Boss Read online

  BOSS

  T.O. Smith

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by T.O. Smith

  Cover design by CreateSpace

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  First edition: April 2018

  ISBN-13: 978-1987678956

  ISBN-10: 1987678958

  Other Books by T.O. Smith:

  Helping Lilac

  Rescuing Eloise

  Under His Protection

  Feeling Again

  The Bloody Royals Trilogy:

  Bloody Royals

  Black Skulls

  Bloody Black Skulls

  One

  I fell to the floor, spitting out blood as it welled up in my mouth. The woman I was supposed to be fighting grabbed my shoulder and shoved me so that I rolled over onto my back. Straddling my hips, she rained blows on my face until the guy acting as the referee pulled her off of me, throwing her arm up in the air to announce her the winner of the match.

  I'd lost another fight.

  With a pain filled groan, I rolled over off of the mat, falling to the ground with a thump. Gripping one of the poles to the make-shift ring, I pulled myself up to my feet and pushed through the crowd. When I finally made it to the edge, I leaned against the wall, sliding down it until I was sitting down on the asphalt of the alley.

  "That looked like a pretty rough fight back there." A guy commented from in front of me.

  I slowly lifted my pounding head to look up at him. He was dressed in black jeans with a pair of black Nikes on his feet. He was wearing a black hoodie zipped up with the hood thrown up over his head so that I couldn't see his face.

  "Thanks for the observation." I muttered, the right side of my face so swollen that it was making it hard to talk.

  "You do this a lot?" He asked me.

  "No." I admitted in a mumble.

  He lit a cigarette, and the light from his lighter allowed me to see his face. Baby blue eyes seemed to take in everything around him with cautiousness. He had high cheekbones, and a sharp, angular jaw line. His skin was slightly tanned.

  All in all, he was fucking gorgeous.

  "How long have you been doing this?" He asked me, looking towards the ring as the start of another fight drew his attention for a moment.

  I shrugged. "Couple of weeks." I told him. "This was my third fight."

  "This isn't your kind of scene, baby girl." He told me, flicking some ashes to the ground.

  I scowled up at him. "You don't know a fucking thing about me." I snapped at him angrily as I pushed myself up from the ground.

  He gripped my arm, swinging me around to face him. I glared up at him angrily. "I know you're going to get yourself killed in that ring if you don't stop while you're ahead." He told me.

  His warning was too late. I was already way in over my head.

  I ripped my arm out of his grip. "Like I said," I snapped up at him, "you don't know a fucking thing about me."

  I walked away from him, forcing myself not to collapse at the pain flaring through my body with each step that I took.

  ♦♦♦

  I walked into my first class of the day, thankful for the coke I had managed to get my hands on that morning. There was no way in hell that I would have been able to survive the day with the pain I was feeling without some kind of fix.

  I sat in my seat, turning my attention to the window beside my desk. It was the first day of the semester, and I knew it was going to be the normal bullshit we had to deal with.

  "Mind if I sit here?" A familiar voice asked from my right.

  I jerked my head over to see the guy from last night standing beside the chair next to mine. He arched an eyebrow when he realized who I was, but no kind of shock or other emotion showed on his face. "You look like shit." He commented.

  I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." I grumbled, turning to look back out the window.

  I heard him sit next to me, but he didn't try to strike up any more conversation with me. I sniffled, wiping my hand under my nose, muttering a profanity under my breath when I realized my nose was going to be running most of the damn day.

  Goddamn coke.

  I felt my phone vibrate in my jacket pocket, and I pulled it out, unlocking my screen only to see a text from Joey - my drug dealer. I swallowed hard.

  My boss is wanting that money tonight, or I've got to turn you in to him. - Joey

  I sighed, locking my screen back, nausea building in my stomach. I had joined those damn fights thinking it would be easy cash, but I hadn't won a fucking dime.

