman and kids sleep.

  I should be here.

  But this isn’t his first time. A hit is a hit, no matter how hard someone tries to get out of it. Money’s paid, and my job must be completed.

  This creep’s latest victim will now be his last.

  And mine… well, he won’t be my last. No matter how hard I try to tell myself otherwise.

  “I can pay you. Double whatever someone else is.” He bites his lip and looks down.

  He’s lying, he doesn’t have any money. And it doesn’t matter if he was the richest fucker on this earth, it’s the first contract that’s binding. You don’t go back on your word. It’s a code I live by, it’s how my business has always worked. It’s why I’m the best and why I’m sought after.

  I don’t even bother answering, just a simple shake of the head will suffice.

  Sirens sound in the distance. Drunken partiers walk the streets. Not one of them looks down the alley. Why would they? It’s dark. It’s menacing. It’s merely a gap between two old brick structures, a cold and uninviting place. Why would anyone even think to wander down here? And one thing you learn when growing up is never to go somewhere you can’t be seen. People like me hide in murky, obscure places ready to murder them.

  And we do. We annihilate whoever’s in our contract. It’s my job to make sure the execution is accomplished.

  Correctly.

  No fuss.

  First time.

  Just like John and m
e right now. Just like where he brings all his victims. Places no one else wants to go, so the screams are muffled, and her cries go unheard.

  The realization hits him as he takes a deep breath. His eyes flutter closed, and he makes his move to get past me. But you don’t get past me unless I let you. Him, I don’t intend to allow.

  His eyes register it before his body does. They go wide as my finger pulls back hard on the trigger. He drops to the ground. His hand lifting to cover his chest, which now has my bullet lodged inside. His eyes don’t bother looking up to me. Why would they, he has mere minutes to live.

  No one’s going to save him.

  Not in this life.

  Taking a deep breath in as John takes his last one out, a smirk tugs at my lips while I turn and walk out of the alley.

  I’m back…

  2

  Rose

  His hands wrap around my waist, the flutters that fly within my stomach since we first met have never left. His breath whispers on my neck, and all I want to do right now is let him tie me up and have his way with me. I know it’s what he wants as well, but we can’t.

  Little Liam–well, not so little anymore–spots us, rolls his eyes as he walks into the kitchen then turns and walks out. “Do you really have to?” he asks as he retreats.

  “Homework, Liam.”

  He shakes his head at my words while he continues walking out. Turning, so Liam’s hands stay put on me, I lean up and kiss those lips, the same ones that have loved me non-stop for the last five years he’s been back. Our kids are older, we are older. But our love, it’s still new. How that’s possible? I still don’t know. It’s not something I take for granted. I’m sure many loves aren’t like ours, we’re lucky. I don’t know a single love story like ours.

  Jake and Addy have both moved back and we’re all close again. Having them both so near is a blessing as well. Little Liam idolizes the ground Jake walks on. And to him, Addy’s the prettiest woman he’s ever seen.

  “I want to push you over this bench and fuck you until you can no longer walk, Rose.”

  My face flushes as he pushes himself against me, hard. My first instinct is to push back on him, but he bites my neck while his hands roam everywhere they can touch until he finds my bare skin. He lifts my shirt to my bra.

  “I wouldn’t go in there, Dad’s molesting Mom again.”

  Liam groans at little Liam’s words. I push away, pulling my shirt down as Hayden steps in. He doesn’t say much, just sits on the bench with his head hanging low as he reads something on his cell.

  “Do you plan on saying hi?” I ask Hayden.

  He lifts his head and stands. Walks around and kisses my cheek then sits back down. Hayden nods his head to Liam who’s now leaning against the counter watching him.

  “I’m moving out.”

  The cloth that was in my hand drops to the floor. Liam doesn’t move, just watches Hayden as he looks up to us.

  “No. I mean… are you sure?” I ask him. I’ve kept him as long as I could possibly keep him here. Protected him for even longer. I love him, even if biologically he isn’t mine. He’s mine in every other way.

  “Sorry Mom, but think… you could finally turn that room into an office.”

  My head shakes fast. “That room will be yours… forever. It won’t change, because you can always come back.”

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Shit! Hayden straightens in his seat. He also knows that voice and the meaning behind it. Liam isn’t happy. Liam and Hayden, they’re more alike than little Liam and Liam. Hayden chose Liam, that’s the difference. Where most saw the bad in Liam, Hayden saw the good.

  “Moving in with Jake.”

  “Not happening.”

  Just then Jake walks in, helps himself to the fridge and turns to all of us.

  There’s silence.

  Quiet.

  You could hear a pin drop it’s that still in here.

  Jake’s eyes land on Liam. If Liam had a gun in hand right now, Jake would run.

  “It’s not happening, sorry, kid,” Jake says to Hayden then walks out, taking the beer he stole with him.

