by London Casey
“Then I want to hear everything that happened tonight.”
Slade grinned. “I’m still trying to figure it out myself.”
We were back in no time and the second I opened the door, there was a harsh smell that made me cover my mouth and nose.
“I’ll get it,” Slade said.
“He’s my brother,” I said.
“Trust me, nothing would please me more than leaving your brother in his own puke but I’m going to take the high road on this. It fucking pains me to do it.”
“I guess I’ll be in bed...”
It then occurred to me that was the first time I ever got to say that to Slade.
When Slade came into the bedroom, my toes curled under the covers. I bit my lip and felt myself tingling as Slade shut the door. Of all the things I wanted to do to him and with him, yet my brother was drunk on the couch in his own version of hell.
At the side of the bed, Slade took off his shirt.
“Torture,” I whispered.
“What?”
“You.”
He climbed into the bed and wrapped his arms around me. “What a fucking night, Liv.”
“I know. I...”
“Tell me your version of it.”
“Of what?”
“Your father, beautiful. You need to talk about it.”
“I’ve never had my chance. It was always about Owen. His life and worries and fears and demanding to protect all of us. My mother went along because she was so sad. I tried to help my mother so she didn’t end up going too far, you know?”
“I know,” Slade said. “You did amazing with everything, Liv. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for all of it.”
I turned and faced Slade. I put my hand to his chest. “I’ll tell you anything you want but I need to know about Danny.”
“Okay,” Slade said. “Okay, Liv.”
“My father took to Owen for obvious reasons,” I said. “I didn’t think anything of it. Dad was always grooming him for police work. I was his princess though. For as rough and tough as he acted with Owen he was gentle and protective with me. Nobody hurt me. Nothing bothered me. I had him. You were the ultimate rebel of it all, Slade. The bad in my world of good. You were the opposite of everything I knew in life but it works. You make it work, Slade. I trust you with my life. I don’t know what else to say about my father. He was there and then he wasn’t. I woke up one morning and Mom was at the kitchen table. There were two of Dad’s friends - Chuck and Steve - sitting there, in uniform. They were all sad. Crying even. So I looked around for Dad. He wasn’t there. Mom looked at me...” I looked up at Slade. My eyes started to fill with tears. It hit like a rock to my gut.
Slade touched my cheek, his thumb waiting for a tear. “It’s okay, Liv. It’s okay to have this moment finally. Tell me everything, beautiful. I want to hold your pain. I want to hold everything.”
I let out a sigh. “The second I saw my mother’s eyes, I just knew the truth, okay? That’s all there is, Slade. My father was shot by someone. A stranger. Maybe a guy he knew or tried to help. Maybe it was a guy he fucked over. Right? I mean, that’s what my father did. He knew how to work the streets to make them better. That’s why I understand you, Slade. You do the same. You do what you need to do to survive. I’m just terrified you’ll end up like him. Only you won’t get a ceremony and remembered as a hero. You’ll be forgotten as some outlaw.”
“If you’d remember me then that’s all I’d need,” Slade said.
I let out a cry. “That doesn’t help.”
“Liv, I’m not going anywhere.”
“I know what the motorcycle club is about.”
“And right now I’m not wearing a leather cut,” Slade said. “I was respectfully able to put my cut down for now.”
“Exactly. For now.”
Slade pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head. I kissed his steel chest, my tongue tingling, wanting to taste all of him.
“I’m going to take care of everything, Liv. I didn't expect to deal with your brother like this tonight.”
“Thank you. He does this every year. Usually he stays home, in the basement, and hurts himself. I can’t believe he was out driving in his police vehicle.”
“In my life, Liv, sometimes you need that to make everything better. Meaning a good fight could help. To you, I get it. You see me and Owen throwing fists and think we’re assholes. Which we both are. To us, we’re settling the differences. We don’t talk about our feelings and shit. Fuck that. We hit each other. Then we stop. And that’s exactly what happened. We stopped fighting and he broke down crying. He knows we’re meant to be together, Liv. He’ll accept it. He has no choice.”