  I was five grand in the hole with my dealer, and I was about to pay the price. And if I thought that beating I took last night at the fight made me hurt, I was going to be lucky to survive this shit I knew I was about to face tonight.

  ♦♦♦

  "Morgan." I heard Joey call through my apartment door.

  I cursed softly, leaning my forehead against the wall of my apartment.

  This was it.

  No more school. No more of the normalcy I had tried to surround myself with.

  It was all over now.

  "Come on, sweetheart. I don't want to do this, but I've got to." Joey coaxed.

  I sighed and opened my apartment door. Joey cursed when he saw my face. "What in the fuck happened to you?" He demanded, forgetting about his reason for being there for a moment as he gazed down at me, taking in the bruises covering my face.

  I shrugged, not answering him. "Can we just get this over with?" I asked him instead.

  He sighed, realizing that I wasn’t going to answer his question, and turned to walk down the stairs out of my apartment building. I followed him down to the car park. I slid into the passenger seat of his car where he tied rope around my wrists, holding my arms captive behind my back. I gritted my teeth against the pain, reminding myself I had brought this shit on myself, therefore the only person I could be mad at was myself.

  It was a silent ride to wherever Joey was taking me. There really wasn’t any point in making small talk. We both knew how my night was going to end.

  We pulled up to a warehouse, and a man dressed in all black opened my door. He gripped my upper arm roughly and tugged me out of the car, nodding his head at Joey. I gritted my teeth against the pain that flared up in my body. "We've got it from here." The man holding me told Joey.

  Joey nodded and took off without a word. The man shoved me towards the door of the warehouse, leading me inside. "We've got her, Boss."

  The guy standing in the middle of the building turned around, and I clenched my jaw when I realized it was the guy from the fights and my class that morning. "You've got to be fucking shitting me." He snapped, striding forward towards me. "This is Morgan?" He asked incredulously.

  I tilted my chin up defiantly as the man holding my arm answered with a yes. 'Boss' looked at the man. "Out." He barked, turning his attention back to me.

  The man released me and walked out of the warehouse, leaving just 'Boss' with me. "Not much to say?" He asked me after a moment, arching an eyebrow as I stayed silent in front of him.

  "Nothing to fucking say." I told him. "So, do whatever you planned to do and get it over with."

  Shaking his head, he walked around me. I could feel his gaze on me as he slowly circled me, taking me in like a predator would his prey. A moment later, I felt him untying the rope holding my wrists together. "Why do y
ou fight?" He demanded after he untied the rope.

  I clenched my jaw. "To pay back the five grand I owe you." I told him honestly, bringing my wrists around to rub them gently as he freed them.

  "Well, that was a dumb thing to do." He stated, coming back around to face me. I rolled my eyes at him. "Why not just run like everyone else?"

  I narrowed my eyes at him. "Look, Boss," I snapped angrily, making his eyes flash with anger, "I don't run from my goddamn problems, alright? I came here willingly. Do whatever the fuck you intended to do and get this shit over with."

  His eyes flashed dangerously, and I had to swallow down the fear that instantly rose up in me. He gripped my chin tightly in his fingers, making me flinch as his fingers pressed into my bruises. "Watch your tone." He demanded softly, his grip loosening on my chin when he noticed my flinch of pain. "And don't call me Boss. Coming from your lips, it just sounds sarcastic, and it'll only piss me off further. My name is Drew."

  I arched an eyebrow at him. "Isn't it kind of stupid to tell me your name?" I asked him.

  He smirked. "Not when I have different plans for you, no." He told me softly.

  I swallowed hard. "And those plans would be?" I asked quietly, watching him warily.

  "I need a woman to work beside me." He told me. "Someone strong-willed and determined - to act as a kind of . . . trophy of sorts."

  "A trophy?" I snorted.

  He had to be joking.

  His eyes flashed dangerously again, and I quickly snapped my mouth shut. "No more fighting." He told me, gently running his fingers over the bruises covering my face. My toes curled in my shoes at the feeling of his fingers gliding over my skin.