  “Dad, fuck! Really? Did you have to do that?” Hayden swears.

  “I did nothing.”

  It’s true, Liam didn’t. But he also did by his nonverbal response. He knows that his reaction is what caused Jake to change his mind.

  “Isabelle’s outside right now trying to kiss on a boy. Liam’s addicted to YouTube videos. I’m a man now. You realize that. I have grown-ass men as friends, which Isabelle has tried to hang out with on multiple occasions. I need my space.”

  Liam chuckles at his words and shakes his head. Then stops as quickly as he started and pins Hayden with his eyes. “Where the fuck is she?”

  Hayden points, Liam walks off.

  “Mom.” I don’t want him to leave either, but he’s right, he is an adult now. I’ve done the best I can keeping him here and safe.

  “I’ll talk to him. Maybe pack when he isn’t here.”

  Hayden gets up, kisses my cheek, then leaves. He’s hardly home as it is. He works with Liam and Sax part-time while he goes to university. Hayden is Liam’s favorite, we all know it. It’s hard for Liam to comprehend that Hayden might not need him now.

  “That girl.”

  “She’s going through a stage,” I say as Liam walks back in.

  He shakes his head. “That stage better be finished soon, before I start distributing bullets to those boys.”

  I laugh at his words. “It’s time. You have to let him go.” Liam doesn’t say anything to my words, so I continue, “He’s still yours. He just needs… space. Give him that.”

  “You’ll have to distract me,” he says pushing against me. He opens the food pantry and pushes me in then shuts the door. His hands make fast work removing my top and then pulling my skirt all the way up so his hands can grab my ass. Pulling my G-string out of the way, he smiles.

  “That, I can do.” My lips touch Liam’s as he slides into me. We’ve mastered the art of fucking hard and quiet. We’ve had to, he never stops. Ever.

  “My fucking beautiful Rose.” His words breathe life into me, each and every time. He distracts me with them, takes everything I am feeling.

  He makes me focus on only one thing.

  Him.

  Liam Black is a master at fuckery, just like he’s a master assassin.

  And I know what he did last night.

  I’m just waiting for him to tell me.

  3

  Black

  “Where were you the other night? Or the last week to be exact? I’ve been covering for you, but even Hayden’s noticing.” I sit across from Sax, his hand rubbing over his bald head as he watches me while waiting for an answer.

  “Busy.”

  “Don’t bullshit me, Black. I know what you’ve been doing. What about John the other night? That mother who contacted us, you just happen to say no to her?”

  “We get those calls all the time.”

  Sax nods his head. It’s true. They ring and ask for protection, then they ask if we do extra. Killing. The answer is usually no, unless… well, unless I’m feeling extra twitchy.

  “We do, and I know how much you hate to say no.”

  He’s right. It’s hard trying to find a new normal. I found it, but then slowly drifted back to my old kind of normal. This time though, I’m not alone. I have a family to consider, I have to think about them in all aspects of life.

  “I was out.”

  He shakes his head. “You always seem to be out.” He pulls out a newspaper and throws it on the desk. John’s face is plastered on the front cover. “Don’t bullshit me. Fucking next time make the damn body disappear.”

  Just as he finishes talking, Hayden walks in. He’s dressed much like me—in all black. He looks to Sax who nods his head then Hayden looks back to me.

  “Shooting range?” Hayden asks. We go often. He’s good, better than me.

  “No
t today,” I say. He looks down, his face restrained, his hands glued to his side.

  “A drink?” Hayden offers.

  Sax kicks me under the table. “Sure.”

  Hayden walks off first, Sax shakes his head as I get up and follow him. Sax ended up buying his business in town. The bar is easy to get to as it’s next door. I’m sure he did that on purpose, buying his business next door to some place that serves his favorite drinks.

  “She’s contacting me,” are Hayden’s first words as we walk out of the building. We aren’t even inside the bar yet.

  “Your mother,” I reply.

  She tried contacting Rose a few years back, we gave her more money and she went away. Of course, she’s back, the money must have dried up.

  Hayden nods his head. We don’t make a move to go inside the bar—Sax suggested it so he could talk to me.

  “She wants to try…” he looks down, “… so she says.”

  I have to bite my inner cheek to stop the expletives that want to rip from my mouth. His mother and stepfather are lowlife scum—actually that’s being kind, more like fucking pond scum.

  “You aren’t going to say anything?” Hayden asks.

  “I have nothing to say.”

  His fingers whip through his hair and his expression is pained. “Dad, this is the one time I need you to tell me what to do.”

  “Not happening. You’re old enough to figure what you want on your own.”

  “Is this payback? In your way this is retaliation for me wanting to leave, isn’t it?”

  “Wrong! This is me letting you be an adult. So be a fucking adult.” My feet start walking before I say anything else. Hayden follows on behind me.