“I’ve noticed you haven’t been with anyone else in a long time. Are you and Quinn…?”
“No,” he snapped. “We’re not. I really don’t feel like talking about her. She’s a personal matter.”
“Yeah.” I chuckled. “Jade is a personal matter to me, too, and I talk about her ass all the fucking time. With pretty much everyone.”
“It’s not the same.”
“It’s not? Tell me why you don’t make a move on Quinn,” I pressed. I knew that Carter wasn’t like us. He wasn’t the caveman type of guy, or maybe he was, but he wasn’t a manwhore. But I did know this—he was a good-looking bastard, an honest, hardworking man, and Quinn should’ve felt to date a guy like him.
“I can’t,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because I’ll embarrass myself.”
“Why!” I asked again. “Why the fuck would you embarrass yourself? You do realize that you’re technically her boss, earn three times more than she does, and look better than most of the men she interacts with every day.” God, I hated that I sounded like the gay friend, but Carter seriously had to take his head out of his ass.
“Because I’m shite in bed,” he hissed. “That’s why. This girl… she told many times before. I don’t deliver the goods that I…” he trailed off, clearing his throat. “Let’s just say I’ve been told the package looks more appealing than the product inside it. I’ve been enjoying the odd fling every now and then, but recently… Well, since I started liking Quinn, I’m not even confident enough to do this anymore.”
“Is this code for you have a small dick?” I asked, and he punched me in the chest, hard.
“My dick is huge. I’m just not entirely sure how to use it.”
It was so goddamn charming of him. If I were a girl, I’d definitely spread my legs for this guy.
“Fuck, man, if only you had someone like Jade to show you the dos and don’ts.” Sharing Jade was not something I’d usually be down with, and who knows if I could ever get her on board, but Carter was a brother to me. And fuck, I didn’t like seeing him like this. Jade had a way of making me want to beat my chest like a fucking gorilla. If she could do that for Carter, maybe, just maybe, he could find the confidence to pursue Quinn like a normal dude.
“No thank you,” another snap came.
“Why? You don’t find my girl attractive?” I frowned.
“She’s very attractive.” He coughed. “It’s just that she’s not…Quinn.”
Our little chitchat needed to stop because Stefano finally turned off his TV and his light. He padded barefoot to his bedroom, and that was our cue. I slid across the wall of his building, walked quietly to his entrance, and used one of Jade’s bobby pins to unlock his door. The door opened effortlessly, and I sauntered inside, with Carter following closely behind me. I slid my gloved hand along his wall before I pushed the handle to his bedroom door.
Stefano sat there.
On his bed.
Naked.
Exposed.
So fragile.
“Hello,” I said as I entered the room. He reached for his cell phone quickly, surprise and horror coloring his face, but Carter shot the phone in his hand.
Carter was a very good shot, which gave me faith in him. He had the potential to be a stud. He just needed to explore it. I tsked to Stefano, shaking my head.
“You know, Stefano, I hate it when people cheat. I hate it when people fight dirty.”
I took a step forward to him, and he flinched. His face was marred with his fears, and they were so goddamn ugly. He didn’t move an inch so not to piss me off, but it made me feel so annoyed with him. He definitely wasn’t so polite and proper when he kidnapped my girlfriend and cut me open with blades.
“I also hate it when men torture women.”
Another step. His lower lip quivered, and tears gleamed in his eyes, but he said nothing. Just as well, as he knew there was nothing he could say that would have changed his fate.
“But most of all, I hate you. Goodbye.”
I grabbed his neck with my hands and snapped his back through my gloves, then threw his body onto the mattress and watched his surprised face and open eyes staring back at me. Since Graham requested this look like a suicide, so not to poke the Italian bear, Carter and I spent the next hour cleaning the pieces of the phone that exploded in Stefano’s hand, then throwing his fully clothed body from the rooftop of his building—not before shoving pills and alcohol down his throat.
When I walked back to our car, I felt so much lighter. So much happier. Jade was safe again. Jade got her justice. And I got mine.
Perfect.
Everything. Was. Perfect.