“I hope so,” I whispered.
“Liv, I could have set him up so bad. Left him in the diner. He would have gotten caught and lost everything. And it was tempting to do to him. But at the end of the day we both want what’s best for you. His version of that is different than mine.”
“Want to know my version?” I asked.
“Sure.”
“This. You and me in a bed together, talking. I feel like we’re a family.”
“We’re a family, Liv. You have nothing to worry about there.”
My hand slipped under the covers and I couldn’t save myself from touching between his legs. I cupped and squeezed, feeling him come to life again.
A smile spread across his face and he reached down, finding the bottom of my shirt, lifting it. My dirty little intentions for me and Slade became exposed as he touched my hip and then around to my bare ass.
I wasn’t wearing any panties.
He kept going, reaching all the way around me, down, and between my legs. The tips of his fingers grazed my silky skin and I let out a long breath.
Slade was my drug and I was an addict.
“You’re nothing but trouble,” Slade whispered as his lips flirted with mine.
“Then punish me.”
(SLADE)
My tongue darted into her mouth a second before she screamed. Our mouths together absorbed the sound and vibration. I had my left hand holding her wrists tight, hands above her head as I fucked her. I moved so slow and so deep, it was a different pace for me. But it felt so fucking good. I explored every inch of her sweet and tender body, feeling the way she squeezed at me, her pussy sheathing me, reminding me that I’d never need another pussy for the rest of my life.
And that was goddamn unheard of.
But it was Liv.
She was always the only one for me.
I thrust harder, knowing there was no other way to claim her more than I had. Shit, she was letting me fuck her, love her, and she was carrying my baby. There was nothing left for me to do, short of marrying her.
I stopped kissing her and went down to her tits. I let her wrists go and her hands slapped at my back, nails digging into my skin.
“Fuck, Slade,” she whispered. “I want to scream.”
I looked up at her. “Then scream.”
Liv turned her head and grabbed a pillow. I watched her bite into it and then she screamed. It was muffled but so goddamn sexy. She arched her chest at me and I felt her coming hard against my cock. I grabbed at her ribs, just under her breasts, and held her right there as I kept going. I pulled at her, lifting her right up until we were just about sitting up, facing each other.
Her arms went around my neck and she kept grinding her hips at me. My dick was getting more and more full, ready to unleash inside her. Goddamn, the feeling was so free. It was just like the open road. Everything free, open, and amazing.
I kissed Liv’s soft neck, inhaling the smell of her skin and her hair. My teeth grazed her neck and I groaned, reaching my limit. Unless she stopped, I was done for.
She didn’t stop.
Her hips bucked harder at me and then the second I started to come, I grabbed her ass and held her tight. She fought against my hold, rocking left to right, our mouths finding each other again. As she groaned, I grunted. Everything of
ours mixed together, inside and out.
When we were finished, I placed Liv on her back again and hovered over her. I was still inside her, staring at her beautiful face, her beautiful body. Shit, even her hair, all messy, was beautiful.
She touched my face and smiled. Then she started to giggle. Her cheeks blushed and I was taken back to the first time we were together. It was basically just like this. I worried about hurting her, but that wasn’t the case at all. The moment I first thrust into her, I activated her sexual desires. All of them.
“I want to know everything,” Liv whispered.
I eased from her wonderful body and faced her, naked. Her leg wrapped around me, pulling me close.
“Okay, Liv.” I nodded. “You want to know the truth?”
“Yes,” she said. “Please, yes.”
“Fine... here’s the truth...”
Danny had a thing for Owen. That much I really believed. There was something about Danny and his obsession for Owen went way too far. He would do anything Owen said and it didn’t matter the potential trouble. And that meant violence... including bringing a gun to threaten me.
