by C. M. Marin
“It was him. He shot me. That’s what he said at least.” His body turns hard as steel against me in the matter of a fleeting second.
“He told me that you were his target, and that it happened too fast. That’s why I took a stray bullet.” When he doesn’t say anything, I decide to keep up with the news. “When the car was shot at, it was Liam who was the target. He knew it was him because of the bug. He didn’t say so, but I think that he was set on killing you and Liam because he seemed to think that without you both, I wouldn’t be tied to the club anymore.”
“Or maybe he thought you’d be easier to snatch without us in the way. Fuck,” he blurts out at last. “Didn’t see this one coming.”
“CJ and the Spiders had nothing to do with any of it.”
He hums. “Yeah,” he says thoughtfully. “Doesn’t mean they’re not planning something as we speak, but that’s an issue for another day. How are you feeling?”
Like a mess.
“I’m fine. Just… I don’t know.”
He’s about to speak―probably to say that he’s going to call Doc again―when his phone buzzes in his pocket. He sighs and checks it out since it’s most likely the guys.
“It’s Liam,” he tells me. “Wants to know how you’re doing. They’re done. They’ll be back in a minute.”
Immediately, I push away from the comfort of his arms. “I’ll go see him.”
I leave the bed, and he does the same, but before I can get to the door, he gently grasps my arm and turns me to face him.
“I love you, Alex,” he says, and his beautiful green eyes glisten with so many emotions that I know he wants me to really believe him.
“I know. I love you, too.”
His lips brush mine in a sweet kiss. But when he pulls away, his gaze stays locked with mine, and something close to misery stares back at me.
“What is it? What are you thinking?”
He swallows loudly. “If the way I acted today before you left was the last…” He trails off, but he doesn’t need to say more for me to understand where he’s going with this.
“It’s okay, Jayce. It’s―”
“It’s not,” he counters. “It’s not okay. I wouldn’t have forgiven myself for this.”
My palm graces his cheek as I speak. “You were mad, but I knew you still love me. Even after I read the letter and thought it was from you, I still knew it. Otherwise I wouldn’t have decided to go after you. Just like I should have done when you broke up with me back then.”
“No, Alex―”
“Yes,” I cut him off. “You weren’t yourself, and I should have fought for us. I’m not going to make the same mistake again,” I promise him, and I don’t give him enough time to try and argue. “We’ll fight more than once as time goes on,” I smile, and his own grin is faint as his gaze burns into mine. “But I’ll always know that you love me. I promise,” I tell him, and I then prevent him from saying anything by taking his hand in mine. “Now let’s go downstairs before Liam starts threatening your life for not answering his text.”
Complying, he falls into step with me as I walk out of the room and down the stairs. He clasps my hand tightly, but he has to let go of me when we get downstairs just as Liam pushes through the door leading to the warehouse.
Deep relief and dark, manifest turmoil both storm in his eyes as they lock onto me. He strides around the bar without breaking eye contact, and I wait for him to join me and pull me into his arms.
“I’m okay, Liam. Really.”
“So, he didn’t…” he rasps out the beginning of his sentence, but he can’t go through with the rest of it.
When they found me, and he rushed to my side, my legs failed under my weight and I ended up sitting on the dirty carpet as he held me against him. I couldn’t speak. I could barely think. Only seconds ago, Malcolm had been about to rape me, and it left me silent with shock. I knew that Jayce and Liam were there, and that I was safe now, but it was like I had lost all ability to function properly. My gaze couldn’t leave Jayce either, who was completely losing it with Malcolm. I was just waiting. For what, I didn’t even know. I didn’t envision Jayce going as far as killing him, and I don’t think he expected it either―not right there, at least―but I can’t say that his death will keep me up at night. I didn’t even know him. Because one thing is certain, the guy who abducted me had nothing to do with the guy I went out with a few times. It’s like they were two different people, and that’s terrifying.
“No, he didn’t,” I answer, understanding easily what he wants to know. “He would have if you hadn’t shown up, though.”