I loved that she wore a red velvet dress to our date.
Our first ever date.
Six months together.
183 days.
298 fucks.
157 blow jobs.
1 date.
1 ring.
But that was all that mattered. I may have not been the man she’d wanted me to be. A doctor or an accountant or a boring rich fuck who could pluck her out of New York and into the arms of welcoming, fake suburbia, nursing her soul back into health while she picked up a boring-ass course in a bad community college, but I cared. I cared enough to fight for her. To save her. To kill for her. To live for her. These feelings, they didn’t come to me naturally. Yet, they came to Jade naturally all the time. The way she cared so deeply about Dahl and the girls, putting them first and herself second. The way she cared about me when I was injured.
This was the woman I wanted to be the mother of my children, if I ever had any.
This was…Jade.
We walked into the glitzy restaurant on the Upper East Side—Blue Moon was its name. I put my hand on the small of her back and felt her shivering against me in pleasure. The night was cold. Winter was at its height. And Jade was going to walk out of this restaurant a new woman, at least in a sense.
“Reservations?” the girl at the front asked us with boredom until her eyes traveled up and she saw me. A sly smile graced her face, and I wiped it quickly by kissing my girlfriend’s temple.
“Savage. Cole Savage,” I said, straight-faced.
That was my last name.
That was my trade.
I was a savage, and hell, I was proud of it.
“Please follow me.” She turned around, and we waltzed in. Jade grinned, her whole face lighting up, and I swallowed hard and looked around me. It was one thing to fight in front of hundreds of people. It was a whole different story to ask her to marry me in front of these old idiots.
What if she said no?
But then she couldn’t have said no.
After Stefano died—I mean, committed suicide—she got back to work at Hot N’ Bothered. This time, not as a waitress and not as my fake PA. She worked behind the bar with Quinn. And she loved it. She was sassy to the customers, got great tips, fucked up all their orders, and still had a ton of fun.
She liked her new life.
I think she did anyway.
I couldn’t know for sure. Fuck.
“Enjoy your evening.” The hostess flashed us a fake smile that didn’t reach her eyes. We sat down. A waitress came and gave us our menus. She returned after a minute with a bottle of champagne as per my request.
I gave them very specific instructions over the phone before I got here. Jade leaned over, and her cleavage peeked from that red velvet dress. Her scarlet smile was on full display as she politely told the waitress, “Oh, thank you, but we didn’t order this.”
“Your companion did.” The waitress returned a polite grin and poured us both a glass. Jade quirked an eyebrow my way and pursed her lips.
“What?” I shrugged, holding my glass of disgusting girly drink. “I can do romantic when I need to.”
“Why do you need to? Are you cheating on me?” She giggled, but it came out panicky.
“Never.” I shook my head. “I own the best pussy in the city. Why the hell
would I look elsewhere?”
“Wow. You really are a romantic tonight.” She rolled her eyes. I laughed.
I ordered a steak, and she ordered lasagna. I wolfed down both dishes as Jade twirled a lock of hair around her finger and looked occupied. I didn’t know what was going on, but I sure as hell was going to find out.
“What’s eating you, other than me?” I slanted my chin down, inspecting her.
“It’s Carter.” She sighed. “I’m worried about him.”
“Why?”
“Because,” she let out a sigh, looking sideways before leaning forward and sharing his secret with me, “I caught him peeping on—”
“Quinn,” I finished. “I know. We’ve got this under control.”
“What exactly is ‘under control’?” she inquired. “The only reason I didn’t tell Quinn is because I know Carter well enough to trust he wouldn’t murder her, and Quinn seems like she has enough to worry about as it is, but it’s creeping me the hell out. If he likes Quinn, why doesn’t he just ask her out?”
“It’s complicated.” I took her hand and kissed her knuckles. I wanted to ask her to marry me, and she wanted to talk about Carter’s non-existent love life. Fuck. My. Life.
“Tell me,” she whispered hotly. “I want to help him. I do. I care about him a lot. Even though he is mega-OCD and living with him is such a hassle sometimes.”