“Or kill me,” I said to Liv. “That’s what it came down to. Me and him, facing off. A gun in his hand. He was drunk and he looked ready to cry. Owen had sent him up there to find us. That’s my biggest regret, Liv. Going up there that night with you. If we just left...” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter now. This is what matters. Danny was drunk and had a gun. You know what he told me?”
“What?”
“That Owen promised you to him.”
Liv’s eyes went wide. “What?”
“Your brother told Danny he could have you. Which was weird enough... but I always thought Danny had a crush on Owen. And that he was just afraid to admit who he was. That’s what caused the mess that night.”
“You killed him because of me?” Liv asked.
“No, beautiful. I didn’t kill Danny. When I saw that he was drunk and had a gun, I knew what I needed to do. I had to get the gun out of his hand. So that’s where I started. Yes, I attacked him. Yes, I punched him. Hell, I beat him up more than I should have done. I’ll admit that. But I got the gun away from him. He was a blubbering mess, telling me that I was ruining everything. That he was going to be part of the family. Honestly, I think Danny was depressed and looking for anything in life to feel accepted. And your brother used that to his advantage.”
Liv looked away from me. Her bottom lip quivered. “So what happened?”
“You know how Danny died.”
“He fell off the ridge,” Liv said. “Well, the rumor is that you pushed him off the ridge.”
“Even if that was true, he was drunk and had a gun. He threatened me and you. I feared for my life and yours, Liv. But the underlying truth was that your brother sent him up there to stir up trouble. I’m not exactly sure what Owen expected Danny to do though. Shoot me? Then what? Owen would cover it up?”
“You’re avoiding my question, Slade.”
She was right. I was avoiding it.
“I picked Danny up. Then I picked up the gun. I took the clip out and I threw both as hard as I could. Then I looked at Danny and was going to use him to send a clear message to your brother. I wanted to hurt Danny even more. I wanted to knock sense into him. I wanted him to crawl back to your brother, beaten and bloody, a lesson to both of them to stay the fuck out of my way. Nobody would take care of you like me, Liv. So he stood there, bleeding and crying. He put a hand out and begged me to stop hitting him. He said he would talk to Owen and fix everything. I just stood there and watched him. He was so jittery. Scared and drunk. Bloody and drunk. I saw him step back over and over. I saw the rock there. Honestly, Liv, I thought he was going to fall to his ass. Then I was going to grab him by the throat and show him the other side of the ridge. Scare the shit out of him. But when he hit the rock, his body twisted. I don’t know if he thought someone was behind him or what. His arms flailed and he turned, jumping forward. It almost looked like he wanted to jump from the ridge. I saw him going over and I jumped at him. I felt the back pocket of his jeans for a split second and that was it. He was gone. Over the ridge, Liv.”
I stopped talking. My heart was pounding, just like that night.
Liv looked at me. “Slade...”
“That’s the damn truth. Then Owen showed up and he knew what happened. He planned all of that to happen. So he made it simple. Either I’d get charged and put away for murder or I could just disappear. Owen knew how to stack it up against me. They had Danny’s body. He was obviously beat up bad because of me. What was I supposed to do? And at that time, it sort of made sense. I knew you didn’t want to be dragged away from your mother. Who was I to demand that of you?”
Liv gently kissed me. “I’m so sorry, Slade.”
I grabbed her shoulder. “I am too. I never wanted Danny to end up dead. I never wanted your brother to get in that deep. I never wanted to leave town and leave you behind. The only grace I took was that if you had the chance to meet a decent guy. Someone who could love you and really take care of you.”
“That will never happen without you,” Liv said. “You’re meant to take care of me. I believe that. I know that.”
“So do I, Liv. That’s why all of this is going to work out. We’ll see how Owen feels in the morning. There’s nothing that can stop us.”
“Walker.”
“No. Not Walker. Owen knows he’s wrong with that too. And if Owen can’t face it, then I will. I don’t give a shit about a guy with money. Who the hell proposes like that?”
