Fury lifted his bloody hands and Rayna wrapped her fingers around them.
“You haven’t let me down yet,” Rayna said softly.
“I will.”
Rayna wasn’t going to argue with him when she knew he wouldn’t listen anyways; not yet, at least.
“Come on, I'll get you cleaned up.”
“You don't have to-”
“Fury, believe me, I want to. I'll let you know if there's something I don't want to do, okay?”
He only nodded.
His hold on her tightened but he didn’t say a word.
Rayna led him into his own bathroom, flicked on the light, and gestured towards the toilet.
“I can’t reach if you settle on the counter.”
Rayna’s hands were shaking, and she was afraid she’d blow it again.
Her body was hyper aware of his, and they were so close, almost touching.
His nearness was making her nervous all over again.
Fury’s thick thighs were spread wide as he rested his forearms on top of them, his eyes downcast.
“Under the sink there’s a first aid kit Laura left behind.”
Rayna didn’t even want to know why Laura had to leave behind a kit for him; she could hazard a guess.
As she set it down on the counter she grabbed a washcloth from a small stack near the vanity mirror and wet it down with hot water.
When she pressed it against Fury’s face he hissed between his teeth and wrapped his strong hands around her waist.
She didn’t want him to let go, she wanted him to hold her until her anguish dissipated and her mind didn’t race.
Her fingers grazed his skin gently as she dabbed the skin around his eyes. Swollen and puffy, it looked like he was in a lot of pain, and she didn’t want to hurt him more.
“Why are you frowning?”
His gritty voice interrupted her train of thought and when her gaze met his she blushed and shook her head.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t hurt me, baby. I’m tougher than I look.”
He was joking, and he gave her a smile, but she knew better.
“If you want me to leave here, I will. I don’t want to hurt you by reminding you of Lizzie.”
The words were out of her mouth in a rush, all pressed together in one frightful vow.
His eyebrows snapped together as he gripped her tiny fist in his and stopped her ministrations completely.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Rayna sighed and shrugged, feeling confused.
“I don’t want to hurt you because I remind you of Lizzie,” She repeated.
Those black eyes of his were practically on fire as he raked his gaze across her skin.
“The last fucking thing I want is to see you walk away.”
The adamance in his voice settled something inside of her.
It dazed the demons in her mind, quieted them.
One of his hands moved to grip her waist.
“I’m gonna give you a moment of honesty here, because I can’t fuckin’ think with you so close. I want you. I can’t stop thinking about how much I want you, Rayna. Every day I think about that night I held you in the shower, how close I got to be to you. I don’t want to push you and I don’t want to confuse you, baby. I’m fucked in the head, and so are you.”
Rayna’s eyes closed as he finished, and she tried as best she could to let those words seep into her sensitive skin.
To stick, to stay, to make a difference.
“I’m already confused. Because you feel big to me.”
She admitted this as she dabbed the washcloth against the corner of his mouth, wishing more than anything that he’d press his lips against hers, torn skin and all.
That’s what she was anyways, torn skin and stretched tendons that barely formed a human body.
One pulse that barely worked surrounded by a mass of skin and bones and sadness...
“You feel big to me, too.”
His words made her heart soar.
“I do?,” She whispered uncertainly.
He dropped his gaze to her waist, where his hands were still spread wide.
“Yeah, Rayna. That’s why I don’t wanna fuck this up. I can’t. I won’t.”
She sucked in a shallow breath and released it before she caressed his less battered cheek.
Fury closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, like it could cure the suffering burrowed deep in his belly.
“So, what do we do?”
He chuckled a mirthless sound that resonated between the two of them.
“Fuck, baby, I think there’s only one thing we can do.”
She waited for him to say it, her blue eyes glued to his black ones.
“We heal.”
Chapter Eleven
Fury gripped his gun in his hand, his fingers tapping against the barrel.
“Ox, you got a point to this little...exercise?”
Ox motioned towards the row of strategically placed dinner plates with bullseyes drawn in the centers.
“Shoot them.”
Fury looked at Ox like he was losing his marbles as he raised his gun and shot the first plate.
It shattered, exploding all over the grass.
“Again.”
Fury shot the next plate, watched it too break apart.
Ox had him continue this ten times, until every dinner plate he’d set up was lying in pieces in the dirt.
“Good. Now tell me what those plates are,” Ox said as he lit a cigarette.
“Broken?,” Fury guessed.
“Right. Can you put them back together?,” He asked as he inhaled deeply and pierced Fury with a look.
“Yes,” Fury said.
He wasn’t exactly sure where Ox was going with this.
“That’s right, you can. You can glue them back together, but the pieces will never quite fit the same way, Fury. Does the fact that you can put these plates back together change the fact that you broke them?”
Fury frowned and looked at the fine china splattered on the ground.
“No.”
“Exactly. I’ve watched you fuck around for six months now, Fury. You’ve fought, bled, and practically crawled your way back to reality, but you’re still holding yourself back from being happy again.”
