Her dazzling smile lit up every dark corner of my soul.
Yeah, I was on top of the motherfucking world.
“H.O.L.Y.”—Florida Georgia Line
LOOKING DOWN AT THE beautiful man beneath me, I was still a little in awe. Could it really be possible that things were coming together? That we actually felt the same way about each other?
“I feel like we wasted so many years.” Watching my fingertip and how it elicited tiny goose bumps across his skin as I drew circles over his smooth chest, I didn’t meet his eyes. It made me feel foolish that I hadn’t been able to see the gift God had placed right in front of me my whole life. This boy had been my everything growing up. But I’d worn blinders and missed having him in my life for years because of it. Not that I hadn’t loved Tyler, just not in a way a lasting relationship should love.
His fingers tipped up my chin so I’d meet his eyes. It didn’t escape me that not too long ago, those fingers had been inside me, playing my senses into overdrive, and I felt my face flush. “Don’t do that, Tinkerbell. You’re overthinking things. You can’t look at it that way. All those years apart were just God’s way of preparing us for each other. Back then, if we’d gotten together, we probably would have driven ourselves apart with our immaturity. Yeah, we went through some dark shit, but I like to believe, now that you’re here in my arms, we’re stronger for it and stronger together. You feel me?”
Playing at his words, I pressed myself into his semi-hard cock and felt it jump underneath my hips. “Oh, I feel you all right.” He grinned and smacked my ass, causing me to yelp in surprise. “Hey!”
“Mess around if you want to, and I’ll give you something to really feel.”
It was inescapable. I circled my hips into him again.
With a saucy smile, I taunted him, “Promises, promises.”
“Okay, don’t say you weren’t warned.” And with that, he lifted me by my hips and impaled me on his shaft. Holy shitballs. My eyes rolled in my head. Then he launched us up from the bed, me still sheathed around him, legs wrapped in a death grip around his hips.
“Ohmagod! Don’t drop me!” The squeal slipped out of me, and I was glad Ty was a deep sleeper. “Kayde! Where are we going?”
We went straight for the door, where he peeked both ways down the hall, then marched down to his room with me still in place. “We’re gonna christen this bed too. That’s where we’re going.” Through the door we went, him locking it as he closed it. Then he climbed on the bed as I hung from him like a damn monkey. It was pretty funny. But pretty hot.
I mean, he was still inside me. The whole time. Now, I’m not sure about other people, but to me that was pretty damn impressive. However, what he did afterward made that pale in comparison.
Since the night I had one of my awful dreams and we christened both beds, I’d slept in Kayde’s bed. Correction—our bed. He’d promptly moved all my things into his room as soon as he woke up that next morning. It was before I even rolled my ass out of bed, because he’d worn me the hell out and I was completely drained. Then he’d gone to the kitchen and made us coffee, eggs, and bacon, with Ty’s help, and brought it to me in bed.
That night we talked deep into the night. He told me a little of what he’d dealt with in the military and how things were now. Some of it was horrifying, and that was just the things he felt able to share. I didn’t even want to try to imagine the things he couldn’t tell me. When he told me about how difficult it was some days, he made we want to weep for him.
“There are days I feel I can’t even get out of bed. Anxiety washes over me in waves, pulling me under until it chokes me, suffocating me in its depths. How do you tell your buddies that? How do you tell them how weak you are? You can’t.” He’d laid his arm over his eyes. Feeling the pain radiate from my sweet but broken man had me at a loss. Pressing kisses to his neck, I had gently run my fingers along his chest and abs.
“Do you know how I survive it? How I find the strength to fight it off? The only thoughts that truly keep me sane? Not the club, not my friends or family—none of them. It’s you.” After he pulled his arm down, he looked me dead in the eye. “Only you.”
If I hadn’t been sure of my feelings before that, I was positive of them after his words and the look on his face. Fate had a fucked-up, twisted way of getting us to where we needed to be, but I liked to think Kayde and I were finally on the right track.
Shaking the thoughts from my mind, I returned to my task at hand.
