Hush - Fighting Fate #2

by Maree Green

  I gave him a hard stare. “My head is clearer than it’s ever been.”

  Not wanting to waste any more time, I started striding towards the back door.

  “Noah!” Adam growled.

  I spun, anger pouring off me. “Who the fuck is trained for this, Adam?! Just let me do my fucking job!”

  “Fine!” he yelled back. “Then I’m coming with you.”

  “Yep,” Isaac said. “Me too.”

  “Fuck!” Knowing there was no way I was going to be able to stop them, and not wanting to waste any more fucking time, I turned my glare on Eli and Micah. “You two stay the fuck here and watch the girls.”

  With that, I raised my piece and moved outside. Sticking to the shadows, I scanned the area, trying to get my bearings. I saw where Kaeli must’ve been standing when the cocksucker took her picture, and letting my gaze follow the projected direction he must’ve been to take it, I found a row of bushes that separated this yard from the neighbor’s.

  Moving around the perimeter, I scanned every possible hiding place. This was where my undercover experience worked in my favor. I knew how the scum of the earth thought, and I was going to stay one step ahead of them.

  Adam and Isaac followed me, thankfully smart enough to take my lead.

  “Wish I had a fucking gun,” Isaac murmured.

  I wished he had one too. Both of them. I hated that they were unprotected. But I knew my skills well enough. My reflexes were sharp. If that fucker popped out from anywhere, I’d have him down before he could get any of us in his crosshairs.

  We spent half an hour scouring the entire front and back yards, finding minimal signs of where he’d been. We even scoured the neighbor’s yards, much to their dog’s displeasure.

  Knowing he was long gone pissed me the fuck off. I needed him gone from Kaeli’s life. From both our lives.

  Heading back inside, Kaeli jumped at me the second I stepped in the door. Tucking my gun away, I grabbed her and held her tight. I was so pissed that fucker had gotten so close to her. From now on, until he was caught, she was not leaving my sight.

  It wasn’t until she pulled back from me that I noticed her hair was damp and she was only wearing a pair of bikinis. Sexy, black, knitted bikinis. I groaned. “Baby, you need to put some clothes on.”

  She blinked at me, looking so fucking innocent I wanted to take her right there. Then she laughed, the sound jolting through me like pure sex.

  “Noah, we’re all wearing bikinis. We were swimming.”

  I looked up to see she was right. All five of them were standing there with wet hair and bare bodies. Shit. My brothers were probably having a lot of problems right about now.

  Looking up I saw Isaac practically salivating. Rolling my eyes, I dug the keys out of my pocket. “For fuck’s sake, Isaac.” When he looked up at me, I tossed him the keys. “You lot take my car. I’m going with Kaeli. I’ll get it from Adam’s tomorrow.”

  Adam nodded and started herding them out the door. Before he walked out he glanced at Kaeli and grinned. “Bossy Noah.”

  Kaeli smiled back at him. “I like bossy Noah.” Then she looked up at me with those big green fuck-me eyes. “A lot,” she said breathlessly.

  God help me.

  As much as I just wanted to get Kaeli out of there and safe in my apartment, I had to wait until Jace and Aiden arrived then answer the barrage of questions they shot my way, before I could even manage to get her out the door.

  My already unstable emotions, coupled with the adrenalin that was still pumping through my veins, was putting me on edge, and I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for me to be around Kaeli at all, but I needed to make sure she was safe. I couldn’t just leave her at home. I knew my sanity wouldn’t be able to cope with that.

  As I led her into my apartment and closed the door behind us, I tried to force myself to keep a distance. “Do you need a shower?” I asked, praying she’d say yes.

  She hummed an agreeable sound. “That’d be great. I stink like chlorine.”

  Relieved I had something to do, I strode over to the linen closet and pulled out a towel for her. “Here,” I said, holding it out for her to take.

  She watched me as she took it, her gaze cautious and assessing. “Are you alright?” she asked quietly.

