by Colt, Shyla
Symone grinned, showing the tiny dimple in her left cheek.
He’d watched her come into her own over the weeks as she settled into her new life. They peeled off their clothes and he drank in the sight of her. Long legs, strong, thick thighs, a concave belly and high firm breasts. She was a wet dream come to life. He liked his woman with some give and a handful of breasts. She offered all that and more. She laid back on the bed and he crawled in-between her open legs.
Being with her like this was like being a virgin again, and re-discovering sex for the first time. Their lips met and he ran his hands over her soft curves, savoring the feel of her silken skin. She raked her nails down his chest and he shivered. He kissed his way down her neck lingering at her pulse point. Her hands massaged his shoulders and back. He soaked up the comfort and the magical feeling of hands that wanted to explore his body. She understood the badly burned portion of his body was more sensitive and took care. She ran her hand over his scarred back and he moaned.
“Okay?” she whispered.
“If I get any harder babe, my dick will turn to stone.”
She giggled.
Sex had never been fun before. It’d always been something done in the dark quickly. This woman had changed everything for the better. He captured her lips and pushed his body up over hers. She reached down between them and gripped the base of his dick. He moaned into her mouth.
They parted and she traced his lips with the tip of her tongue as she stroked him slowly. “I like it when I hold you in my hand, and I can feel your heartbeat throbbing and taste your moans.”
“You like to take control.”
“I like that you allow me to have it.” She moved her wrist faster and paused at the head to smear his pre-cum around with her thumb. “Now, you’re the one who’s wet for me.”
“Always.”
She spread her legs wider. “I want to feel you moving inside me, erasing the memory of everyone else. I want to feel your cum heating me from the inside out.”
“Fuck…babe.” She released him and he lined up with her entrance. He pushed his head inside her and paused. “So tight.”
Symone gasped and he body tensed.
“Fuck babe, relax your muscles. Let me inside that pretty pussy.” He pulled out and pushed back in. “Give me those eyes, too.” Their gazes connected and he eased back in. Her body gave and he pushed home. Completely surrounded by the body of the woman he loved, he was overwhelmed and close to coming. Tight, wet and hot—she tested his endurance. “Give me those fingers.” He opened his mouth and she slid them inside. He sucked them and released them with a moan. “Let me see you rub yourself baby.”
Her eyes smoldered at him like hot chocolate as she rubbed her clit. Her lids lowered and she let her head fall back. Her breathing came in pants.
Monster continued his steady pace. “Tilt those hips baby.” He bottomed out and they both moaned.
“So good, Hayes.”
He gritted his teeth, holding off his orgasm as she undulated beneath him. Her breathing increased and her walls contracted. He increased his speed. The slap of flesh against flesh drove him. He slammed into her body. She placed her feet flat against the bed and met him thrust for thrust. Sweat rolled down his back and between the valleys of her breasts.
“I—I’m going to come.”
“Do it, baby.”
Her muscles locked around him and he let go, exploding as her contractions milked him dry. He rolled his body to the side, taking her with him, so they could remain connected. “You okay, babe?”
“Okay is not the word I’d use to describe how I feel. Maybe blissed out would fit the bill.”
He bent down and they shared a sweet kiss, too exhausted to do much more.
“I love you, Hayes.”
“I love you too, Symone.” He pulled her to him and inhaled her sweet scent, content here in the new home they were building from the ground up.
CHAPTER SEVEN
After a weekend spent in the bed, Symone walked into work Monday morning floating on cloud nine. She hummed as she started the coffee and set out donuts. This was more than she’d ever dreamed of having. A kind of free falling with the belief that any hindrance would be worth the prize that waited at a safe landing.
A knock came.
She frowned. No one ever came in this early other than Monster, who she now knew was trying to charm her in his own way. She walked away from the table where the coffee and breakfast rolls sat and laughed.
Chase stood with her face pressed up against the glass like a small child.
She unlocked the door and the blonde bounded inside like a graceful gazelle.
“I got my ass up at the crack of dawn to come down here, so you better dish.”
“Good morning to you too.”
“Stuff the greetings sister,” Chase drawled.
Symone laughed and held out her hand.
Chase let out a low whistle. “Holy shit. I didn’t think old boy had it in him.”
“You’d be surprised,” Symone mumbled.
“Congratulations are in order! Shit! I’m going to throw you a bachelorette party to end all parties.”
Her face flushed with happiness. Symone was reminded of the bond she’d once shared with Gia. Closer than most sisters, they’d experienced the joys and pains of life together. It’s time to have that conversation.
“What’s wrong?” Chase ducked down into a chair and met her lowered gaze.
“Gia should hear about this from me, not someone else. I owe her at least that much. All these months, I’ve been getting my shit together and her wounds have been left to fester.” She sighed. “I need to get my house in order. I wasn’t ready before, but Monster changed everything.”
“I’m glad, you know. He never deserved what he’d been handed, in my opinion.”
“No, he didn’t,” Symone said, thinking of the secrets she shared with the twins.