It was Christmas Eve and I found myself standing in the entryway with my hands on my hips, as I contemplated the big black trash bag at the top of the closet. How in heaven’s name had I gotten it up there? Because my short-as-shit self couldn’t even reach it with my fingertips now. Who puts a shelf that high anyway?
Oh yeah, someone who’s six foot four. Or seven feet. Hell, I didn’t know how tall he was, I just knew he was a giant compared to my Lilliputian self. Christmas was tomorrow morning. Kayde wasn’t home yet, and I couldn’t reach the damn bag with Ty’s Santa presents. Dammit. Okay, I guess a kitchen chair was needed, since the giant obviously had no need for a step stool.
Dragging the heavy-ass chair over by the door, I cursed picking such a sturdy dining set. I’d just climbed up to grab the bag when the door swung open. It startled me so bad, I lost my balance and almost fell on my ass. Thankfully, strong arms caught me and pulled me tight to a broad chest.
Smiling, I prepared to kiss my shining knight until I looked up and blazing blue eyes bored into mine. Shrieking, I threw my body weight back to get free. The massive arms held me tight though.
“Hey, Joker, it’s raining pretty little blonde chicks in your house. Can I keep her?”
Leaning my head back to peer around the beast of a man, I saw Kayde behind him. Eyes wide, my expression attempted to ask Kayde who the hell this was. Kayde looked disgruntled for a minute before he stepped around the fucking Viking and plucked me out of his arms.
“Fuck off, this one’s mine. Get your own.”
“Well, hello to you too. Since y’all knocked me off my makeshift stool, can you please get that bag from the shelf?” His eyes followed the direction I pointed before he turned back and looked at me like I was crazy.
“How the hell did you get it up there?”
Smacking my forehead with the flat of my palm, I shook my head. “Don’t ask.” Since Kayde’s hands were full of me, the Viking reached up and pulled it down without even stretching. With a droll look, I pursed my lips. “Show-off.” He just grinned at me through his thick blond beard.
“Tinkerbell, this is Gunny. Gunny, this here is Tinkerbell. Gunny is one of my brothers from the club.”
Looking at him like he’d lost his damn mind for telling him my childhood nickname, I held my hand out to the man I now knew was Gunny.
“Sera. Nice to meet you, Mr. Gunny.” His massive hand dwarfed mine. Damn, and I thought Kayde had big hands.
Chuckling, he gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Ma’am, it’s just Gunny. And it’s definitely a pleasure. And a surprise.” A thick blond brow raised at Kayde, and I had to wonder what the silent exchange between them was about.
“Well, I wasn’t planning on you coming by here. I thought you would meet me at the shop tomorrow morning after we opened presents.” It was Kayde’s turn to flash the droll expression to his friend, who raised his chin and looked at Kayde through narrowed eyes.
“Hmm. Okay, well, I was swinging by Hacker’s to bring him a part for his Challenger, so I figured while I was in the neighborhood….”
Kayde rolled his eyes and set me down, slapping my ass lightly before he kissed my head and walked back to the bedroom.
When he returned, he held a small envelope, which he handed over to Gunny, who dropped it in the pocket of his leather jacket. “Thanks, bro. Have a Merry Christmas.” He first hugged Kayde and then turned to me, giving me a hug. When he held on to me a little longer than was comfortable, Kayde tugged me out of his arms and gave h
im a glare, to which Gunny laughed his ass off.
“I’ll be seeing you around, beautiful.” Winking one of the brilliant blue orbs, he let himself out the door, laughing the whole way down the walk and to the big red truck parked in the driveway next to Kayde’s Jeep. Damn, I loved red vehicles. I’d really wanted the red Charger, but Lawrence insisted on the black.
Realizing I was staring, I blinked and raised my eyebrows. “He’s really big.”
Kayde laughed and said, “No, baby, you’re just really small.”
“I am not!” Indignation filled my voice as I started to unpack the presents for Ty and set them under the tree. “Well, I’m smaller than the two of you.” At his snort, I rolled my eyes. “Okay, I’m small. I get it. Never heard you complain.”
I was down on my hands and knees placing the presents just so, and suddenly he was straddling my knees, crotch to my ass and leaning over me to nuzzle my ear. “Mmm, nope. Makes it easier to fuck you up against the wall and move you around like I want for the best penetration.”
