“Okay, mom,” I say, shaking my head. “But I’m taking care of his second semester. You want to pony up for the rest that’s cool, but I have some funds that I want to use on it.”
She nods and doesn’t argue, which I’m grateful for. “I love Imogen. I always have. I wasn’t always nice to her because she reminded me so much of myself. I wanted more for her than I had,” she murmurs. “I saw the way you were, it reminded me so much of your father. You aren’t him, are you, son?”
I think about her question. Three years ago, I was more like the man I despised than I care to admit, especially when it came to women and the way I treated my wife. Though I never physically hurt Imogen, emotionally? I completely broke her, shattered her into pieces. I didn’t give a single fuck when I did it, either.
I was chasing a high, always chasing that fucking high. I never looked back at the damage, or pain, I was inflicting on this woman who only wanted my love. This woman, who wanted to love and wanted to be loved. I fucked her over time and time again.
“No, mom, I’m not him. Not anymore,” I whisper.
“Good. Be better than your father. My only hope in this life is that you and Kipling show the world that the Huntington name still stands for something good,” she says as she stands up and smooths down her pants.
“I’m not sure I’m the man for that task, mom.”
I watch in silence as my mom walks directly over to me, cupping my cheeks in her hands as she looks down into my eyes, watching me for a breath before she speaks.
“You’re a better man than your father. You left and have never asked for a single thing from us, from him. That pissed him off to no end. He wanted you to fail and come crawling back to him, but I knew. I knew that my Sloaney was smart and he would take care of himself without incident. Love Imogen the way she deserves. You only get one life. Please, Sloane, be the best man you can be for her, but most importantly, for you.”
I stare at my mom in shock as she drops her hands and bends over to place her lips on my forehead. Then she takes a step back and turns to walk toward the door. I watch her, still totally speechless.
“I’ll see you both at the summer party,” she says as she opens the door and walks out, leaving Genny and me alone again.
“You know she’s right,” Genny mutters from next to me. I look up in surprise to see she’s awake. “You’re better than him.”
I close my eyes and let out a long heavy sigh.
“Get some sleep, sunshine.”
Home.
I never thought I would want to step foot inside of this place again. Let alone call it home. But it is. This is my home, and today I’m back. I’m thankful for the other Old Ladies who cleaned up the evidence of my attack.
It doesn’t look as though it’s even been touched, let alone that a woman had been beaten here. I talked to a grief counselor before I left the hospital and she warned me about all types of things like flashbacks and such. I should be worried about that, but I’m just far too happy to be back.
“Do you need to get into bed and rest?” Sloane asks.
Sloane is another reason I’m not more of a mess. He’s been absolutely wonderful. I feel safe and completely at peace with him at home with me. It’s not a completely new experience, as I’ve been feeling this way lately, but it’s different to have him take care of me.
I like it.
I like it a lot.
Though my face hurts like hell, and the doctors still don’t know for sure if I’ll have permanent damage, I would consider doing it all over again just to have him care after me like this.
“Maybe just a bath,” I shrug.
“Yeah, sunshine, I can handle that,” he smiles.
He wraps his warm hand around mine and gently tugs me toward the bathroom. My ribs hurt like hell, so I can’t walk very fast. I’m excited to soak them in warm water to ease the aches and pains.
“I have some Epsom salt stuff under the sink,” I mumble.
I watch as he digs around and pulls out my Epsom salt soak and bubble bath. Then, with avid fascination, as he starts my bath and adds in the salts and bubbles, I watch him. Without a word, he turns to me as the tub fills and gently starts to remove my clothes. I’ve still yet to look in the mirror, and I am avoiding it. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to look at myself again.
“Your poor fucking body, Imogen,” Sloane hisses as he strips me bare.
Thankfully, my eyes aren’t as swollen as they were just a day ago, and I can actually see again.
Unfortunately, I can see the complete pain etched on his face as he looks me over.
“I’ll be okay,” I say, trying to reassure him and myself.