The shop phone rang and Symone frowned. “That’s weird.” She walked over to the desk and answered. “Devil’s Auto Shop.”
“Good, you’re there. Call all the appointments for today and cancel them.”
“Demon?” she asked. He sounded frazzled. It wasn’t like him.
“What? Yeah. Ardy’s gone into the labor. I’m at the hospital and trying to get everyone here taking shifts. I need eyes on the kids and I want people securing the hospital in case my bat shit crazy ex is lurking around. I don’t trust that bitch. It’d be just like her to wait until now to come back on the scene.”
“Consider it done. Anything else I need to do?”
“Just be ready to act if I call you. I already let the crew know, so no one will be heading in.”
“I’m here,” she vowed, full of loyalty for the man who’d taken her in and given her protection when he had no real reason to. There were good people left in the world. They might not look clean cut, or live life by the rules society had in place, but personal experience told her demons came in pretty packaging and said and did all the right things, until they had you alone.
“You’re alright, Symone.” The dial tone sounded in her ear and she smiled.
“What’s up?” Chase asked.
“Ardy went into labor.”
“Holy shit, Boss man is going to be a daddy again. I’m starting to wonder if he’s going for the biker Brady Bunch or something.” She shook her head.
“Let me call the appointments and we can get out of here and lock up,” Symone said. She walked around and sat down, calling and apologizing, citing a family emergency. “Alright, I’m done.” She shut down the computer and stood. “Let’s lock up.”
“You want to get breakfast?” Chase asked as they hit the lights and exited the building.
“I have some things to take care of this morning. But thanks for the offer.”
“No problem, I’m going to grab a breakfast burrito on the way home and crash out. No amount of sleep is too much for me.” She gave a small wave and strolled to he
r bike, looking for all the world like an alternative model with her pierced lip and a full sleeve visible in her short sleeved t-shirt.
Symone watched her drive off and placed a call to Gia.
“What’s wrong?” Gia asked. Her worried tone made her wince.
“Nothing. If you have the time, I’m ready to have that long overdue talk.”
She gasped. “There’s a gaggle of people here at the hospital. I won’t be missed. When and where do you want to meet up?”
“My place in fifteen…twenty minutes?”
“Done.”
They disconnected and she walked to her car excited, nervous, and immersed in her past. Memories of their time together floated on the surface of her brain. The good, the bad and the indifferent. As sisters did, they’d had their knockdown drag outs, and always came back together, because in the end, all they had was one another.
She steered her car through the streets, reflecting on her history. She pulled into the parking lot, cut the engine, and rested her head on the steering wheel. Right or wrong, confronting painful things was always difficult, and acknowledging that her feelings were fucked up, cut her deep. They said misery loved company, but the reality was hurt people, hurt people. Seeing Gia, whole, beautiful, and blissfully happy had been a knife turn in a festering wound. She’d always be the one who got away while she stayed behind and lived through hell. It was an unfortunate fact, but she didn’t have to let it rule her, or continue to make her bitter.
I’m going to do this right.
Any sort of tension between Demon’s Vice President and his woman was bad. She got out of the car before she could change her mind and walked to her apartment. The small space felt almost foreign. She’d been spending more and more time at Monster’s condo and all her best memories were there. Barring the ones she’d made with Chase. She set her purse down on the table near the door and toed off her pumps. A knock sounded. A glance through the peephole showed Gia dressed in jeans and a Dueling Devils hoodie.
Symone opened the door and stepped back.
“Hi,” Gia greeted.
“Hi, thank you for coming. Please come in.” She gestured her inside with her arm. “We can sit on the couch.”
“Okay.” Gia walked over to the mid-sized couch and sank down.
Symone locked the door behind her and joined her. “There are many reasons why I asked you here. But the first is to explain myself. Seeing you was a slap to the face. You’re happy here. You have a family of your own making and your beauty. It’s a painful reminder of what slipped through my fingertips. Picturing you somewhere in the United States free and happy was a double-edged sword. It gave me the strength to endure, but it also gave me a place to misdirect my anger. I couldn’t express that to Mylandra or her people. It would give them too much pleasure and lead to making things worse for me. It was shitty, I admit it. But I never claimed to be perfect. When I saw you again, it was like all that bitterness exploded inside me and spilled out of my mouth.” Symone shook her head. “I’m sorry for that. I really am. I had to put distance between us to get my head back on straight.” She met her friend’s hazel eyes and winced at the pain visible there.
“I understood in a way. When I found out you’d been alive this entire time while being tortured. I hated myself. If it hadn’t been for Lefty, I would’ve spiraled into a bad place. We understand more than most that life can fuck you up majorly. But this was—too much,” Gia whispered.
“You have no idea,” Symone whispered back.
“Where do we go from here?”
“Some place better, I hope. Things have changed for me in the past few months. I have a clearer vision of what my life could be like. I spent so much time over the past years feeling afraid and numb. I don’t want to do that anymore.
“And you don’t have to,” Gia whispered.
“Why are you so good to me, Gia? We both know I’ve been a bitch.”
