“So why didn’t you try to contact me and blocked me from contacting you?” was my next question which was difficult for me to voice because he had avoided it in the ocean and I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer.
“Baby, I told you. I needed to take care of business,” he replied in a maddeningly robotic voice. “If I had stayed in touch, I would have felt like rushing back to you and nothing would have been accomplished. You know that. You know I wouldn’t have been able to listen to your voice or see you and not drop everything to come to you.” He gave me a sober look, an apologetic one. “Phillipa was here and she kept me updated so I knew you were safe. It was hell for me too, okay.”
I scoffed at that because I couldn’t help it.
“It was hell for you? But you still didn’t bother to get in touch because what? I was a distraction? Come on, Jude. You stayed back for Hierchay. The same fucking firm that kicked you when you were already down. Why buy it at all? You can have your own publishing firm now. Was Hierchay really worth leaving me behind for?” My eyes filled up with tears unexpectedly as repressed emotions from the past several days bubbled up. “You could have gone after we had settled in here. I just lost my…” I paused and drew in a shaky breath. “I needed you. You were all I knew for months and suddenly you thrust me in a foreign country and don’t even bother to send me one fucking text.”
Jude regarded me with a pained expression for a long moment before he stood up and came over to me, his clean soapy scent washing over me as he knelt at my feet and took my face between his warm hands.
“Wynter, I promise. This is the last time,” he told me with sincerity hanging from his every syllable and a gravity in his eyes. “Never again am I going to leave you, do you hear me? What needed to be done was important. I had to be fully present. But I’m here now and I swear that there will not be a repeat of this. Not unless death takes me from you.”
I curled my fingers around his strong wrists and leaned forward slowly to rest my forehead against his, our warm breaths mingling and eyes shining. It hurt to love him this much sometimes. It really hurt.
“Jude,” I whispered unsteadily and sniffed. “I…I hope you mean that. Because…you are…so important to me. You’re everything. It feels like…you’re not separate from me sometimes. Like you’re in my blood and if…if I ever cut myself…I’ll bleed you.”
It was a struggle to articulate my emotions but he understood, I think, because he pressed a hard kiss to my mouth and then crushed me to himself, my head on his shoulder and his arms tight around me until breathing became a chore but I didn’t even care. My tears were abundant as he put his lips to my hair and breathed in deeply, not letting me go for a long time.
“There were young writers employed by Hierchay who would have lost a lot if the firm hadn’t survived,” he said after a minute “People I had known and helped and given advice to when they first joined. I know they didn’t support me when things blew up but they didn’t actively ostracize me either. They just stayed out of the whole mess and I can understand that. Hierchay was everything to me, Wyn, for so many years. I don’t give a fuck about the bosses, they can go to hell. But the company is mine now. I intend to register it as an imprint of Ride or Die publications.”
I sucked in a breath and drew back from him and he let me go abruptly so I could stare at his face.
“Ride or Die publications?” I questioned. “When the fuck did that happen?”
Her smiled at me sweetly and shrugged. “I was going to tell you on your twentieth birthday. You get to manage all of it. I’ll train you. Phillipa will too. We’ll be unstoppable, Wynnie. We’re going to build an empire upon the ashes of our past and no one is going to stand in our way. I won’t let them.”
God, I was so proud of him and yet, I wished he wouldn’t be so sweet. Buying out Hierchay for those other writers and for sentimental value. Gifting me a whole fucking company. Going to such lengths to be good to people. To build an empire, sometimes you had to play it evil. Yeah he had money and power and was basically untouchable now thanks to his connections and preventative measures but he was still too nice. Too forgiving. I just got scared sometimes that that could be his downfall once more. Jude couldn’t be tough when it was necessary or hurt people even when they deserved it.
“I love you,” I told him and caressed his cheek, smiling at him affectionately. “Don’t worry, baby. If it does get to be too much, if there is ever any danger that someone will try to stand in our way, I will fight for us. For you. You can still be a softie and I’ll be the tough bitch.”
Who still freaks out at the appearance of a knife in the bedroom and wakes up from nightmares that would haunt her forever. Who still suffers through the ache of regret every single moment she is alive that she could never destroy the man who disrupted her adolescence. Who will try hard every day to crush that fraction of resentment she feels towards the man who means the world to her because he didn’t let her do that one thing she needed to get done because he was too…afraid.
“I love you too,” he said, smiling back at me and dropping one last kiss on my mouth before standing up and going back to the kitchen, not even aware of how guilty I felt about thinking those thoughts about him. No one was perfect. I wasn’t going to hold this against him. Not against my Jude.
