by Ella Miles
I’m about to ask her more questions when my phone buzzes in my pocket.
I can feel Liesel’s heartbeat in her neck skip when I reach for my phone.
“It’s Siren,” I say before I answer. “Hello.”
Liesel grips onto my hand so tight that my knuckles start turning white.
“Hey,” Zeke says.
“Did you win the game? Did you get Atlas?”
There’s a long pause. Too long of a pause.
“What did they say?” Liesel asks.
I shake my head. “Zeke? Siren?”
I hold the phone out, thinking that the call must have dropped, but it still shows that we are connected.
“We won the game. We got Atlas,” Zeke says, his voice sounds strange when he should sound happy.
“Good, let’s all go to my island house. Meet there. We can protect ourselves there.” I look to Liesel, who nods her head in agreement.
Another long pause before Zeke answers. “See you there soon.”
The call ends. That was strange.
“Atlas is safe?” Liesel asks.
“Atlas is safe.”
More tears water her eyes as she almost collapses with relief against me.
Two down, one to go.
We are back to where we started.
“I—”
Another phone call.
We both stare down at my phone in disbelief as Beckett calls me.
Our hearts thump in unison. This could be the call that changes everything. The call that means we finally have all of our kids.
“Didyouwin? DoyouhaveDeclan?” I ask, rushing my words out so quickly I’m not even sure Beckett can understand me.
“I won—”
“Thank god, meet us at my island house. Okay?”
The line cuts out, but it doesn’t matter. I blink back my own tears, but there is no use. For the first time, all three of Liesel’s kids are safe and on their way to meet her.
“He’s safe?”
I nod, grabbing her cheeks and resting my forehead against hers. “They all are.”
Our tears mix together, as do our smiles and laughs. Too many happy emotions flood through us. I can’t remember another time when I’ve been this happy.
“What does this mean? What do we have to do?” Liesel asks, completely dumbfounded.
“It means we’re safe. We’ll make sure Corbin and the rest of them are no longer a threat, but it’s over. We are safe. We won. It means we only have to keep pursuing the treasure if you want to. If you don’t, we can tell people we found it, and it was only a million dollars or something; not worth anyone coming after us. No one will know. We’re safe. I won’t let anyone hurt you or our kids ever again.”
Her lips slam down on mine as I say my last word.
I groan into her lips, partly because moving fucking hurts, but more because she tastes so damn delicious. I’ve wanted to kiss her every second since we started all of this. And now—now it feels like we can finally kiss, fuck, be together in every way. There is nothing stopping us now, not anymore.
I run my hand under her shirt, needing to feel her skin. I stop when she moans as my fingertips encounter the sticky warmth of her blood.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I—”
“Shut up.” She grabs my face, stares down at me, and starts climbing across the seat toward me. “You didn’t hurt me. You couldn’t hurt me. When you touch me, all I feel is mind-blowing pleasure. You overwhelm me, Langston. Now hate fuck me like you want to.” She rips her shirt off her body, revealing too many bruises, cuts, and blood stuck to her skin.
My eyes sadden.
“Hate fuck me,” she repeats, pushing her breasts into my face. Her hand tilts my head back while she pushes her nipple against my lips.
Hate fuck her?
I don’t hate her; I love—oh, she wants me to make love to her. Hate means love. How could I have forgotten?
“My pleasure.” I lick over her already hard nipple and am rewarded with soft, gentle moans. They’re the kind that hits me straight in the groin, making me instantly hard.
She notices and rubs her sex against me through our clothes. I’m so wound up that I’m going to come way too quickly, which is probably a good thing considering we are in a cramped car in an alleyway and not entirely safe. Phoenix’s people could find us here.
But it’s not what Liesel deserves, and I plan on only giving her what she deserves from now on.
I take my time teasing her first nipple, then her second, careful to listen for any sound that I might be hurting her. She moans with every lick of my tongue, but now that I’m listening more carefully, I realize her moans are of pleasure.
I won’t hurt her ever again. And I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for all the hurt she’s had to go through. And I’ll start right now.
My fingers dive into her pants, between her folds, finding her clit as I tease her nipple with my tongue.
I rub over her sensitive nub in slow circles, knowing there is no way I’ll fuck her until I’ve made her come. I don’t know what torture she’s just endured, but I want this to take it all away.
Her hands grab onto my shoulders, her eyes close, and her body shakes as I continue to bring her closer to ecstasy.
“I need you inside me,” she whispers.
I slip a finger inside, pumping gently into her while my thumb circles her clit, moving faster, applying more pressure.
“That’s not what—aww—I meant,” she says as I slide two fingers inside her.
I kiss my way up the curve of her chest and neck until I can nip the edge of her earlobe with my teeth.
“I know,” I growl.
She tremors at my words, and it pushes her into a spiral of pulses that race down her spine all the way to her toes. She climaxes hard on my fingers, soaking me and making me fall even harder for her as I watch her come so undone.