I slumped into my chair with a sigh. It wasn’t my business to share Carter’s other secret with Jade. But I guess, if she was going to be my wife, this was what our lives were going to be like from now on. Talking about other people and blatantly sharing their secrets against their wishes because we trusted each other enough to know it’d never leave each other’s mouths.
“Promise me you’ll never tell a soul.”
“I promise.” Jade clapped her hands excitedly together.
“Well.” I licked my lips, moving toward her and holding both her hands. The waitress just took away our empty plates and was about to bring us dessert. Every single dessert on the menu, to be exact. “He thinks he sucks in bed. He thinks he won’t be able to please her. You need to understand; Carter doesn’t operate like a normal person. Someone must’ve told him something insensitive, and he blew this shit out of proportion. Now he’s afraid to pound Quinn because he doesn’t think he’s good enough in the sack.”
Jade blew out some air, giving it some thought. Her eyes were glossy, and her expression peculiar. Almost intrigued.
“Can I be honest?” she said.
“Always.”
“I always kind of thought he was going to be a badass in bed. I don’t know why. But I always assumed he would be. Even the first time I saw him at Hot N’ Bothered.”
Just as she said that, the desserts arrived. Not a moment too soon either. I was done talking about my best friend’s skills in the sack. I already knew way more about Carter’s sexual habits than I wanted to.
“Oh my God! You ordered all of the desserts!” Jade squeaked in an adorable way and giggled, grabbing her spoon like it was a wand and poking it into three desserts in a row. But she didn’t touch the lemon meringue. That was the one she should’ve tackled first.
Because that was the one with the ring in it.
I deliberately chose a light dessert for the ring because I didn’t want her to miss the shiny, huge-ass diamond and swallow it by accident. I had a feeling the whole ordeal would be significantly less romantic if I had to spend the remainder of the night feeding her prunes, laxatives, and lemon juice so we could retrieve the 10k piece.
“Try the lemon thingy.” I slanted my eyes to the meringue. She shuddered, stabbing her spoon into another chocolate dessert.
“Hell no. I hate lemons. Ugh, not touching it. Thanks, though.”
Holy shit. I didn’t take one thing into consideration.
I didn’t consider the fact Jade might not like lemon meringue. But what was I supposed to do? Eat it and find it myself? Fuck no. She was eating the meringue.
“Please take one bite of the meringue.” I tried nicely. She smiled at me like I was an idiot and nodded no.
“I’m sorry. Did you not listen to what I said? I don’t like lemon meringue.”
“Eat it,” I gritted out. She put her spoon down and regarded me with a scowl.
“Cole, is this some sort of a bet? Are you begging for me to punch you? Because I just might.”
“Eat. The. Meringue.” My lips barely moved, and my face was thunder. Her eyes held mine for a few seconds before she flung her arms in the air and finally, fucking finally, slid her spoon across the meringue. The spoon clanked against another metal instantly.
She gasped.
She threw the spoon aside and dug her fingers into the meringue like her life depended on it, her face quickly moving from annoyed to elated. I watched intently. It was the first and last time I’d ever do such a thing. And my heart beat so fast in my chest I felt like it was going to burst right there on the fucking table.
She fished the ring out and held it between her fingers, looking shocked and ecstatic. Her whole body smiled. Her whole face lit up. Tears tickled her lower lashes, and I knew she was going to cry soon, so I had to act fast. I got up from my chair and walked to her seat, going down on one knee.
“I can’t promise you romance. I can’t promise you suburbia. But I promise you this, Jade. If you become a Savage, I will protect you until the day I die, and even then, I’ll make sure to haunt the motherfuckers who get in your way from the afterlife. I will provide for you unconditionally. I will never look at another woman—unless it’s porn and we’re watching it together, but definitely not on the street or at a bar—and fuck, Jade, I will spend my life making you happy.”
Our eyes locked, and something ignited between us. A spark that turned into a flame. It burned every doubt I’d ever had about her saying yes. Fuck. She was going to answer. Her mouth moved. It was going to happen. I held my breath.