“Indigo Kayde McGuire! Language!” His answer to my chastising was to swat my ass a little harder than he had earlier. “Hey! No teasing!”
Choking as he laughed, his eyes wide and mirth rampant on his face, he wrapped his arms around me and did just like he had said.
Next thing I knew, I was sprawled facedown in the bed, drool running out onto my pillow, leg hanging out of the covers as Ty squealed and jumped around chanting, “Momma, get up! Santa came! Santa came! Santa came!” over and over and over before pattering down the hall back to the Christmas tree.
“Merry Christmas, baby.” Shivers chased down my spine at his kiss between my shoulder blades. In all honesty, I didn’t want to move.
“Mmm, Merry Christmas, but I think you screwed me stupid last night. I don’t even remember falling asleep.” I felt his lips curl on the skin of my shoulder. The warmth of his body pressed against mine and felt so dang snuggly, I thought I’d just stay where I was.
“Come on, babe. We have a little boy waiting to open presents.” Watching with my eyes, but holding my head immobile, I followed him as he climbed his naked self out of the bed and walked over to the dresser. Those ass cheeks nearly had me drooling again as I watched him step one leg at a time in a pair of sleeping pants with Harley Davidson symbols all over them. When he pulled them over his ass, I frowned. His laughter told me he caught me staring at his ass-ets.
“What? I was just enjoying the scenery.” My sleepy smile stayed on my face until he grabbed the end of the covers and jerked them down and off the bed.
“Hey!” Being butt-ass naked myself, I scrambled to get out of bed and cover myself. When I couldn’t get him to let go of the sheet, I ran at him and jumped. My arms and legs wrapped around him, and he held an ass cheek in each hand. After planting a big kiss on his smiling lips, I bit his jaw playfully, causing him to smack my ass again. “You sure like doing that.” My mock dirty look did nothing to faze him.
Digging two large T-shirts from his drawer, he pulled on the white one and gave me the red one. After I slipped it over my head, it dropped down to my knees, and I had to fight a laugh. Shaking my head and grabbing his hand, I dragged him down the hallway.
Ty was sitting patiently by the tree, legs crossed in his Minion PJ’s. When we sat down by him, he grinned and jumped up to climb in Kayde’s lap. As Kayde reached under the tree and passed presents to Ty one at a time, I took pictures of him opening every one. No matter how little they were, he loved them all. His favorite so far was a new boat for in the tub.
Unable to wait anymore, I grabbed the small wrapped box from under the tree and handed it to Kayde to open. Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth, I worried he would think it was stupid.
With Ty sitting on one knee and watching intently as Kayde carefully unwrapped the box, Kayde set the paper to the side, nearly intact. My heart jumped as he pulled the lid off. Oh, I prayed he liked it. Being on a budget, I didn’t have a huge chunk of change, but I wanted his gift to be special.
The wide smile told me he liked it. Then the confused one told me he realized what he thought was just a stainless-steel biker-style ID bracelet was engraved on the center plate.
Kayde & Sera
Forever
Leaning forward, he pulled me to him by the back of my neck and kissed me. His lips tickled me when he leaned over to whisper in my ear, “I fucking love it, and I love you.”
If he’d asked before, I would have told him it meant forever friends, but after everything came out, I wasn’t ashamed to say it was really because I wanted him to have something from me that I knew in my heart was a symbol of my love for him.
“Would you do me the honors?” He held out his arm and the bracelet for me to put on him.
After I had fastened it and kissed his wrist where it lay, I watched as he stood and told Ty he found a gift in the spare bedroom and wanted to know if Ty would help him push it out here. Next thing I knew, Ty was believing he was pushing a box almost as big as he was into the living room, as Kayde pushed the top.
“Hey, it says it’s for you, Ty.” Kayde pretended to be confused as he encouraged Ty to open it. Ty ripped the paper off, scattering pieces everywhere. When I saw the picture on the front of the box slowly being revealed, I wasn’t sure who was more touched, me or Ty. In different ways, because Ty just thought it was cool he had a little Jeep like Kayde. Me, I was touched that he not only went out on his own and bought such an extravagant gift, but that he thought enough to know that Ty would love to be just like Kayde. It was one of those black battery-powered Jeeps. Ty went crazy, jumping up and down and clapping his hands.
