by T. S. Joyce
Nuke shrugged up one shoulder. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” He offered her a wicked grin before he finished with her words, “As they say.”
Huh. She’d never had butterflies before, but right now there was a fluttering in her stomach she couldn’t explain. It felt good. She felt all warm and blurry at the edges and excited and gah, this man was really good at making her feel really good.
Heat tinged her cheeks and she ducked her gaze to the ground to hide how affected she was by him. “I can make you something to eat,” she said softly.
His attention stayed focused on her with every step she took into the kitchen.
When she reached the counter where a loaf of bread sat, he was behind her. His fingertips drifted to her hips and he turned her slowly. “You don’t have to do that.” He gripped her waist gently and lifted her onto the counter. “Let me.”
“Okay.” Trina locked her arms against the counter and watched him pull a carton of eggs from the fridge. She couldn’t help but think of how different it was in this home compared to Manning’s. Her King had a fancy, huge mansion that served a huge Murder. She had a room she shared with Ren, and they had minimal furniture but it was nice, and the room clean, and the kitchen was all granite countertops and fancy backsplash. Everything was clean and well designed and should’ve felt like a home, but it didn’t. It felt empty.
Here, in this old dilapidated trailer with Nuke, with its minimal furniture and uneven floors, dinged-up woodblock kitchen counters and scuffed cabinets…it felt warm. It felt full.
Perhaps that was because Nuke existed here.
“I was always supposed to cook where I come from,” she said.
“For men?”
Trina nodded. “I always hated cooking because I was supposed to do it. It was a part of my job, I guess. But last night I looked up something for a meal my mom used to make. Spaghetti was my favorite when I was a kid. She didn’t make it some fancy way, where her sauce was from scratch or anything. It was a boxed kit that came with noodles and seasoning and parmesan cheese. She added hamburger meat and tomato sauce, and made garlic bread, but really it was just hot dog buns cut up longways and dipped in melted butter and garlic salt and toasted in the oven for a few minutes.” Trina shrugged up her shoulders. “Anyway, it wasn’t anything fancy, but I remember making it with my mom and my sister and we had fun. And eating it was fun. There was no ‘supposed to’ about it.” She gripped the edge of the counter and smiled at Nuke. “Everything feels different when you have a choice.”
“You want to cook it here?” he asked. “I’ll cook with you, if you want.”
And that…that was the difference between Nuke and Manning. Manning demanded service, and Nuke only seemed to want time with her—time where she was comfortable and relaxed. There was no ‘supposed to’ with Nuke.
“Do they still make the spaghetti kit?” he asked.
“Yep. I found it. They sell it at grocery stores still.”
Nuke eased her knees apart and settled between them. “I like when you tell me the real stuff.”
“Oh yeah?” She hooked her hands behind his elbows to keep him here, settled near her as she relaxed on the counter. “Well, whiskey makes me mushy, I’m clumsy most days, I don’t like bacon but I like bacon bits, I’m choosy about what pens I write with, I feel prettiest when my toenails are painted bright colors, I want a puppy someday, sometimes I have entire dreams of me eating whole meals, I’m scared to death of flying cockroaches, I tie my shoelaces strangely, I love sleeping in oversized T-shirts, I’m really bad at ordering food at drive-throughs because I can never choose what I want that fast, and I have…” Oooh, she’d almost blurted something she didn’t mean to.
The smile drifted from his face. “You have what?”
Just say it. She was too chicken to look him in the eyes when she said it, so she looked down at the perfect line his pecs made against his T-shirt. “I have a crush on a boy who intimidates me a little.”
The only sound in the room was his soft breathing. “Why does he intimidate you?”
“Because he’s very handsome, and very strong, and very dominant.” She swallowed hard. “But he’s also very kind and understanding, and for some reason, that scares me worse than him being a dragon.”
He hooked his finger under her chin and lifted her face to his. “Why?”