  What the fuck was wrong with me?

  "You're too beautiful to have all of these bruises on your skin." A shiver of pleasure ran down my spine at his softly spoken words despite the danger I was currently in. "You'll be seen with me everywhere - constantly by my side. You'll move in with me, and any time I have to deal with business, you'll be there with me."

  "And why do I have to do this?" I asked him, not exactly understanding why he needed me to do this for him.

  "Something tells me you're strong, a lot stronger than some of the men I have employed. I need someone that strong to work closely by my side." He stated simply.

  I sighed. "I don't have much of a choice, do I?" I demanded a bit angrily.

  He smirked, knowing he had me exactly where he wanted me. "Afraid not, love." He released me, pulling his phone from his pocket. "Oh, and by the way," he said, lifting his head so his gorgeous baby blue eyes locked onto my darker, plain brown ones, "the drugs will stop."

  Panic gripped my chest. I couldn't go through withdrawal. I would rather die.

  He finished typing on his phone and looked at the two men that came through the door. "Adrian, Will, go to Miss Morgan's apartment and get her things. Take them to my place for me." Drew commanded.

  I swallowed hard. My life just got so much more complicated.

  Two

  I woke up in a cold sweat, my entire body trembling.

  Fucking withdrawal.

  I slid out of the bed, grimacing at the sweat soaked sheets and blankets. My stomach cramped, and I rushed to the bathroom, collapsing in front of the toilet as I threw up.

  "Morgan!" I heard Drew bark angrily as he stepped into my bedroom, finding me missing from the room.

  I threw up again, clutching the toilet bowl with a death grip as tears streamed down my face at the pain rolling through my body, the crippling clenching of my stomach. I felt like I was being ripped apart, put back together, and then ripped apart again.

  "Christ, woman." Drew muttered, pulling my hair back from my face and rubbing my back as he knelt down beside me.

  I sagged against the side of the tub as he flushed the toilet. I wrapped my arms around myself, desperately trying to hold myself together as I just started feeling so much worse, the cramping in my stomach intensifying.

  "How much were you using?" Drew demanded, referring to my drug use as he grabbed a wash cloth and wiped some sweat from my face, neck, and chest.

  "A lot." I mumbled. "Heroin, cocaine, the hard shit."

  With a sigh, Drew lifted me up into his arms, carrying me out of my bedroom towards another one. I was feeling too weak and drained to protest as he laid me on what was clearly his bed. There was no mistaking it; it smelled just like him.

  I just mumbled something about sweating too much as my eyes started drifting closed.

  I didn't get a chance to hear his response before I passed out.

  ♦♦♦

  I flung the covers off of me and jumped out of bed, rushing to the bathroom, dropping down in front of the toilet. Drew pulled my hair out of my face and knelt beside me, running his hand up and down my back. Once I was done, he flushed the toilet and eased me down into a sitting position on the floor.

  I rested my head on the side of the tub, relishing in how cool it felt against my clammy skin. "Why are you being so nice to me?" I mumbled. "I owe you a shit ton of money." I reminded him.

  Drew stood up, and I realized then that he was in nothing but a plaid pair of pajama bottoms, his upper body bare. I ran my eyes over his muscular back, admiring the way his muscles flexed as he grabbed a wash cloth and soaked it with cold water and rung it out.

  When he turned to face me, I wasn't prepared for the hard plains of his chest or the very defined abdominal muscles on full display for me. I swallowed hard as I drank him in hungrily.

  He knelt in front of me and wiped the damp cloth across my face and neck. "You're sweating." He murmured, not commenting on how hard I was just checking him out, nor my question I had asked him.

  "It's just the withdrawal." I mumbled, closing my eyes as he continued wiping the sweat from my face. The cold wash cloth felt amazing against my hot skin.

  "You look like you're burning up." He commented, pinching my t-shirt in his fingers, pulling it away from where it stuck to my sweaty skin.