“Thanks to Erin,” he breathes out into my hair.
“Yes,” I agree.
After one last squeeze, he draws away from me and his fingertips graze my bruised cheekbone. “Do you want me to call Doc?”
“I shake my head. “Jayce already offered, but there’s no need, really.”
“You good, little one?”
I look over to Blane, who is strolling toward me until he’s close enough to clamp a hand on my shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. I smile at the nickname they all used for me a long time ago.
“I’m good. Thank you. All of you. Is everyone okay?” I add as I only now notice that everyone else has gathered around and are all watching me.
A small part of me wants to ask them about what they did with Malcolm’s body, and about what they found there, whether it be something about me or about the club. But I don’t ask. For now, I mostly want to pretend that Malcolm and that house just simply disappeared from the surface of the Earth. As unrealistic as that sounds.
“Everyone’s fine, and no thank you needed,” Cody scoffs as Blane lifts his open hand in front of me.
As I stupidly sag in relief, he says, “Found it there. There was a bug hidden under the rock. I took it out.”
I nod. “Yeah, I know. Thank you,” I whisper.
It would have broken my heart to have lost my mom’s bracelet.
“Sure.”
Then Ben steps in, teasing in his tone as he tries to do his usual job of lightening the mood. “Now please, just make sure to keep your boyfriend’s ass in line. Because I hate to break it to you, but you’re not good enough at the whole dating thing.”
Successful as always, he rips a small laugh out of me, and some chuckles erupt around me. Jayce is the only one who grunts something unintelligible behind me, though I’m pretty sure it involved some kind of threat. But Ben keeps grinning at me anyway, and I’m thankful for the somber mood to dissolve a little.
“Do you want something to eat, Alex? There’s some lasagna left from lunch, if you want,” Camryn says.
Pressed against Nate’s side, she looks as worried as Fiona and Lilly, who are here, too.
I smile and shake my head as I lean my back against Jayce’s front. “Thank you, but I think I’ll just call it a night and start fresh tomorrow.”
I just want this day to be over and behind me.
She nods in understanding.
“I’m here if you need anything,” Liam tells me as he reaches for my hand and gives it a brief squeeze.
“Love you,” I tell him.
“Love you, too, baby sis.”
Once I’ve waved at everyone, I let Jayce lead me back upstairs. He only moves away from me to go shut off the TV, and then he crawls under the warm covers with me, tucks me in against his strong body, and against all odds, I fall asleep immediately, protected by his strength and reveling in his scent.
Chapter 30
Jayce
April is right around the corner; and so is Alex’s birthday. The present I have for her this year is special. And it’s especially perfect because I have to make up for her last birthday. I needed something memorable for her, and I couldn’t have found anything more memorable than what’s hidden in my pocket. We have a party planned for her in a couple of days, but I picked her up at work an hour ago and brought her here to celebrate her birthday a bit early and in privat
e. We climbed on my bike, and here we are.
The lake.
And here I am; nervous like a teenage boy on his first date.
Her hand tightly nestled in mine, we walk down the narrow path we used to follow most weekends not so long ago, and I can tell by the way her eyes glisten that she remembers those times as much as I do. She’s quiet all the way down to the secluded sandy spot where we made love for the first time several years ago, and when she takes it all in, a shaky breath stays caught in her throat before she smiles up at me.
“When did you do all of this?”
“Just before picking you up. I wanted you on my bike, so I brought this with a car earlier, hoping it wouldn’t be gone by the time we got here.”
There’s a large, thick blanket placed on the sand, and a cooler set in one corner.
I don’t like it when her baby blues tarnish with a sad veil, and I don’t want to see it there right now. And not ever again.
Before I can ask her what’s going on, she asks me, “Isn’t it too hard for you to be back here?”