“Because I’ve never met anyone like you, and sometimes you feel very big.”
Nuke’s eyes drifted to her lips for only a moment before he kissed her. With a soft sigh, she leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his neck as he yanked on the backs of her knees and dragged her to the edge of the counter. His hands drifted everywhere and he created heat with every inch of skin he touched.
She wanted him, plain and simple. She’d never wanted anyone like this in her entire life. It wasn’t controlled or easing into touching each other either…it was gasoline thrown on a spark.
With a gasp, she parted from him just enough to peel her shirt over her head.
“Oh my God,” he murmured as he looked at her bra. She was wearing her favorite black push-up today. His hands found the fullness of her breasts, massaging as he kissed her again, and then his hand was at her back, unsnapping the bra. Nuke yanked the obstacle off her arms and leaned in, drawing the tight bud of her nipple into his mouth as he dragged her closer to him. Trina arched back and yelled out, her hands in his hair. Desperate for more, she pulled his shirt over his head and threw it on the ground, and now she could feel him. His skin was fire, too hot to be human. The rumble in his chest was consuming, and she lost her mind entirely when he pulled her other nipple into his mouth and sucked hard.
“Tarek,” she whispered shakily.
Nuke’s snarl got louder as he pulled her hips against his waist and yanked her off the counter. She curled around him and kissed him, parting her lips so he could slip his tongue against hers. God, his skin felt divine against hers.
Trina’s back hit the mattress and she drove her knees farther apart, rocking her hips upward against his. She could feel how excited he was. His big, thick shaft was hard as stone against his jeans.
With fumbling fingers, she reached between them and unsnapped his button, ripped his zipper downward, and shoved his jeans down his thighs. He lifted just enough to slide out of the fabric and when he settled back onto her, she moaned again. His dick was laying right against her wet folds.
Gripping the back of her hair, Nuke lowered his lips to her neck and sucked hard, rocking against her sex and oooh it felt so good.
He was so close. So close. Every time he moved against her, he got closer to her entrance and she wanted to feel him. Needed to.
Trina moved with him, begging silently for more, and when he lifted his lips to hers again, she knew he would give in. He would give it to her. The head of his cock slid into her, and she arched back and cried out.
Nuke eased out and then slammed deep into her, and nothing else existed. Nothing else mattered but the movement of his body inside of hers.
“You’re doing so good at taking it,” he murmured against her ear. “So wet for me. So tight.”
His words dragged her to climax faster. The pressure was real, and building, and she couldn’t stop the wave of pleasure that consumed her body. Pulsing deeply, she gripped the back of his hair and yelled a string of curses she hadn’t even realized she knew how to use.
Nuke’s snarling was getting louder, and he drove deep, deep, dredging up every aftershock from her body. And when they were done, he began to build the pressure inside of her again. Only this time, he was slamming into her faster, harder, his body tensed and flexed and hard as stone against hers. She could feel every flex of his abs as he pumped into her and that was it. She was there again. “Nuke, please,” she begged. “Go deep, go deep!”
With a yell, he thrust into her and froze as she shattered again. His dick pulsed hard, and he pulled out slightly, then rammed her again, streaming heat into her.
> Drained completely, they lay there, intertwined, holding onto each other for dear life as Trina wondered how the hell she would be able to go back to her regular life and pretend Nuke hadn’t just changed her from the inside out.
He’d felt big before, but now he felt like everything.
Chapter Twelve
All he could see was darkness. It filled his head, his soul, his vision. Nuke squeezed his eyes closed and inhaled deeply. The scent of smoke filled his nostrils, and then he heard it. The rumble of the dragon. He’d followed him in here. No. Couldn’t be.
