by Helene Gadot
She scoffed. "Yeah, more than I wanted you to."
"It's not just that. We know you're brave and selfless and mean and funny and badass. And something about you fits with us. No one has ever joined our group so easily before. We don't let people in, same as you. But you fit, your powers fit. It's not just about lust or attraction. We straight up just like you and your company."
"I enjoy yours too." She stared past his shoulders.
"Then what's really stopping you?"
Ridley sighed. "I don't know." Her mind whirled with possibilities and fears, keeping her stuck, unable to move forward, unable to take a step back, frozen by indecision.
"Yes, you do. You just don't want to tell me."
"Not really. No."
"Is it your father? Because regardless of your choice about our team, we're going to back you up with whatever happens with him. So, if it's that, we're at risk either way."
That was part of it. But, damn it. She just couldn't do it. If she joined them, too much would change. She could lose too much. And if she then lost them, it would kill her.
"Malia told us it took you over a year to let her in. Is it going to take that long for you to do the same for us?"
"Maybe. I don't know." She wanted to take the leap, but her feet were frozen on the ledge.
"You aren't the only one who struggles with a shitty past. It's sometimes hard to believe anything good can come into your life. We're all orphans in a way and we built this new family. Maddox found and collected us and we've spent years together. Years, and you're the first person we've ever asked to join us. We've never even been tempted before."
Ridley had only been tempted once. Malia. And it had worked perfectly. Maybe it could again. Maybe she could finally have the things she'd never had, the things she'd never allowed herself.
If it failed, at least she tried. But if she ran from it, from them, she'd have to live with the what if. And she already had enough of those plaguing her.
"What if I'm the thing that ruins you four?" The past two weeks living with them had shown her how close they were, how much they relied on and needed each other. She couldn't be what ripped them apart.
"You won't be. We've been through way worse than you."
Her head jerked back. "I'm not sure if that's an insult or a compliment."
Reese chuckled. "In a way, I guess it's both."
"Nice."
Her cupped the side of her face. "You aren't the only one who's scared either, sweetheart. But we think you're worth it."
"All of you? Even Cormac?" She knew he wanted to fuck her, but she didn't think he really wanted her to stay.
"He's probably the most nervous, but he's in. We all are. The question is, are you?"
Ridley swallowed, her chest tight, nerves fluttering up and down her spine. Maybe she was still drunk and making stupid choices or maybe the alcohol stripped away her worries and inhibitions or maybe after one of the best nights of her life, she was unable to handle the foreign peaceful happiness bubbling inside her.
Whatever it was, gave her the courage to step into Reese, and lift onto her toes to press her lips against his.
37-Reese
Reese stiffened, surprise overtaking him for a moment before he grabbed Ridley's hips and yanked her closer until her soft curves pressed up against him. He hadn't thought his arguments would persuade her, at least not anytime soon.
She tasted like pomegranates and smelled like cherries and motorcycle engines and fuck it was hot and made him hard. He wanted nothing more than to spin her around and bend her over the railing and sink inside her, pounding into her until they couldn't walk. Then he wanted her caught between him and Cormac, both of them deep inside her, rubbing up against each other.
She moaned into his mouth and his fingers dug deeper into her hips. He nipped at her bottom lip as he ground his cock against her. She smelled, tasted, felt like heaven and he would never have enough of her.
It was even more powerful than what he felt for Cormac. They weren't in love or exclusive in any way. But they cared about each other and occasionally enjoyed expressing that by fucking. Neither one of them enjoyed one-night stands like Maddox or Beckett, so they found the companionship they craved in each other.
Ridley's tongue teased his, drawing it into her mouth. One of his hands slid up her back and buried itself in her hair. He fisted it and yanked her head back to trail his lips down the side of her neck. She gasped and trembled in his arms. Kissing her was like riding the biggest and scariest wave—a heady adrenaline rush with a dose of fear, but mainly excitement and bliss.
With a last nip, he broke away, his chest heaving. "We have to stop. If we don't, I'm going to bend you over right here and take you."
She stared at me with her gorgeous blue eyes cloudy with desire. "Right." She cleared her throat and shook herself. "Right. Sorry."
Reese's eyes closed. She was killing him. "Don't ever fucking apologize for that again. Any time you want to kiss me, I am more than game for it." But they'd been drinking. A lot. He wasn't going to take advantage and she still wasn't sure what she wanted.
It would kill him to be with her and have to let her go. It was already going to be hard enough if she disappeared on them now. She'd wormed her way inside him, inside all of them.
And she was a huge flight risk if they tried to move too quickly.
Sex with Maddox had been a one-night stand. She hadn't meant to see him again. Sex now would mean something more and he wasn't sure any of them were ready for it. As much as he wanted her, he wanted her to be sure more.
She wasn't the only one with doubts and insecurities from everything in her past. His father hadn't physically hurt him, but the emotional scars he left were bad enough. After his mother abandoned them and started a new family, his father had turned to alcohol and he and his sister were to blame. At least according to him.
Letting Ridley in and giving her the chance to abandon him, scared the shit out of him.
