Locked Hearts: Keir & Sailor #2 (Chained Hearts Duet Series) Read online

  Wren looks at him, and I wonder if that’s the way I looked at him. Fear mixed with curiosity. If so, I was doomed from the beginning.

  Condemned.

  Cursed.

  Fated.

  He’s wearing glasses, and his hair is slicked back to perfection. His jacket somehow is crisp and doesn’t look like he’s worn it for a few hours on the drive here. Because I don’t live down the road anymore. I live many towns away. Obviously, that’s still not enough distance between us if he can just show up whenever he wants.

  It’s been months since I’ve seen him, but I wish it were longer.

  Wren makes a sound, and I pull her up farther on my hip. I look like shit compared to Keir.

  My shorts probably haven’t been washed in…

  … well, I am not sure.

  My hair’s in a messy bun that was thrown up early this morning.

  My shirt is sporting the remains of Wren’s food from earlier—pumpkin I believe.

  I bite the inside of my cheek as he gets closer to me. When he stops, I take a deep breath to prepare for what he’s going to say. And why on earth does he have to smell so damn good?

  I smell like pumpkin.

  Pumpkin.

  He smells like he just stepped out of a high-end men’s store.

  Fucking luxury.

  Asshole.

  “Didn’t expect to see you.” Words manage to leave my mouth, and he lifts his sunglasses from his face so I can see his dark eyes—the exact same dark eyes my daughter has—and he looks from me to her. She curls into my arm as he stares at her, and I watch as Keir offers her a small smile.

  “Can I come in?” He nods to the house.

  I’m so shocked with how polite his words are, that he repeats himself as I gape at him without responding. “Sailor, can I come in?”

  “Um… sure.” I step inside and hold the door open. Keir follows me in, and his eyes assess the place again. “Why are you here?” I ask, glancing back out the door, not seeing any sign of Joey. I shut the door with a bit of hesitation and remain frozen in front of it.

  “Is there not somewhere we can sit?”

  Yeah, the couch is full of toys as well as the floor. He eyes the mess, then looks back to me. I walk to the kitchen where the four-seater table is located and nod. He pulls a seat out and sits. Why does his presence take up so much space in this room? It’s not his place, so it shouldn’t feel like he has complete control. Yet, as always, it does.

  “Why are you here?” I repeat. Wren stays where she is, face stuck in my shoulder but watching him. She’s interested, and I don’t blame her. I watch as his eyes flick to her, then back to me.

  “It’s time.”

  “Time for what?” I ask, confused.

  “Time for you to come home.” His words shock me so much my head pulls back.

  What on earth is he talking about? Then it clicks. My free hand clenches and he notices. He sits back, ready for what I’m going to say.

  “I am home. Now, if you would kindly fuck off, that would be appreciated.” I point to the door, and he makes no move to leave. Instead, his hand lifts to the table and he starts tapping his fingers, one at a time over and over again.

  “She looks like you,” he says, and I say nothing in return, because to me she looks exactly like him. “But she has my eyes.” And his hair, but he doesn’t comment on that. “Sailor…” when he says my name, his fingers stop tapping, “… I can provide you a better life. One where you won’t have to work.”

  “And what does that entail for me?” I ask, leaning in close. “To be what? Your whore! While you marry someone else?”

  “You would never be my whore.” I notice how he doesn’t correct me on marrying someone else and that shit hurts more than anything. It shouldn’t after all this time, after wanting nothing more than to move on, but it damn well does.

  “You still plan on marrying her?” I ask. “Even after…” My voice breaks just a little bit.

  “Come home. Bring my daughter and come home.”

  “And what if I don’t?” I oppose.

  “You know what happens to people who challenge me. I always have my way, Sailor.” He stands, strides over to me, and looks down at Wren in my arms. “Can I hold her?” Wren lifts her head from my shoulder and looks at him. Usually with strangers she avoids all contact, but she moves and reaches out for him as he offers her his hands. A small part of me breaks when she goes into his arms so willingly. I have to remind myself he is her father, and she is my gift. And that no matter what, I would do anything and everything to make her happy in this life.

