Taken By The Brothers_Gemini Read online

  “Do you want me to stop Ada?” I asked the question though I knew what her answer would be. Something in me just wanted to be sure.

  “No, Fate. Keep going. Please.”

  That nearly did it. I needed to make her say it again.

  I pressed my body against hers and looked into her crystalline eyes. She looked back at me with such longing, I couldn’t hold my body back anymore. She arched her back gently as I entered the depths of her and her legs on my back became a vice grip.

  Nothing could tell me that this didn’t feel so right.

  Chapter 6

  Ada

  The feeling of the union was sheer bliss. Any misconception I had of Fate being nothing but a brute was dispelled almost instantly.

  He was gentle, and longing.

  His body’s rhythm was practiced and a tinged of jealousy came over me at the thought. But the heavenly feeling of our bodies connected made me realize that this was more than sex.

  This was how it felt to make love.

  Each time his body entered mine the feeling increased in intensity. I tried to stifle the haggard moans that escaped my mouth.

  It was useless and I finally accepted it.

  “Does it feel good Ada?” His breath was wispy and gaunt as he spoke against my eardrums, still maintaining his rhythm.

  “Yes…” Was all I managed to squeeze out while I tried to gather my thoughts beyond the immense pleasure I was feeling.

  He hovered his body over me, blocking my senses.

  He stared into my eyes eclipsing my view of the world.

  He whispered into my ear, poisoning my thoughts with the words of a lust driven man.

  Every inch of my body underwent a transformation against his touch. Each ridge of the deepest depths of me becoming impaled by the sword of his devotion until I could stand it no longer.

  “Ada!” He screamed mechanically as he tightened his grip and pulled me closer to him. His movements became intense and jagged, nearly striking me with every fiber of his being. I could feel we both were close.

  I clenched my eyes and braced for the immense onslaught of passion to come over me and when it did, we rode the waves of its decadence until we retreated underneath the covers on the bed.

  I looked over to Fate.

  He was not the same met I’d met months ago.

  The smile that was painted on his face stretched from ear to ear and he closed his eyes as if he were riding some cloud in heaven. I felt…safe. I’d long since dreamed of this feeling. Of what it meant to have someone who truly cared.

  “I hope that was gentle enough for you Ada.” He laughed softly and parsimoniously pulled me closer to him.

  “Well I didn’t know you were capable of showing so much emotion. That was amazing Fate. I just hope it was something more for you.”

  “Something more? I can’t say I’ve ever done anything like that in my life. That was the first time sex ever felt like that. Maybe you felt it too?”

  “I did.” I nestled my head in the crevice between his neck and breathed deeply. Though I didn’t want this feeling to end, I worried for Valor.

  “Don’t mean to kill the mood Fate but do you think Valor is okay? I’ve been thinking about that call of his.” Fear came over me that perhaps that Rex figure had done something to him. Fate knew Valor better than I did and I trusted that he would give me a realistic answer.

  “My impression is that Valor is gonna be fine. If it was something serious he wouldn’t have hung up so abruptly. I told him he needs to get out of there and away from Rex. We can only hope he listens.”

  It wasn’t the most positive answer but I decided to take it anyway.

  “Also, there’s something else I wanted to tell you about. I don’t know how you’ll take it but…the University wants me back for teaching. All of my special absences have expired. Is it safe?” Alex Swan came to my mind. More like Alex Swine. I had reason to believe that she was still meandering around Columbia and trying to gather information on me.

  “Of course it’s safe for you to go back.”

  He said this so casually and didn’t think to mention it to me at all?

  “It is? Why didn’t you say anything?!”

  He rolled over on his side and picked up his phone from the side of the bed. After a few seconds of scrolling, he faced the phone to me.

  TEACHING ASSISTANT AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ARRESTED FOR PUBLIC ENDANGERMENT.

  “She was arrested?! How?!” I couldn’t bother reading the article, and Fate would give me a much better explanation anyway.

  “The bitch went into your lecture hall shortly after the gassing incident at your old apartment. She went crazy on the students. Flipping chairs, throwing books, setting off the fire sprinklers. She went absolutely nuts.” Fate laughed like he got a kick out of the whole ordeal. I was only interested in why.

  “What provoked her? She was looking for me?”

  “My guess is that Rex Rodham got in her ass for failing to nab us and for exposing him. If she didn’t show up at the apartment that day, Valor and I wouldn’t have known that he had a large system of surveillance around us. He probably threatened her, or worse. And she snapped.”

  Suddenly, the earlier fear I had of Rex Rodham came back. I knew nothing of him and didn’t think about him since the incident months earlier. I should’ve been excited at this news, but I feared this meant that man might try to work even harder to get the Hatton brothers.

  “I don’t know Fate…something tells me this means it isn’t exactly safe to go back to the university.”

  “You’re wrong. It is.”

  “How do you figure?” He rose up slightly from the bed, the white sheets falling gently off of his chiseled chest.

  “One thing I never told you about Alex Swan, is how I met her.”

  My mind drifted back to that day in my old apartment. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to Fate knowing Alex than just through contracting work.

  “How did you meet her?”