The sigh I let out comes from deep inside my chest. “It’s not harder to be here without them than it is to be at the club without them. Or to go on a ride without them. I’ll always miss them. But Isaac wouldn’t want me to leave this place behind because it’s where it happened, you know? He loved it here. He lived here with my grandmother. They practically raised Billy here. The cabin, the woods, the lake… He just loved this place. And he’d want me to enjoy the peace of it just like he did. Most of all, he’d want me to move on. To stop thinking about what it would have been like if they hadn’t died and start enjoying what I have. That’s why the guys will be here in a couple of hours. We’ll pack Isaac’s stuff, and we’ll start renovating next weekend. Walls, floors, painting, cleaning… And then we’ll pick up some new furniture. Something simple. Once it’s done, we’ll leave a set of keys at the club, and anyone can come anytime they feel like it.”
A genuine smile lights up her face again. “I think Isaac would love that.”
I nod. “Seeing his guys happy was all that really mattered to him. I know he’d be okay with whatever changes we decide to make to his place, as long as it’s a place where we’ll make good memories.”
“You’re right,” she agrees and kisses me softly but briefly. “The three of them would be okay with all of us moving forward even if we miss them.”
She’s right, too. “Yeah, and that’s why I know they’d be okay with what I’m about to do.”
The frown that betrays her confusion is gone as shock plasters across her features when her gaze falls on my hands between us.
“I love you more than anything, Alex. And I can’t promise you that I won’t make mistakes again or piss you off sometimes,” I smile and go on, “But I can promise you that I won’t leave your side ever again. I want you beside me for the rest of my life, that’s all I know. Will you marry me?”
For far too long, her astounded, frozen stare doesn’t lift from the gray velvet box I opened in front of her as I spoke. And only when a tinge of anxiousness starts to rise in me do her lips spread in the widest, most radiant smile I’ve ever seen on her face. Even her eyes twinkle with it. Then without warning, her arms are around my neck as she throws herself at me. Unable to keep my balance, I secure her against me with a tight grip before I end up flat on my back on the blanket, Alex straddling me.
“Yes! I will, I will, I will!” she answers in a squealing chant before kissing me.
She seeks my tongue with hers as she gives me a kiss that goes straight to my cock. I almost forget about the ring―it’s waiting in the box I’m still holding―as my free hand dives into her thick hair. All that’s left to think about is the taste of her. I swear, she tastes just as sweet as she did the first time I put my lips on hers.
She only pulls away when gulping down some air has become urgent, but she stays close enough to breathlessly murmur against my mouth, “I can’t wait to see you in a suit.” Then a knowing grin spreads on her wet lips.
A small laugh even springs out of her when a groan, heavy with despair, rumbles in my chest.
A suit, for God’s sake.
“Do I―”
“Yes, you totally do have to wear a suit,” she cuts me off, reading my mind just fine. But it was worth a try, right? “Too late to take your proposal back,” she teases.
“No way,” I promise her. “Now, do you want your ring or what?” I ask her.
Her grin still firmly in place, she sits on my lap as an answer, and I straighten up as well. Eager to see her wear her ring, I waste no more time sliding it onto her finger.
Her beautiful blue eyes shimmer with unshed tears of happiness. The same emotion vibrates in her voice when she tells me, “It matches my mom’s bracelet.”
“Glad you think so, too,” I admit.
The ring is inlaid with two small diamonds surrounding a bigger amethyst. I don’t know much about jewelry, but when I saw this ring in the showcase, I knew it was the perfect one for her.
“I love you,” she says, and it doesn’t matter how many times those words fall from her lips, I’ll never get tired of hearing them.
And now, I’ll get to hear them for the rest of my life.
“I love you, too.” I brush back a strand of dark hair that has fallen in front of her eyes. “Now kiss me, because I only have a couple of hours to make love to and feed my fiancée.”
She grins a sexy smile, desire fills her voice when she speaks, “Who would have thought that word could be such a major turn on?”
“What word? Fiancée?” I repeat purposefully.
She hums approvingly as her hips start to gyrate slowly, her crotch sensually grinding against mine.
