Unbroken: A Novella (Loveless, Texas)

by Jay Crownover

  “If Case had a clue as to what he was doing, his little brother wouldn’t be in here fighting for his life.” The older man, who I figured was the patriarch of the Lawton clan, sneered at the big guy in the uniform. “Always acted like you were so much better than me, boy. Always up on your high horse. Where were you when your brother needed you? What kind of cop are you?” It was nasty. The old man was clearly unpleasant, and I could see why Crew had so much animosity toward him.

  “I’m an honest cop, which is more than you could ever say, old man. You’re out of your mind if you think Crew wants to see you now. You haven’t been in his life unless it was to guilt him into giving you money for years. I’m going to let Kody throw you out on your ass if you don’t step away from me right this second.” The sheriff even sounded like Crew. He had the same low, raspy southern drawl. Voices started to rise once again despite Kody’s interference, and I found myself impatient with the family drama.

  “Excuse me. Can someone show me where Crew is…please?” I asked. If they didn’t stop bickering, I was going to find him without their help.

  The woman stopped mid-argument and blinked at me in surprise. The two men turned and looked at me with matching shocked expressions. The man in the uniform was the first one to speak. He lifted a dark eyebrow and let his gaze wander over me from head to the tips of my designer shoes.

  “You’re real?”

  The gruff question caught me off guard, so I looked at Kody for help. She maneuvered toward me, a strained smile on her pretty face. “Of course she’s real. She’s standing right in front of you, you dumb ass. Thank you so much for getting here so quickly.”

  The old man gave me the same once-over his son just had, but his made me feel icky and had my skin crawling uncomfortably. “Where did Crew find a fancy piece like you?”

  I stiffened. I couldn’t recall ever being called a “piece” to my face before. Kody stepped in front of me, blocking her father and brother from view. “Ignore them. Come on, Crew was in and out of consciousness a little bit ago. I think seeing you might be exactly what he needs right now. You’re much prettier to look at than either of those two jackasses.” She grasped my elbow and all but hauled me down a long hallway until we reached one of the patient rooms. “I’m sorry about that. Case is usually all right, but get him and my dad together, and it’s never a good time. He’s dealing with some major guilt about Crew getting hurt so badly on his watch and has always taken on too much responsibility when it comes to protecting both of us.” She gestured to the door. “Go on in. He may be out of it, and he looks terrible, so brace yourself. I’ll be back after I deal with my dad and brother.” She marched off like a tiny soldier, and I felt a grin pull at my mouth. It was easy to see why Crew had such a soft spot for her. She was a dynamo.

  I entered the dimly lit room and jerked to a stop at the sight that greeted me. For being such a large, expressive man, Crew looked incredibly small and frail in the hospital bed. A monitor above his head beeped every few seconds, and a tangle of tubes and wires seemed to be surrounding him. His normally golden skin tone was now an ashy gray, and the purple smudges under his eyes were visible even in the low light. He did look terrible, but I could see his chest rise and fall with each breath he took, and his long, sooty lashes fluttered, letting me know he was wounded, but still alive. The flood of relief I felt was enough to take me to my knees. I probably would have fallen if a scratchy “Hey” hadn’t floated up from the bed.

  I practically ran across the room, hovering at the side of the bed, barely touching the back of his hand with my fingertips. His skin was dry and cool to the touch. All the vitality and life I associated with this man was currently missing. I gulped back too many emotions to name and forced a weak smile. “Hey back.”

  It was obvious he was struggling to keep his eyes open, and the bright blue was dull and flat. “Are you real?”

  A laugh escaped as I curled my fingers around his hand. “Your brother just asked me the same thing. I am very real, and I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”

  He moaned low and long, and not at all in a good way. I could see him struggling to speak, to get his fuzzy thoughts in order. I smoothed a caress over his forehead and told him to relax.

  “I wanted to apologize. Didn’t mean it.” His words were stilted but intent.

  I shushed him. “I need to apologize for being so scared of everything, scared of you as well. But all of that can wait until you’re feeling better. I want you out of this bed, and maybe an explanation of how you ended up here. I’m not going anywhere until you’re better.” The campaign was the furthest thing from my mind with him out of commission like this.

  “All or nothing. Everything in my life is all or nothing. Want it all when it comes to you, Della.”

  Getting that out must have taken a lot out of him because his eyes drifted closed as soon as he was done talking and his breaths turned from choppy and jagged, to even and steady. I stroked my thumb over the back of his hand and dropped a kiss on his forehead.

  We were so different. We hardly knew each other. We lived very different lives, but I couldn’t deny that if there was a way to make it work, I wanted it all with him too. Nothing was no longer good enough; I wanted more than that. I wanted everything.

  Epilogue

  Crew

  Eight months later

  This RV was a hundred times better than the last one I’d been given.