  He took a brief pause and grumbled, his deep voice rattling against his throat.

  “She tried to kill me.”

  My heart stopped. “How?!”

  “It was in China. Valor and I managed to steal four terracotta statutes from the museum in Xian Shi and we were on our way to have them shipped back to the states on a private jet. Alex Swan was following us the whole way through. She’s a trained assassin you know.”

  At this point, nothing Fate said shocked me.

  “Right as we were boarding the jet she took a straight shooter shot right for my chest. It missed my heart by five inches. She was Rex’s best…and now she’s gone. Locked up by authorities. Life moves fast huh Ada?”

  My jaw was widened the entire time he told the story.

  “So uh…that means I can teach again?”

  He busted into uncontrolled laughter at the fact that it was all I managed to say.

  “Yeah babe, you can teach again.”

  Well I’m glad that’s accounted for…

  We continued sharing stories and talking like that well into the morning. It was comforting. Fate cared and I could see it.

  I imagined what our life would be like if we were together. If we decided to make everything official. Thinking about asking him, I changed my mind. I didn’t want to kill the bliss of the night with the possibility that he might say no.

  Thoughts swimming through my head, I drifted off into sleep.

  I awoke to the relentless warmth of the sun beating on my face. Today I decided I would go back to Columbia.

  The tantalizing smell of breakfast food wound its way through the halls and to my nostrils.

  Who knew Fate was a chef?

  Getting out of the bed, I walked to the bathroom and tousled my hair in front of the mirror.

  “God, I look a mess.” I don’t recall ever caring much about my appearance before, I’d gotten used to my crazy curls and freckles. Now though, I wanted to give Fate some kind of enti
cing reason to look at me.

  After a shower and a primping, I walked into the kitchen to see what had Fate so tied up.

  “Morning chef! Smells good!” The height I gained from standing on my tippy toes was still just barely enough to kiss his scruffy cheek.

  “Morning little lady. Sleep must’ve been good huh? You’ve been out cold most of the morning.” He was tossing eggs like a pro while he spoke.

  “I guess last night was the most comfortable I’ve felt in a while. Thanks to you I guess.”

  “You guess? I’m pretty sure I’m the reason you slept till noon. Come on and get some breakfast and I’ll drive you to the university.”

  We ate breakfast as if we were some kind of normal couple. It surprised me how wholesome Fate could be despite his background. At this point I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, we had been living in this quaint Brooklyn Brownstone for about five months. It was safe to say I changed him. Though it didn’t seem like a man like Fate had any hope to be changed, all he needed was a little love.

  Mission accomplished.

  After breakfast, we hopped on the road and drove through the city traffic to Columbia University. It was a beautiful day and the sun shining reminded me of how bright I felt. The spring breeze was a renewing feeling.

  “I’ll pick you up at 6 pm. See you soon Ada.”

  He leaned in for a kiss and I treasured it as long as I could. The fear that something catastrophic between Rex Rodham and Valor was always present in the back of my mind. Every day I had no idea if any kiss with Fate would be my last. I made the most of it.

  “I love you Fate. Please be careful.”

  It was the first time I think I’ve ever said it.

  Fate held his head down and nodded it slowly, almost as if he had the same thoughts that I did. He reached across the car and wrapped me in a long embrace. I could feel the long breath of an exhale on my back. The faint scent of sandalwood formed a soft plume against my nostrils. I smiled on his shoulder.

  “I’ll be alright. See you soon.”

  I looked up at him and smiled, his hazel eyes seemingly piercing through my gaze. Closing the door behind me, I walked into the University and to my lecture hall.

  The hustle and bustle of the hallways with students murmuring amongst each other caused me anxiety. I found myself constantly looking over my should for fear of seeing Alex Swan behind me.

  “Professor Fiero!”

  I jumped at the sound of someone calling my name and dropped my briefcase to the ground. Turning around to see who was the subject that caused my heart rate to increase ten-fold, I was relieved to find that it was Dr. Arnold.

  My boss.

  Was that really any better?

  “Professor Fiero, it’s so good to see you! I heard about everything that happened, I’m so sorry to hear that you went through that.”

  “Everything that happened?” What the hell was he talking about? Should I just play along? Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.

  “With Ms. Alex Swan. I apologize greatly for ever pairing her with you to be your assistant. I wasn’t aware she had a criminal record and obviously no one in HR was aware of that either. I apologize on behalf of the University and please, please let us know what else we can do to remedy this situation.” He took my hand and shook it repeatedly as each word took a full minute to come out of his mouth.

  “Dr. Arnold, none of us could have prepared for what we all experienced with Alex Swan. I’m just glad no one was hurt and I’m ready to get back to my students.” I prayed that my naïve acting was good enough to fool Dr. Arnold. I certainly didn’t want him suspecting that I knew anything more about Alex than he did.

  “The school has retained security especially for your lecture group considering the incident. If you need anything else you know where to find me. Have a great day Professor.” Dr. Arnold walked off slowly but surely, and I was left in the hallway amongst a sea of students, struggling to make sense of just how much he knew.

  When did he find out about Alex’s past?

  Did he know anything about the Hatton brothers?

