by Nola Marie
I look at them both, realizing that this has been some sort of plan from the minute Stephano saw me earlier.
“I don’t fight anymore. I haven’t fought in two years.”
“Judging by the look of you, I’d say you still train regularly,” James’ eyes roam over my body, making me self-conscious for the first time in my life.
“What’s to stop me from taking Cara and leaving right now?” I demand tipping my chin up slightly.
He turns to toward the dance floor. Stephano makes eye contact with me as he runs his mouth over her neck. Bile rises in my throat. “I don’t think she’ll go with you, but even if she tried, we have ways to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“You’d be surprised how much money a young pretty thing like her brings,” Romano adds.
I fight to keep the shaking that threaten to take over me from making itself known. The absolute terror that flows through me at the threats these men are making. Except I can tell they aren’t threats.
“What do you want?” I hiss.
“Ahh. Smart girl. We want you to fight for us. Your first match is in three weeks.”
“Three weeks,” I scoff. “How do you expect me to be prepared in three weeks. I haven’t had a match in two fucking years.”
“Figure it out,” Romano sneers. “And make sure you win. If you don’t win, little sister out there won’t win.”
I close my eyes and let out a string of curses as I try to figure out exactly how the fuck this is happening.
Zane
I run down the football field knowing that Jax is going to throw a Hail Mary. We’re down by six and there is only thirty seconds left on the clock. Losing a preseason game is not something that we plan on letting happen.
I run trying to stay ahead of the linebacker that’s on my ass. I turn to see Jax launch the ball. I move faster to make it to the ball and stay away from the damn three-hundred-pound tank coming after me. The ball lands in my hands and I pick up speed heading for the endzone.
I jump into the endzone just as he grabs me. One foot comes down then another. The refs call a touchdown, but it has to go to review. Jax is running down the field to me. “Was it in?” he asks.
I look at him with a smirk. “Of course, it was fucking in motherfucker.”
He grips me around the neck. “Of course, it was fucking in,” he laughs.
A couple of minutes later, the play is confirmed, and we score the PAT, winning our first preseason game of the season.
We head for the locker rooms. I shower and change like my ass if on fire. Jax meets me out a couple of minutes later. “Ready, brother?”
“Yeah. Zoey got the car ready?”
“No, man. She can’t fit behind the steering wheel.”
I burst into a fit of laughter. Jax does too. “What’s so funny?” Anao’I asks.
“My wife can’t fit behind the steering wheel,” Jax huffs.
“Bro don’t laugh about that. Damn sure don’t let her hear.”
“Do you have any idea how fucking awesome it is that she can’t fit behind the wheel?” I ask him.
“I get it, man, but she’ll fucking cry if she hears you laughing.”
“No. No, she won’t,” Jax says leaning over trying to catch his breath. “You don’t understand how fucking happy she is right now. How far she’s come. She laughed this morning when I had to drive the car over here.”
Now Anao’I is laughing just as hard as we are. “I’m happy for you, man,” he slaps Jax on the back then me. “I’m happy for all of you.”
“Thanks, man, but I got a plane to catch.”
We drive toward the airport with me in the back seat. I hate the back seat but there is no way that Zoey would be able to get back here.
“Zane, aren’t you going to be stretching yourself a little thin going right after the game to New York? Shouldn’t you take your day off?”
“I’ll be fine, Zoey. I haven’t seen her in a week, and if I only have a couple of days then I’m going to New York.”
I watch as Zoey’s eyes fill with tears. I kind of panic seeing them there. Jax looks at me through the mirror telling me with his eyes that it’s probably just hormones, but it doesn’t really alleviate the panic I’m feeling. “Zoey, why are you crying?”
“Are you going to move to New York?” she ask wheezing in a breath. Hormones or not, she is on the verge of her own panic attack.
“No! Zoey, why would you think I’m moving to New York?”
“Because you’re in love and Tori lives in New York.”