He played a song on the sound system. On Fire by Andy Bumuntu. It was one of my favourites because it reminded me of Jude and the way he felt about me. Opening the sliding glass doors a fraction, he strolled outside then, running both his hands through his hair as he lifted his head and breathed in the chilly wind coming in from the sea while I huddled further in the warmth of the sofa and watched the muscles rippling across his back, those sweats complementing his powerful legs and taut buttocks.
I wanted to holler at him to come inside because he could catch cold but he moved further out to the edge of the balcony and seemed to be peering at the ocean below. Thinking of building his empire from a pile of ashes which weren’t really ashes, were they? But I let him feel hopeful and optimistic because that was his dream and I didn’t want to ruin it with my baggage. It was okay. I loved him. I was always going to love him to bits. Nothing would change that for me.
With a heavy heart, I reached for my phone and logged online, going immediately to Google to search up on any latest news about the murder of Diane Cassidy, the woman who had raised me. Monsters never truly went away but I kept hoping that maybe the police had found him guilty after all and sentenced him.
My feed flooded with news from my town regarding murders and I froze after a few seconds of scrolling, my fingers clutching the phone tightly when I realized that it wasn’t about Diane Cassidy this time.
It was Joshua Andrews. He was found dead in my former home with two bullet holes in his chest.
I was so shocked that I didn’t even know how to react for a few minutes. This was a dream. It couldn’t be that easy. Fate wasn’t that benevolent.
There was no way I could have everything I wanted happen exactly as I wanted it and be able to boast of a perfect life, a perfect future which I had no doubt was going to be beautiful now. Karma had finally served a cold one to Joshua fucking Andrews.
As a trickle of relief started to flow through my chest while I digested this new revelation, another alert caught my eye about Noah Harris being found after he was reported missing for forty-eight hours. Found in some cabin in the woods right near where I lived. He had no statement to make but there was a leaked video footage of him not having a stitch of clothing on his body as he was escorted by the police. The guy was hiding his face and looked like he was trying hard not to cry.
My jaw dropped and I lifted my head from the phone to look outside the glass doors once more at the man standing out there, now having turned to face me as he braced his elbows on the balcony and leaned against it.
He had been smiling faintly until he noted my expression. Everything, my deepest, most raw emotions were there for him to see on my fac
e.
What had he done?
I didn’t have to ask a single damned stupid question anymore. I didn’t have to make sure or doubt what I knew to be true for even a slight moment.
I want to kill him
Just let me do what I have to do without worrying about you putting yourself at risk while I’m busy.
What needed to be done was important.
We’re going to build an empire upon the ashes of our past…
My throat felt tight as I swallowed. Jude Reginald Knight. Had I been the one to say that that name didn’t sound majestic?
He was no longer the man I had fallen for over a year ago. He had morphed into someone…something…even I could not fathom anymore. A figure larger than life. Too big for this world.
Too much for this world.
And here I was thinking that perfection didn’t exist. I couldn’t have been more wrong about him. There was not a single thing I could claim that this man had not given me now. Love like his was…
Infinite.
‘Thank you,’ I mouthed across the distance and his brow furrowed as he focused on what I was saying before his eyes went to the phone in my hands.
Those two words fell short of what I was experiencing, didn’t even do him justice. But he was the master of spinning magical words together, not me. All I had were my bubbling emotions which he just seemed to get from the beginning.
Just like he was getting it now. A brief, intense look and tiny nod of acknowledgment was all he gave me before he blinked and turned away, returning his attention to the ocean once more.
He didn’t do it for my thanks or to impress me. He never would have brought it up.
That had simply been something Jude needed to do for Wynter and that was it. He’d crumbled all my nightmares to dust with hands I never believed could be so powerful.
Hell yeah, we were going to build that empire. A not so obvious knight and a girl obsessed with his quiet heroism forever.
I shook my head in awe and disbelief.
Out of all the people he could have been gifted to in the whole world, he was given to me and how freaking amazing was that?
Jude
8.
Growling filthy, coarse words in Wynter's ear during sex was one of my favourite things to do while getting my dick wet. The feeling of plunging in and out of her pussy, so snug and slick topped everything of course.
She'd been right a long time ago. I liked the fact that she was kind of young for me. That this was supposed to be wrong. That being older and more mature, I should not have gotten intimately involved with a besotted fan but I'd been so tempted, so out of my fucking mind with an almost obsessive lust that I hadn't been able to help myself.
The thought fueled me. The dirty, very inappropriate and slightly disturbing thought. It didn’t help that she’d done that sexy little dance for me earlier out on the balcony, rubbing her body against mine and convincing me to fuck her a couple more times before I finally got some sleep. Stars burst behind my eyelids as I released my cum inside her and let out a heavy groan, balls deep in her warmth with my forearms squeezing her breasts and teeth biting hard into the back of her neck.