"What's going on in that brain of yours? Stop hiding behind jokes and charm and tell me."
Reese stared at her for a long moment, words gathering in his throat and getting caught.
Ridley placed a hand on his arm, understanding and sympathy shining from her ocean gaze. "It's okay if you aren't ready to talk about it. Believe me, I get it."
"It's not that. It's just been a while since I've told anyone. I don't know if I drank enough for this."
She chuckled. "I hear that."
"Did my sister ever mention our father?"
"No. We only discussed her current issue with that bastard."
"Right." Reese sighed. "I guess I can start by telling you that you aren't the only one with daddy issues." He told her the rest. He told her everything. He told her more than he'd ever told anyone before, even the other guys on his team.
He spilled everything to this incredible and terrifying woman with only the waves and stars as witness.
When he finished, fear curdled in his stomach as he waited for her reaction. Maybe he had more issues than he realized.
Ridley stepped close and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. "I'm so sorry, Reese. Your dad is an asshole and he and mine would probably be BFFs or maybe we'd get lucky and they'd kill each other. And at least I had a mom who loved me and tried to protect me. Yours was a bitch. You're amazing and so is your sister, and you turned into that in spite of them. Keep that in mind. And you're both way braver than I am. You've overcome your fears enough to let people in, to be willing to take a chance even if it can all blow up in your face. So, fuck them. You're perfect."
She pressed a soft kiss against his lips and disappeared inside, leaving him staring after her, utterly lost.
38-Ridley
The clink of silverware against fancy china tinkled though the restaurant. Ridley hid her yawn behind her hand.
Malia smirked across the table at her. "Had too much to drink last night?"
"You had almost as much as I did." How was
she in such a pleasant mood? Ridley wanted to lay her head in the plate of eggs and take a nap.
"No one had as much as you."
"I didn't think I'd like those stupid pink things, but they were almost as good as scotch." She was never drinking them again.
"Nothing's as good as scotch."
Ridley clinked her mimosa against Malia's. "Cheers to that." She grimaced after taking a sip. "I do not like these. Or bunch. It's a stupid meal."
"What are you talking about? You like all these foods." Malia gestured at the bacon and grits and fruit and eggs.
"Sure. At home. Or on a nice deck with a view of the ocean. Not with this fancy tablecloths and sappy couples and country club members." A few customers shot dirty looks their way. Whoops. She must have been louder than she meant to be.
"You'd prefer to have it on the back porch of your new house? Perhaps served by four incredibly hot men?"
Ridley ignored Malia's innuendo. "Well, who the hell wouldn't prefer that?"
Malia grinned. "Me."
Ridley chuckled. "You know what I meant."
"I do. And if four hot women wanted to bring me brunch on a deck with a view, I wouldn't complain either."
"Right?"
Malia laughed. "As hard as they were flirting last night, I'm surprised you didn't get any."
Ridley ran her finger around the edge of her glass. "I almost did."
Malia sat forward in her seat, her eyes lit up with excitement. "All of them? Or only one?"
"Just Reese. He put a stop to it though since we were still a little drunk." Something she was extremely grateful for and yet at the same time regretful.
"Damn, that makes him even hotter."
"I know. He told me a little about his past. Or, a lot actually."
"The same day as Maddox?" Malia asked. "Think they planned it?"
"No. I really don't. Especially not Reese. He almost didn't tell me." He'd looked so nervous as he spilled his secrets. It made her heart ache for him.
"Well, it's only fair since they unearthed your past."
"Yeah. Sort of by accident. At least once they realized I'm not a damn knave."
Malia snickered. "Can you blame them? You enjoy tormenting people a little too much."
"Not people. Douchebags."
"Right. Fair enough. What are you going to do about the shitheads as you call them?"
"Fuck if I know." She was no closer to making a decision than she was last night.
"What do you want to do?"
"Again. Fuck if I know."
Malia reached across the table to squeeze Ridley's hand. "You know you can let them in. Maybe it'll work out, maybe it won't. But they can handle themselves and be excellent allies if your father does ever find you. And they're nothing like him or any Legion ace I've ever met. You'd be living what is a lot of straight women's fantasies. Four men willing to share you without possessiveness or jealousy, four men to fight beside you and dote on you and most importantly, one of them cooks."
"It was one thing when they wanted me to join their team. It's quite another to start a five-way relationship with them after only knowing them less than a month."
Malia shoved a piece of bacon into her mouth. "I knew Katy was it for me on our first date. And I've only grown to love her more since. Sometimes it happens that way."
"I'm not in love with them." Nowhere near it. Just a little in lust with them.
"I wasn't in love with her either. I'm not talking about love at first sight. There's no such thing in my opinion. Or soul mates. But I do believe in meeting people who you just click with. And it's a rare occurrence. So rare, it's a shame to miss out on it out of fear. I'm not saying you should jump in without true consideration. But there's nothing wrong with seeing where it might take you. Maybe the five of you will fall in love. Or maybe you'll be the fifth member of their strange family and you'll all be fast friends. Or maybe in a month, you'll all decide you hate each other and you part ways forever. Or maybe instead of any kind of romantic relationship, you just join their team and work with them."