Sloane’s fingers trail from the hollow of my throat, down the center of my chest to my belly, and then back up before he wraps them, gently, around the back of my neck. He drops his head but doesn’t touch my forehead with his own. I can feel his breath fanning my face, and I watch as he swallows heavily.
“Imogen,” he rasps. “I know you’ll be okay, sunshine. You shouldn’t have to be okay, but I know that you will be. You’re so strong, and you’re going to be just fine. It kills me that you’ve been hurt, baby. Absolutely fucking kills me.”
I place my hands on his waist and wait for him to open his eyes. Looking at the pain that’s deeply etched into his gaze, I give him a shaky smile.
“I will be okay, Sloane. We will be okay. He hurt me but he didn’t break me,” I whisper.
“No, he fucking didn’t. I sure broke him, though,” he growls.
“Did you?” I ask with a small smile.
“Fucking shattered into a million goddamn pieces,” he chuckles as he leans forward and softly presses his lips to mine. “Now, let me help you in this bath and I’ll get us something to eat while you soak.”
“Yeah?” I ask as he lets me use his arms for stability to get inside of the warm water.
“Probably just ordering pizza, sunshine, don’t get too excited.”
“I can’t remember the last time I had pizza,” I sigh as the warm water envelopes me.
Sloane doesn’t say anything, and I’m too busy soaking in the heavenly tub to wonder why. After days in the hospital, using their shitty shower, and then being in so much pain, I honestly didn’t care if I was clean or not.
This tub right here feels like heaven. I’m going to have to wash my hair in the morning, but right now, I don’t care how dirty it is. I’m home, Sloane’s here, and we’re both breathing. That is all I care about.
“You didn’t,” I whisper in feigned horror.
“That pussy had it coming,” Sloane says as he takes another bite of pizza.
We’re sitting in bed, eating pizza straight from the box, and talking. It’s like a dream come true. Sloane reaches over to me and threads his fingers with mine before he tosses his slice into the box. I finished a long time ago, but I’ve been having fun talking with him. I’d forgotten how funny Sloane was, and how much I enjoyed just conversing with him.
He throws the box onto the floor and rests back against the headboard. Tugging me gently, so that I’m lying against him. The back of my head is on his chest and my arm is curled around him.
“I still remember exactly what you were wearing the first time I saw you,” he whispers. “You had on this tiny little skirt with buttons down the front, with a little sweater that your stomach peaked out of just a little. Fuck me, it was sexy as shit. And knee socks. You were like every wet dream I’d ever had. Your hair was long and straight, and I didn’t think I’d ever seen a prettier girl in my entire life.”
“Sloane,” I whisper as tears well in my eyes.
“I was such a fucking punk back then. Hell, I was a punk for twenty years. I wanted you, but I wanted everything else on two legs, too. You, the thought of another boy even looking at you sent me into a rage. My head was so fucked up, and I’d get blitzed, fuck around, feel guilty until the next time I got high. It was a vicious cycle. Only when I sobered up completely d
id I truly realize the damage I’d done to you, to us.”
“I was really young. I chose to see what I wanted to see, and I chose to stay when I could have very well left. We’re both to blame for the way things happened, Sloane,” I whisper, looking up at the ceiling.
“Don’t do that,” he warns. “Don’t take the blame off of me when it’s all me, sunshine. You did nothing but love me. When I fucked you over, you reacted. None of that is on you. All of that is on me.”
“I hate that you were with other people. I hate it more than anything else. I hate it more than the fact that we didn’t have children. I just fucking hate it,” I cry. He holds me a little closer.
“I wasn’t with anyone else when we were dating. I said that because I was being a dick. I’m sorry, Imogen. I wish I could go back in time. Fuck me, do I wish that I could. You’re going to have babies, Genny. I’m giving them to you, as many as your heart desires,” he whispers, pressing his lips against my hair.
I fall asleep in his arms. My mind on babies and the past, on the missed memories, on what-could-have-beens, and what-should-have-beens.