Fury swore and slid his gun into his back pocket as he shook his head in anger.
“You drove me all the way out here to fuck with my head? Ox, I’m fine.”
Ox simply glared at him.
“Let me ask you another question.”
“I’m not gonna like this, am I?”
Ox didn’t answer as he crossed his arms over his muscular chest.
“Let’s say you showed up to the clubhouse five minutes sooner that night. Would Lizzie still be here?”
Fury’s lip lifted in a snarl as he growled.
“Enough, Ox.”
“No, damn it! You need to hear this, and you need to listen! You’re gonna get yourself killed, Fury. You’re more than a member of this club to me, you’re my fuckin’ family. Lizzie was my family. What happened to her will be in my mind for the rest of my life, but if you continue down this path, her sacrifice will have been for nothing, Fury. Her memory doesn’t deserve that injustice!,” Ox said raggedly.
Fury buried his hands in his hair as he fought the roiling emotions taking root in his gut.
“She was already gone by the time we got there, Fury. There was nothing you could do to save her. The bastards that killed her are dead. It’s time for you to start livin’ again,” Ox said.
Fury shook his head and kicked at the dirt.
“Why now? Why are you doin’ this now, man? I’m fine!,” Fury shouted.
Ox just eyed him, like he knew him, like he knew he was lying.
“A fine man wouldn’t let a woman like Rayna Claire slip through his fingers.”
Those words were like a bullet to the chest.
Ox was right, of
course, but Fury didn’t want to admit it.
“She’s better off without me,” Fury muttered.
“You say that, but I know you slept outside her room for the last three nights. Laura told me she's been havin’ night terrors.”
Fury scoffed.
“I was just checking on her!”
“Mhm, then why did Laura find you asleep outside her bedroom door, three mornings in a row?”
Fury had no response to that, so he kept silent.
“Exactly, brother. Look, a man like you could do much worse than Rayna Claire. She’s been through a lot, but anyone with two eyes can see how much you care about her. What I want to know, is why her?”
Fury turned his back on Ox as he thought about it.
Why her?
Why Rayna Claire?
“She feels right. She understands me and I don’t even have to open my mouth. She’s terrified all the time, but she fights through it and she never hesitates to give someone else the love she doesn’t think she deserves. She’s so damn sweet, but she’s also fucking ruthless and I just...,” Fury trailed off as he dropped his hands to his sides and shrugged.
“I get it. She makes you feel human again.”
Fury finally turned to face Ox as he nodded.
“Yeah, she does. And it doesn’t feel forced, it feels natural, like we just...connect.”
Ox smiled.
“Good. I’m glad. Because you two are going for a little trip,” Ox announced as he dropped his cigarette butt onto the ground.
Fury’s eyes narrowed.
“Wait, what?”
“Yep! I need you to pick up a package and Rayna needs a break. She’s been workin’ non-stop in the garage, and I think a trip will be good for you two.”
Fury slid onto his bike as he thought about it.
“Why do we need to go on this run together? Surely, she’d be safer at the clubhouse.”
Ox snorted.
“She’s safest with you, and because I said so. You still owe me from that run to Virginia.”
Fury hung his head.
“So you’re sendin’ me and Rayna on a road trip together?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
Fury watched Ox climb onto his own bike.
“Ox, why do you think she’ll go with me?”
He smiled, like he’d just swallowed the canary whole, and shrugged.
“Because I already asked her, and she packed her bag this morning.”
Fuck.
~`~
Fury tried to reign in his irritation before he made it back to the lot. He didn’t want to take his anger out on Rayna, because she didn’t deserve it.
He was angry at Ox, not her.
He couldn’t blame her for wanting a break, for wanting to escape for a little while.
Fury also couldn’t deny the fact that he was eager to get her alone.
While they’d spent plenty of time around one another since the fight between him and Axel, they hadn’t spent time together since the bonfire.
Fury loved getting to know Rayna.
He loved learning her, she was his favorite subject...but he was dying to touch her again.
She had no idea how much time he spent watching her, inhaling her scent, remembering the way her body folded under his touch like a deck of cards.
All the tagalongs were trained to give them responses they thought men wanted to hear; loud moans, squeals, the typical size comments...
Rayna wasn't like that.
Rayna was so honest with him.
He could read her emotions like a book, and he liked that- she was the opposite of him.
Fury would rather keep everything to himself, but Rayna was open. He could see every expression so clearly on her beautiful face.
The lot came into view and he waited for the barbed wire gate to open before he drove inside, parking his bike next to the garage office.
It was hot out, sunny too, and when Rayna stepped out of the office he lost his breath.
Damn, she’s so gorgeous.
Her ivory skin was on display.
She was wearing a hot pink tank top and jean shorts that almost fit her- she’d gained enough weight to look healthy again- and those curves had Fury biting his lip in anticipation.
“Hey!,” She called when she saw him.
“Hey, baby.”
Her smile widened as she neared him, her hands tucked into her pockets.