“Zoey, do you think I can leave you? Or Jay? Or the rest of the crazy ass people here?” I lean forward in the seat to reach for her hand. I bring it to my mouth and kiss it. “And there is no way in hell I’m going to miss out on my little nieces or nephews baking in there.”
Zoey wipes her eyes then tries to lean to me. I laugh at her inability to maneuver. I lean myself further into the front so she can reach me with the kiss to the cheek she’s trying for.
“You know it’s going to be like three in the morning before you get to her apartment, right?” Jax comments.
“That’s why I got a key, brother,” I tell him with a grin. He returns my grin with a fist bump. And Zoey burst into tears again.
“You are going to move to New York,” she sobs hysterically.
“Zoey, I’m not going anywhere. You should know that I can’t leave you. Even if I did, I’m always just a flight away.”
She starts crying harder. “Don’t say shit like that, man,” Jax tells me exasperated.
“I swear to God I’m not going anywhere, Zoey.”
“But you will. You’ll want to be with her.”
She’s right. I do want to be with her. I want to be with Tori every second of the day. But I will never leave my sister. I won’t leave my brothers. I’ll just have to do whatever I can to make this with me and Tori work without moving. I’ve done it so far. “Zoey, you know me. You know I won’t ever leave River City. Even if I get traded tomorrow, River City is my home.”
“Go on, Zee. She’ll be fine,” Jax tells me. I didn’t realize we were already at the airport. I lean over and kiss my sister on the cheek before I climb out.
“I’ll be back in a couple of days,” I tell Jax as we stand outside the car.
“I know you will. She’ll be okay.”
“You do know I’m not going anywhere, right? Not permanently.”
He laughs bringing me into a hug. “I wouldn’t let you if you tried.”
The entire flight, I worry about Zoey. I don’t want her to stress out right now. Well, ever really.
Sometimes I think our childhood was a little too perfect. We never knew anything about our dad’s ties to the mafia. We had both parents home for every meal. We were always together.
When we were teenagers, Jax wanted to make money. He didn’t want his parents to face the burden of the costs of a teenage athlete. Rory offered him work, and I followed. We would make drops for them often.
When it was obvious that we had a future in football, Rory cut us off. What Rory didn’t know was we found other ways to get the money. Mostly from fighting. It’s how we met Maddox in the first place. It’s how we know what we can do. It’s how I know he can definitely handle himself.
Adulthood has totally sucked ass.
Mine and Zoey’s parents moved away. That was rough transition. I think it would’ve been a lot harder if not for Dina and Joseph McCabe. It was really hard on Zoey and I think the real reason our parents rented us the apartment for the three of us to share. There is no way they were stupid enough to not know Zoey and Jax were sleeping together by then.
Then I met Lacy. Actually, that’s not right. I already knew Lacy. In junior high, she moved away, and we lost touch, but I never forgot the first girl I kissed.
I loved her. I’d never been in love before and the way it consumed me felt like everything. When she got sick, I felt like my world was crumbling. I wasn’t sure how I wou
ld survive losing her. But she made me promise to be strong and keep moving forward.
I’ve tried fucking hard to keep that promise even when it has felt impossible, and there have definitely been moments when I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Especially after my sister and best friend’s world crumbled simultaneously or when my parents died at the same time. It was so fucking insanely hard to bury them both while knowing Zoey was out there somewhere in her own world of pain.
But goddammit I trudged through it. Albeit with a different woman and bottle every night, but at least I got through it.
The last year since bringing Zoey back home hasn’t been as easy as I’ve made out to anyone not inside our little circle. We’ve all been extremely protective of Zoey. We’ve done whatever it takes to make sure nothing triggers the memories.
I’m unlocking Tori’s door still worried about my little sister.
That thought makes me chuckle. I’m fifteen minutes older than her, but even when we were the same size, she has always been my little sister.