Liesel’s body may be broken, but her soul is not. Her soul is more alive than ever. And I want it—her soul, her heart. I want it all.
Right now, she wants my cock. She’s grabbing at my waistband, trying to push my pants down to get to me. When I don’t immediately rush to help her, she snarls at me.
“Help me get these pants off you, now.”
I grin at her bossiness, her neediness. I love it all.
I shove my pants down until they are a heap at my ankles. Before I have time to even stroke myself, she’s already on top of and pushing down on my cock like she owns me, which I guess she does. I love that even more.
She starts sliding up and down on my cock. She’s going to make me come way too soon, and all I can do is look up in her eyes, knowing that I want to look into her eyes every second of the rest of my life. For the first time, I feel like that’s a real possibility.
“Stop looking at me and hate fuck me,” she says, moving faster over my dick. I can tell it’s exhausting her and that she wants me to take control soon.
I grab her hips and drive into her, keeping some restraint so I don’t hurt her. The devil in her eyes tells me to fuck her harder. She doesn’t want to be treated gingerly; she wants to be fucked hard.
The next stroke is harder. It rattles her body, but her moans only heighten. It drives me to fuck her rougher until I can’t hold back any longer.
“I hate you,” I moan as I come.
“I. Hate. You. Too,” she screams as she comes on my cock.
We pant into each other’s mouth; both of us still consumed by everything we just went through. Liesel eventually rests her head against my shoulder. She must be completely exhausted and starving.
I grab my phone and text out a quick message to Enzo, letting him know to get us a jet and that we are all flying to my place.
“Liesel, baby, as much as I want you, you have to get in your seat so I can drive.”
“No,” she says softly, wrapping her arms tighter around my neck.
I can’t let her go either, even if I wanted to, so I d
on’t. I hold her in my lap as I carefully pull back out on the road and start driving us to the airport.
I’ll never let her go.
16
Liesel
I fall asleep against Langston’s shoulder. I know sleeping on his lap while he drives isn’t the safest thing, but I decided we might as well tempt fate after everything we’ve been through. For now, I just need to be with Langston to not overthink everything.
He says this is the end; everyone is safe.
I know the truth.
The end is when we can finally say, ‘I love you.’ It happens when we get a happily ever after or we die tragically.
We didn’t say, ‘I love you.’ We didn’t celebrate as one big happy family. And as far as I know, I’m not dead, but who knows? Maybe I am, and I’ve died and gone to heaven? That’s what it feels like lying on Langston’s shoulder.
What comes next, though?
Do I tell him everything that happened; how I won the game?
Do I finally get to stop hunting for the truth?
“Huntress, we’re here,” Langston says, kissing my forehead. He doesn’t realize I’m already awake.
I open my eyes and smile at him. The sky is dark, but I spot the plane behind us.
Langston pops the door open and then lifts me out of the car. He carries me honeymoon style on the tarmac and then up the stairs to the private jet.
“Daddy!” Rose’s voice screams happily as we walk into the plane’s cabin.
I think Langston is going to set me down so he can scoop Rose up, but instead, he somehow scoops up Rose until she’s lying on my lap. She gives Langston a big hug.
I can’t hold back my own smile.
“Liesel!” she yells happily when she recognizes me and throws her little arms around my neck.
My first hug.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
All I can feel is the beat of her heart against mine. A strange, wonderful feeling I never thought I’d get to feel.
“Thank you for saving me,” Rose says when she leans back.
“You did a pretty good job of that yourself, but gladly. I’d save you any time.” I will save you every time.
Rose smiles brighter. “Good, I’d save you too.”
I smile. “I know you would.”
Her bright eyes look between Langston and me curiously. I don’t know what she sees when she looks between us, but I can see the wheels turning in her head.
I give Langston a worried look. I’m not ready to tell Rose that I’m her biological mother. I’m not ready to tell her that we’re married or make any commitment to stay in her life.
“Have you eaten, Rose bug?” Langston asks, trying to change the subject.
She nods. “But I could use dessert.”
Langston laughs. “Let’s see if we can find you dessert.”
He sets her down and then puts my feet back on the ground while keeping a hand at the small of my back. We both could use a shower, change of clothes, food, and sleep. But first, we need to take care of Rose.
We find Enzo and Kai sitting on one of the tan couches in the back of the plane. They both stand when we come back. Kai walks over to me. “You okay?” she asks quietly.
I give her a quick nod. “We’d be better if we found some dessert.”
Kai smiles down at Rose. “We have a couple of different flavors of ice cream. Which is your favorite, Rose?”
She thinks really hard.
“How about one of everything?” I say.
Rose nods happily.
Kai winks. “One of everything coming right up.”
Rose hops up on one of the couches. She seems completely normal, so I’m glad this doesn’t seem to be phasing her.
“Where is Mom? Is she meeting us on the island like Atlas?”
The room quiets.
Langston halts mid-step. He looks to Enzo as he realizes that Phoenix could be hidden somewhere on this very plane.