I flutter my eye lids open, unsure of the time, and there he is. Graham. Staring right at my face. He sneers at me, and I let out a scream. I try to back away, but he reaches for me. Right before his hand connects with my skin, the bedside table light goes on, and he’s gone.
“Genny?” Sloane’s husky voice calls out in confusion. I roll over to face him, trying to calm my breaths, trying to gain control over myself.
“He was here,” I whisper.
“Who, sunshine?” he asks in confusion, his hair mussed up from sleep.
“Graham,” I rasp.
Sloane’s tightness in his body relaxes and he shakes his head before he slides back down into the sheets and rolls to my side, wrapping his hand around my hip.
“He couldn’t be here, baby. I killed him,” he admits truthfully. Sloane didn’t just get rid of him—he got rid of him.
“You killed him?” I breathe.
“What did you think I meant when I said I got rid of him? And that he’d never touch you again?” he asks as a smile tugs the corner of his lips.
“I don’t know. Not that.”
“Well, he’s gone. He can’t hurt you anymore. It was a flashback, and you knew it was a possibility,” he murmurs. “Do you think you can get some sleep? Or do you need my help on that?”
“Help?” I ask curiously.
He shrugs, “I could eat your pussy until you’re exhausted and you pass out.” It sends chills over my entire body, and my belly heats at the thought as I press my thighs together.
“Mmmm,” he hums.
Before I can even say another word, my nightie is shoved up, and my panties are pulled down.
I let out a long moan as Sloane’s tongue slides over my entire center and then circles my clit.
“Don’t move too much, baby. I don’t want to hurt your ribs,” he murmurs against my core.
Sloane eats me. He’s gentle but purposeful, and it doesn’t take me long before I’m writhing beneath him and crying out his name as I tug on the strands of his blond hair.
When he slips two fingers inside of me and begins to pump in and out of my core, I know that I’m done for. I can’t hold on a second longer, and I completely disintegrate beneath him as I come.
His lips touch the inside of my thigh, but he crawls up the side of my body instead of my middle, and starts to gently run the pads of his fingertips up and down my skin, touching my breasts and around my nipples while I try and catch my breath.
“Sloane,” I whisper.
“Can you sleep now, sunshine?”
“What about you?” I ask, knowing he must be hard and ready to go.
“I’ll survive the night, baby,” he murmurs. “That was for you and you alone.”
I sigh as he presses his lips to the side of my head and curls his body around mine. It doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep. Less than five minutes.
I wonder if Sloane will put me to sleep like this every night from now on.
“Kirill said everything was good,” MadDog states from his position at the front of the long table.
Church. Not the place I want to be right now. I’d much rather be buried inside of my wife’s sweet cunt. However, it’s mandatory, and I’m here. Seeing as I missed so many of them when I was locked up, I need as much catch up as I can get, anyway. It’s just too bad Genny is refusing to leave the house so she won’t be waiting for me when it’s over.
“Good,” I lift my chin.
“There are some issues they’re havin’ in New York—their business, not ours. However, he wants some trusted brothers on standby if they’re needed. Figured I can count on my guys here and some of Fury’s men in Idaho for sure to fly on over,” he states. Every man in the room nods.
The Russian’s have had our back on more than one occasion, so it’s a fair trade. The deal has been working smoothly for a few years now. Kirill seems solid enough, so if he needs help, I’ll fully volunteer my services.
“Soar can’t leave state lines, so we can’t have him on the rotation for at least two years traveling to Denver. But he’s our man to load at the docks. We’re using the Humboldt docks permanently now. I want Soar, Torch, Mammoth and Camo handling the dock work between the four of them for a while. All their Old Ladies are knocked up, and Soar’s stuck here,” he announces. “The rest of the men I’ll be making a new schedule for today, and I’ll post it on my office window.”
“Any other business?” he asks, looking around.
“Any news on the Aryans?” Texas asks.
