“Yeah, an ulterior motive motherfucker, but you didn’t know that did you,” I spit.
The last eighteen hours hadn’t been spent solely with Markham. I am an equal opportunity torturer after all. Part of my time, and when I say part, I mean less than an hour total was spent in the cell next door; the cell Laura was being held in. Is still being held in.
Laura was in no way as strong as her partner in crime, however. But we knew that to begin with. She caved within minutes of being tied down to the chair in the center of the room. No threats were made. None were necessary seeing as she gave up the goods without us providing motivation for her to do so.
According to her, not that I believed a word she said without corroborating evidence, the Vasquez Cartel, namely Oscar had nothing to do with Beth, Bec, and Avery’s kidnapping. That was all Nix, Hells Riders, Oliver, and in a small part her doing. The only involvement Oscar had was extending the delivery date of a shipment that was due the day after our women were taken. Laura’s understanding is the Cartel had no idea why the extension was required but granted their request based on good faith that Hells Riders would deliver two days from now.
None of that information had been openly or willingly shared with Laura. The way she tells it – she accidentally overheard them when she was skulking around the warehouse – which led to her learning where our women were being held.
Sly made the call to Vasquez to confirm, and once Oscar verified he had no knowledge of what had gone down, Sly helpfully, because we are concerned with the Vasquez’s continued capacity to increase their yearly revenue of course, what he wasn’t aware of when it comes to dealing with Nix. A lot of it came as a surprise to our local and international drug lord, but it wasn’t shocking. He knew men like Nix, dealt with them daily, but that didn’t mean Oscar was happy he hadn’t been apprised of Nix’s character in its entirety before entering into business with him.
One problem down, what Oscar chose to do about his continued association wasn’t Vengeance’s priority nor did we give the first fuck as long as we were kept clear of it, Laura spilled the rest. Again, most of what she had to say we knew. Her motivation, what drove her to get mixed up with Markham and the shit show that ensued, we, however, did not.
Shifting restlessly to take the pressure off her bound wrist, Laura looks at me imploringly.
“Jackson, you have to understand. You have to believe me when I say that I didn’t know this was what Olly was planning. I thought he was just going to talk to Bethany, right some past wrongs, and we would leave and she would be let go.”
“Bullshit, cunt,” Deke spits menacingly. “You knew. You fucking knew they weren’t gonna set her free unharmed. And if in the beginning you didn’t, you sure as shit would’ve realized it the second you set eyes on your man with her.”
“What was I supposed to do? It was too late when I realized nothing was happening like he had assured me it would. He promised. Olly promised that he would talk to her and then we would drive to the airport, board the plane, and get the hell out of Colorado,” she ends weakly.
“What do you do?” Deke questions rhetorically. “What you do is get the fuck out of the room a good woman, a sweet, beautiful, innocent woman is being tortured in, and you fucking call someone who can extract said woman from a situation like that. You fucking call, Boss. You call every goddamned person in your contact list until someone answers then you tell them where you are, who to call next, and what they’re facing when they get there. What you do not do, is sit on the knowledge that a good, sweet, innocent woman or three of them, in this case, are being raped, beaten, their bodies marked and abused because you’re a gutless cunt.”
Laura’s eyes are wide, her mouth gaping, and for once in her life she’s silent. Taking that as my opportunity to say the only words to describe a woman like her, I force out,
“I thought I loved you once, bitch. That might have faded into care and then finally tolerance over the years you tried to manipulate me and lead me around by my dick, but we still had that between us once upon a time. Was any of it true? Because the way I see it, every word out of our mouth was a fucking lie.”
Shaking my head, disgusted that I’d wasted any of my life caring about a bitter, vindictive cunt like her, I rasp,
“My baby or the baby you told me was mine, the one I believed with everything in me I’d lost was never mine, was she?” I ask needing her to confirm what I already know to be true.
“No,” she grimaces dropping her gaze to the floor.
“All I want from you, the last thing you’re gonna give me because I deserve that much is why. Why the fuck would you spend months lying to me, convincing me the kid growing inside you was ours? You had to know we were never gonna be together like that. It didn’t matter whether you were gestating our baby or not, you knew I’d support you and her but that was as far as it’d go. I told you that.”
“Olly didn’t want children, Jackson. He made it clear that he wouldn’t accept our baby, and neither would his family or friends,” she replies quietly. “Georgia,”
Laura starts, but I interrupt before she can tarnish Georgia Rae’s name any further. Just the sound of her name coming from this bitch’s lips makes me want to be sick.
“Don’t,” I growl. “Don’t you ever say that sweet baby’s name. Her memory doesn’t deserve to be tarnished by a pathetic, useless excuse for a mother like you.”
Done with her, satisfied Laura was going to get exactly what was coming to her, I address, Cash, who has been standing at my side since I walked through the door.
“Call in Fury. Tell him to keep it clean, simple. Two to the head and one to the space where her heart should be should do it.”
