Cable: a Steel Paragons MC novel

by Hart, Eve R.

  And I couldn’t blame her one bit for not wanting to talk about it.

  I wasn’t sure what had pushed her to go to the streets after that happened, but I imagined that it had to be something big. I couldn’t find out what happened to her after the coverage died down. It was like they were unsure as well.

  I wasn’t really sure what to do now.

  My heart broke for her a little more. She’d been through so much. I felt it, even if I didn’t know all the details.

  I couldn’t blame her for wanting to keep a part of her happy past to herself. No fucking way in hell. And if I had to go through life never knowing any of it, then I would be alright with that. Because I loved her. And I was super fucking lucky to have the parts of her that I did have.

  Maybe this was a start.

  I wasn’t going to hold out hope and have expectations, but I would take this as a good sign.

  She gave me her real name.

  She gave me her real birthday.

  She trusted me enough to give me a little tiny look into that box she said she’d never share.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Cable

  “I need you now,” I said as soon as we pushed our way into her apartment.

  I had all intentions of walking her to her door and kissing her goodnight, then leaving. I got the sense that she didn’t like to hang out at her apartment because she didn’t want to bother her roommate. She’d once mentioned something about thin walls. I respected it. So we usually ended up at my place and though I never expected things to turn out with both of us naked and sweaty, they pretty much always did.

  “Lavinia’s at work for a few more hours,” she panted out as my lips met the sweet flesh of her neck. “Please.”

  In a blink, I lifted her up and as her legs wrapped around my waist, I began making wide steps across her apartment.

  “Door on the left.”

  I followed her directions and as soon as my shins hit the edge of the bed, I dropped her down. I ripped my clothes off while she wiggled out of hers.

  “Please tell me you have condoms,” I said and froze.

  “You don’t have any in your… oh, wait, you don’t carry a wallet,” she said like she hated the world as she realized it.

  I hadn’t come prepared because I hadn’t expected anything. Sure, I was all stocked up in my room. My fucking room. Which was not here.

  Fuck, I was such an idiot.

  And I could tell by her tone that she didn’t have any.

  I wasn’t even about to ask if her roommate had some. If I wasn’t responsible enough to be prepared for this, then I didn’t deserve it.

  “It’s okay, just pull out,” she said and I could tell that she was desperate for me.

  I looked down at her with a brow raised as if silently asking if she was crazy. I was smart enough to know that pulling out wasn’t on the list of safe sex practices and wasn’t nearly as effective as people hoped it would be.

  Did I want to see Claire all swollen up with my kids?

  Fuck yeah!

  Did I want that to happen before she was really ready for it?

  Well, no.

  And Claire was my only concern.

  That said, didn’t mean I couldn’t satisfy my woman.

  I had perfectly useful fingers and a willing tongue.

  “Show me how wet you are for me,” I said.

  She slowly opened her legs, teasing me for too damn long.

  As she bit the corner of her lip like she was a little nervous, she slid her hands down her body until they slipped through her wetness.

  “Fuck, that’s beautiful,” I said taking in everything about the woman in front of me. “Show me.”

  Her lips parted and a little pant of breath escaped as she spread herself open for me.

  Before she even knew it, my head was down between her legs and I was lapping up every drop of her sweetness.

  “More, please,” she moaned out as her fingers slid through my hair and held on tightly.

  As I licked around her swollen clit, I reached up and rolled her nipple between my fingers. She squirmed and rocked harder as she moaned out for more again.

  I took my time because I was enjoying myself way too fucking much.

  The fingers of my free hand slipped inside her slick, hot entrance with ease. I worked them in and out in rhythm with her rocking hips. She caught on to what I was doing and started moving a little more.

  She shook all around me, her thighs inching closer and closer to the sides of my head.

  As I closed my mouth around her clit, I sucked hard while my tongue continued to work smooth circles.

  She cried out as she came all over my hand.

  I slipped my fingers free and moved to lap up her sweet cream. Her body continued to shudder and twitch as she came down.

  A smile was plastered wide across my face as I kissed up her sated body.

  “How are you so good at that?” she asked with a little giggle right before I took her mouth.

  The moment I plunged my tongue into her mouth, she moaned. And damn, it was so fuckin’ sexy.

  I couldn’t get enough of her and she made me feel like she felt the same way.

  “What about you?” she asked when I slowly started to pull away.

  “This wasn’t about me.”

  “Oh, fuck that,” she said playfully and reached between our bodies, wrapping her tiny fingers around my hard as hell cock.

  She gave me a firm squeeze and all the air rushed out of my lungs.

  “Does that feel good?” she asked.

  “Yes, beautiful,” I told her as I looked into her eyes. “Don’t stop.”

  And then it was my hips that were rocking as I fucked into her hand.

  She couldn’t close her hand all the way around my cock but it didn’t matter. All this woman had to do was touch me and I felt like I was going to come.

  My thrusts became uneven the closer I got. Every time I rocked into her, my heavy balls slapped against her still soaked pussy. Fuck it was amazing. I didn’t need to be inside her, I just needed her.

