by Keta Kendric
I was a sack of shit for leaving him, but Aaron must have noticed my regret because he placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“As far as you knew, I was dead. You didn’t do anything wrong. The doctor literally dragged my ass away from death’s door. I was camped outside hell, waiting to be let in. That black-hearted motherfucker had a tight grip on me, kept me in the dark for four and a half months before I woke up. When I first got shot, I think I even saw the white light and all the things dead folks are supposed to see.”
Aaron gestured his head towards the table. “Take a seat, so I can tell you how I’m still standing.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice because my damn legs were threatening to give out on me.
Chapter Three
Ansel
I hung on to Aaron’s words as he revealed the most extraordinary story I’d heard since he’d introduced me to Megan. The man had more lives than a fucking cat and managed to stumble upon the most amazing women.
“So, let me get this shit straight,” I started as I pointed at the doctor. “You were going to burn my cousin and turn him into ash so that he could become an ingredient in your family’s meth supply?”
Those words were the only ones that tore Megan’s gaze away from Aaron. He hadn’t fooled me by introducing the doctor as Davis. My fucking mind was twisted, but my ass had learned to think around corners.
I pointed at Regina who dropped her head at my tensed stare. “She’s a fucking Dominquez and she’s sitting at my table inside my house. What if this whole saving you was a setup for her to lead her people right here to my fucking doorstep? Aaron, you are the only one I told about this damn house, and you brought the enemy inside?”
Since Aaron was back, there was no reason to try to be the cool and level-headed one anymore. That was what he was for.
Without saying one word, I pulled my pistol out and placed it on the table. The loud clink of metal made Regina jump before three sets of eyes landed on my gun. My piercing gaze remained glued to the doctor’s.
“Ansel, she’s good. I can vouch for her. She saved my fucking life multiple times. I watched her burn a man alive to keep him from discovering me.”
She burned a man alive? Damn! This information helped me dial down my tension, but not nearly enough to make me pull my blazing gaze from the doctor’s.
“You know as well as I do how hard it is to get onto and off that fucking farm. She plotted against her people to get me out of there,” Aaron argued, his voice demanding my attention.
My cousin’s statements, however convincing they were, didn’t do a damn thing to ease the suffocating amount of tension that coursed through me. His brain had been tortured by hot lead, so maybe he wasn’t firing on all cylinders anymore.
“Ansel!” Aaron shouted across the table, pulling my attention away from the doctor who sat frozen in fear. Her glazed eyes stared down at the table as my crazed expression ripped her to shreds.
Was I attracted to the doctor? Fuck, yeah, I was, but I’d kill her in the blink of an eye if she was a part of the reason Aaron got shot or Megan was being hunted. My gaze turned and rose to my cousin’s, creeping across the wood of the table.
“She’s good, Ansel. If I weren’t sure, she’d be dead already.”
Those sounded like the words of my cousin and based on the certainty in his gaze, I believed him. Aaron and I sat staring at each other, coming to an understanding with only our locked gazes. If the doctor wasn’t legit, he knew I wouldn’t waste a second putting a fucking bullet in her head.
Aaron took a quick glance at Megan sitting next to him and then looked back at me, face alive with a mixture of concern and something unreadable.
“We need to talk,” he insisted, knowing I knew the subject he intended to broach.
A devious smile crept across my lips as I sat, knowing what was coming next. He wanted to know what had gone down between Megan and me during those six months he was dead. I aimed a finger at him.
“The last thing I told you as far as Megan was concerned was that if you got yourself killed over her, all bets were off.”
He didn’t move. He just sat there staring at me. Aaron knew me and he knew I’d do everything in my power to make Megan mine once he was dead.
“I’ll get us some refreshments,” Megan offered, breaking into our stare-off. She may have been bat-shit crazy, but she was smart enough to move away from Aaron before we broached the one subject that probably had those bullet fragments embedded in his brain blazing with heat.
