Delta_Ricochet

by Cristin Harber

  “I did it,” she whispered.

  “You did what?”

  “That was me. I killed the monster.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  “Hold on.” Cullen entered the middle of the group, and Adelia’s nerves jumped.

  She didn’t trust him or the devious look on his face. The man had a problem. It was as though he could never leave well-enough alone. Colin and Javier must’ve sensed the same as they stepped in front of her.

  “I didn’t hear Hawke tell Adelia everything would be okay.” Cullen lifted his shoulder toward Colin. “Just this yuppie.”

  Of all the things Colin had been called in his life, yuppie had to be a first, but he didn’t budge.

  “Let’s go talk out the details, Adelia,” Cullen suggested in a way that didn’t leave much of an option.

  Her dread was instant and mistrusting, and both Colin and Javier started to defend her, but she’d had enough of Mayhem making decisions or letting others feel like they should, and she pushed between them. “No.”

  His wiry grin was like a serpent’s. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

  She stood her ground. “I’m not leaving with you.”

  Before today, she’d managed to avoid Cullen more often than not. The most recent time was a few years ago, and that day he was an asshole. He’d been mean and crude, but he hadn’t hurt her. No matter his patch, his history, what damn level of respect he claimed, he still couldn’t hurt her. “Cullen, fuck off, and fuck off again. That one’s from your daughter.”

  His jaw flexed when his nose wrinkled, and he turned to Hawke. “You know what? Screw it. Kill the bitch.”

  Adelia sliced her gaze from Cullen to Hawke whose sharp stare was trained on her. How had he taken a secondary position to that piece of shit? Adelia wanted to scream. There were enough stories floating about Cullen. What he did to his family, how he endangered the club more than he brought it to the greatness it had now.

  “You, Hawke,” she said. “You’re my president.”

  “Bitch, you ain’t Mayhem.” Cullen leaned closer.

  “Step back from her,” Colin warned.

  She let Colin do what he needed to, knowing he held back as much as a man like him possibly could, but she would press on, sneering at Cullen. “I’m more Mayhem than you’ve ever been.”

  “You’re a bitch.”

  Adelia met Cullen’s bravado with a sad headshake. “Because I don’t have a dick and never liked your policies?” She nodded to Hawke. “He’s been trying to get the MC out of the mess you created. You did more harm than good.”

  Cullen’s lip curled. “Say all you want, but nothing changes what you did.”

  “I’m proud of what I did.” And she wasn’t scared. Maybe that was the blinding light at the end of the tunnel making her delusional, but Adelia had no fear. And she could give up the truth and spare her network the danger. Hawke and Cullen hadn’t questioned why she’d steal or her logistics. Just that she did. Why would they think anyone else could be involved?

  “Cullen, shut up.” The scratchy, whiskey-soaked voice she’d grown to love growled behind her.

  Adelia turned, and Tex had never looked more badass. Not when he first cut her down when she was a teenager for sale in Brazil, and not when he’d scared every guy away who ever looked her way. “Pops…”

  “Give me a minute.” He knocked others out of his way, and Lenora followed him like a queen following her king. “We’re not privy to everything we need to know, but this asshole—” He pointed at Cullen. “Isn’t deserving of the deferral you’re giving him, Hawke.”

  Cullen smirked. “We’ve got rules—”

  “And they’re bullshit right now.”

  “She’s your kid,” Cullen snapped. “Of course, you’d say that.”

  “Then call a leadership vote.”

  “You’re either blind or stupid, old man. Because Hawke will vote with me, and Ethan’s dead—”

  “Because I killed the fucker,” Tex growled. “If you weren’t aware.”

  “Two against your one, Adelia’s dead.”

  Hawke’s eyes danced between Cullen and Tex as Adelia’s heart raced. “What are you doing, Tex?”

  “Ask her why?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Hawke finally said.

  “Ask her why,” Tex boomed.

  “What the hell.” Hawke ran his hand over his jaw. “Why?”