“Just wait until I can call you my wife,” I croak out through the lust that she awakens in me when she acknowledges my comment with a moan. My cock comes alive in my jeans, and suddenly, there are too many layers of clothes between us. “Get rid of your shirt and bra,” I command.
My dick reacts with a twitch when she obeys on the spot. Her full, heavy breasts appear, and they’re so close to my mouth that it waters instantly. My lips fasten around one of her rosy nipples before she’s even discarded her clothes on the blanket, and I growl my approval when the flesh hardens against my tongue as I suck on it.
Sweet, sultry moans echo in the air, and Alex’s hips launch into a greedy dance as she rubs her demanding center against my stiff cock to chase the pleasurable sensations. I’m as hard as I can be, but as much as I want to plunge into her warm pussy, I also want this moment to last.
My mouth neglecting her nipples and my hand squeezing briefly one of her round breasts, I tell her, “Lie on your back. Jeans off and legs open for me.”
Sparks of lust glow in her eyes. She moves off my lap and undresses slowly before she lies down. I take off my cut and shirt in the meantime, and yearning burns in her gaze at the sight of my chest and abs. I lean on my forearm beside her, and she bites down on her lower lip then wets them both as she looks down at my hand as it disappears underneath the lacy fabric of her panties. The hiss slipping between her lips fuels my own arousal when I stretch her pussy with two fingers.
She’s warm and drenched. Fucking perfect.
Bending over her body, I reach for her nipple with my tongue and flick the tip over the erect nub. Her eager body squirms on the blanket when I suck at her sweet flesh, and I smile against her skin before I ask her, “Ready to scream my name, baby?”
A panting breath flows between her parted lips.
“Yes, please,” she answers then.
My thumb brushes over her clit, and it pulses with need. She rocks her hips to seek more friction with my hand, and I give her what she wants. I take care of her, and she lets me. Between hitching breaths and whimpers of intense pleasure, she lets herself feel every touch I give her, whether it’s with my mouth on her nipples or with my fingers pumping in and out of her. It doesn’t take long before my name is on her lips
and her eyes roll in the back of her head. And when I softly bite down on her nipple as I pinch the other one, her walls clench harshly around my fingers and her body thrashes beside me.
God, she’s beautiful.
For as long as her climax lasts, I watch her enjoying every second of pleasure shooting through her body. I bask in the sight of her riding her orgasm with her eyes closed, her chest heaving, and her muscles trembling. And I don’t need more to know that all that really matters to me is to make her feel good, loved and safe, the way she deserves, for as long as I’ll live.
* * *
“I can’t take a shower now that they’re all already at the cabin!” she hisses in a whisper as if the guys could hear her from almost a mile away. “They’re early,” she rightfully adds. “Since when do they show up anywhere early? They’re always late. It’s like a pathological condition.”
I chuckle when she says that. She’s not wrong.
Nate shot me a text fifteen minutes ago, saying they’ve arrived and are ready to get to work, but I only saw the text a couple of minutes ago, right after satisfying my girl a second time.
“It’s your fault,” she goes on, her voice muffled because she’s sliding her shirt back over her head as she speaks. “You should have been quicker.”
Cocking my head to the side, I arch a brow at her, not able to stifle a grin. “Babe,” I start while she slips into her shoes. “I might suffer from that kind of problem someday, but I’m sure thankful that I don’t yet. And you should be grateful, too,” I tell her, my smile shifting into a brash smirk as I wink at her.
She swats my bare chest. “Not funny,” she berates me, but one corner of her lips curls up in a smile she can barely hold back.
As I finish getting dressed, I tell her, “You can take a shower even if they’re here. But the cabin must be far from being spotless with a year’s worth of dust everywhere.”
“Oh, of course. It didn’t think about that,” she admits and sighs. “Doesn’t matter. They’d all know what we’ve been doing here if I take a shower anyway.”
I snort. “What do you think they believe we do when we lock ourselves in my room at the club? Play cards?”