The doctor sat quietly assessing us, probably glad the spotlight had been taken off her. Megan walked towards the refrigerator, opened it, and started to rummage through it. With her behind the refrigerator door, mine and Aaron’s gazes locked once more.
Before I revealed a damn thing to him, I wanted Aaron to suffer a bit longer for the hurt and pain he’d caused me after his death. Aaron’s death was the one thing to break me. It allowed me to realize that there were a few things in the world that I gave a damn about. His death had awakened my heart, letting me know that it hadn’t been destroyed by our family and the way we’d grown up. Aaron and I had been trading women since we were in our early teens, but Megan was the first one he’d outright refused to share with me.
His posture stiffened as his words started to edge out. “I’d likely have to torture her to get the information I want, and you know that I’ve never put my hands on a woman, so I need you to be straight with me. It’s been damn near six months, and I noticed how cozy the two of you were before I walked into this kitchen.”
Something behind us fell, loud and clanging. The doctor jumped, and Aaron and I simply glanced over at the refrigerator where the noise had come from and where the open door blocked Megan from our view.
I shifted in my seat, leaning over the table a bit. From the corner of my eye, the doctor eased back, glancing at my gun that I’d never removed from the table.
“Cousin, your last words were for me to take care of her. And I warned you with my own lips what was going to happen if you fucking got yourself killed over her.”
The doctor’s gaze bounced nervously between the two of us as I continued to torture my cousin by taking forever to get to the point. Aaron’s gaze hadn’t dropped away from me and at any moment, he was going to erupt into the monster I knew he could be.
“But…”
That single word put a twinge of hope in his stressed gaze, but if I didn’t get to the point in the next second, there was going to be a double homicide. Aaron had given Megan a free pass once, when she didn’t tell him about her and his father. Although it had happened before they’d even met, I still didn’t understand how she’d dodged that clip of bullets.
Zombie back from the dead or reanimated—it didn’t matter. Aaron wasn’t going to forgive her ass twice, no matter how crazy they were for each other.
“I couldn’t fucking do it, Aaron. I couldn’t fucking go there with her. Did I want to? Fucking right, I wanted to. But after you died, it fucking…it…it just wasn’t fucking right. Besides, she probably would have slit my damn throat if I had tried anything. You think I wanted to end up stabbed eighty-something fucking times like the doctor’s uncle?”
I pointed at the doctor after the statement, which sent her confused gaze roaming back and forth between me, Aaron, and the refrigerator. I shoved my thumb over my shoulder, pointing at Megan who’d finally let the refrigerator door close.
“I’m like a fucking brother to her now.” My face pinched into a deep frown. “The idea of even going there with her seems incestuous.” A light shiver made me twitch. “Can you believe that shit? I’m like someone’s fucking brother. What the fuck is this world coming to?”
The smile on Aaron’s face warmed my heart. Having him back was the single best thing that had ever happened to me.
***
I’d left briefly and returned with Aaron’s phone. I handed it to him. “As soon as you two reunite, we need to talk about how we�
��re going to take down this DG6 clan once and for all.”
Regina didn’t even flinch when I mentioned taking down her family. Instead, a flash of intrigue shined through her gaze as she rose higher in her seat, eager for more information. Maybe she did hate her family as much as Aaron had suggested.
Aaron turned the phone over in his hands. The face had one thin diagonal crack across it. “You’ve had this the entire time?”
“Yep. And it’s a good thing I kept it too. You remember Beverly and Laura?”
Aaron inclined his head, eyeing me with suspicion.
“Beverly called your phone, thinking you were some detective. Although she’d been in contact with Megan, she hadn’t connected the link between you and her. You know how Megan loves to keep her secrets.”
I stated the last part louder as I leaned my head towards Megan, who’d dropped her gaze. The woman hung on to the kind of secrets that could affect national security, and Aaron’s earlier statement had been right. You’d have to damn near torture her to make her spill them.