“Yes.” Her voice was throaty. “Yes, Cole, of course I’ll marry you. Make me your Savage, baby.”
It was our last night at Cole and Carter’s apartment. The next day, Cole and I were moving to Manhattan. It was nothing fancy. Just a studio apartment above a Chinese takeout joint that made our new apartment smell of cooking oil and vinegar. But it would be ours, and Carter wasn’t going to be there to scowl at me for leaving the Nutella jar open or leaving a tampon wrapper on the bathroom counter by accident or shit like that. Our room—Cole’s room, to be exact—was full of brown cardboards and packed suitcases. Dahl was going to come here later and help me move my shit, and the movers were going to do the rest.
“Baby.” Cole clasped my waist from behind as I shoved my makeup into my bag and zipped it. He kissed the crook of my neck. “Let’s get in the shower for one last quickie.”
“Mmm.” I sighed when I felt his fingers brushing the waistband of my underwear. His calloused pads brushed my belly through the fabric of my thin shirt. “Sounds like a plan.”
He jerked me to the floor and, while I was on all fours, guided me to the shower by nudging my ass with his foot. Not too hard, but not too soft either. Just the way I liked it. In the shower—Cole and Carter’s apartment had a huge bathroom in comparison to the rest of it, actually—he peeled my clothes off with his teeth, one by one, removing my bra and my underwear by tearing them off me. I screamed in agony and pleasure when he twisted my nipple between his fingers with one hand while he secured my bra on the shower rod, tying both my hands so I couldn’t move left or right. I loved it when he tied me up. It made me feel so helpless.
Cole grabbed my knee and locked my leg around his waist while unzipping his jeans and thrust into me at once, knowing I’d be wet for him, even before proper foreplay. That was how good he knew me. He filled me with his huge cock, and I closed my eyes and moaned his name on a whisper.
He thrust into me one, two, three times before I heard it. A little gulp. Nothing too audible, but I became hypersensitive to the low and gruf
f voice I heard. Even when it gulped. I opened my eyes and scanned the bathroom briefly, until my eyes landed on the hallway, through the opened door.
Carter.
He was standing there, his chin up, proud and defiant, staring at us without making himself known. I was still tied to the shower rod, with Cole pounding into me, his thrusts growing quicker and deeper by the second and my moans becoming louder and hornier. I licked my lips and locked eyes with Carter, who remained silent and unmoving, standing a good few feet from us with his hands tucked in his pockets. He looked almost nonchalant, but I grew to know him in our time living together, and I knew there was a storm brewing inside him.
“Do you enjoy watching us?” I croaked, my voice low, still staring at him as my fiancé took me like a beast, my leg still wrapped around him. Cole swiveled his head to see who I was talking to, and by the way his cheeks rose, I knew a smile twisted on his beautiful face. He liked being watched, too. The question was…was he going to enjoy it if they both took me at the same time?
And make no mistake. Carter was a hottie. Yes, I had the hots for him when I first saw him at Hot N’ Bothered. However…my need for him to take me was deeper than that. I couldn’t stop thinking about his insecurities. I wanted to show him he was wrong. That he was beautiful and sexy and capable, just like everyone else. More than the average man, probably. Carter didn’t blink, nor did he answer me.
“My girl asked you a question,” Cole groaned as he continued fucking me. I tightened around him, my nipples hardening and heat swirling in my lower belly. Carter offered a small smile.
“And if I do?”
Cole squeezed the flesh of my waist and growled like an animal. He felt my body. Felt me tensing before I was about to blurt out what I wanted to say. He knew me so well.
“Then you should come and have a taste,” I teased, darting my tongue out and licking my soon-to-be-husband’s salty skin, misted with a light coat of sweat. Carter chuckled, then bit his lower lip.
“I’m good.”
“I wish you were, Carter,” I said. “But you know you aren’t. Come, baby.” I jerked my chin to him because I couldn’t use my hands to lure him. They were completely tied. “Let me help you. I’ll make you feel good, and enjoy you one time before you go and rock Quinn’s world.”
Savage Savior (Savage People Book 3) Page 29