BLAMELESS: MC Biker Romance (Black Thorns, #3)
Page 27
“What’s that?”
“Lay off killing guys for a while? You been causing me a shitload of headaches lately, Runner.”
He’s making a joke. Black humor. Real dark, but that’s him. “Yeah. You got it.”
As he passes by, he whispers to me, “Real good kill shot. I’m impressed.”
I shake my head to myself as he walks off. Jesus Christ, he’s darker than I thought. So lighthearted ‘bout me ripping somebody’s life away from ‘em. Is that what I used to be like, too? That cold ‘bout it all? No goddamn conscience?
Yeah, it were. Not as bad as him, but bad enough.
Has me realizing just how shutdown I really were before I met Sarah. Didn’t even realize it. It’d become normal to me, I guess. But I were real numb. Real cold. I were just operating on a superficial level—meaningless hookups, joking ‘round, keeping everything light and shallow.
Sarah’s changed all that in me. Brought out all the stuff I’d buried down deep.
Brought out me. The real me I’d lost for a real long time.
I’m making my way over to her when Ax suddenly steps into my path. Argh. Don’t he get I need to be with her right now? I gotta hold her. Feel her.
“Ax,” I complain.
But he ain’t having none of it. He grabs my arm and drags me through the door, outta the diner and into the high street outside.
He lets go of me, lights a smoke and takes a harsh drag. He has a couple more, clearly tryin’ to calm down after the shit he’s had to deal with tonight, cuz of me.
I brace myself as his gaze snaps to me.
“You all right?”
Okay, weren’t expecting that to be the first thing outta his mouth.
I shrug. “Yeah, I guess. Ain’t my first rodeo, Ax.”
“That don’t matter and you know it. Twentieth is just as bad as the first.”
“Had to. He went for her with a blade.”
“You held back on the kill before that. Gave him a choice.”
“She told you that?”
“Told Rox.”
“Yeah, but he fucked all over that. He’s dead, so what’s that matter now?”
“Matters a fuck of a lot, Runner.”
What the hell’s he going on ‘bout? “Why?”
“Cuz for the first time ever, you stopped to think.”
Huh. Guess, I did. “Right, yeah.”
He steps into me and grips my shoulders. “Real happy ‘bout that, Runner. You did good.”
I smile. “Guess that means I ain’t in shit with you for once then?”
He shakes his head. “Ain’t nothing for me to be pissed at you for. I woulda done the same.”
First time I ever heard those words outta his mouth. I rub my face, tryin’ to keep my shit together as I tell him, “Fuck, Ax. In that split second when he went at her with that blade…I ain’t never felt…Christ…she….”
He squeezes my shoulders. “I know, brother. Know how it feels. That terror for your girl. Won’t ever forget when I felt it that day I lost control of my truck when me and Rox got run off the road by the Mavs a couple of years back.”
“Keep seeing it, Ax.”
“I know. But what you gotta focus on is her. Torvin’s gone. So are Ben and Jase. The way’s clear now. You guys are safe. The club’s safe. It’s over. Time to get back to building a life with your girl now. That’s all that matters now, yeah? Not tonight. Not none of that.”
“Yeah, I get it. Thanks, brother.”
He lets go of me and steps back. “Anytime.”
“Torvin had the worst fucking timing.”
He frowns, not sure what I’m getting at. “How’s that?” he asks, curious.
I reach into the front pocket of my jeans and pull out the thing that’s been burning a hole in ‘em for the whole day.
“Jesus Christ,” he gasps as I hold it up between us.
A real nice engagement ring.
“Planned on asking her tonight.”
He grins. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. She kept distracting me.”
“I ain’t gotta guess how,” he jokes.
“Ax, you got no idea how mind-blowing it is with her. My dick’s so goddamn worn out with her wanting it all the time, cuz of the pregnancy, but I still can’t get enough of her at the same time.”
He laughs. “Never thought I’d see the day when you, the nympho of the club, would be worn out from fucking.”
“Yeah, well. You were right what you said a few months back. I ain’t no spring chicken no more.”
“So, when you gonna do it?”
“Dunno. Can’t do it tonight now, can I? Torvin’s screwed that up.”
“Yeah, don’t wanna remember all this as the day you got engaged. I feel you. But do it soon.” He slaps my shoulder. “That woman’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”
“That don’t even cover it.”
Woman’s my whole world.
And I’m gonna make damn sure she knows that every single day from now on.