  How many people in the university were aware of the entire incident?

  I had no one to ask these questions to. I bit my lip and continued walking down the hall to the lecture room.

  Inside.

  Hundreds of students.

  Anxiety mounting.

  I looking around the hall briefly for any sign of suspicious characters. I saw no one.

  “Good morning everyone. As you know I was required to take a long absence due to some personal tragedies in my life. I’m more than excited to be here at the university to continue teaching Physiology.”

  “It was in the Daily Spector Professor.” A voice called out from the higher seats in the lecture hall and other students butted in, nodding in agreement.

  “It was??”

  A student in the front row next to my desk and the projector handed me a copy of the newspaper.

  “COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY TEACHING ASSISTANT ASSAULTS PROFESSOR AND LATER, ENTIRE PHYSIOLOGY 300 CLASS.”

  It really did make rounds throughout the school. Immense relief came over me at the thought.

  “Thank you for the paper.”

  How do I continue teaching on such a morbid note?

  “Um, my apologies for the-uh…for the distraction. Let’s continue with today’s lesson.” Immediately there was a student who begun clapping her hands. And then another. And another. Until the entire lecture hall was clapping. I looked around puzzled, wondering what was the cause of the commotion. The same student that handed me the newspaper then handed me a card.

  “It’s from all of us. We wanted to make sure you were okay Professor Fiero. And welcome you back to Columbia.”

  There was an uncontrollable flow of tears that started to fall from my eyes.

  Affection.

  Something that I was so dearly wanting to be expressed to me by my parents during my childhood, was finally hitting me full force.

  In my students…

  In Fate…

  Just to know that someone cared about me.

  “Thank you all so much. Th-this means the world to me. But don’t think that means all of you are getting A’s this semester!”

  The lecture hall erupted in uncontrollable laughter.

  Everything in my life was going perfectly. My job and my love life.

  For once, I felt like I can do this thing called life.

  The lecture went on without event and when it was over, I waited outside for Fate to pick me up. Standing outside of the building in the dark of the night, my heart rate increased. Cars flew by the street, lights from their headlights illuminating the darkened parts of the road.

  Fate was late and I was worried.

  Dr. Arnold walked out of the building and walked towards me with a confused look on his face.

  “Professor, do you need a ride home? I can give you one.” His frail arms were struggling to support the weight of four textbooks in his arms. I grabbed two of them.

  “Oh, I’m waiting for my boyfriend. It’s no worry Dr.”

  “When do you suspect he’ll be here? It’s quite late…Considering everything that’s happened, maybe it would be better if I took you home.”

  He was right.

  It was almost 9:30 pm and I was still waiting outside of the school for Fate. I could go back inside to my office and wait there. Fate definitely would be back any minute. Or, I could just take Dr. Arnold up on his offer and go home with him.

  I saw no reason to turn him down.

  “Alright Dr. Arnold. If you don’t mind, I’ll go home with you. Thanks again for offering this, I know things in our department have been pretty hectic lately because of me.”

  “No worries Ms. Fiero. My car is parked just across the street.”

  We crossed the street as fast as Dr. Arnold’s fragile body would allow, to his Mercedes parked one block down from the school.

  Once everything was loade
d into the car, we made our way west towards Brooklyn.

  “I really thank you again for this Dr. Arnold. You didn’t have to.”

  “You’re more than welcome Ada. It’s the least I can do.”

  Five minutes into our drive I noticed Dr. Arnold picking up speed. We were flying down a major highway as if there were no other cars on the road. I clenched to my seat tightly.

  “Uhh, Dr. Arnold, do you think you should slow down? You’re going pretty fast don’t you think?!” Just as I stop talking he swerved past a truck on the highway and made a quick turn off the nearest exit.

  “Dr. Arnold, pull over!! PLEASE!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs and he continued to ignore me.

  Speeding down a dark alleyway off of the exit, he stopped in front of an ominous house at the end of the street and tried to wiggle his seat belt off.

  Fight or Flight.

  I had two options.

  Adrenaline pumping…

  Seat beat flew off…

  Running as fast as I could with my eyes closed.

  Legs please carry me farther!

  I ran as long as I could until I was grabbed by a large figure in the shadows. He placed a towel on my face. And I fell unconscious.

  My last words were a cry for Fate.

  I prayed he could hear me.

  The blood flow to my hands was so constricted, I thought they might fall off any second. My eyes widened slowly, struggling to assess my surroundings.

  Muffled screams fought to escape the fabric that bound my lips shut. To no avail.

  I was alone in a dark room, with a single lamp hanging from the ceiling being the only source of light.

  Why would Dr. Arnold bring me here? It was completely foolish to accept his offer of a ride home. Fate had taught me to trust no one and I’d just broken that cardinal rule.

  “Ada Fiero, so you’re the lass that led me to the Hatton brothers once and for all. It’s great to finally be in your acquaintance.”

  A man appeared from the shadows. He was tall, tan, and muscular. I couldn’t make out the features on his face with the darkness, but the scent of his musk colon stung my nostrils. A watch on his right hand glistened as he walked closer to me, underneath the light hanging from the ceiling.