  “I want my old apartment back. I don’t want to live with you. And you aren’t welcome to come over whenever you want. We will set visitations like normal people do.” The words leave me in a rush as I watch my daughter look up to the man who rocked my life and my world, in the worst and best possible ways. How can I hate someone so much but appreciate everything about them at the same time? It’s because of her, I know it is. Wren.

  “You’re negotiating?”

  “I will stay exactly where I am otherwise.”

  “No, you won’t,” he bites out through gritted teeth. “I gave you time. Now is not the time to argue.”

  I smirk up at him. “No, I won’t.” Knowing full well the minute I can, I’m running.

  “Fine. Instead of me hunting you down and kidnapping you, then trapping your ass, how about we negotiate?” Wren reaches up and touches his face and he doesn’t push her hand away, just looks at her as he speaks to me. “You want your own place, and I want you with me.”

  “You can’t have your cake and eat it too,” I snap.

  He smiles at Wren, and it makes it so much harder to stay angry at him. I hate that she instantly trusts and loves him. She always wants me, but for some reason she seems lost in him right now.

  I feel ya, sister. I feel ya. He’s easy to get lost in.

  “If that’s the saying you want to go with.” He shrugs, not denying it.

  “I’ll be in a place owned by you, remember,” I point out. “But that doesn’t mean you can pop over unannounced,” I reiterate, sitting taller.

  “Why? Do you plan to have company?” He’s careful with how he words it, and I’m not sure if it’s because he has Wren in his hands or because he doesn’t want me to say no.

  “Why does it matter?” I shoot back. I shouldn’t be playing with fire, but I can’t help myself. He reaches up and Wren grabs hold of his hand and wraps her little fingers around one of his. She smiles and giggles, and I melt, just melt. I didn’t know I wanted to see this. I assumed I could do this all on my own, and I have.

  But seeing them together? Now I am questioning, is it mean of me to keep him away from her?

  “I still want you. Let’s make no mistake there, Sailor.” He gets straight to the point. “I will not share you.” His eyes move from our daughter to me. “Do you understand?”

  “Luckily for you, I’m not yours to share.” I smile sweetly at him. “And I won’t negotiate with you. If you think out of all of this you still get me, you’re wrong,” I point out.

  Benny walks in, limping. His eyes fall to Keir, and he pauses before he looks at me. “We have company,” he states, straightening his back. “Hello.” He nods to Keir, and I shake my head.

  “Benny, this is Keir.”

  Keir walks over with Wren still attached to his hip and offers him his hand. “Wren’s father,” Keir announces.

  “Mmm…” Benny shakes his head, but not for long. “I’ll let you two be.” He turns and walks away.

  “Her father?” I ask him when Benny’s gone. “You haven’t seen her for six months, and all of a sudden you’re her father?” I chuckle. “Tell me…” I pause before continuing, “… if I was a random one-night stand who just so happened to have your child, what would happen then?”

  “I would have shot you the minute I found out you were pregnant,” he replies coldly, making my heartbeat pick up.

&nbsp
; “You would have shot me?” My breath hitches. “I’m glad I never told you then.”

  “Not you. We’ve established this, Sailor. You said any other girl. I would have shot any other girl but not you.”

  “Doesn’t make me feel any better,” I mumble.

  “I should have shot you when I found out, so it wouldn’t incite a war between the families.”

  “A war?” I ask, confused.

  “Pack your bags.” Keir walks to the living room and then straight to my bedroom. I follow and watch him open the door before he steps in and sits on the bed with Wren. “We’re leaving today.”

  No more discussion.

  That’s it.

  Well, that isn’t how it’s going to go anymore.

  Chapter Five

  Keir

  “You haven’t agreed to anything I mentioned.” I had hoped she would forget. Wren touches my face, and I’m amazed by her. She’s so quiet and calm. I’m in love with her already. Why did it take me so long to come back for them?