"Fuck," I gasped as she milked me dry and kept pushing her ass against me, seeking more of what I'd just given her. That was the beauty of it. She craved this wild abandonment just as much as I did. "Fuck, baby. That was incredible."
We collapsed on the mattress, sweaty and exhausted for the moment. The languid feeling I experienced put an indolent smile on my face and when I had recovered a little, I pushed her hair away from her cheeks and kissed her softly, little pecks of affection which caused her to hum in satisfaction and bring her hand around to caress my jaw.
"More, please," she murmured lazily and I chuckled and rolled off her, pulling out abruptly and causing a little noise of disappointment to escape her mouth.
"Give me a minute," I said, raising one knee and running a hand through my hair as I looked up at the ceiling.
She turned over on her back as well and let out a contented sigh. At least, I believed it was contented. She certainly seemed lighter. Happier.
"Are you okay?" she asked me after a while.
I knew what she meant. I hadn't wanted her to know about my involvement in Joshua's murder and Noah's two day vacation in the forest but she'd obviously figured it out and now looked at me like I was the king of the world. I mean, she had always looked at me that way but it was way more pronounced and frequent now.
That pleased me a lot. I liked being her hero for once.
And I didn't give a fuck about the aftereffect. I had dealt with that shit back in America, had no regrets and made sure to cover my tracks well. She didn't need to worry about me. Those fuckers had deserved every inch of what I had handed them and Wynnie had deserved the closure.
"I love you," I told her and entwined my fingers with hers, the soft light of our bedroom lulling me to sleep along with the new and welcoming sound of the ocean outside. "And I'm okay, Wyn. I've never felt better, actually."
Out of my peripheral vision, I noticed her turn to me before she gasped suddenly and sat up to splay her palm on my inner thigh, gaping at the small 'Wynnie' tattoo there which I had gotten just yesterday.
"Jude," she whispered and glanced at me. "Seriously? Why am I just seeing this? A matching tat?" She laughed and leaned forward to kiss it just like I had done to hers when she'd found my name worthy enough to be permanently etched on her skin. "God...I want to ride you like a freight train after seeing this. It's turning me on like crazy."
Just her candidly spoken words made my cock stir a little and she stroked it with one finger, teasing it up and down the length and smirking at me. She looked so beautiful, naked with her just-fucked hair and skin, a happy smile on her face and her eyes shining slightly in the bedroom lights.
"Go on then," I invited as I began to harden under her touch and put my hands behind my head, giving myself over to her. "Ride your dirty old man's dick, baby. Show me some of that tight, young pussy magic."
I grinned when she got a horny expression in her eyes and bit her lip like she wanted to ravish me. I knew I was in for one hell of a ride.
"Jude," she croaked emotionally and straddled me. "I love you so fucking much. Sometimes my little heart can't even contain it. It feels like I'm going to explode with the emotions."
"Hmm." I paused to study the way she took a hold of my dick and held it in place before lowering herself on it inch by inch. "I have plenty of room in mine," I told her, gritting my teeth as pleasure began to shoot through my nerves. "When you feel like you can't contain it, unleash it all on me, sweetheart. I've got you."
And it was true. Truer than it had ever been before. I was the massive brick wall now and Wynnie, the storm that would never stop crashing against it. Her wildness had a home in me forever. She didn't have to be afraid of breaking me anymore and for that, I was always going to be grateful to her. For giving me strength. For making me into this man who had learned not only to fight for himself but for the woman he loves as well.
"I feel like this gives the phrase 'ride or die' a very...literal...meaning," my girlfriend huffed as she worked on me and it made me laugh before I raised myself to sit upright and anchor her body with my own as we carried ourselves towards that place of blissful oblivion.
I was all for building that empire but this right here, having her in my arms, was what truly made me rich. Rich beyond my wildest imagination.
Other Books by Zee Shine Storm
FORBIDDEN series books
'Forbidden' (Book 0.5 - prequel. Jasmine's story.)
'Three's A Crowd' (Book 1)
'Once A Cheater' (Book 2)
'Twice Inflamed' (Book 3)
'Taming Wells' (Book 3.5 - A Jasper Wells novella)
'Shameless' (Book 4)
'Wicked' (Book 5)
Stand-alones
Dirty Secrets (Chick-lit, contemporary, NA, sister’s fiancé)
Girl O
bsessed - A Dark Romance
Aknowledgements
Thank you to each and every ‘Girl Obsessed’ fan who wanted more Wynnie and Jude content. You made this happen.
About the Author
Come find out at my favourite online hang-out spot. Instagram.
@datcrazywriter_
Ride Or Die Page 7