Paradise Found: Cain (Paradise #2)(6)

I spun again to see that the couch area had been cleared and Abel Callahan sat next to his brother. The manager of the place had entered the alcove. We’d met him briefly, as Lindee knew everyone, but I couldn’t remember his name. I was spinning away from them, but not before I noticed Cain’s hand slip up the dress of the long legged blonde. His eyes travelled up her body. I sensed what those eyes were asking of her. Correction: demanding of her. She would be his next conquest. Turning away, I twisted my ankle. Pain radiated up my leg.

I continued to dance, forcing myself to keep my back to him. I put more pressure on the other leg in attempts to relieve some of the shock still reverberating up my calf. Three shots were delivered to us on the dance floor, compliments of someone somewhere, and I threw back my head to feel the burn. Heat cascaded through me slowly. Intending to be a doctor one day, I recognized the circulatory cycle of blood flow inside me. The alcohol had taken over and flowed from intake to the tips of my fingers. I tingled everywhere. That’s how I knew I’d had one too many.

“I’ll be wight beck,” I slurred and the bright lights blurred before me. Maggie faded to fuzz before me as I spun to exit the dance floor. My hands went out to my sides to balance me while I swayed. The pain in my ankle screamed through my body, as I attempted to step forward. The rivers of alcohol flooded me, and I sank into the agony radiating up my leg. The night went black.





I’d been watching her for hours as she lay in my bed at The Belfast. My elbows balanced on my knees. My head held in my hands. I didn’t know what to do about her. It took all my strength not to take advantage of her when I removed her clothes. Her body was so beautiful, but limp and unwilling wasn’t exactly my style. It hadn’t been hers either as my memory returned to that first night together. I was in a condition similar to her present state. Drunk off my ass, she followed me to my room that night. She wasn’t pressuring me for sex. In fact, it was quite the opposite and it was refreshing. She kissed me when I asked her to, and then stopped when I said I needed to rest. Little did I know, at the time, she’d stayed to comfort me. She cradled me in her arms that night, and I repaid her by letting my father belittle her two mornings later.

She was right. I was an *.

I always had been. I had to become hard. Living under the reign and terror of my father, molded me into the man I was. I didn’t care about money. I didn’t have emotion for women. I only desired the fight. Beating another man brought the euphoria of mindless escape. The cage was the only place I allowed emotion. Fear. Hatred. Determination. These feelings consumed me, especially in the mix. I couldn’t let them overrule me outside the ring. I wouldn’t let my father have that advantage over me.

Then I met Sofie Vincentia.

The sweet, teasing apple of a girl with her bright red glasses and her ripe lips. Her smile lit a dimmed bar at that winery and the only drink I wanted was a sip of her. However, she wasn’t that type of girl. It showed in her eyes. Rivers of blue wanted many things from life, all of which she’d never find in a guy like me. I f*cked. I didn’t love. I spent money. I didn’t care. Life was material. I owned things. Sofie Vincentia wasn’t a girl to possess. For just one night, though, I wanted to pretend I could live my life in another manner.

Forty-eight hours was all the time I had. I followed her lead during our one day together. I was nervous like I’d never been for our second night. Then, it was over in a flash; ruined by my father. He destroyed everything. Bitter and controlling, I wasn’t certain why I still did his bidding at twenty-four. I just did. It was complicated, but the truth was I was locked into “working” for him until I was twenty-five. Time was the only thing on my side. Watching Sofie, I realized I was in unimaginable trouble if Atom Callahan found her. The scope of what he’d do was beyond my comprehension.

I’d seen how he treated Abel’s girl. I’d watched him bring my brother to his proverbial knees as he threw Elma to me like she was a day old fish. Garbage scraps tossed out to a hungry snake. My father believed I owned Elma, because of the deal she struck with Abel. He’d known I’d rise to the occasion to fight Abel. It was the only way to save the girl for him. And my nature was to protect my brother. I am my brother’s keeper. I didn’t know how to protect him from the girl, though. Matters of the heart were not my concern. I didn’t know how to protect my own girl, and I couldn’t let Atom Callahan know I’d found her.

Sofie stirred and the sheet shifted. She was going to have one hell of a hangover, not to mention she kept mumbling about her ankle. Her numbed mind didn’t flinch at the cold compress on her joint. She’d passed out before the ice was draped over her smooth skin. My hand itched to caress her calf, swirl over her knee and retrace the trail of her thighs. I’d taken her roughly in the hallway. I’d taken advantage of her, which I swore I’d never do. Not with her. I didn’t deserve her, but I wanted her. Without reason, I wanted this woman who was completely opposite me.

Quiet, reserved, but not shy. I recalled, with a smile, how she unabashedly undressed and stepped into that cold river last summer. Her body was a siren to me, and I followed the song. Her eyes matched the clear river in color, but not in temperature. Her blue was warm, unlike the brown darkness of mine.

She moaned softly in her sleep, and I sat back in the chair that I’d drawn up next to the bed. I hadn’t slept yet; too wound up from the fight. Too strung up with concern when she fell. I found her dancing in the casino club and my eyes never left her. Men approached and I used mental telepathy to curse them out and swear them off of her. Overprotection wasn’t necessary. She didn’t encourage the advances made at her, faithfully sticking to the girls around her. They danced in a dangerous trio of sexy young women on the loose in Las Vegas. Men were vultures, myself included, and they hovered near to get one nip of luscious bodies. I was a snake on the path to destruction, and no one would get close to her, if I had my way.