He had burned the ancient one. Nuke was hurt but he wasn’t dead. The smell of singed scales was faint but it was there. He moved to reach for his phone in the dark, but his body didn’t work right.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The sound of water echoed around in his head, and he shook it hard. Everything hurt. He eased his eyes open and they adjusted to the dark. He was in the cave. No. No, no, no, this had to be a dream. This wasn’t real. The rumble of his growl sounded again and he knew what he was. He was changed, healing from the war that had killed his family…from the mistake that had killed Tovlin. Anguish washed through him as he exhaled again, emanating the rumble of his dragon. He’d slept in this cave for a year to heal from that battle, and now he was trapped in here again. Hungry, heartbroken, time lost.
His brothers. His parents. Tovlin’s bravery at the end as he aimed again and again for the ancient one, spewing his fire, knowing when they were done with him, his dragon would have to fight Nuke’s. Knowing he would die. Tovlin thought he was giving Nuke a chance to live. He thought he was giving him a gift, but living wasn’t a gift at all. Now he was alone. The last of his kind. This was a curse.
Nuke roared his heartbreak and fire spewed forth, illuminating the cave and dispersing the bats that had gathered on the skyscraper ceilings.
Nuke startled awake. He couldn’t see, couldn’t see anything. The buzzing sounded again. Fuck! It wasn’t a dream.
Panicked he lurched to the side, but he fell a foot and hit a hard floor. His legs were tangled in something…blankets. Wait.
Buuuuuzzzzz.
That wasn’t his dragon breathing.
Breath heaving, he blinked hard and waited for his night vision to adjust. Something small hunched in the corner, staring at him. Freaking mouse.
Okay. Okay. He was in the trailer, in Krome’s territory, and he’d fallen asleep with Trina in his arms.
“Trina?” he said hoarsely.
No answer.
Outside, a car engine started. What the hell? It wasn’t even dawn yet.
She was leaving. He staggered to his feet as he shook the last remnants of that awful dream from his head. A folded piece of paper sat on the cushion of the recliner.
Couldn’t sleep. Went to get us breakfast. Be back at Pegasus speed.
Relief washed through him. She wasn’t leaving him. Her suitcase was still there. He exhaled the tension from his body and read the note again.
Buzz. Buzz.
Where was that coming from? He followed the sound to the recliner, but there was nothing on the cushion. He dug in the cracks and on the left side, his fingertips brushed something hard and plastic. Trina’s phone. He lifted it out. He should give it to her before she left, in case she needed it.
He rubbed his eye and sauntered to the door. Buzz.
He didn’t mean to look, but the screen glowed and nearly blinded a word into his brain. A familiar word. A name. His name.
He squinted at the screen and read the text that had just come through.
Have you figured out Nuke’s real name yet?
His heart glugged erratically in his chest cavity. Have you figured out Nuke’s real name yet?
He wasn’t seeing this. It was his imagination…right? He read it three more times, and then it disappeared off the screen.
Trina! Fucking answer me.
The new text came through and it showed how many notifications Trina had missed. Forty-two. Forty-two texts from this person who didn’t have a name on the caller ID. Only a letter. M.
He shook his head. No. He tried to open the text thread but it needed a password or facial recognition to unlock the phone.
What is Nuke’s real name, and what trailer is he living in? And I want to know everything about Amos, and Divar when he arrives. I need you to spend more time with Ren. Maybe have one of your girl’s nights, and do your girl-talk shit. It doesn’t make any sense that the Crew is still so small. Where are the others? When will they be there?
Rage was a slow-simmering burn that brought his blood to a boil. She wasn’t just betraying him. She was betraying the Crew. People who had done nothing wrong to her. He and the Crew had given her a safe place, and she was feeding this person information about them.
The dragon rumbled inside of him, and he looked up at the window. Trina was backing her car slowly away from his house. She was singing to some song, like she had no conscience at all. Like she wasn’t betraying him.
He’d trusted her.
Despite everything he’d learned about other people…he’d trusted her.
Chapter Thirteen
She needed to move the purple flower filled hanging baskets Nuke had bought her from the other trailer to Nuke’s. They would look pretty on his new deck.