  My automatic reaction was to say yes and get her to move along, but after our talk earlier that morning, I knew I owed her some honesty. “I don’t know.” I met her gaze, showing her I was trying to be open. “Can I let you know after your shower?”

  Relief flashed through her eyes and she gave me a tiny smile that made that honesty a hundred times worthwhile. “Of course.”

  Giving me one last smile, she turned and disappeared into the bathroom.

  Exhaling heavily, I ran my hands through my hair and tried to get my head into a place where I could be with Kaeli without wanting to own her, but my body felt too wired, too on edge, like I’d just taken a hit.

  Growling, I headed for the kitchen. I didn’t know what I was going to do in there. Both of us had already eaten, but I needed to keep busy.

  I’d been in there for a total of two minutes, still staring blankly into the fridge, when Kaeli called me. I stiffened. Fuck. I couldn’t go in there. Not with her naked. And wet.

  She called me again. This time more urgent.

  It was the distress in her voice that finally set my feet in motion, and when I walked into the bathroom and saw her frantically searching through her clothes, all thoughts of her being naked went out the window. “What’s wrong?”

  “I need to go home,” she said, pulling out her cell and tapping the screen. “What if Aaron goes there? He could hurt Mom.”

  It was right then, in that exact moment in time, that I knew I was in love with her. She was everything that mattered in my life.

  I was everything that was bad for her, but somehow, she was everything that was good for me. How did that work? How was that possible? How was that right? And what the hell was I supposed to do with that?

  If I was man enough, I’d walk away. Set her free to find someone who was worthy of her. But it seemed for all the power I had when I was Mitch, when it came to Kaeli, I was completely and utterly weak.

  I swallowed. “I’ve already text Dad. Someone’s going to be positioned outside your house until Aaron’s been apprehended.”

  She shook her head. “I still need to be there…”

  I watched her put the cellphone to her ear. Gently, I touched her arm. “She’s safe, baby. I promise.”

  She glanced up at me, her cell still pressed to her ear, but her eyes flashed with uncertainty. “Mom?” she said into the phone. “Where are you?”

  She turned to face me, her gaze unfocused and distant. I automatically stepped closer, her distress sparking the protective need in me.

  “I’m fine. I’m at Noah’s.” She frowned and then her eyebrows went skyward. “You are? Oh…okay…” Her shoulders relaxed a little and her gaze swept up to meet mine. “Uh…well, I guess that’s good…Okay, bye…”

  I watched her press the button to end the call, her eyebrows slightly scrunched with confusion. “All good?”

  “Apparently she’s going to be staying with Sam until Aaron’s caught…”

  “Sam?”

  “Dr. Miller,” she said, shaking her head a little.

  “Well, that’s good isn’t it? I mean, you said you thought they’d be good together…”

  She considered my words for a minute while I tried to stay focused and not let my gaze run away from me. “Noah..? she said, uncertainty coming off her in waves.

  I wanted to tell her to stop. To not say what she was thinking of saying, but my throat felt like it was being squeezed tight.

  “Will you hold me?”

  Sweet fucking god almighty.

  “I’m sorry. I know you’re trying to keep your distance right now, and I feel so bad for asking…I just…I want…” she sighed. “Just whatever you can give me…”

  Didn
’t she understand that it was all or nothing? And by all, I meant to the point of consuming her? Fuck, I wanted her so bad, but not like that. Not if it meant pushing her away.

  But I knew I’d give anything for this girl. Even if it meant my own destruction.

  Peeling off my shirt, and then my jeans, I took her hand and pulled her into the shower, wrapping my arms around her. She curled into me like she was born to be there, making it all so much harder for me.

  Winding her arms around my neck, she wove her fingers into my hair and clenched them into fists.

  “Kiss me, Noah. Make me forget.”

  My body shuddered in response, but it was the internal battle that was killing me. I wanted her so bad. I wanted to please her - give her everything she asked for, and I knew she said she liked me taking her the way I had, but I just didn’t see how that could be possible.