  I shrugged weakly. "I don't have any other cooler clothes to change into." I reminded him.

  He stood up and walked from the bathroom. I heard some drawers to his dresser opening and closing, and he came back into the bathroom a moment later, setting a thin muscle tee and a pair of boxers on the side of the tub. "Arms up." He commanded, kneeling in front of me again.

  I just looked up at him with a blank look. "I'm shaking so badly I can barely move." I deadpanned, slightly lifting a hand to show him the tremors shaking my hand and arm.

  A slight smirk tilted his lips. "Despite how shitty you look right now, you still have that damned attitude." He retorted, shaking his head slightly.

  "One of a kind." I mumbled, watching him as he gripped the hem of my shirt and pulled it up, easing me out of my sweaty top.

  He swallowed hard as he ran his eyes over me. "You are one beautiful woman, Morgan." He muttered huskily.

  A small smirk twisted my lips as I rested my head back against the side of the tub again tiredly. "I look even better when I'm not sweating half to death." I told him a bit cockily.

  He barked out a laugh as he eased the muscle shirt over my head, shaking his head. "You are something else, Morgan."

  I shrugged, opening my eyes slightly to look up at him. "I try."

  He slid my jeans off of me and managed to slide his boxers up my legs. I didn't miss the way he trailed his fingers over my skin as he did so, but I didn't comment on it. His cooler touch felt incredibly good on my clammy skin anyway, so there really wasn't any reason to complain.

  He eased an arm under my legs and one under my back and lifted me up against his chest. "Let's get you back in bed." He said softly as he walked back into the bedroom. "I'm going to get a fan and have it blow on you to cool you down."

  I nodded, resting my head against his cooler shoulder. He eased me down onto the bed and left me uncovered as he walked out of the room. A couple of minutes later, I felt a cool wind blowing over my skin, and I sighed in contentment.
>
  "Better?" Drew asked softly as he laid a thin blanket over me.

  I nodded, already beginning to drift back off.

  Three

  I slid out of bed, stretching my arms above my head. I still felt like shit, but a few days of sleeping had made me feel slightly better. I was still withdrawing a bit, and I knew I would for a while, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been for the first couple of days.

  I was just still having major cravings, and it was making me slightly irritable.

  I stepped into the shower, taking my time to allow the hot water to ease some of the tension in my shoulders.

  When I stepped out of the shower and got dressed, I walked out into the living room to see Drew speaking to a couple of his men. "Take him to the warehouse. I'll be there in a few minutes." He commanded.

  The two men both nodded before walking out of the apartment. I arched an eyebrow at Drew. "Am I being left here again with the guard dogs?" I demanded angrily.

  Every time he had gone somewhere, he had left Adrian or Will guarding me and watching my every damned move. I was getting tired of being holed up in this apartment all of the time.

  He rolled his eyes but shook his head at me. "No.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Today, you're coming with me." He told me, grabbing a black hoodie and shrugging it over his head. He looked at me with an arched eyebrow when I continued to stand in front of him as he grabbed his car keys from the coffee table. "Well, are you just going to stand there like a dumbass all day, or are you going to go put some shoes and a jacket on?" He demanded impatiently.

  I clenched my jaw. "Ask me again nicely and maybe I'll do it." I told him, crossing my arms over my chest, glaring at him defiantly.

  He clenched his jaw as well, his eyes flashing dangerously. I swallowed hard but stood my ground against him. "Woman, you're already wearing on my nerves." He warned.

  I rolled my eyes, storming off to the bedroom. "You obviously need some fucking pussy." I snapped over my shoulder angrily, slamming my bedroom door shut behind me.

  He opened my bedroom door with enough force to send it slamming against the wall as it opened. I swung around to face him, my heart pounding hard in my chest in fear. He was seething. With a grip like steel, he gripped my arm and snatched me against him, glaring down into my brown eyes with his ice cold blue ones. "Respect, Morgan.” He reminded me. “I've just about had it with your bullshit."