Epilogue
~Sarah~
“So fucking beautiful,” Zeb says, his gaze sweeping over me.
I see the minister frown at his cursing. It has me giggling. The things he says all the time, the way he puts things…he’s definitely one of a kind. My one of a kind.
And we’re about to make it official.
I take his hands in mine and whisper, “Don’t make me blush on my wedding day. I don’t want photos of me beet red haunting me forever.”
He chuckles. “Okay, darlin’.”
He’s been so sweet about the whole thing, wanting this day to be perfect for both of us.
“I love you,” I mouth to him.
He smiles and mouths back, “I love you, too.”
“Aww,” I hear Rox murmur to my right.
She and Halle are my bridesmaids.
Ax and Smiter start chuckling too. They’re beside Zeb, both his best men.
“Damn, Runner,” Smiter teases him, because he’s been cute and sweet with me all day long.
He usually has that side of him on lockdown around the boys at the club. But today he’s had it out in full force. He’s as happy and excited as I am to finally be doing this. After everything we’ve been through, it’s such a big deal, such a momentous occasion for us. It symbolizes the strength of our love that’s managed to transcend everything.
The minister clears his throat, about to start the ceremony.
“Wait!” Zeb exclaims suddenly, startling me.
I eye him in question, wondering why he’s interrupting the ceremony. He winks back at me and turns to the crowd. The entire club is gathered around the clubhouse yard that’s been decorated so beautifully for our wedding with my favorite flowers everywhere—orchids—and pink ribbons, beautiful white benches for our guests with a jewelled pink carpet running down the center as a makeshift aisle. Rox designed it and her interior design expertise has made it absolutely amazing.
Zeb lets go of my hand and walks up to Grit who’s sitting in the front row. “Hand him over,” he says, holding his hands out.
Oh, I see. The realization has me welling up with emotion.
Zeb takes his place next to me again, his hands full now.
“Can’t do this without our son up here with us.”
“Aw,” I say, stroking our son’s fuzzy head. His eyes meet mine and I smile. Just like Zeb’s. That unique auburn shade. Carter Wilkes. It feels just like yesterday when I gave birth to him, but he’s growing so fast and he’s already six months old.
Zeb proposed to me almost a year ago, a couple of days after that awful incident at my old diner. But we’d been so busy settling into our new home here in Reirdon Falls, getting my diner up and running here, preparing for the baby and then run off our feet taking care of Carter for the last six months. That’s why it’d taken us so long to get to this point—our wedding day.
Zeb is wearing his cut. He even had one made for Carter and he looks so cut
e in it. Both of them match. I couldn’t believe it when I walked down the aisle and actually saw what Zeb was wearing. He’d told me he was going to wear his jeans, t-shirt and his cut. The other guys are dressed that way and it was also how Ax was dressed on his and Rox’s wedding day.
But here Zeb is in dress pants and a white dress shirt with his cut. I know he did it for me. And I know what a big deal it is for him to dress up like this.
Emotion takes me over and I wrap my arms around my little family.
“You gonna make it through the ceremony?” Zeb whispers to me, chuckling.
I laugh, too. “I’m not sure. I’m just so happy. I never thought I’d have this—a man like you and our beautiful son.”
He wraps his free arm around me and whispers back. “Me neither, sweet angel. Me neither.”
***
“Zeb!” she cries as I kick the door shut to my old room in the clubhouse and carry her inside. I put her down by the wall and then I’m on her, kissing her wildly. She pulls back, all breathless and flustered in that cute way of hers, gasping, “We can’t miss our own reception. Everyone will be there by now.”
“Sure they can wait for me to seal the deal here. And your diner ain’t that far. Gonna take us five minutes to get there from the clubhouse.”
“Seal the deal?”
“Yeah, you know? Consummate our marriage and all that?”
“That’s supposed to happen later. At night. Our wedding night, not afternoon, and not right after the ceremony.”
“Well, we’re doing our own take on that tradition, ain’t we? Cuz, darlin’, I can’t wait. You got no idea what you’re doing to me in that dress.”
It’s a sexy white lace thing. The top of it—the corset part—really makes her tits pop. Too much. I could see every one of the boys checking her out in it. But I kept my shit together, cuz I didn’t wanna upset her on our wedding day. She were so happy. And more than even that were that today is the first time she’s ever left that scar on her chest uncovered. She’s finally at ease with it, not shy to show off her sexy little body. And I’m over the moon ‘bout that. Been tryin’ to bring that out in her since we met and now she’s finally right there.