“I guess Ox told you we’re goin’ on a trip, huh?”
Fury tried not to fumble over his words when her blonde hair fell into her face and he caught a glimpse of the pink lip gloss on her lips.
“Yeah, he did. You okay with that?”
She tucked said hair behind her ear and shrugged.
“Should be a nice little getaway. Can’t say I’m upset about it.”
Good.
“Yeah, the beach is nice this time of year. We’ll head down to Myrtle tonight, shouldn’t take too long,” Fury said.
Rayna motioned to a car over her shoulder.
A cherry red Mustang with shiny new rims.
“Ox told me we could take his car.”
Fury’s eyebrows hit his hairline.
Ox’s car?
He never lets anyone drive his car!
“He’s up to somethin’, he never lets anyone so much as look at that car.”
Rayna giggled and Fury soaked up the sound like a dehydrated sponge.
“He told me I deserve it.”
Fury looked up into her eyes and smiled.
“Yeah, you do.”
She took a step towards him as her smile slowly faded.
“Ya know, if you don’t wanna go with me, I can always ask Green-”
“Fuck that. I’m takin’ you, and that’s final.”
Rayna rose up onto her tiptoes and gently pressed her mouth to his scruffy cheek. Fury was pretty sure he felt the sharp edges of her teeth along the shell of his ear when she whispered, “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
Andddd my dick is hard again.
Rayna smiled like she knew the effect she had on him, but Fury didn’t think she had a clue.
“We’ll leave around six. I need to pack a bag and get my own shit in order.”
Rayna nodded as she stepped towards the garage.
“Okay, let me know when you’re ready!”
Fury was ready right then and there to fuck her, to own her, but he’d have to wait.
“Yo, you got the info you need from Ox?”
Fury turned to see Rider waiting for him, a piece of paper folded in his hands.
Fury took it and unfolded it, reading the name and address out loud to himself.
“Dawson Harrison. He’s the guy who does fake I.D’s and shit, what are we pickin’ up from him?”
Rider glanced at Rayna.
“She needs paperwork, brother. That’s what you’re going to get.”
Fury nodded as he tucked the piece of paper into his back pocket and sighed.
“Okay.”
“What’s wrong? You get a weekend with your girl, and a nice trip to the beach.”
Fury nodded as he headed towards the clubhouse.
“Yeah, but I guess now is when I have to decide if I...sink or swim, huh?”
Rider laughed.
“I guess so.”
Rider sent him a wave as he headed back to the bike he was detailing.
As Fury stepped into the clubhouse he was greeted by Green, who had a serious frown on his face.
“Rumor has it you’re taking my best friend on a little road trip.”
Fury tried not to grin.
“I am. Ox’s orders.”
Green scoffed, his hands landing on his hips.
“Rayna happens to mean a lot to me, so don’t go hurting her feelings again. Got it?”
Green was a jokester all the way, but Fury knew Green’s temper rivaled his own.
He’d earned his own reputation after doing a three
year stint in prison with Ox’s old man, Archer. Green was a vicious Irishman, and he’d proven that fact ten times over.
So, Fury knew he was completely serious when he told Fury that Rayna meant a lot to him.
“I got it, Green. She’s safe with me.”
“Make sure that she is. If you hurt her, in any way, I’ll skin you alive with the glass from my coveted bottle of Jameson.”
Fury’s eyed widened.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.”
Green’s eyes narrowed into slits as he took a step towards Fury, his buff arms crossed over his chest.
Fury didn’t back down, but he did cup his brother’s shoulder and smile.
“You’re a good best friend, Green. I’ll protect her with my life.”
Green’s answering smile told Fury all was well.
“Good.”
Fury headed to his room where he pulled out a small duffel and started packing things he’d need for the trip.
Change of clothes, deodorant, extra ammo, his favorite knife-
When he came across a box of condoms, he paused, his entire body heating at the idea of finally burying his cock deep inside Rayna.
If I bring them, I’m being presumptuous.
If I leave them, I’m being stupid.
With an irritated sigh Fury opened the box and shoved a handful into his bag.
“Fuck it, better safe than sorry.”
Fury didn’t second guess his choice as he continued to pack his bag, his mind on none other than Ox’s words earlier.
“You’re gonna get yourself killed!”
“If you continue down this path, her sacrifice will have been for nothing, Fury. Her memory doesn’t deserve that injustice!
“A fine man wouldn’t let a woman like Rayna Claire slip through his fingers.”
Ox was fucking right and Fury knew it.
He hated it, because he’d been content to destroy himself in his sister’s name, but that wouldn’t bring her back.
No matter how much he fought, prayed, or begged, Lizzie wasn’t coming back.
She was gone, but Fury wasn’t, and he needed to finally accept that fact.
Ox was also right about letting Rayna slip through his fingers- Fury would hate himself forever if he let that happen.
He meant every word he’d said to Ox earlier; his connection with Rayna went way deeper than her pantyline.
Wrath (Seven Deadlies MC) Page 10