  Hesitantly, I touched my lips to hers.

  It was everything I needed and everything I didn’t want. All the built up emotion that was inside me, all the angst, all the tension. It all flared to life with one simple touch of her lips.

  Taking her face in my hands, I strained to hold myself back, my fingers tightening with the effort it was taking. She resisted, clenching her hands even more, holding me prisoner in my own torment. My control was worn down to a bare thread. I was seriously barely hanging on.

  Then she dropped to her knees.

  The second I saw her like that, saw her look up at me, blinking through the drops of water cascading down over her, I knew I’d lost the fight. And when she took my cock in her hand, moving those delicate fingers up and down the way she did, it was all I could do to not lose myself completely.

  Bracing myself on the wall either side of me, all I could do was watch her take me apart. I knew I should stop her, pull her up off the god damned floor, but she made me so fucking weak.

  Slowly, she stuck that soft, pink tongue of hers out and licked over the piercing on the underside of my cock. I hissed at the shot of pleasure that went through me and my cock twitched in agreeance.

  With a challenging look, she gripped me harder. “Do it, Noah,” she said. “Let go.”

  And then she opened that sweet mouth of hers and sucked me inside her, taking me so deep I could feel the head of my cock hit the back of her throat.

  Choking out a curse, my hands clenched into fists against the wall and my head fell back. As she withdrew, her hand squeezed the base of my cock, moving in time with her mouth.

  There was no time to recover. No time to clear my head so I could stop her, she just took it again, faster, and then again, working into a rhythm that almost brought me to my knees. With need my only driving force, I released my hold on the walls and gripped her hair, my fingers instantly tensing as she took me all the way in and gagged, squeezing the head of my cock until I thought I was going to come right then.

  I had no idea what it was about her, but I swear it was as though she had this way of drawing the tension from me. It made me want to lose my mind. Lose myself. In her. Completely.

  Her movements grew quicker, and my ability to hold back snapped. Clutching her head in my hands, I thrust, again and again, frantic. I was so close. Gasping, I looked down at her kneeling there for me, her eyes dark with desire, her fingers biting into the flesh on my hips, and I was suddenly overwhelmed by the need to be inside her. Properly.

  Tearing myself away from her, I grabbed her up off the floor and pulled her legs around my waist, and in one hard move, I had her pushed her up against the wall and was inside her.

  “Fuck, Noah,” she cried. “Yes!”

  Something inside me clicked. Up until that point I’d honestly just thought she’d said she liked it rough just to make me feel like I wasn’t such a fucking asshole, but seeing her so completely gone, so intensely aroused by what I was doing to her, made that warmth that had taken up residence inside my chest, heat and grow even more.

  I grunted as I pushed into her. My mind was already losing its focus, I wasn’t going to last much longer.

  “Harder, Noah. I need you…” She panted. “…harder…”

  I knew the very second she started to come. It wasn’t the way she screamed, and it wasn’t the way she gripped my hair for the life of her. It wasn’t the way she threw her head back and pulled my lips to her neck, and it wasn’t the way she clenched her muscles around me.

  It was because I let go.

  Let go of the insecurities, let go of the doubts, and let go of the fear.

  And within that moment, I vowed that as long as she wanted me in her life, I was going to do everything I could to make her see I was deserving of her.

  Whatever it took.

  Chapter 67

  Kaeli

  With a languid stretch, I rolled and reached out beside me for Noah’s warm body. Feeling only cold sheets, I groaned and opened my eyes. The sun was only just peaking in through the cracks in the curtains, but the intensity of it was enough to tell me it was probably late morning.

  Sounds from the kitchen drifted in through the open doorway, and I smiled. Just knowing Noah was right there made me stupid with warm and fuzzy.

  Sighing, I let my eyes fall closed and rolled onto my back, pulling the sheet with me. The smell of bacon sharpened my senses, and I heard the clunk of something being put on the bedside table before the mattress dipped and I felt Noah climb over the bed.

  “Good morning, gorgeous,” he said in that smoother than melted chocolate voice.