  Adelia flicked a gaze to her Pops and Lenora, and neither gave her anything to go on. The truth was the only option. The night her biological father stole her from her family rushed to mind. Javier couldn’t save her. Her heart pounded for her little brother, the one she’d always protected when he tried his hardest to protect her. Their father might kill him, and their mother wouldn’t do anything to make him stop. Brazil seemed so many lifetimes ago, and she’d done as much good as she could.

  Power surged in her veins. A confidence that bucked the fear that should have been there, that had been there while she hid from the MC crawling at every corner of the country, knowing they had permission to shoot her on site. “I bought people.”

  “You did what?” Hawke snarled.

  Admitting what made her proud made her chest light. “The ones like me. The scared girls and tortured women. The people who didn’t have Mayhem to save them.” Emotion tickled, threating to let tears slide free, and she knew her voice would shake. “Except, Mayhem did.”

  “Did what?”

  “Save them. It was Mayhem’s money.” Adelia bit her lip, grinning at the memories. The first rush of adrenaline that came when she saved the first group of girls and the anticipation of how she could do it again. “I became a buyer. A quiet one, known for settling quick and safe transactions, and then I worked them into a new life and set them free.”

  The tears spilled as she smiled bigger. She couldn’t erase the joy she felt when the rescued people realized that they were safe. That they had options and autonomy. Adelia wished she could remember every moment where fear and confusion morph in grateful understanding.

  “That was a lot of money.” Hawke stepped closer.

  She sniffled, wiping at her eyes. “There were a lot of people.”

  Footsteps shuffled behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder. Javier. She couldn’t read his face, but she knew his mind. Her brother even had REVENGE tattooed on his body. Between him, Colin and perhaps even Tex, none would let Mayhem take her without fighting to their death. But it wouldn’t be that way. She could see it in Hawke’s eyes.

  “I repaid the bank. Every time I moved money, I transferred it back. And I wouldn’t change a thing, knowing what you would do if you ever found out.”

  Hawke’s gaze dulled. She’d lost him and didn’t know why. Hope was a bitch, and for a second, she’d allowed that temptress to slide past her defenses. What had her guard down? A semi-circle of family? Those who loved her surrounding her with their prayers for a different future?

  “Wrong time to lie to me, sweetheart.” Hawke’s cheeks hollowed when he sucked them in. “It breaks my heart, I’ll admit that.”

  Cullen snorted. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “Nope.” Tex jutted in. “Try again.”

  Hawke raised his hand. “We’ll talk later.”

  “She didn’t pocket your money,” Lenora added. “And Cullen knows it.”

  “I do?” He scoffed.

  “Dead man walking?” Lenora stepped in front of Tex, staring past Hawke. “Money in his pockets?”

  Cullen paused, shook his head, and kept going. “Nice try.”

  “What’s Deacon have to do with this?” Colin said.

  Lenora glanced over. “What do you know?”

  “Where’d he go?” Hawke asked.

  “Deacon’s here?” Tex snarled.

  Cullen kept walking.

  “If you had anything to do with Deacon and Ethan,” Tex called after him. “I’ll hunt you down myself.”

  Then Hawke’s
chin jutted to Lenora. “The bank transfers?”

  “I made those,” Adelia whispered.

  “Not all of them,” Lenora added on.

  A prickle of uncertainty skimmed over her arms. “What?”

  “Ethan ratted on you for too much. He didn’t know we were having issues with a supplier.” Tex rumbled. “He ratted on himself when he squealed on you.”

  Somehow she knew enough that Tex would be okay with that logic in Mayhem, and she didn’t worry for him. But she was still unconfirmed, and forget the Club politics and wheeling and dealing, she would just ask the man for forgiveness, like her original plan. “Hawke.”

  His head tilt was all she would get, and his legendary glare was no less scary than it had been ten minutes ago.

  “I know you’ve been changing Mayhem, quietly and from the inside out for years, and I know that I’ve done a good thing, even if I shouldn’t have gone about it the way I did.”

  His jaw flexed, but he didn’t say a word.