  Not because it was bigger, or flashier, or more high-tech, but because Della was inside of it. Not just her body, which was currently sprawled underneath mine on the flat surface I used as a dining table. It was her lingering presence that had seeped deep into the walls and splashed through all of the elegant and sophisticated touches she’d used to decorate the space after my new sponsor handed over the keys. Even when we weren’t together, which happened far more often than I liked, I still felt her inside this space. This RV had become my safe haven, the place I retreated to when life got overwhelming or my vices started to rear their ugly heads. Inside this tin can of a home, I remembered it was no longer just me I was accountable for. My actions could hurt someone I never, ever wanted to bring harm to.

  Della moaned as my mouth moved between her legs. Her toned calves were up by my ears, and I hadn’t gotten around to pulling her lipstick-red heels off her feet yet. I’d been all over her the minute I picked her up from the airport. The long-distance thing sucked, even if we had a rule that the longest we went without seeing one another was two weeks. We were two busy people with active careers, and making our schedules and lives mesh took more work than I’d ever put toward anything. I wasn’t sure she was going to stick around after I came clean about the gambling and everything with Vargas, but she had. She told me she would stand by me, as long as I did the smart thing and looked into getting help. She found me a rehab center in Colorado, where I spent a little over a month. Della visited every single weekend and acted as my own personal cheerleader. I felt like we were invincible after that.

  “Crew.” My name came out on a gasp as her eager fingers knocked my hat off my head so they could rake through my hair. It was getting long again. I was leaving it until she asked me to cut it. For now, she seemed to like that there was more than a handful she could get her fingers in and tug on. “God, I missed you.”

  “Missed you too, Ms. Priss.” She flew in from France to watch my qualifying round this weekend. Getting back on the horse, literally, meant starting from the bottom and working my way back up to world champion status. I’d had to pay my dues, ride in smaller competitions with the new up-and-comers, but I’d qualified for one of the big rides in California, and Della promised she would be there to cheer me on. When today’s rides were over, we were both headed back to New York for a couple weeks so I could shoot some new promo for Sophistiqué. The line had taken off like crazy, selling out all over the world, so being the face of it had really become my second job. A job I loved, because it kept me close to the woman whimpering s
o sweetly beneath me. This trailer was only one of the ways I proved to Della her passion was mine and seeing her dreams come true was the most important thing in the world to me. I kept a part of her with me always in the bright colors and flashy logo painted on the outside, even when we were forced to spend time apart. Having her stand by me, no matter what, gave me the strength to stand next to her and support her in the same way.

  She lifted her hips and pressed herself insistently against my open mouth. I had my tongue buried deep inside her sweet heat and was using my fingers to tease and torment her. It was gratifying; she’d started to strip and pull at my clothes with frantic hands as soon as the RV door closed behind her. Della still didn’t dress like she was going to the rodeo, but I liked it. It made her easy to pick out from the crowd, and I always felt a surge of pride when people realized the best-dressed woman in the entire place was there to support me. She did come armed with allergy meds now, so I didn’t have to worry about her sneezing all over the place.

  I swirled my tongue through the moisture pooling inside of her. Her thighs quivered next to my head, and her long, lean body writhed beautifully before me. She was tracing erratic designs across each breast with her nails. Her head was tossed to one side, blond hair fanning out like a halo. Her colorful eyes locked on mine as she wordlessly asked me to give her more.

  I nuzzled deeper into her wet heat, trying to chase every drop of her desire. She muttered my name again, and her hips bucked up like one of the horses I rode. I knew she wasn’t trying to throw me off, but I held on just the same.

  “Want you inside of me, Crew. Everything always feels so empty and hollow when we’re apart for too long.” Her eyelashes fluttered, and a pretty, pink flush crawled up the long line of her neck. “I need you to fill me back up and remind me I’m always going to be yours.”

  I leaned back so I could nibble along the inside of her smooth thigh. “Always gonna be mine. Doesn’t matter where you are or where I am. You’re always right in the center of my heart.” They were more than practiced words. I meant them. I meant everything I said to her. She was the center of everything. She was the thing that finally set my whole world right. I was no longer constantly off balance, because Della kept me upright, steady, and focused on the future.

  She’d already pulled my big belt buckle open and had my jeans hanging off my ass. All it took was a small wiggle and a quick shift of the hips to send the denim down to the floor. Della’s hands found the waistband of my boxer-briefs and had my straining cock free of the damp cotton in no time. Her touch felt like silk and fire as she stroked along the rigid length. She used her thumb to spread the pearly moisture pooling at the tip around, and we both hummed in satisfaction.

  I gritted my teeth, leaning forward to drag the swollen head through her soaked softness. During my last visit to New York, we’d taken the time to get tested and gotten the green light to ride bareback. It was a first for both of us, and the amount of trust she put in me to allow me inside of her like that was humbling. We spent as much time apart as we did together, so her belief in me, her trust, was something I worked every single day to keep. I wasn’t going to screw this up. She meant everything to me.

  As always, the first press of my body into hers felt like coming home. She was always tight and so warm. She slid like silk around every aching part of me, and I could feel her body flutter excitedly around my cock. We fit together perfectly, two broken pieces bonded together to become whole and completely unbroken. We were strong together, unbreakable.