I walk through Tori’s small apartment. I imagine she’s already in bed because it’s after three, so I’m surprised she isn’t in her bed. I continue to her bathroom to find her sound asleep in the tub. I’ve got to figure out how to get her to stop that before she drowns, but I still laugh.
I squat beside the tub and run a finger across her collarbone. Her eyes flutter open, those big brown eyes zeroing in on me. “You’ve got to stop sleeping in the tub, Darlin’.”
She moves to get up but winces and groans as she moves. I help her out seeing her arms, legs, and ribs covered in bruises. Her hands are just as bad with swollen knuckles and broken skin. She told me she’s been training with other kids, but you don’t get bruises like this from training with kids.
I don’t know what she’s been up to but that she hasn’t told me is what really worries me.
“What time is it?” she asks groggily as I help dry her off very gently then wrap the towel around her.
“A little after three.”
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was just so fucking tired,” she mumbles while walking toward the bedroom.
“I expected you to be sleeping, Baby. Just not in the tub.”
She turns to me. Her eyes are hollow and dark circles line them. Jesus, you’d think I haven’t seen her in months instead of just a week.
She runs her fingers up my chest to my neck, pulling me down to her. Her lips find mine with a hard kiss. Like she’s trying to find her air. “I missed you, Zee.”
I wrap my hands around her waist, careful not to squeeze too hard. I set my lips back to hers running my tongue across the seam. When she parts, my tongue finds hers. She tastes like toothpaste and those little lemon candies she eats all the time. I lift her, carrying her to the bed. I set her down with my mouth moving down her neck to her shoulders, all the while, keeping my weight off her body.
I unknot the towel to get access to those luscious tits. My mouth takes one while my hand kneads the other. Her hands grip my hair, holding me tighter as my tongue circles her nipple while I suck. I move to the other, making certain they each get the same amount of attention then move farther down. I kiss each bruise as I make my way to her sweet cunt.
I slowly kiss her velvety, pink pussy lips then open her up with my thumbs. I lap the arousal then thrust my tongue into her dripping entrance.
“Oh god, I’ve really missed this,” she moans as I fuck her with my mouth. Swirling and thrusting it into her hot, juicy depths until she’s squirming.
I can feel with each movement that it’s not just pleasure she’s moaning from, but I don’t stop. “Zane, please. I need to come.”
One of the things I love most about Tori? The way she says what she’s thinking and what she wants without fear. “Yes ma’am.”
I move to her clit, sucking it into my mouth while flicking my tongue around that tight little pearl. I slide two fingers into her, thrusting them, rubbing her G-spot in conjunction with the attention I’m giving her clit until she floods my hand with her orgasm.
I move to kiss her when she rolls me so that I’m under her. I find myself tracing my finger down the bruises covering her body. I want to know what’s going on. She hasn’t said anything to me, and that makes my suspicion tick up a notch.
I try not to let that she’s not telling me bother me too much. There are plenty of things about me I haven’t told her. Like how I helped make sure Zoey’s attacker would never be the same again and enjoyed every second of making that fucker pay. I’d do it again. I’d do it to the fucker that’s tormented Verity for most of her life.
Except that she’s covered in bruises and I don’t know why. After Zoey, seeing bruises like that on a woman pisses me off, so it’s a little harder for me not to wonder what she’s hiding and why.
She stops my hand from moving over anymore bruises. Her eyes look wary then I could swear I see a wall literally building right before my eyes. I don’t get a chance to think too much about it when she moves down my body.
She undoes my pant and pulls my throbbing length out. She wraps her hand around it, wiping the precum dripping with her thumb then lowers herself taking just the head into her mouth. She rolls her tongue around the tip. I have to fight against my urge to grip her head tight and thrust all the way into her mouth.
I watch with hazy eyes as she licks from the base to the tip, flattening her tongue against the throbbing vein. She flicks her tongue again around the sensitive ridge of the head making me throw my head back with a groan.