  “Claire, I’m going to…” I grunted out feeling my balls pulse with the need for release.

  “I want to watch you come all over me,” she said and I sensed a shyness in her voice. Almost like she really wanted it but was a tiny bit nervous about saying it.

  My knees slid up and I sat back on my ass so she could see.

  As my massive hand covered hers, I began to work my cock with her, squeezing the hell out of it.

  I watched her. She was sexy as hell with her wide, excited gaze on our hands.

  And that was all it took.

  I grunted and called out her name as my cum spurted onto her stomach and chest. My hand fell away and she gave me one last squeeze, milking everything from me.

  A shudder overtook my body as her thumb moved up to swipe the last little bead of cum that was still hanging onto the tip.

  She didn’t hesitate to bring it to her lips and suck it down.

  And fuck me if it wasn’t the sexiest thing I’d ever seen in my damn life.

  That was an image I was going to keep forever.

  One I’d never let go of.

  She shot me a little smirk and I instantly folded over her and took that hot little mouth of hers.

  After I cleaned her up, we stayed in bed talking. She didn’t rush to put any clothes on or get under the sheets and that made me smile. I also couldn’t keep my hands off of her, my fingers constantly skimming over her soft flesh. It wasn’t sexual, though I was half-hard the entire time. I just like to touch her, be connected to her in some way.

  She was silent for a long time and I tried not to read too much into it.

  “Cable,” she said softly, and there was a heaviness that told me something was coming.

  “Yeah, beautiful?”

  “I need to know…” She let out a tiny sigh like she was having trouble getting her words out. “I asked Sketch but he just told me that it’s
being handled. I can’t be mad at him because that is pretty much how we deal with shit. We know there are things but we don’t talk about them. And yes, it comes from being out there. But… I have to know.”

  “Know what?” I asked as my fingers ran soothing lines down her arm. At least that was what I hoped it was like for her. “I’ll tell you anything I can.”

  “Nina, Laney, Vivianna, Cate, Marcie, Adelle, Destiny, Lavinia, Kaylee.” She listed the names off with her eyes closed like she was trying her hardest to remember something.

  “The girls?” I asked catching on. And by the way she had included Lavinia and the other ones that had been in the room with her that night, I was thinking that she had to name them in that order to remember them all.

  “Yeah,” she whispered and her voice broke. “I’m not going to talk about it. I can’t. But I need to know what happened to them. I kept promising myself that I wouldn’t forget them and that one day I’d do my best to save them.”

  I inhaled deeply through my nose as I wrapped my arms around her.

  I had to give her some peace of mind even though I probably shouldn’t have been talking about it.

  I wasn’t sure if I was going to tell her that the names on her list weren’t all of the girls that we knew of.

  “Nina, Cate, Destiny, and Kaylee were in the room with you, and Lavinia, of course,” I said softly knowing that she more than likely knew that. “Think you know that they are safe.” She nodded once against my chest. “Laney, Vivianna, and Adelle have all been found and recovered. The FBI is searching for Marcie.” And a few others, but she didn’t need to think about that now.

  “Do you know anything else about it? Like do they know who might have bought her?”

  “No,” I said, hating that I couldn’t give her more. “Once it was handed over to them we were left out of it.”

  “Oh,” she said sadly then got quiet again.

  I wasn’t really sure where to go from here. I wanted to hope that this was the beginning of her opening up to me, but something in her comment before told me she probably would never do that. I couldn’t even pretend to know what it was like. Or all the things she did or ways she dealt with things in order to live out there. All I could say was from the outside, it seemed like it worked for her. I hadn’t noticed anything that told me otherwise. She didn’t flinch at too many things, or back away from certain situations like I might have expected. Sure, there was an extra level of self-doubt and shyness, but that was to be expected. And so far, while she was with me there hadn’t been nights when she’d whimper in her sleep or wake up from a nightmare.

  So, as much as I hated it, I had to believe that she knew herself well enough to know if she was teetering on the edge or not. And there was just something that I got from her that told me that maybe she wasn’t completely okay, but she wasn’t going to let it ruin her life.

  Claire was strong in a way that she probably didn’t see herself. Who was to say that the way she was handling it was unhealthy? I couldn’t judge and I didn’t think anyone else should either.

  She was making her way and pushing through each day. As long as I saw her continuing to do that, then I had to believe that everything would be okay.

  I let the silence linger as my own thoughts rattled around in my brain.

  I loved this woman. There was no doubt. She was in my heartbeat. She was tangled into my soul.

  “Can you get a couple of days off work?” I asked and it was one of those times that words flew out of my mouth before I really had a chance to process what I was saying.

  I was a little unsure with the request because I knew she needed the money. I hated to ask, but there was something really important I needed to do. And I needed her with me to do it.

  Once it was there, it was all I could think of and maybe it was just best not to even try to hide it.

  “I can try,” she said as she eyed me. “Why?”

  “I want to take you to meet my mom,” I told her and hoped like hell it wouldn’t freak her out.

  “Oh,” she said wide-eyed. “That’s a big step.”