Striding out, Laura’s pleas reach my ears but not one single fiber of my being feels an ounce of remorse for giving the order to have her taken out. Not a single, solitary fucking one.
“What do you want done with her when Fury’s finished her?” Cash prompts.
“Leave the bitch where she sits until we’re done with the asshole next door. Dispose of them together that’s the least we can do. In life as they will be death, brother. Trash attracts trash so dump them somewhere they won’t add to the national landfill problem.”
Grinning broadly, Cash nods going left to my right.
“I’m all for reducing my carbon footprint, Boss. Gotta take care of the environment and all that shit.”
Less time than I’d like later it’s done. Two worthless lives in repayment for one beautiful one. Their debt isn’t close to repaid for that, but I can safely say, vengeance was reaped for the atrocities they had inflicted on our women before they committed their ultimate sin.
Bec’s life will never be avenged, it can’t be, but Jay can rest easier with the knowledge that half of the perpetrators responsible for his loss have been erased. The other half? Well, Nix and Hells Riders will soon be in possession of a message that they won’t be able to easily ignore.
EPILOGUE
~ Boss ~
A different kind of river
Four months later…
“Ride that, baby, and don’t stop till I tell you to,” I rasp into the skin of Beth’s neck.
“Jackson,” she pants breathlessly. “Oh, God, Jackson I can’t it’s too much.”
“It’s not too much, it’s never too much,” I groan thrusting a third finger into her tight pussy. “Fuck my fingers, baby. Fuck them till you come for me, then I’ll give you what you need. Everything you need,” I finish, my cock throbbing in anticipation of getting inside her.
Beth doesn’t disappoint, she never has and I don’t think she ever will. Her pussy clamps down on my hand at my command, spasms wrack her body as she exhales my name on a long moan. Rising up over her, holding my weight off of her much smaller frame, I grip the base of my cock running it along her slit until I’m covered with her juices. Sliding into her effortless our eyes connects as I feed her the last inch of my dick.
Arching off the mattress
, I hammer into her wet, smooth as silk snatch until I swear I see lights flickering behind my eyes. Nothing, and I mean nothing feels as good as being so deep inside her that I don’t know where she starts and I begin.
We might have been together over six months now, married for two, but fucking Beth keeps getting better and better. Being able to call her my wife while I make her mine in every way she can be morning and night, and occasionally on my lunch break if I can get away for an hour has only made my desire for her more explosive. Desperate even.
A few people called me all kinds of fool for proposing to Beth so quickly. Thankfully, their opinions didn’t sway my deliriously happy soon-to-be wife or I would have kicked their asses after dragging Beth’s to the courthouse to seal the deal before she could take them into account and change her mind.
Neither of us wanted a big wedding, after what Beth had been through she was sick of being the center of attention, people casting her sidelong glances, constantly asking if she was okay. It isn’t like my woman wasn’t appreciative of folks concern, she was, but that shit would wear on anyone after a while. The last thing Beth wanted was anyone’s pity. Being the strong, independent woman she’d proved to be during her recovery, Beth preferred people didn’t ask but offered tacit support. Or better yet, just kept their mouths shut and moved on like she was trying to do.
I can’t say I blame her either. I’ve had enough of my brothers, my family, and my friends looking at me like I’d crack under the pressure at any minute. But eventually the frequency of their inquiries and offers of help dwindled to the occasional off-handed remark, and the looks of sadness and helplessness faded into small smiles and grins as Beth got out more often.
Thrusting inside her one last time grinding my hips, planting myself to the root, I groan into her shoulder and bite down. Hard. There’s nothing I love more than leaving my mark on her. Beth walking around in one of her oversized T-shirts, collar dipping enough to bear the imprint I leave when I sink my teeth into her flesh never fails to make me hard. The knowledge that anyone and everyone who sees them will know instantly that she’s mine is not an unwelcome byproduct either. Not that there a soul left within a hundred-mile radius that isn’t aware Beth is most definitely 100% mine because there isn’t.
The day Beth tied herself to me for life was the day I made it known far and wide she was mine. She’s got the tattoo on the back of her neck to prove it. I wasn’t taking chances with that shit, I had her at Skin Fusion as soon as I knew Jay had dragged his ass out of bed and opened up. An hour later, Beth was the proud wearer of a set of wings with my name nestled firmly between them spanning the base of her neck.
Rolling off her, Beth moving with me until she’s splayed belly to the mattress, half of her body using me as her own personal body pillow, she sighs contentedly. Over the months that we’ve been living together, I’ve learned that Beth is what can only be described as a maximum contact sleeper. Something that extends, but isn’t limited to anytime I’m within arm’s reach of her.
At first, I was concerned with her need to have me close at all times. I fucking loved that she was coming to me, taking what she needed, but as the days passed and there were no signs she intended there to be space between us of any kind, I made the decision to have a conversation with her about where her head was at.
Beth hadn’t spoken with the therapist Doc suggested, adamant she was coping fine and didn’t need a stranger probing around inside her head. I can’t say I agreed with her, but it was her choice and she has my support. Regardless of the fact, I think Beth’s insistence she’s fine after what she survived only proves she isn’t.