  “Mayhem taught me some screwed-up sense of pride I always said would kill me one day, and I wasn’t going to ask for your pardon.” She thought passion might choke her up, but Adelia’s clarity made her calm. “But thank you for the opportunity that I gave others.” Adelia sniffed. “I want to keep doing what I do, in a different way, and I don’t know if these are my last words, or ones that I’ll remember. But my intentions were in a good place.”

  “Hell, Adelia.” Hawke shook his head. “You did good, kid.”

  Adelia covered her face, not wanting to cry, not wanting to scream. She was overwhelmed and no longer had to hide from anybody.

  Colin rolled her into his arms, twisting her into his chest and when she finally dared open her eyes, his blue gaze settled on her. “I’m so proud of you.”

  Just hours ago, that dead woman seemed like an insurmountable barrier to cross. “Thank you.”

  He hugged her close. “Not just a survivor but a warrior.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  Two Weeks Later

  The door to Adelia’s apartment opened and shut, and her excitement went to overdrive. She’d been waiting far too long to see Colin. “I’m back here and packing!”

  The sound of his bag dropping and keys tossing made her smile. “Don’t leave your door unlocked next time.”

  “I told you I would.” She spun in her messy room, not caring how bad it looked. A weekend alone with him was all she needed. He’d forget about her laundry habits by the time they hit the first place on their to do list.

  Colin walked in, sexy as she’d ever seen him, dressed in jeans and a tee, but his bright smile made her melt more than the outline of his chest in that good-looking shirt. “What are you smiling about?”

  He stalked over to her bed, tossing the packed duffel bag to the side, and then tipped her backward. “You.”

  She landed in a pile of discarded choices of clean laundry, giggling as he towered over her. “No, not for a smile that big.”

  He dipped low and crawled over her, caging her to the bed. “It can’t be as simple as time off this weekend and you pinned on a mattress?”

  “I guess that could work…”

  She happy sighed into his mouth when he kissed her. His lips caressed hers, carefully sliding his tongue into her mouth and an arousal surged deep within in her body.

  “Oh, you do sweet, sweet things to me,” she whispered against his lips.

  “Hmm. Sweet wasn’t my first thought.” His full lips possessively pushed hers apart, hungrily urged Adelia to submit to his kisses. He wasn’t controlling. More like consuming.

  Oh, she moaned as he sucked her tongue. Maybe sweet was wrong. Irresistible. She arched into his chest, and her beading nipples needed more contact. “Maybe… you’re right…”

  Colin tilted her neck, his strong fingers threading into her dark hair and brushing it out of his way. Wishful, wanting need skip along her skin. She wanted his lips there. She wanted them everywhere.

  “It’s been too long since I’ve seen you.” Though it’d only been two days.

  “Had to work, babe.” He kissed the slope of her neck.

  Each lick sent a ripple of sensations sliding until she couldn’t help but sway her hips. “Pesky jobs.”

  Colin nibbled to the collar of her shirt. “Pesky clothing.”

  He reared back, tearing his shirt off, displaying the thick muscles that she’d never forget surrounding her at her most vulnerable moments and would touch herself to at night, alone, dreaming of how those same, safe arms would hold him over her.

  “God…” Her fingertips trailed over his pecs, narrowing to his sternum bone, and she let her fingernails lightly scratch down the line separating his abdominal muscles, but needed him to fill her body more than she wanted to play. “How’s your side doing?”

  His boyish smile and brilliant blue eyes lit. “Never better. Don’t worry about a thing.”

  “I worry sometimes,” she whispered, teasing the top of his pants.

  “Stop.” Colin eased her up, tugging off her shirt. “Not now.”

  “Then tell me something good.”

  He laughed. “We’re in bed.”

  “Tell me something else I don’t know!”

  “Brock and Jared officially handed me my promotion and said they’re moving the ACES team to headquarters in the US.”

  “What!” Adelia wrapped her arms around him. “You lead with that! That comes first! You’re second-in-command?”

  He laughed, trying to talk over the kisses she covered him in. “Yup.”

  She stilled. “Everything cool with Javier?”

  “He was there, and likes things the way it worked out,” Colin reassured.

  “Yes!” She went back to her kisses, slowing until they were less excited and more aroused.