“Long story short, DG6 had likely been watching Megan since she first approached the MC. When you went tracking her to Texas, it may have led them to her friends. Laura got snatched, and I called D and Dax up to go down there to handle business. The good thing for us is we have two very capable guys in Texas whose presence can improve our plan to rid the world of DG6 quicker and maybe even smoother than I’d imagined. But enough about that for now. I saw the way you two were staring at each other and about to burn my damn kitchen down. Don’t let me hold you up. I’ll get to know Dr. Regina Dominquez a little better.”
Aaron frowned. “Behave, Ansel. She’s not like them.”
“Don’t worry, cousin. I’m on my meds this week.”
Aaron handed me his phone. “Call my father. Get him out here, but don’t tell him why. I don’t want everybody knowing I’m alive yet. I want to shock his ass too.”
My gaze locked on Aaron’s.
“He’s been a motherfucking beast since your death. I feel sorry for the members in Florida. They’ve all become his soldiers, and anyone who has something to say about it gets dealt with. Shark is handling things the same way I would have. Even if you’ve seen any news, the media is smart enough not to release that there are members of DG6 dying like a fucking plague is being spread. Over sixty members are dead so far, and he’s being smart about that shit by taking them out in different states and locations each time.”
Aaron couldn’t hide the flash of pride shining in his gaze, knowing that his family was waging war to avenge his death, and he wasn’t even dead.
Aaron’s gaze landed on his phone in my hand. “Call him. Get him out here. You know as well as I do that he could have made the decision to kill my ass for disobeying his orders and choosing Megan, but he didn’t. He could’ve killed her too, but he didn’t. You know as well as I do that he took a lot of shit because of my decisions. He could have been voted out and killed himself over the shit I pulled. He deserves to know that I’m alive.”
Reluctantly, I inclined my head. I was on my Uncle Shark’s shit list because he believed I’d approached avenging Aaron’s death the wrong way. He didn’t think I was doing anything to avenge Aaron, and for that, I had no idea what he was going to do once we met face to face.
Aaron stood, taking Megan’s hand. When they turned to walk away, I called after them.
“Wait!”
Grabbing an unopened bottle of water from the counter, I handed it over to him, fighting to hide my teasing smirk.
“Pace yourselves,” my pointed finger bounced back and forth between them. “But, if you find that you can’t, we have a doctor in the house to patch you up.”
Aaron shook his head at my antics, but he took the water before leaving.
Now, I faced the hard task of calling my Uncle Shark and convincing him to come to California without telling him the true reason why. I hadn’t talked to him in months, so I prepared to receive a royal cursing.
Chapter Four
Aaron
As soon as Megan closed the door and the lock sliding into place sounded, I pounced. My lips and hands were all over her as our heavy breathing filled the space of her room. I backed off a bit, fighting to calm myself. For once in my life, I was going to take my time with this woman. She’d tried to take her time with me before and not only had I stopped her and rushed the moment, I’d later left her to go chasing after DG6 mercenaries.
This time, I was going to swallow a bit of my own advice and calm my raging hormones. “Let’s go slower,” I suggested. My voice was husky and filled with lust.
“Do you really want to go slower right now?” she asked through labored breaths.
“Fuck no,” flew past my lips before they landed back on hers. I filled one hand with her plump ass and the other with one of her tits. She’d lost weight, but I was glad she hadn’t let it all slip away.
The urgent flutters that only she had the ability to set off inside me had taken over my stomach and made my chest tighten, causing my heart to pound faster, louder, and harder.
She backed off this time. “God, I missed you,” she whispered harshly against my lips as she assisted with dragging my T-shirt over my head.
Once the task of ridding me of my shirt was completed, I dropped it on the floor and backed her up until we were standing on the side of her bed.
With my thumbs looped in the waistband of her pants, she started to wiggle out of them. I bent to slide the pants over her feet and kissed my way up her thighs until I was face to face with the only heaven I knew. As I gripped her thighs, my lustful, heavy gaze met hers.
