Page 5 of The Fixer

“Use your words, Elle.”

“I understand,” I whirred through trembling lips. That sinfully azure-blue stare sparkled as it cut to my quivering lips and then lowered to the blood covering my side, hands, and knees.

One of his men came to stand beside us, staring at me with clear hatred. “Are you sure she’s mortal? She fights like a fucking banshee.”

“Enough, Zade,” Raithe hissed. My ears pricked up at his mention of mortal. Tension built between the men, and I furrowed my brow before turning back to Raithe, a fresh wave of confusion and uncertainty sinking deeply into the pit of my stomach.

“We don’t say theMword with one around, idiot,” Theo muttered before her gaze shifted and lowered to my bloodied hands. “Blood,” she warned.

“Grab the kit. My lamb was hurt in the jump, it seems.” Raithe grabbed my hand, turning it over to expose the deep gashes. “The rest of you check the area.” Turning his hard, penetrating stare on me once more, he continued. “I didn’t intend for you to be harmed. You should have been easily able to land on your feet.”

“I had seconds from waking until I hit the ground,” I stated icily. His thumb pressed into the cut, causing me to growl. Raithe didn’t relent until I was shaking and sweat was beading on my brow. Closing my eyelids, I moaned as my teeth sank into my lip, adding to the pain he was delivering. Call me a masochist, but I enjoyed a little pain now and then. That was something I’d known, unlike my reaction to being manhandled. That had shocked me and left me more confused than anything else that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

“The plan was to knock you out and get you to the ground safely. If you’d remained unconscious, I could’ve easily caught you. Instead, you were kicking, screaming, and fighting me when I attempted to catch you,” he growled in a clipped, sharp tone. He cut his focus to my hand and smiled at the pool of blood he’d created. “Vial,” he ordered, and as I watched, Theo handed him a strange vacutainer-type tube, which he then used to collect my blood.

Once he’d finished with it, he called for the transport to be brought around and, after a few minutes, guided me into a stretched SUV with a plush interior. Raithe pushed a button, and the partition closed off the driver’s view of us. The reverberations of several other car doors closing was muffled as Raithe held my battered hands.

“I can tend to my wounds myself, Raithe.” I struggled to pull my hand away from his, only to stop because it was futile.

“You could, but I caused the injury. I’d be a horrible host if I forced you to tend to your own wounds, wouldn’t I?”

“It isn’t hosting if you kidnapped me,” I muttered as the feel of his lips against mine replayed inside my mind, which caused everything womanly inside me to fire up. “I didn’t mean to kiss you. I panicked.”

“Do you often kiss your kidnappers when you fear for your life?” he inquired without glancing up from my scraped palms.

“No, but I was angry and afraid.”

“You should’ve been. If I didn’t need you to ensure me the presidency, I’d have had you on my knees, working my cock with that sharp tongue of yours.”

“Why should I be?”

“Because you’ll be fucked so hard you’ll worship no one else. You’ll be my disciple and worship me on your knees as your savior, Elle. Your cunt will become my temple, and I’ll fill it every day for the rest of your life. I won’t stop until the only thing you know is my name and the feel of me ruining every part of your beautiful, lithe body.” He pressed an alcohol-soaked pad to the wound on my hand, and I hissed against the sting.

“That’s a punishment?” I asked in a curious tone. I’d never been so turned on in my entire life. His mouth was filthy, and deliciously so. He’d manhandled me, grabbed me without hesitation, and I was hardcore into that shit.

“Careful, Elle,” he warned. “I may start to think you’re flirting with me. You’re too smart to mix sex with business, and so am I,” he stated with a feverish look churning in his eyes. Once he’d tended to my palms, my knees, and bloodied knuckles, he sat back, smirking. “Where did you learn to fight like that? It isn’t included in the records I obtained on you.”

“I fixed situations with my classmates’ in high school. It paid enough to begin self-defense classes. In college, I’d fix situations between students, and I also ran an online campus dating site. I began taking other classes and learning what I could to defend myself from those I went up against since most were from powerful, influential families.”

“What made you think you needed to be protected?” he countered with a hint of violence in his tone.

“I was eleven in high school. Too young to be there and too intelligent to be around those my age,” I disclosed. “I was brilliant with words, numbers, and critical thinking. Now, understanding I was too young to be at a senior party? That was rather tricky for the child I was. I went to one with Lars, the kid they had partnered me with in science. I thought he wanted me around, but he intended to hurt me.” Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I took in the heavily wooded countryside before continuing. “So, he did. When I went to the police with my parents, his parents hired a fixer. They were insanely rich, and the man who fixed it for them twisted my words until not even I was sure what happened. If I hadn’t still felt his hands on me or his friends’ hands as they held me down, I would have actually believed what he’d told me.”

“That’s why you became a fixer?” he queried.

“No.” I chuckled. “Five years later, my roommate in college was held down and brutally raped by three guys and two girls. One of them was the son of the fixer Lar’s parents hired, so I took her case. I ended his reign of shielding the rich from the atrocities they committed when I exposed his vile, pampered prince for the veritable monster he was. I merely proved the apple hadn’t fallen far from the proverbial tree. Before they convicted him of multiple counts of rape, I hacked his computer. On the hard drive, hidden in the files, were images of his father with his clients’ underage daughters. Hidden deeper were videos of him raping them and hurting them for his sick, sadistic pleasure. When I went to the authorities with copied images, it was apparent he had paid them off. I was threatened and warned against running my mouth with filthy lies about an esteemed member of the community. So, I did the only thing I could do, I interrupted the broadcast feed of a national channel and played the videos for the world to see. He lost everything and was eventually sentenced to life in prison. I went to his trial and looked him in the eyes, smiling as he realized I’d orchestrated his downfall. A mere child had made his entire empire crumble to ruins. The thrill of taking him down and offering his victims some semblance of justice was exhilarating. After the trial and all throughout the rest of college, I chased the high. I’d pick and choose who I helped. Mainly, I took down the rich.”

“And you’ve become what he was?” The tone of his voice as he’d said it made my stomach sink.

“You can think ill of me if you want. I’m not a saint by any means, but I am also not a monster. There’s a compass I follow, and when it moves too far south, I invoke the right to terminate working the contract. There’s a balance to what I do, and it weighs evenly upon my soul.”

“I’m aware you’ve easily won governors and senators their elections. Presidency is a stretch for both of us, but I believe you are the key to winning the White House.”

“And I think you’re insane,” I shot back with a sigh. “You’re talking about becoming the President of the United States of America.”

“I’m not talking about it, Elle. Come, we’ll discuss it within the house,” he instructed, already opening the door, revealing a large, medieval palace. “Welcome to my family’s home. It’s been in our bloodline for centuries.”

Chapter Four

---