  His hand fumbled with her bra snap, and she kissed his neck. Colin changed tactics and focused on her pants.

  “I’ll help you out with the bra if you lose the rest of your clothes.”

  He unsnapped her bra. “I’ll do both anyway.”

  All the joking slipped from her mind, and she hooked her arms around his neck. “Colin—” He didn’t cut her off with a word. More a look. A feeling. An intensity so strong she couldn’t breathe for needing him. “I know there’s sex and orgasms, and feeling great, and I love that, but you need to know something.”

  “Tell me,” he whispered.

  “I need to feel you. It’s more than physical, and I can’t explain it. Just you with me. Surrounding me. In me. Covering me. Breathing with me. For me. Because of me.”

  He stared down like maybe she’d spoken another language, then swept her hair back, stroking her cheek. “Always.”

  “I don’t know if I’m making sense…”

  The air around them hung warm as his gentle smile. His patience and precision were honed on her, and even if it didn’t make sense to him, she knew he’d give her what she needed.

  “It does.” He trailed his hand down her neck as her pulse jumped. “You need to be loved.”

  The rough pads of his fingers teased over her nipples, circling each and massaging the breast, smoothing from one mound to another, and he curled her to his body, nuzzling against her neck, pressing her back to his stomach, her backside to his groin.

  Adelia sighed as his warm palm smoothed over her, stretching and rubbing to her stomach, dipping his fingers into her navel, and to her sex, only to slide to her breasts again. The languid touch had her nearly dreaming, sighing as quiet gasps fell with the rhythm he played with her body.

  His thick erection grew, and with every writhe, she swayed against him, touching and exploring him, feeling his velvety strength and watching as he reacted to the slightest touch. These were things she noticed when not virgin nervous or screwing against the wall. These were the caresses she didn’t know to long for.

  “Colin…”

  His fingers cupped her mound, dancing pressure on her clitoris. “Yeah, babe.”

&n
bsp; She inhaled at the intense sensation, feeling the ripples rush through her and fade away. “If I hadn’t fallen in love with you, I might now for what we’re doing.”

  He laughed quietly against her ear, and shivers ran down her spine. He stroked her pussy, spreading her open, and Colin dipped a finger inside her, then two, easing in and out, stretching her body as his tongue trailed her ear.

  He fingered and kissed, spreading her leg open as she cried for more. She stroked him but that wasn’t enough, and she awkwardly tried to guide him from behind her.

  “Let me hold you like…” He moved behind her, but she wanted him to cover her. Adelia laid on her stomach, hollowing her back, and Colin ran his hand down the slope of her spine then leaned over her waiting body. The thick head of his hard-on contacted her most sensitive flesh.

  “I love this.” And, even more, she loved exploring with him. The pressure of him pushing into her vagina from behind left her panting when they hadn’t started. “This is new. Good.”

  “Yes?” he asked.

  “God, yeah.” Nearly flat on her stomach, Adelia pleaded for more of him, and Colin gave her what she needed, inch by inch.

  She grasped the covers, and mouth agape, couldn’t open her eyes until he’d seated himself inside of her, leaning close to her neck, and kissing slowly.

  “I love you,” she promised.

  With more care than she’d ever felt, his powerful muscles encircled her, and he stroked in and out, making her moan and pray with every move. He hugged her while she did little more than exist, flying higher with each thrust.

  Colin rolled them to their sides, and a roll of heaven took over her hips. He thrust, and his hand covered her mound. “God, Adelia.”

  She kicked her leg over his thigh, and he circled her clit, trying tempos and touches, bringing her higher and higher while she clenched her muscles and rocked to meet his cock.

  “Just like that.”

  “Colin,” Adelia gasped. She wanted to come. It nearly hurt. Almost killed her. Hell, she wanted to stop but didn’t dare.

  He gave her more of everything. His mouth. His whispers. His cock. His thrusts. Colin was deep in her head, promising the world as much as he promised her orgasms, and she clung to him, bucking on his shaft, gasping for air as he drove deep, barely pulling out, over and over and over.