I lean back up to watch her again because I have to fucking watch when her lips wrap back around my dick. I watch as she takes me in, inch by fucking inch until my cock hits the back of her throat. She comes back up with hollowed cheeks like she wants to suck my soul right out of my dick. “Fuck, Tori!” I groan.
She hums and I can’t handle it anymore. I grip her hair tightly holding her in place while I force myself down her throat as far as I can go. She keeps her cheeks hollowed while that fucking tongue of her works itself in ways that shouldn’t be possible considering I’m so far in her throat, I’m practically fucking her tonsils. Then she starts to hum. Or maybe growl. I don’t know what the fuck it is. I just know I am balls deep in her mouth and that little vibration is all it takes to send me crashing over.
“Son of a bitch,” I yell out.
She drains me of every drop then lifts her head with a grin. She climbs over me, kissing me, mixing our tastes and I fucking love it.
“What the fuck was that?” I pant, still not able to breathe.
“Just call it reciprocation.” I flip her over to her back.
“Darlin’, you don’t think we’re done, do you?”
A slow smile crawls over her lips. “The thought never crossed my mind.”
“I got in a little after three last night,” I whisper as I walk as softly as I can through Tori’s apartment to the kitchen to start some coffee.
“Why are you whispering?” Jax asks with a chuckle.
I reach into her cabinet for a filter and the coffee then get some water into the carafe. “Because she’s still sleeping.”
“Wear her out already?”
I check over my shoulder to see if she’s stirring. Once I pour the water into the machine and turn it on, I sit on the stool by the bar with a heavy breath. “I can’t take credit for this one. When I got here, she was passed out in the bathtub.”
“You’re going to have to break her from that before she drowns herself,” Jax huffs. He’s always trying to save someone. “Zoey said she’s been working a lot.”
“Yeah, that’s what she’s been telling me all week too, but she’s failed to mention what she’s been working on.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Pretty sure she’s fighting,” I tell him as I listen to the coffee pot growl out its last bit. “She has bruises everywhere.”
I can see Jax’s eyebrows furrow almost as if he were sitting
right in front of me. I know they’d match the furrow on my own. “Thought she quit that.”
“She did a while back, but apparently she’s doing it again. That’s the only way to explain all the bruises.”
“Unless something else happened,” he growls.
I can’t deny the idea didn’t appear in my head the minute I laid eyes on the bruises, but I know that’s not what this is. “No. That’s not what’s going on here. What I don’t get is why she hasn’t said anything to me.”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean not to tell you, Zee. You said it yourself. You’ve barely had time to talk this week.”
I rake my hands through my hair. My gut tells me there is more to this than it just slipping her mind, but I can’t exactly start accusing her of shit. Can I?
I hear the sound of her light footsteps coming up the hallway. “Tori’s awake so I gotta go. I’ll call you later, Jay.”
She walks into the kitchen wearing nothing but her panties and a tight gray tank top. Her hair looks like the rats didn’t just make the nest but they’re still living there. Dark circles line her eyes and she’s stumbling like she’s been drinking all morning.
But fuck she’s never been more beautiful.
“Good mornin’, Darlin’,” I tell her sliding a cup of coffee over to her.
“Mmm,” she moans as she sips the hot coffee. “Why did you let me sleep so late?” she asks with the sexy rasp of sleep.
“Because you were already sleeping in the bathtub when I got here, and then I kept you up longer. You looked like you needed the sleep.”
She sucks in a breath that makes those perky tits of hers swell and rise then releases it. Like she’s trying to cleanse herself. “I do need the sleep, but I don’t have time. I have clients all day.” She looks up at me over her coffee cup with a sigh. “I’m sorry I can’t spend more time with you. Not really worth the trip huh?”
I walk around her small little island then pull her to me. “Darlin’ five minutes is worth the trip.”
“It’s really not, Zee, but I’m glad you came anyway. I missed you.”