  “Ohhh…you feel so good.” She moaned and arched her back, straining to get closer as I set a steady, slow rhythm. Making sure I dragged my hardness across every sensitive spot I’d found inside of her over the last few months.

  I nibbled on the side of her neck, knowing I was going to leave bruises and my rough stubble was going to turn her fair skin red, but I didn’t stop. I got off when she couldn’t hide the way I ravaged her and she had to walk around with my claim on her, visible for others to see.

  “You feel better than good, Ms. Priss. You feel perfect.” She opened so sweetly for me, melted under my hands and mouth. I loved how supple her skin felt and how welcoming her body was. She was liquid want and need, rippling and flowing around me.

  We pushed and pulled against one another, hands moving with urgency, mouths panting out each other’s names. Sweat slid down my spine and dotted her forehead, as the sound of skin gliding against skin filled the small space. Della looked as good spread out on a fold-down RV table as she did on one-thousand-thread-count sheets. She was flawless, and the way she begged for me, the way she broke into a million pieces around my pounding cock, was perfect no matter where we were or how long we had to wait to make it happen.

  I growled in satisfaction and started to move faster, hips pistoning, as if it was a race to the finish. Her body fluttered with small pulses around my still iron-hard dick, milking my orgasm from me in an irresistible way. I shouted my completion and shook over her. I let her legs drop so they were hooked around my waist and lowered myself down, across her, so our hearts were pounding in time, our slick skin pressed together. I kissed her slowly and thoroughly. Loving the way she smelled and tasted like me. I rubbed my nose across her velvet-soft cheek and kissed her ear. She yelped when I got a handful of one toned, round ass cheek and squeezed.

  “I think we need to make this a good-luck tradition before every ride.” I dropped a hard kiss on her parted lips and nipped at her smile.

  I pushed off of her spent form and ran shaky hands through my messy hair. Della worked her way into a sitting position and blinked those unusual feline-like eyes at me. “Tu n’as pas besoin de la chance quand tu es le meilleur, mon amour.”

  I was never going to understand what she was saying to me when she slipped into French, but I did know what the last part meant. I ran my knuckles along the line of her jaw and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “You’re my love too, Della. The only one I’ve ever had.” She blushed adorably and took the plain denim shirt I handed her to cover up in. It looked ridiculously hot with her red heels, and I knew that was an image I was holding on to for the next time we were separated.

  “How’s my new sponsor feel about the start of the season?” I helped her off the table and sighed when she fit herself along my back, her lips landing on my neck.

  She laughed lightly and gave my waist a squeeze. “Dad’s very happy you’ve been winning. He’s even more delighted that you’ve managed to talk so many of your rodeo riding pals into give Deveaux products a try. Dad is taking full credit for the sudden influx of properly groomed cowboys in the rodeo circuit. He likes being involved. He’s happy we’re happy.”

  Nothing was more shocking than Max Deveaux showing up in Loveless while I was still in the hospital, claiming he wanted to help me get back on my feet. The RV we were currently in had Deveaux Beauty’s logo on the outside, and I didn’t give a shit that it was painted in hot pink. I was touched both Deveauxs had so much faith in me. Plus having a personal connection to my biggest sponsor had me more determined than ever to win…to be the best.

  “We are happy, aren’t we?” Sometimes I had to check because it was such a foreign feeling, one I wasn’t sure I deserved to have.

  Della kissed the back of my neck again and squeezed me tighter. “Oui. Tu me rends si heureuse. Je t’aime, Crew.”

  I knew that one too. Even if the words made no sense, my heart knew what love sounded like however she said it. “I love you back, Della.”

  The fact that I had her, and she loved me, made me feel like it was still better to be lucky than good. Because being with her made me the luckiest guy alive.

  Author’s Note

  Hi, everyone!

  Welcome to Loveless and the wild, wicked world of the Lawtons.

  I hope you enjoyed this quick introduction to our complicated, difficult, stubborn southern family. I’ve been playing around with the idea of this town, and these characters, for a very long time! I
have to give a huge THANK YOU to Forever Romance and my new editor, Lexi, for giving me the chance to finally bring this family to life. I think we’re in for a wild ride.

  If you enjoyed my Getaway series, then the Loveless, Texas series is going to be right up your alley.

  If you have a thing for opposites attracting, sort of my stock in trade, then these books will absolutely deliver.

  I keep saying this series is a lot like if my Getaway series and my Saints of Denver series had a baby.

  There is a lot of fun family dynamics, as well as having one of the characters in a position to significantly help…or hinder…the other. It’s gonna be a damn good time.

  If you want to keep up-to-date on all the Jay-like happenings, or if you’re a new reader and want to see what I’m all about, you can find me at any of the links that follow.

  I strongly suggest joining my reader group on Facebook. I’m super active in there. Also, my monthly newsletter is great for a one-stop shop for all updates and deals. I also write a free book for subscribers you can only access through the newsletter.

  Happy reading!

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