“Because you’re my sister and you were hurting. Because with a few inches to the right we could’ve had our roles reversed.” Gia took her hand. “I know it won’t happen overnight, but I think what we had is worth fighting for.”
“I agree.”
Gia smiled.
“I need to tell you something.”
Gia tensed.
“Monster asked me to marry him and I said yes.”
Gia’s jaw dropped. “Monster? Tall, quiet, and slightly menacing member of the Dueling Devils?”
Symone laughed and nodded. “That’s the one.”
“Does he make you happy?”
“He showed me what it is to be happy,” Symone said.
“Then I’m happy for you.”
“What about you and Lefty?”
“Hah, if it were up to him, we’d be pregnant right now.” Gia rolled her eyes. “He’s like a damn steamroller when he wants something.”
Symone snorted. “I think it’s a Dueling Devils trait.”
“Monster too?”
“Oh yeah, but he’s been very patient. I’m lucky to have found him.”
They spent the rest of the morning catching up on the time lost. The band around her heart loosened with every minute that passed. It would be a battle to air the ugliness and go through the pain of proper healing.
But it would be worth it. Around noon, they received a text.
“Baby born at 11:30. Ardy is resting and Baby Girl is doing just fine.”
Gia laughed. “I bet he called her baby girl because they didn’t pick a name. Those two were on different planets when it came to names for a little girl.”
“You’re close to them?” Symone asked, genuinely interested.
“I am. Ardy’s become a great friend.”
“I feel the same way about Chase.”
“Yeah, I thought the two of you would get along well. I wouldn’t have left you here otherwise.”
“That was more than I deserved at the time.”
“No, it really wasn’t.” Gia stood. “I want to get her some flowers and maybe a pink blanket for the newest bundle.”
“Alright. Monster said he’d swing by when his shift was over, so I’ll stay here and wait for him while those closest to the family visit.” She walked her to the door. “I’ll talk to you soon?”
“Yes, you will,” Gia agreed.
As she walked out of the apartment, a new sense of balance accosted her. With every step forward she made, another chain linking her to the past gave way.
* * * *
The word tense didn’t come close to describing the vibe floating in the air as he did his stint of patrolling with Pan. It was a common practice to place them together to do things. Monster glanced down at his watch once more.
Twenty more minutes to freedom.
They were doing hourly sweeps of each floor, insuring Ardy’s and the newest little lady's protection. He wasn’t sure if Demon was paranoid, or he’d heard whisperings of his ex’s return. Drugs made you do crazy shit and she’d been in bad with their rivals. He couldn’t blame his Pres for erring on the side of caution.
“You going to ignore me the entire time?” Pan asked from his position propped up against the wall across from him.
“I’m not ignoring you. I just don’t have anything to say.”
“Shocker,” Pan scoffed. “All you’ve done over the past few years is keep everything to yourself.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s like pulling teeth just to have a real conversation with you.”
“Why, because I decided to stop wallowing in my own self-pity?”
“Why does it have to be about that?”
“Because life hasn’t been a fucking bed of roses for me Pan. You’ve had blinders on. Like, if you ignore reality, it doesn’t exist. I didn’t have the luxury. People treat me like a pariah…it’s a fact, not an opinion. Women were freaked out or grossed out by me on the regular. Especially, the vain ass bitches we deal with. The tag-teaming we did was them throwing me a bone to h
ave you. I got sick of living in your shadow. So, yeah, I went internal. You should’ve understood why.”
“All I wanted was my twin brother back! You turned into a virtual stranger.”
“No, I turned into the man I needed to be to survive. It wasn’t personal. Can’t you see that? We couldn’t carry on the way we once had, when we’re night and day.” Monster sighed and shook his head. He’d no clue why his brother acted this way. “Why didn’t you just ask me, man?”
“You were so fucking prickly, and it hurt to see you suffering and struggling and know I was the source of all your pain. I tried to bring you out of it and show you a good time whenever I could. But it was like you resented it.”
“I resented you feeling like you had to throw me a bone. The fire didn’t damage my brain or make me weak. It changed the things I wanted and valued in life. You’re still in playboy mode and I wanted more.”
“And you found that now, I suppose?”
“Yeah, I did.” Monster exhaled. “I asked Symone to marry me and she said yes.”
“Of course she did.” Pan threw his hands up in the air. “Now you two can couple down, shit out a few kids, and leave me in the dust.”
“Did I say I was going to do that?” Monster barked.
“Everything okay here, boys?”
Monster turned to see a narrow-eyed Lefty standing a few feet away.
“Yeah, we’re cool.”
“I came to relieve you for the day,” Lefty said.
Monster nodded his thanks.
“I suggest you take this shit outside and lower your volume. Demon will have your head if you cause a scene right now.”
“Understood,” Pan said.
Monster stalked to the stairwell with his brother on his heels.
“We can’t keep this shit up. It’s going to cause drama within the club,” Pan said.
“Seems like you’re the one with all the issues. I accepted our lives for what they were a long time ago and now, I’m finally happy. I can’t force myself to get over your betrayal. That has to happen in time. I’m not going to cut you out of my life. We’re not high school girls.”