“Nothin’ new to report, really. Seems like we’ve hit a dead end. We’re lucky to have found the women and children that we did. Unless problems arise, I say we let those fuckers stay hidden in their bunkers. I have a feeling that without Drifter feeding them information anymore, their well will dry up completely.”
I sit up before I speak, “What about those highway patrol cops that were up in my shit?”
MadDog shakes his head. “We got nothin’ on that, brother. Hopefully with Graham being put down that’ll be the end of it.” He lifts his chin before he turns to the rest of the group. “With nothin’ else, what do you all think about allowing the prospect, Joel, to patch-in? Ready to vote?” MadDog questions.
We all grunt, and then we each state our verdict. I don’t know the guy well, but I’m not allowed to be a neutral party. I am just like every man in this room, a complete patched member.
Nobody votes no, so it’s easy for me to cast a positive vote as well. MadDog throws down his gavel and adjourns the meeting, but before we leave the room, he sends Grease out to get the punk ass little fuck.
Once Joel is brought in, MadDog tells him his fate, and I swear I see the kid tear up before he gives us the brightest, widest smile I’ve ever seen.
“You’re blinding me with those pearly whites,” I jokingly shout.
“Blinder. That’s fuckin’ it,” MadDog yells.
“My dad’s a dentist. I get free zoom whitening,” he shrugs with a chuckle.
“Well, Blinder, better keep at it. You have a road name now to uphold,” I say as I walk past him and clap him on the shoulder.
“Patch-in party tomorrow night,” MadDog yells as the other men congratulate Blinder and follow behind me out of the room.
I walk up to the bar and lean my forearms against it as I signal to the prospect tending that I need a drink. He hands me a beer, and I lift my chin in thanks. I’m only one pull in when I feel a set of tits press against my forearm. I look down at my arm and then into the eyes of the girl I fucked when I first got out of prison. The little bitch that made Imogen cry in the grocery store.
“Destini,” she says sweetly.
“Help you?” I ask.
“Wondered if you were ready for another round? I know your woman’s been out of commission, so I thought I’d offer up my services,” she says, pouting her lips to give me a bit
of a show.
I don’t have to even think to know my answer. Nothing about her, not even her puffy lips, are worth hurting my wife again. I’ve done that shit enough.
Making her promises to stay sober, stay faithful, and be the man she needs me to be is my main focus. I’ve had enough strange to last me a lifetime. In the end, it didn’t make me feel half as good as seeing my wife smile up at me, love and trust shining in her eyes.
“Got an Old Lady, out of commission or not, doesn’t matter,” I shrug.
For the first time ever, I truly feel that way deep in my bones. I’ve never felt it before. I’ve said it, and maybe I’ve meant it, but felt it? Fuck no, not like I do right now.
“I’m not like the others. I can keep quiet, Soar. I know you like to play a little. I still remember how you felt inside of me. Nobody would have to know,” she whispers.
I laugh. It’s a full-on belly laugh, and I should feel super shitty for it because this girl is young. She’s young and fuckin’ dumb. I’ve already told her no before, and she’s offering herself up for another form of rejection. Christ, how stupid can you be.
“I highly doubt you remember what my dick felt like, babe. You’ve had so much cock in your snatch since then, I don’t see how you could,” I laugh, shaking my head. “I know without a doubt I could fuck you and my wife wouldn’t find out. That’s not the point. The point is, I don’t want to fuck you. You’re young and you have a hot little body, but soon enough, you’ll be gone and nobody here will care. Not me, not anyone. You keep hounding me after I’ve told you no repeatedly, you’ll be out on your ass soon.”
I turn away, abandoning my beer and walk toward the door. I don’t need to fuck whores, I don’t need to party it up, not without Imogen. And maybe in a few months both of us will feel okay with me being down here without her; but right now, to me, it doesn’t feel right. I need some more time, some more time with her, some more time with my sobriety, and some more time being free.
Rough & Rich (Notorious Devils Book 6) Page 20