  “What?”

  “I want the old apartment. I want you to call before you come over. You are not my boyfriend nor my lover. You are Wren’s father and that’s it.” Sailor’s arms cross over her chest, pushing her boobs up and I smirk, and she looks down at her top, which is covered in stains, then scowls at me.

  “I’ll call first,” I tell her.

  “Thank you.” She moves to the closet, pauses, her hand still on the handle before she speaks. “You won’t ever take her from me, will you?” Her soft eyes look over her shoulder at me, and the vulnerability there is hard to take.

  “Never.”

  She blinks a few times before she turns back and starts to pack her things. “I have to speak to Benny. Can you watch her?” She leans down, her face directly in front of mine, but it’s not me she’s looking at. She leans in farther and kisses Wren’s cheek before she straightens. I nod and watch her walk out.

  Wren starts making some noises, her hands patting my face.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. I miss her already too.”

  I actually haven’t held a baby before Wren, and I’m glad I never did. Wren makes more noises, and before long she starts to cry just as Sailor steps back into the room.

  “I’m gonna have to organize a helper for Benny. I was helping him, but now—”

  “Joey can stay and help until you find someone.”

  Her eyes go wide. “No! No way. He wouldn’t know what to do.”

  “Leave a list for him,” I tell her, standing and handing her Wren. “I’ll be back in thirty minutes to collect you both.”

  Joey is waiting out the front when I step outside. I haven’t spoken to him today, and he didn’t know I was coming until I arrived. He pulls himself off the car when I get closer and stands tall.

  “She’s coming back with me,” I tell him, and he smiles. “You’re staying to look after the old man.”

  His smile falls instantly as do his shoulders. “Really?” he whines.

  “You want another black eye?” I question.

  “No,” he mumbles. “You haven’t forgiven me yet? I’ve done everything you’ve asked. I want to come home.”

  “You can, after he’s taken care of.”

  “How long is that going to take?”

  “However long it takes Sailor to find a new caregiver.” I look to his car, then back to mine. “Get that baby seat in my car.”

  “She actually agreed to go with you?” Surprise laces his tone as he does what I asked and grabs the car seat. I’ve missed my brother, even if he is a lying sack of shit. Doesn’t mean I don’t want him around.

  “She did.”

  “Any news on Romarc?” he asks, lifting the seat from his car and shifting it to mine.

  “He hasn’t come out of hiding yet, but he will. News is spreading fast that he’s back to selling. Won’t take him long until he slips up.”

  “What do you plan to do with him?” my brother asks as he clips in the seat and slides his body back out.

  “I plan to burn him to the fucking ground.”

  “At least you didn’t just say shoot him.”

  “That too,” I reply, smirking. I managed once to put thirteen bullets into a guy without killing him. The fourteenth one was the kill shot. I wonder how many I could get in Romarc before the end game.

  “What now?” Joey asks.

  “Now, show me where her boss lives.” I smirk.

  “Fuck!” Joey sighs but gets in the car and drives me straight to a small coffee shop. I get out and Joey stays close behind me as I enter.

  He’s the only one there. Music is blaring, and when he finally notices us, he turns the music down and walks to the counter. “What can I get ya?” he asks, looking straight at me. I pull my gun from my trousers and place it on the counter. He freezes and raises his hand. “Take what you want, I don’t have much.” His hand moves and he pops the cash register. I watch as his creamy skin goes bright red. How his hands shake as I stand in front of him.

  “Sailor…” I say her name, and he blinks a few times before his hands lower. “Tell me… do you spy on all your employees?”

  “What?” He shakes his head.

  Joey walks around the counter to this lowlife, reaches into his apron, then pulls out his phone and unlocks it using the douche’s face before he throws it to me. I go straight to his camera roll and shake my head.

  “It’s not what you think,” he says, hands up in the air again.