If I was a stubborn asshole, I could have been pissed and felt like he was trying to show me up for my small gifts. Knowing Kayde’s heart, I knew that he really did love Ty and he wanted to do nice things for him. My love for my son was so deep that I couldn’t even begin to put words to it. How does a mother describe the love she has for her children? They are your everything. Plain and simple.
After Ty opened his gifts, Kayde made a big production of there being one more gift left. I’d already opened mine and been overwhelmed that he thought of me and bought me things to pamper myself from my favorite bath store, plus a delicate silver chain with a Rod of Asclepius. What made this so amazing was that most people would have gotten a caduceus because that’s what a lot of people mistakenly use for the medical profession.
It showed that either he was a pretty smart guy, or he had taken the time to research before he got it. See, the caduceus was the staff of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger. The staff of Asclepius belonged to the Greek god Asclepius who was associated with healing and the medicinal arts. Now maybe the US Army Medical Corps was looking at it from the perspective that it was believed to put people to sleep or wake them. If used on someone dying, their death would be peaceful. If used on someone dead, it would bring them back to life. Who really knew, though? What was important to me was that Kayde knew the difference. It was the little things like that that made him and his gift so special to me.
Kayde handed the small box to Ty and whispered in his ear. Ty broke out into a smile as wide as the sky, then booked it over to me. “Momma! It’s for yous! Open it! Open it!” His excitement was contagious and had me laughing as I peeled the paper back. “No, Momma! Like this!” And he motioned as if he was tearing into the package like a little madman. Once I had it open, I found a Jeep key.
Looking at him in confusion, I laughed. “You giving me your Jeep?”
His eyes widened. “Oh hell no! I mean, you can drive it whenever you want… but no, I’m not giving you my Jeep.” Standing to his full amazing height, he guided me to the door. When he reached around me to swing the door open, I still hadn’t caught on. When he nodded toward the driveway, I looked outside.
In shock, I stood there staring at a cherry-red Jeep. “Umm, what the heck is this?” When my eyes met his, he began to look a little nervous. He cleared his throat and pu
lled his bottom lip in by his teeth.
“It’s for you. It’s nothing fancy yet. But it can be. It’s 100 percent in your name. If you don’t want it, or want something different, it’s yours to do with as you please.” It was a little shorter than his, which was fine because I was short, and it had four doors instead of the two his had. Looking at the two vehicles sitting side by side, I had a flashback. It was a silly one, but I remembered.
“Whoa. Look at those trucks, Kayde! Aren’t they cool?”
“They’re not trucks, Sera, they’re Jeeps.” Kayde’s tone was sweet and calm, never condescending like my brother’s would be. I was only eleven, I didn’t know the difference, but instead of making fun of me, Kayde always took the time to explain things.
“That’s me and you, Kayde. I’m the red one, and you’re the black one.” Laughing, I ran up to look at them where they were parked in the H-E-B parking lot. They looked so big and cool with their giant-sized tires and open tops. I really wanted to look inside.
“Don’t touch them, Sera. They aren’t ours.” Ever looking out for me, Kayde grabbed my hand and pulled me gently back from the shiny vehicles before I could touch them.
“I wasn’t gonna touch them, Kayde.” Propping my hands on my hips, I scowled at him. It wasn’t like I was a baby. Well, maybe I was gonna touch them, but I wasn’t gonna admit that to him. He gave me that knowing grin, and I wanted to pop him one. But I didn’t. Because I really did love him. I was pretty sure I was gonna marry him one day.
“Come on, we need to get home. I told your dad I would walk you straight up here and back to get your snacks for your field trip.” My dad worked late hours, and I relied a lot on Kayde and my brother sometimes. I was super glad I had him in my life.
“You think I’ll be able to get a Jeep like that one day? It’s super pretty. I could have lipstick the same color and everything.”
Kayde chuckled at me and shook his head.
Demented Sons Series Volume One: Books 1-4 (Demented Sons MC Iowa) Page 103