Trina smiled to herself as she backed out of the grassy clearing and turned toward the dirt road that would lead her down the mountain and to the main road. She hoped. Honestly, she got lost easily in general, so she was nervous about taking the wrong dirt road out of here. She needed to figure it out at some point though.
Nuke’s hands on her last night. God, had anything felt so right, or so good, or so powerful? Never in her lifetime. He was magic against her.
Trina’s nipples perked up and her skin tingled just thinking about last night with him.
With a vacant smile stretching her face, she coasted down the winding dirt road. Maybe she would stop and get Nuke a present while she was in town. Crows liked doing that stuff. He was a dragon, so he wouldn’t understand what it meant if he accepted it, but she would, privately. It would be her sneaky way of telling him how much she liked him.
She really, really liked him.
The nose of her car aimed for a curve in the bend, and she slowed at a fork in the road. Nuke stood in the middle of the one to the very right, his head canted as he looked through the windshield at her. As the startlement faded away, she grinned and waved. He was here to lead her out, like he’d guided her the first day she’d come here. Good man.
He didn’t wave back though, and as he sauntered toward her, she rolled down her window to talk to him. “Hey there, handsome boy, what’s wrong?”
His eyes were dark and hard, and he reached for something in his back pocket. “You forgot your phone.” His voice was empty. Almost cold. He held it up to her face and she could see the top text from Manning. The facial recognition clicked in before she could register what was going on, and Nuke gave her his back, walking away as he opened the newly unlocked text thread.
“Nuke!” she screamed, panicking. “No!” She shoved the door open and bolted for him, but Nuke disappeared just as she reached him. Just…left a black cloud of smoke behind him and then vanished.
Frantic, Trina scanned the woods but the smog was thick. “Nuke? Nuke! It’s not what it looks like.” The smoke he’d left behind was slow to dissipate, and it lowered to the ground and hovered in the woods like a thick fog.
She ran a few steps into the woods, searching…searching. “Nuke! It’s not what it looks like!” Her repeated plea echoed through the mountains and bounced back to her ears.
“What does it look like?” he asked, his monotone voice pitching around the woods, echoing, hitting her from different directions.
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. Just…” She shook her head. Think! “Just let me explain.”
“What is Nuke’s real name, and what trailer is he living in? And I want to kno
w everything about Amos, and Divar when he arrives. I need you to spend more time with Ren. Maybe have one of your girl’s nights, and do your girl-talk shit. It doesn’t make any sense that the Crew is still so small. Where are the others? When will they be there?” When will they be there? When will they be there? His voice echoed around and around, filling her mind.
“I didn’t tell him about you. I never said your name. Scroll up! Fuck. Wait, no! I don’t want you to read any of this.”
The phone landed at her feet, and with a gasp, she looked up into the tree branches where it was thrown from. Nuke crouched there, midway up the tree, looking like a predator, his hair hanging in his face, his black eyes filled with rage and something more. Pain?
“There’s someone else here doing this—”
“So it’s not you feeding information to our enemies? This is Manning…right? This is your mate?”
“He’s not my mate!” Tears stung her eyes. “Please, just let me tell you—”
Whoosh. Nuke landed right in front of her so fast, the wind from his movement knocked her back a step. “Save it,” he snarled. “You know what’s worse than betraying me?” He jutted his chin up toward the trailer park. “You betrayed people who are salvageable. In a place they’ve sought sanctuary.” His teeth clenched hard, and the air grew heavy with his rage. “You stole their safety.”
“You don’t understand. My…my…” Say it! Say your sister’s name! But what good was an excuse to a man like Nuke, who had been hurt and lost his entire family to outside forces who wanted them dead? Trina closed her eyes and tears fell to her cheeks. What was the point of telling him she was trading her sister for all of them? He was right. She’d stolen their safety. Telling him about Tory wouldn’t make anything better. She was awful either way.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, forcing the apology past her tightening vocal cords.