“You have no idea how much I missed you. But, I’m about to show you,” I promised as I stood and allowed my fingers to sweep up the rest of her body.
Her tongue slid across her lips as she worked my belt loose with anxious fingers. I dismissed what she was doing. “Let me help you out of this shirt. It’s in my way.”
After easing her shirt over her head, her curls fell and framed her face. I stood staring before reaching out to cup her chin. “God, you beautiful.”
I leaned in and kissed her with a tender ease I never knew I could bring. Pausing for the briefest of moments, I expressed the words that only she would ever hear come from me. “I love you, Megan. Regina may have saved me medically, but it was you who kept me from dying.”
“I love you too, Aaron. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you,” she said, her voice sure. Her gaze was locked on mine, staring so deep that the impact of her words hit home. Her arms slid around my neck and pulled me back to her waiting soft lips.
With my zipper down, she easily reached into my pants and cupped my steel-hard dick. I gasped into her mouth, devouring her lips. Easing her away from me was tough, but I sat her on the bed.
“Climb all the way in and lay down.”
My gaze never wavered from her as I kicked off my boots and discarded my socks. I dropped my pants and boxers and climbed in next to her. My body sliding against her warmth filled me with a need that I’d been dying to satisfy. It also filled me with a deeper appreciation for the sense of touch. Every slide of her hand over my skin, every kiss and caress of her lips over mine, and my body sliding against hers was a blessing I’d taken for granted before.
I nipped, sucked, and tugged at the warm flesh of her neck and collarbone. When my hand reached the tiny metal hook at her back, I twisted it, popping her bra apart. I removed the straps, kissing the parts I revealed that were marked with a slight indention of where the strap had sat.
Once the bra was removed, I tossed it over my shoulder, not caring where it landed. I slid my hand up her sexy hip, loving the way her supple skin seemed to melt under my fingers. I didn’t stop my play until I had a hand wrapped around one of her plump tits with its hard chocolate tip that I couldn’t wait to get my mouth on.
“Oh,” escaped her lips when my mouth made first contact. Her nipple grazed over my tongue before my lips closed aro
und it, pinching the tight bud with purpose. My action caused quick breaths to escape her throat before I repeatedly plucked the tight bud with my tongue.
Her back bowed, urging me to keep going. I took my time pleasing each chocolate tit until she’d gotten one of her legs wrapped around my hip. With her lower body pressed firmly against mine, she attempted to create enough friction to get herself off by rubbing her warm pussy against my thigh. There was no way I was going to let that happen when I had something that was going to cool her burning aches.
Kissing my way down her stomach, I tugged at her panties. She hurriedly raised her bottom off the bed so I could easily relieve her of them. Purple, she was still wearing purple panties. The scent of her arousal was calling my name, urging me to move faster.
I balled her panties into the palm of my fist and brought them up to my nose, taking in a deep sniff, savoring the scent that caused me to salivate. She readily opened while I slid between her legs, placing one over my shoulder. Her breathing kicked up a notch as her chest rose and fell with need.
Her pussy glistened with her juices, and I intended to lick up every drop. I’d finally gotten back to the territory I’d marked as mine forever and wasn’t going to let anything go to waste.
My fingers slid across her wetness, and I spread her brown lips apart before I sent my eager tongue into her soft pink folds. “Mmm,” escaped, rising from my chest to throat as I lapped up her juices and alternated between sucking and licking her clit, making it poke out. Her pussy pulsed against my tongue as I licked every fold. I wasn’t about to miss a single spot.
She squirmed against the tight grip I had on her thighs, but she was as good as trapped because I was going to eat her pussy until I got tired. It had been too long, and we had been through too much. If Megan knew me half as well as I thought she did, she knew this was only the beginning. As crazy as I was for her, Dr. Regina was likely going to be pulling my ass out of another coma.