All of those options sounded great. She just didn't know which she preferred. "Maybe."
"And if it doesn't work out, they are not the type of people to turn you in to the Legion or your father. Regardless of the outcome, they won't sell you out."
"How can you be so sure?" Ridley agreed with Malia, but her judgment was compromised.
"Because they're good men. I can tell from spending time with them and the research I've done on them. They're your kind of people. They're rebels and have a complete lack of bother about what anyone else thinks."
"But if I join their team, what about you and our work? What about the garage?" There was too much she would have to give up.
"If you choose to join them, we'll figure it out. Helping women like we do is your mission. It isn't mine. Don't get me wrong, I love what we do and will always help you with it. But I'm no ace. I'd be perfectly happy tinkering with bikes and going home to my girl every night." Malia held up her hand when Ridley tried to apologize. "Don't you dare. I begged you and demanded for years to be a part of it. And you've made it perfectly clear I can stop whenever I want. My point isn't to make you guilty. It's to make sure you make the choice for yourself. Not for me. Not for them. And I think you need to talk to them about what it might mean if you join their team."
"Obviously, I couldn't join in any formal way. Even with my fake name and erased files, with enough time they could figure out who I am. So I'd still need a regular job and I don't want to stop working at the garage anyway."
"Then tell them that. I have a strong feeling they'd be willing to work with you and give you whatever you want."
"This is crazy." Ridley stared at her ruined eggs. She'd been poking them with her fork until they were dead.
"A little. But it doesn't mean it's a bad thing."
A familiar face at the door caught her attention. "Gregory's wife just walked in with her friends. We can finish this later."
Malia glanced over her shoulder. "Do you think she'll really be willing to do this?"
"If she's smart, she will be."
"How smart can she be, marrying that cunt weasel?"
"Everyone makes mistakes." Ridley never judged the women who ended up with cunt weasels. She knew how charming they could pretend to be. She'd lived with a master at it for seventeen years.
They watched the woman and her friends get seated and settled, waiting for them to get their orders. Once their fancy, tiny food was delivered, and they were three mimosas in, Ridley and Malia left money on the table and went over to theirs.
"Can we help you?" One of Lena's friends asked.
"No, but we think we can help you."
"And how is that?"
Ridley handed her a black card with their darknet website on it. "Check this out and if you're interested, give us a shout."
39-Ridley
They hadn't been back at work at the garage for an hour before a message came in from Gregory's wife.
"She wants to meet?" Ridley asked when she heard the notification ding from Malia's phone.
Malia swiped through her phone for a minute before answering. "Yeah. Do we chance bringing her here?"
Ridley wanted no one with a connection to someone so powerful to know where they worked and lived. "Hell no. Uh, let's meet at Wailana. After going there the other night with Maddox, it's given me a craving."
"I'll tell her to meet us there tonight."
"I'll message the guys and let them know. Though maybe I should wait until we know whether she's willing to get us what we need."
"You have to trust them sometime. Might as well try it out now and then you'll have a better idea of if you can work with them."
"Fine." Ridley pulled out her phone frowned at it.
"Don't be grumpy just because I'm right."
Ridley turned back to the bike she was working on. "You're not right, you just made a good point."
"Which is the
equivalent of being right."
"Semantics."
"Oh my fuck, just do it."
"I am." She picked her phone back up and pulled up Maddox's contact information.
"You really should have fucked Reese last night. Maybe you'd be in a better mood."
"Probably." But she was glad he stopped her.
He'd made her realize how much of a chance they were taking on her as well. Reese already had enough people abandon him in his life, Maddox had lost so much, Cormac had a lot to prove with a knave for a mother, and based on the shadows in his eyes, Beckett had his fair share of demons as well.
She dialed Maddox, and he answered on the first ring. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah. Good news. Gregory's wife wants to meet. We're headed to Wailana after we're done here."
"Excellent. Need backup?" Maddox asked.
She winced. "No. Malia and I can handle it. I don't want to freak her out."
"All right. Let me know when you're on the way back."
"Tracking my movements?" she teased.
"I do it to everyone so don't freak out. It's not because you're a female or I don't trust you."
"I know. You mentioned it before, I was just messing with you."
"Oh. Sorry." He sounded off.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
"I don't believe you."
He sighed. "A small lead I was chasing down about my brother didn't pan out."
Ah. Fuck. "Shit. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. It was a long shot, but I'm still frustrated."
"Of course you are. Look, let's wrap this shit up with Gregory and focus on your brother." If nothing else, she wanted to help him find whoever killed his brother.
"That's not necessary. He's what I work on in my spare time."
"Which you should have some of after we get all these knaves behind bars. Maybe fresh eyes will do some good. And I do have some contacts I haven't told you shitheads about."
His laugh through the line warmed her insides. It was like gooey caramel. "I am not the least bit surprised."
"I like my secrets." She tucked the phone in the crook of her shoulder so her hands were free to keep working on the bike.