The diamond-studded tiara on her head, on top of her golden curls, makes her look like a princess. So beautiful. She’s stunning.
The second I saw her in her wedding dress, walking down the aisle towards me, my dick woke the hell up instantly, wanting to take her right there and then.
And now, I’m outta my mind needing to have her. It’s what she does to me. And in this dress? Jesus, I can’t get a hold of myself. Got no control right now. None.
I reach ‘round her back and draw down the zipper of her dress.
“Careful. Don’t rip it,” she tells me, feeling how rough and frantic I’m being with it.
“Never. Don’t wanna start our marriage off with you being pissed at me, do I?”
She laughs. “You’ve been amazing today. So sweet. So great, Zeb. I love you so much.”
I get the zipper down and ease the dress off her. “Love you too, Mrs. Wilkes.”
“Oh my God!” she cries. “Mrs. Wilkes. It sounds so strange. No more Sarah Hughes now. Sarah Wilkes now. I love it.”
“Yeah?”
She clutches my shoulders for balance as I draw the dress down to her ankles and help her step outta it.
“Definitely,” she says, grinning at me.
“Holy shit,” I choke out as I take in the sight of her.
“I take it you love this then?”
She’s gonna kill me. Like I weren’t already hot for her without…this. “Wow. Just wow, Sarah.”
White lace fills my vision.
A sexy strapless bra holds her sweet tits up, pushing ‘em together in such a mouth-watering way. A matching thong almost does me in. But that ain’t all. She’s got a garter belt on, clipped to a pair of white silk stockings that go all the way up her thighs.
“I ain’t never seen nothing sexier, Sarah. Swear to God. Fucking hell.”
I step into her and ease her back against the wall.
I trail my hands over her stomach. “And this…I fucking love this.”
She smiles and looks down at my fingers that are tracing over skin that used to be the sight of her worst scars. Not no more.
All that changed a couple of months ago, once she’d recovered from Carter’s birth.
Now there’s a tat there. No scar.
And the tat? Fuck me. Had no idea she were gonna do it. She had it done in secret to surprise me.
It’s my name tatted on her, inside a heart with wings of fire.
She points to the wings and tells me, “You gave me those. You helped me to find that fire in me, that strength, Zeb.”
“You did the exact same thing for me, Sarah.”
“We were meant to find each other, to do that for each other. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, darlin’. Never thought a screwed up bastard like me would be so lucky to land a woman like you. Now we’re married We got Carter. We got a life together. Our family.”
“A great life together.”
“Better life than I ever imagined.”
“Aww,” she says, wrapping her arms ‘round my neck and kissing my cheek.
I grab her hips and pick her up.
“You ready?” I ask her, as I carry her to the bed.
“Always,” she cries, excitedly.
I lay her down gently. Gonna take my time with her. This moment don’t come twice. It’s a one-shot deal. Wanna savor every second of it.
I cover her body with mine and she gazes up at me with that loving look of hers that always gets right to the heart of me.
“Time to claim you as my wife now, Mrs. Wilkes.”
Other Books by Franca Storm
STANDALONE NOVELS
Contemporary Romance
Comfort Zone
REVIVE ME NOVELS
Coming of Age/Contemporary Romance
BAD IMPRESSIONS
DAMAGED HEARTS NOVELS
New Adult Romance
READY TO LOVE
BLACK THORNS SERIES
Motorcycle Romance
RECKLESS (Black Thorns, #1)
SOULLESS (Black Thorns, #2)
BLAMELESS (Black Thorns, #3)
FRACTURED MAGIC NOVELS
Paranormal Romance
WRECKED
THE BLEEDING LOVE SERIES
Romance Thrillers
All Or Nothing (Bleeding Love, Part One)
Battle Born (Bleeding Love, Part Two)
Love’s Lies (Bleeding Love, Part Three)
Dark Hearts (Bleeding Love, Part Four)
THE REDEMPTION SERIES
Romance Thrillers/Romantic Erotica
Over The Line (Redemption, #1)
Undertow (Redemption, #2)
Reckoning (Redemption, #3)
Salvation (Redemption, #4)
THE TWISTED DESTINY SAGA
Paranormal Romance
Fated Desire (Twisted Destiny Saga, #1)
Fated Betrayal (Twisted Destiny Saga, #2)
Fated Ties (Twisted Destiny Saga, #3)
Fated Love (Twisted Destiny Saga, #4)
Fated Blood (Twisted Destiny Saga, #5)
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