Cautiously, I guided the conversation as to why she’d increased the amount of physical closeness between us. Her answer was unexpected, and not only did it set me at ease immediately but it lifted an invisible weight off my shoulders.
“You know most men wouldn’t blink at their girlfriends wanting to touch them all the time,” she snapped. “Only you, Jackson. Only you would find a way to twist me feeling safe with you into something to worry about.”
I didn’t have a response for her because what she said made sense. I had convinced myself I needed to be concerned. Apparently frustrated, Beth rolls her eyes stepping close enough to wrap her arms around my waist.
“This has got to stop, honey. You have to take a breath and relax,” she urged me softly. “I know what’s troubling you isn’t going to disappear overnight, but you have to calm down. You’re going to give yourself a stroke if you don’t. I’m safe and I’m here with you. I’ll always be right here by your side until you make the choice to change that.”
Squeezing her tightly between each word, I growled,
“Never. Going. To. Happen. There will never be a time I don’t want you, don’t need you standing where you are right now. Fucking never, Sweetheart.”
“Hmm,” she hummed turning her cheek to press it against my chest. “Do you really want to know why I started sticking close when you’re near?”
“Yeah, baby, I really do.”
Running her fingertips up and down my spine, I could feel the smile playing on her lips as she said,
“There is so much I’ve had to let go in my life. Bec, the only home I ever knew even though it was never a good one, what Oliver did to me the first and the second time he put his hands on me, everything those animals masquerading as men did that just once I want to hold onto something. Something warm. Something real. Something that matters. I choose you, Jackson. You’re what makes me feel safe, protected, loved, and cherished. My needing to be close to you isn’t because I’m scared something will happen to either of us it’s because I like reassuring myself you’re here, you’re real, and that you are mine. I like making the choice to place my trust, my safety and my heart in your hands every day.” Shrugging, Beth huffed, “If that make me clingy then so be it. I have no intention of stopping, so you have a choice to make. You can either take it like a man, suck it up and enjoy the attention I’m giving you, or I can take my affections elsewhere and showering them on another man who is more deserving of them.”
Beth barely manages to finish her sentence before she finds herself up and over my shoulder. Moving swiftly, I make it up the stairs to our bedroom throwing her onto our bed where I take my time showing her just how much I appreciate her and her affections.
*****
Seventeen months later…
One foot planted on the deck the other pushing off the railing, I set the porch swing in motion again. It feels like I’ve been out here in the dark for hours waiting for Beth to get home, but I know better. Beth left just after dinner for her monthly girl’s night out with Avery, Lonnie, Bella, and Blaine, and at best I’ve been sitting here twenty minutes. Not that I mind, I seriously fucking don’t. Not when two-thirds of my world is safely cradled in my arms. All that’s missing is the other third. The third that makes my heart beat faster every time I lay eyes on her.
Dropping a soft kiss on the top of both of my sleep baby girl’s heads, I sigh heavily into the cooling Colorado mountain air reveling in how much has changed in the past year and a half.
Not once when I considered about where I’d be the year I turned forty-one did I imagine it’d be here. Here in a house my wife made a home, agreed to marry me in, and helped create our precious babies in. Never did I believe I deserved the kind of happiness my girls gifted me with every day. But lucky for me, Beth saw through my asshole exterior and loved me in spite of it. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t take every opportunity to call me out on my bullshit whenever the mood strikes her because she does. Just one of the many things I love about her.
In the year and a half that we’ve been married, Beth hasn’t changed but she has grown. As a woman, a wife, and as a mother. Her beauty deepened and became more profound the day I watched her give life to our girls, Jamie Rae, and Heather Georgia Carr. There’s something a man feels, something impossible to describe when he watches his woman deliver his children into t
he world. I might never be able to thank Beth for all she’s given me, all she continues to give me, but I’m damn sure going to try.
Headlights bounce off the trees either side of the drive as Beth’s SUV makes its way to a stop at the edge of the house. She doesn’t hesitate in turning off the ‘black beast’ as she calls it when in actual fact it’s nothing more than a fully optioned GMC Acadia. The safest SUV in its class, and the only one I considered when deciding which vehicle we’d use to transport my world around.
Beth shuts her door as quietly as possible making her way up the steps, leaning against the upright as she takes us in. Bundled underneath a thick, hot pink blanket I’ve folded in half to ensure my princesses are warm, Beth smiles one of her rare smiles that are reserved only for me.
“What’s put that beautiful smile on your perfect lips, Sweetheart,” I ask as she nestles into my side.
Nothing about this, however, has changed. Not once since the first time Beth choose me has she made moves to limit the number of times she reaches for me during the day. A touch here, a brush of her fingers along the base of my spine, a soft kiss on my cheek as she passes me in the hall, every touch reminds me I was her choice and I always will be.
Vengeance MC Box Set - Volume 1: Call Me...Vengeance ~ Fury ~ Jonas Page 35