“How would you propose?” Liv asked with a grin.
I laughed. “Wow, you go from one subject to another, huh? I confess something really dark and now we want to talk about marriage?”
Liv pushed herself at me, slithering on top of me. We were both still naked. I loved the feel of her warm body against mine.
“I’m just trying to keep this going,” she whispered. She wiggled her hips at me.
“That’ll do the trick,” I said.
Liv was then on top of me. My dick was filling right back up, resting between her legs, feeling her slick warmth.
“Slade, I never thought for a second you did anything wrong. I just never understood all that happened. I hated it for so many years. I hated you, Slade.”
“I know, beautiful. I hated me too.”
I grabbed her and pulled her down for a kiss.
And that kiss ended up somewhere very hot.
(OLIVIA)
I stood there with a glass of cold water. I took pleasure watching Owen sleep and took even more pleasure when I poured the water on his face. He popped up with a slew of curse words all mixed together, kicking and punching like he was under attack. He then looked at me, looked around, and grabbed his head.
“What the fuck, Olivia?” he yelled.
“Good morning, sunshine,” I said. I sat down on the coffee table. “It’s time we talk, Owen.”
“What the hell...” He looked around again. “Why am I here?” He touched his face and winced. “Shit. Wait. My cruiser...”
“Slade took care of everything,” I said. “He got you here. Your cruiser is out front. Owen, look at me.”
Owen looked at me.
I put the empty cup down. Then I swung my hand and slapped him right across the face.
“Ow!” he yelled.
“You were drinking and driving,” I yelled. “In your police car! Are you fucking serious?”
Owen rubbed his cheek. “Okay, Olivia. You’re right on that.”
“What were you thinking?”
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “Do you remember anything?”
“Some,” Owen said.
The bedroom door opened and out came Slade, his t-shirt in his hand. He grinned at me, purposely coming out of the bedroom shirtless to piss Owen off.
Owen looked back and let out a groan. “Jesus. You’re here too.�
�
“Of course,” Slade said. “Do you not remember our conversation last night?”
“Put your shirt on,” Owen said. “Show some respect.”
“Respect?” Slade asked and laughed. “Yeah, right.” Slade put his shirt on and looked at me. “I’m going to go for a little ride, Liv. Get us something for breakfast. So you two can talk in private.”
“Okay,” I said. “Thank you.”
Then the moment came.
I reached for Slade’s hand, just to touch him. He had other things in mind though. He leaned down and planted a big kiss on me. Right in front of Owen. My heart leapt from my chest.
Slade kissed me three times and then looked at Owen. “Something wrong?”
“Fucking asshole,” Owen whispered.
“Jealous? I’ll give you a kiss too, Owen.”
I laughed.
Owen rubbed his forehead. “Just go, Slade. And get me something greasy and the muddiest coffee you can find.”
Slade winked at me and left.
I waited for the door to shut and then looked at my brother again. I wanted to slap him again. And again. And about ten more times. Instead, I just sat there and waited for him to talk to me.
He rubbed his forehead and then down the bridge of his nose. Finally, he gave me a nod and asked, “Can you get me some water?”
“No,” I said. “I want to know what you’re thinking.”
“I don’t know,” Owen confessed. “Okay? Today always sucks for me. This year it’s even worse. This shit with Mom. I have no idea what to do or what to expect. Then Slade coming back and now you’re pregnant by him? Olivia, what happened...”
“You know what happened,” I said. I swallowed hard. I had to stay strong. “It’s always been him. He told me the truth about what happened with Danny. There was nothing he did wrong. You sent Danny up there, drunk and with a gun.”
Owen sucked in his cheeks. “What do you want to believe?”
“I want the truth. You took my life from me, Owen. I loved Slade. He never did anything wrong to me. Or you. Yeah, he had stuff in his life and he did bad things. Okay, I get that...”