“Your mom had an important job she had to do. I’m not sure if she’ll be able to get away from work to come to the island or not,” Enzo answers.
Well, at least that means Phoenix isn’t on the plane, but I don’t know what we do about Phoenix long term. Rose thinks Phoenix has been her mom her entire life. We can’t kill Phoenix, but we can’t just let her go back to being Rose’s mother either.
Kai returns with a giant bowl of ice cream and several spoons.
Rose holds out her hands, and Kai places the bowl in her lap. Rose’s eyes light up so big when she sees the mountain of ice cream.
“Dad, Liesel, you need to help me eat this. It looks like you both have been starving like me,” Rose says.
Langston and I exchange worried glances as we join Rose on the couch, taking a seat on either side of her. “Did they not feed you, the men who took you?” Langston asks casually as he takes one of the spoons and a bite to satisfy Rose and probably some of his own hunger.
“They tried to, but everything they kept feeding me was gross like a cold pizza and sodas. I know I’m not supposed to drink sodas, so I didn’t drink any,” she answers.
I laugh, my eyes meeting Langston’s as we relax, knowing that Rose was at least offered food.
We all eat in comfortable silence for a little bit before I’ve had enough sweets in my stomach.
“Is there a shower on this plane?” I ask no one in particular.
“There are always showers on the planes we fly. And pajamas too! You should try the fluffy pajamas. They’re the best,” Rose says mid-bite.
“I’m going to go shower and try to find the fluffy pajamas then,” I say.
I stand and head to the back of the plane. As I close the bathroom door, I hear Langston tell Rose he needs to make sure I find the pajamas and he needs to shower after me. I leave the door unlocked as I turn on the water in the small shower and strip my shirt just as Langston pushes in.
“Rose is smart, you know. If you keep showering at the same time as me, she’s going to figure out that we are together.”
“What’s wrong with her knowing that we are together?”
I place my hand on his chest. “I’m just not ready yet.”
He shakes his head. “I think we are way past time, Liesel. You don’t have a choice any longer. It’s time whether you are ready or not. The kids deserve to know you. They deserve to know who you are, and we deserve to live happily ever after. Preferably with you spending lots and lots of time naked.” He smirks.
I smile back, but a part of my smile is fake. I don’t know how he thinks we can live happily ever after when we can’t even say we love each other.
Instead of saying anything else, he just pushes us into the shower, clothes and all.
He catches my bottom lip and kisses me before I can say anything.
“I vow to make you feel good every chance I can, which means I owe you an orgasm.”
I shake my head. “You made me come less than an hour ago. You don’t need to make me co—”
I stop mid-word as his fingers press against my clit.
Holy cow.
A million tiny fireworks light up in my body when he touches me.
He flips me around until my back is pressed against his front while his hand continues to tease my sensitive nub. My pants are yanked to the floor, and the showerhead hits the front of my body, beginning to wash the blood away, along with the remnants of the other sacrifice I made.
Langston sweeps the hair off my neck as he kisses my bare skin. His fingers circle around my clit as more water bounces off my skin.
“I want—”
“No. This is about you—your pleasure. I’m tired of taking anything from you. You have to get at least double the amount of gratification as I do.”
“But—”
There is no way I can finish that sentence, though. All I can see are stars as I come once again. It’s different than in the car. In the car, I was desperate. I needed to feel alive again—in control, connected to Langston.
“Let it all out, baby. I’ve got you.”
It’s at Langston’s words that I realize I’m crying, trembling, shaking. I’m only standing because Langston is holding me up.
The water mixes with my tears and blood as it all goes down the drain. Everything we’ve been through—I let it all go. It’s no longer my burden to bear.
We stay in the shower so long that we run out of water. At some point, we collapsed onto the floor, so I’m sitting in Langston’s lap.
I look back. “You never took your clothes off.”
“No, I was more concerned about making sure you were okay.”
I kiss him softly. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Me neither.”
I am finally able to stand. I hold out my hand. He takes it, and I help him up. He’s soaking wet and still covered in blood.
“I’m not sure the shower helped clean you that much,” I say, looking him up and down.
He peels his shirt off. “Sure, it did.”
I take a washcloth and do my best to clean off the rest of the dried blood from his body. He slips out of his pants, and I get a better view of the pain he went through with a large gash in his thigh.
I brush my hand over it. If I hadn’t already cried out all the pain, I would start in again.
He takes my hand and kisses it. “We are all going to be okay now. I promise.”
I smile at his empty promises. He doesn’t mean them to be empty, but he can’t promise me the world when the world doesn’t belong to me.
“So, where are these fluffy pajamas?” I ask.
He laughs. “I think Rose means the fluffy white robes.”
He grabs one on the hook behind me and drapes it over my shoulders.
I slip my arms through it and then wrap the sash around my waist. “Rose is right; these are fluffy.”
Langston wraps the other robe around him.
He opens one of the drawers in the bathroom and pulls out two pairs of boxers for us both to slip on underneath our robes. Now we’re decent enough to go back out with everyone on the plane.