  I turn the phone around to face him and his face reddens even more. “What I think is that you’re spying on Sailor. Taking photos of her for your own pleasure.” Dropping the phone to the floor, I stomp on it and smash it to pieces.

  He goes to yell, but when my hand touches the gun on the counter, his mouth shuts again. Then he says, “She knew. She liked it.”

  Slime. That’s all I see when I look at him. Scum. Sludge. Filth. Someone who takes advantage of young women.

  “And she’s going to love what I do to you.” I lock the door and turn off the lights. “Did you ever touch her?” I ask.

  “Her hand, only ever her hand.” I slowly make my way back to the counter as I screw a silencer on the gun.

  “But you wish it were more, correct?” He doesn’t respond, his eyes trained on the gun. “Don’t lie to me,” I push.

  “Yes, I like her,” he whines, his body visibly trembling now.

  “Because you were honest, you can keep your life.”

  A rush of breath leaves him. “Thank you.”

  “Just not your hand,” I say and pull the trigger.

  Joey automatically reaches for the guy’s mouth and covers it with a cloth to muffle his screams.

  “Tidy this mess, and if he wants to talk…” I look down at him as he falls to the floor, “… I’ll be back. And next time I won’t be so nice.”

  Two suitcases are sitting out front when I return, and I watch as she brings out a third. Wren’s no longer on her hip. She’s wearing a loose top with bike shorts. There are marks all over the shirt, but it doesn’t make her any less attractive.

  Could anything? I’m afraid not.

  Six months to try to get over her, and again it wasn’t enough. I feel a lifetime may not even be enough.

  Those little doe eyes squint as she looks at me. “You’re back.”

  “Did you think I wouldn’t be?” I ask, moving in closer to her.

  “I assumed you would get your brother to help, since that’s what you are good at. Directing others to do your dirty work,” she bites back.

  How I’ve missed her, and that mouth in more ways than one.

  “You have a problem with Joey?”

  “No, just with you.” She smiles, showing her teeth so it’s more of a sneer, before going back inside. Wren is in a swing, asleep with a teddy clutched between her hands.

  “Problem with me? Can’t say I haven’t heard that before,” I reply, lifting my eyes from our daughter to her.

  “I’m sure eve
ryone you meet tells you that because you’re a real asshole.” She drops another quick, sarcastic smile and turns back, grabbing a baby bag. Stepping forward, I reach out and take it from her. When I’m this close, it takes a lot for me to not touch her. I get a whiff of that hidden berry smell that surrounds her, and I want to bury my head between her legs.

  “Keir.”

  “Say it again,” I tell her.

  Her hands plant on my chest and she pushes me back so my body isn’t practically on hers. “Back the fuck up.”

  “You know I like it when you talk dirty.”

  She rolls her eyes as I reluctantly step back. “How dirty you like it? So dirty that when I wake in the middle of the night to clean my child’s diaper, I imagine running it all over your face? That dirty?” She steps closer to me, stands on her tippy-toes, and bites at my mouth but doesn’t touch me at all. “I don’t want you, Keir. Remember that. The reason I’m coming back is not for you.”

  She pauses, her lashes fanning her face as she looks up at me. “It’s because of Wren. She doesn’t need to grow up without knowing you. You’re her father. Better the devil you know and can keep close…” She turns quickly and walks out the door, picking up a bag full of toys, and leaves me standing there.

  My cock hard, and my need for her even stronger.

  Chapter Six

  Sailor

  The car ride was… quiet. I chose not to speak to him. He sat in the back, with Wren in between us, while one of his men drove. When she woke, he spoke to her softly. I like the way he speaks to her, and it’s as if she understands him. He talks to her like she’s an adult, there’s no baby talk like I do. No ohhh and ahhh, just straight conversation. Keir gives her his full attention, and she does the same.

  The car comes to a stop when we reach the front of my old building—his building, I should say.

  “Do you own the building?” I ask as I reach for my bag.

  “Yes.”

  Figures. Don’t know why I even bothered to ask.