  Smiling, I blindly reached out and touched him, but when I felt the soft folds of fabric instead of smooth, warm skin, I scowled and opened my eyes. His legs were straddling mine and he had his hands either side of my shoulders as he loomed over the top of me.

  He frowned at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “You’re wearing too many items of clothing, that’s what’s wrong.”

  He grinned, his eyes twinkling like I’d never seen before. They were beautiful. “I’m taking you out, so you need to eat and get dressed.”

  Inhaling slow and deep, I sighed. “Can’t we just stay in bed all day?” I added a little pout just in case that might work.

  Noah chuckled and kissed my nose. “No.”

  Giving him a little disgruntled huff, I let my hands wander under his shirt, over the hard contours of his back. “Where are we going?”

  “I’m taking you to the shooting range.”

  My gaze snapped up to meet his. Uh…what? “We’re going to go shoot guns?”

  “Mmm hmm,” he said, watching me closely.

  I tilted my head to the side a little and gave him a look of uncertainty. “Uh…I know you haven’t done the whole dating thing in a while, but most guys don’t take girls to go shoot things on their first date.”

  His grin widened. “When have I ever said I was anything like most guys?”

  Sighing, I ran my hands up his chest and around the back of his neck, threading my fingers in his hair. “Okay then. I’m going to go shoot guns. Just let me gather the required amount of enthusiasm…”

  He growled playfully. “Don’t make me punish you…”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “You know that’s not a threat to me, Noah. In fact, I encourage you to punish me. Right now. I’m dying for you to put those handcuffs of yours into good use.”

  Darkness flashed deep in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a hardness I wasn’t expecting. “The only person I want to use them on right now is Aaron.”

  Okay, so this conversation wasn’t going in the direction I wanted it to. Obviously Noah had been up stressing over everything while I’d been blissfully asleep.

  Resigning myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to be getting any love right now, I pulled him down for a chaste kiss before releasing him and reaching for the bacon.

  I smiled as I bit into it and watched as a wave of satisfaction flashed across his face. “Do I want to know why we’re going shooting?” I asked as he climbed off the bed.

  His jaw cle
nched and he rubbed his hand over his chin. “I need to know you can protect yourself,” he said, his body language showing just how frustrated he was by the situation.

  I didn’t point out the many flaws in his plan. Some of them being the fact that I didn’t own a gun or have a permit to use one. But I wasn’t going to bring that up now. I knew I just needed to let him do what he felt he needed to do.

  Munching down the bacon and chasing it with the juice he’d brought me, I quickly jumped in the shower and got myself ready for my gun-toting adventure. I was actually a little surprised by how excited I was at the prospect of firing a gun. Noah was obviously a good shot, so I didn’t think I could find a better person to teach me.

  Walking into the range behind Noah, I watched him greet the big guy at the front counter with one of those boys’ club handshakes and a thump on the back.

  “Noah! Fuck, man, how long has it been?” The big guy said with a grin.

  “A while,” he said. “Been on a job. Just got back.”

  The guy nodded before his eyes flashed my way and his eyebrows quirked. “And who have you got there?”

  “This is my girlfriend, Kaeli,” he said, his voice actually sounding a little smug. “Kaeli, this is Mick.”

  I might’ve said the appropriate greeting…I wasn’t sure. My head was still celebrating the fact that Noah had just called me his girlfriend. I heard him tell the guy it was my first time and that he wanted to teach me, or something like that, and then I was signing something and we were moving down a corridor.

  Noah stopped at a section down near the end and started organizing…I don’t know…guns and stuff…

  I glanced around while he was busy, checking the place out. We seemed to be the only people there, which relieved me a little. If I was going to make an idiot out of myself, the less people who saw, the better.

  “Here…”

  I turned to see Noah holding out a pair of safety glasses for me to take. I watched him for a second before I took them. He was in complete business mode and, to be quite honest, I was a little turned on, because business mode equaled bossy Noah. Yum.