  “Yep. Can’t ask you to marry me without taking you to meet my mom first.”

  There was a huge gasp and then the room went dead silent.

  She blinked at me a few times and, well, I didn’t know what to say. Maybe I’d said too much.

  “You’re going to tell me just like that?” she asked in a shocked tone. There was a hint of something else in there but I couldn’t figure it out.

  “Yeah,” I said with a shrug.

  Was I fucking this up again?

  Yeah, I was. I needed flowers and shit for something like that.

  Dammit!

  “No grand gesture. No huge surprise when you pop the question?”

  I cleared my throat.

  “I see where I went wrong there. Can we just forget I said that last part?” I asked knowing full well it wasn’t something I could take back. “And I didn’t really ask you. I just told you that’s what I want to do.”

  “I hate surprises,” she said and the corners of her mouth twitched. “I always have. So, it’s kind of perfect. But you’re right. You can’t ask me until I meet this wonderful woman you told me about.”

  “I didn’t fuck this up?”

  “Oh, my, God.” Her body shook with uncontrollable laughter. “Sometimes, I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. I mean, I can’t say that it would have worked for just anyone. But… you’re kind of perfect for me.”

  “That’s all that matters,” I said against her lips right before I kissed her hard and deep. “Wait?” I asked as I pulled away. “So, are you saying you’ll marry me?”

  I was holding my breath waiting for her answer.

  “I’ll tell you after I meet your mom,” she said with a mischievous smirk that was really fucking sexy.

  “Fair enough,” I said with a shrug. “I love you, Claire.”

  “I love you, Clint, my sexy cowboy.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes at her name for me.

  Only, I couldn’t.

  Because maybe I loved it a little.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Claire

  The minutes were counting down and I was pacing the back hallway at the diner like a crazy person.

  “You’re going to pass out if you don’t start breathing,” Lavinia said coolly.

  I shot her an unhappy look but said nothing.

  “I don’t know why you’re freaking out so much. You knew this was coming.”

  She wasn’t wrong. I had known for two weeks now. But now that the time had come, I was starting to freak out a little. In just twenty minutes Cable was going to be here to pick me up. Then we would be driving four hours to go see his mother.

  I was meeting his mom. Today. In a few hours, to be exact.

  Did I want this? Yeah, because I wanted every part of this man that he wanted to share with me. But was I ready for it? I wasn’t so sure.

  All those stupid little things started to bounce around in my head.

  What if she didn’t like me?

  What if she didn’t think I was good enough for her son?

  What if somehow my past came up? I didn’t know how I was even going to explain that one. I could just see her asking how we met. Of course, she would. That was like one of the standard things you asked when you met your son’s girlfriend.

  “Oh, God,” I said and felt like I needed to sprint to the bathroom.

  I shouldn’t have eaten that club sandwich on my break.

  “She’s gonna love you. You are good enough for Cable. I think so. Sketch thinks so. Cable thinks so. So shut that shit down right now,” she said as she started to answer all the questions I had floating around in my head.

  Man, I loved the shit out of her. Seriously, best fucking friend ever.

  Oh, but she wasn’t done, so I didn’t even try to say anything.

  “You won’t say or do something stupid. And so what if you do? I’m sure
she doesn’t expect you to be perfect. You are you. And you are beautiful and amazing and sweet and caring. There’s no way she could not like you.”

  “I love you,” I said throwing my arms around her.

  “Yeah, I’m kind of hard not to love,” she said with a little laugh. “Just like you.”

  “I’m going to cry.”

  “I know,” she replied as she patted my back. “You are kind of a crybaby.”

  “Oh, shut up,” I said ripping myself away from her so that I could playfully smack her shoulder.

  But I guessed she wasn’t all that wrong. I did tend to weep when I got really emotional.

  “It’s going to be fine, Claire. You’re freaking out for no reason. And if it’s not… well, Cable isn’t going to let you go no matter what. So, I wouldn’t worry about it, if I were you.”

  “Thanks,” I grumbled as I looked at her with an expression that told her how much that last statement wasn’t really helping.

  I spent the next ten minutes cleaning up my area and getting ready to hand off to the person that was taking it over.

  Before I knew it, Cable was walking through the front door with a wide smile on his face like he’d been waiting all day just to see me. He pulled me in for a hug and held on a beat longer than normal. I didn’t mind. Not one single bit.

  “Ready to go?” he asked.

  “Yep. Let me just go clock out and change.”

  “And say bye to me, hello!” Lavinia said walking up and getting a little of the hug action from Cable.

  I liked how they got along. It just made him even more perfect, if that could have even been possible.

  “Hey, Lavinia,” Cable greeted her. “Thanks for letting me steal her away for a few days.”

  “No problem,” she said with a playful shrug.

  “You need anything, you call Sketch, okay?”

  “I’ll be fine. But yes, I will call Sketch if I need to,” she responded. “Okay. Give me a hug. I’m here for whatever. And have fun.” She pinned me with a knowing stare.

  “Love ya, girl,” I said giving her a big hug. It was silly. I was only going to be gone a couple of days, but it somehow felt like something bigger.