I wrinkled my nose and growled. “I’m mad because you decided we were moving without even involving me in it. I get that this is a shitty place, Sledge, but I’m sorry that this was all I can afford.” Ass.
“Yeah, before. Now we can afford more. Three bedrooms and two baths more.” He held up his phone. “I already signed the lease, Queenie. I couldn’t sleep on this. I needed to make a decision right away.”
I shook my head.
Four days ago, Sledge, Gunner, and I were one happy family.
Now, I wanted to box in Sledge’s ears and shove a sock up his nose.
I grabbed my phone and texted Lynn.
“What are you doing?” Sledge asked.
“Texting Lynn.” I typed out a quick summary of what was going on and if she thought I was being crazy.
“What the hell for?” he demanded.
Because I needed to know if I was being ridiculous for being mad. I was, but I wasn’t. I think.
Gunner cried over the monitor, and we both froze.
“He’ll go back to sleep,” I whispered.
“Not if you keep yelling at me about trying to move you into a bigger house.”
Slightly ridiculous, but he also should have made the decision with you. Be mad but not too mad.
Well, hell. “You’re lucky,” I grumbled.
“Because Gunner went back to sleep or you being mad for no reason?”
“Both.” I dropped my phone on the clean clothes and took a deep breath. “Can you please not make life-changing decisions without me?” I closed my eyes and felt tears start to rise. “Not again,” I sobbed.
“Oh, hell.” Sledge gathered me in his arms and sat down on the couch with me in his lap. “Why do I keep crying?” I buried my face in his shoulder and tried to take a deep breath.
Twenty-eight years of ignoring my emotions had totally fucked me up once I started letting things out. I was a blubbering cow ninety percent of the time. Poor Sledge was going to run for the hills eventually.
“Just breath, sugar.”
So much easier said than done.
“I can cancel the lease and we’ll stay here.”
I didn’t want that, though.
See, total fucking mess.
“We’re not staying here,” I hiccupped. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and tipped my head back to look him in the eye.
“I’m not trying to do shit to piss you off, Queenie. I was just trying to take something off your plate and surprise you with it.”
I laughed and laid my head on his shoulder. “Well, I can tell you with all certainty it was a surprise. A three bedroom and two bath big one.”
He pressed a kiss to my lips. His teal eyes were filled with desire, and his hands softly caressed my back.
“You know, Gunner is down for his nap right now.” That was me being flirty. I prayed to God that he got the hint because I didn’t know how else to get it going on with him.
He grabbed the baby monitor out of my back pocket and turned the volume all the way up. “Just to make sure we hear him if he cries or something?”
“I’m pretty sure the neighbors across the street will hear it with it that loud,” I laughed.
He tossed the monitor in the chair and swept me into his arms. He laid me on the couch and covered me with his body.
For the record, this was the third time since we had been home where Sledge and I tried to get it on, and we never seemed able to follow through.
The first time, we were rounding second base when Kimber and the Book Club knocked on the door for an impromptu baby shower. I think Kimber actually called it a baby sprinkle, but it was just a baby shower.
The next two times, we had laid Gunner down for a nap but before we even made it to first base, he was awake and ready to go.
Sledge pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor. My hands roamed across his chest and over the dark swirls of his tattoos.
The rest of our clothes were off in a whirlwind and in a heap on the floor. We both learned from our three failed attempts that we needed to be focused and ready to go.
My hand traveled down his chest and to his dick. Yeah, Sledge was totally ready to go. I wrapped my fingers around his long shaft and stroked my hand up and down.
“Fucking shit,” he hissed.
“This is mine, right?” I whispered.
“No one else’s, sugar.” His lips trailed kisses along my breasts and his fingers tangled in my hair. “Fucking sweet as sugar,” he whispered.
His hand trailed down my body and cupped my pussy. “And now this is mine, right?”
“Always,” I hissed.
Nothing was going to stop us this time. Sledge and I were too far gone to surface until we were both satisfied.
His fingers parted the lips of my pussy and flicked my clit.
“Holy shit,” I gasped. “Take it easy there,” I laughed. “I’ve been out of the game for a bit.” Hell, I don’t think I was ever really in the game. At least, it never felt like this before.
He drew lazy circles around my clit while he nibbled on my breasts.
“I’m ready,” I panted. I had been ready for the past three days. It was time to bring it on home.
My hands dropped from his dick, and he slowly pushed inside me and planted himself to the root of his dick.
I closed my eyes and just let myself feel. His finger stayed on my clit, and his mouth traveled across my collarbone and up my neck.
He slowly pulled out and then glided back in. “Fucking shit, Queenie. You’re like heaven.”
“Same,” I gasped.
His hips rolled into me and a moan escaped my lips. “Don’t stop.”
“The devil himself couldn’t stop me, sugar,” he grunted. He reared back, his dicked planted deep inside me, and he grabbed my knees and pushed my legs to my chest.
“Holy shit.” I thought he was deep before, but we had just reached deepness level ten. Wow.
My breathing became panting, and I felt my desire start to swell and build. I splayed my hands on his chest and trailed my nails over his skin.
This is what I wanted. This is what I needed.
“You gonna come for me, sugar?”
I mewled and arched my back. My hips reached up to him and crashed against his. “Yes, please. Don’t stop,” I pleaded.
Sledge’s finger flicked the tight bud of nerves, and it felt like a bolt of electricity coursed through me. “Feel it, sugar. Feel me inside you.”
I felt it. There was no way in hell I couldn’t. “Make me come, Sledge. Make me yours forever.”
He growled low and covered me with his body. He thrusts were hard and deep, and they tipped me right over the edge and into the oblivion of my orgasm.
Sledge followed right behind me, my pussy milking his cock while he kept thrusting.
“Oh, God,” I moaned. I couldn’t take anymore. I was going to melt into a puddle right there on the couch.
Sledge thrust one last time and moaned my name.
The only sound was our heavy breathing and our hearts beating fast.
“Well…that was…” I didn’t know what to say.
Amazing?
Wonderful?
Fan-fucking-tastic?
They are summed it up pretty good.
“That was totally worth the wait,” Sledge panted.
That, too.
“What are the odds we could actually take a nap and Gunner doesn’t wake up?” I whispered.
“Why are you whispering?” Sledge asked. “You just screamed ‘Oh, God’ at the top of your lungs and now you think you need to whisper?” His body shook with laughter and he pressed a kiss to my shoulder.
“Because I really want a nap now. It doesn’t hurt to keep it quiet.” That rule obviously didn’t apply when Sledge and I got it on, but hopefully in the future, I would be able to keep the screaming and yelling down.
He grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over us. “I’m not
making any guarantees that you’ll get some sleep, but we’ll give it a whirl.”
I snuggled into him and inhaled deeply. “Just five minutes and I’ll be good to go.”
“Right,” Sledge drawled.
I hummed blissfully. “Just let me live in this blissful bubble for a minute longer, yeah?”
Sledge kissed my forehead. “Sleep, sugar. You’ve earned it.”
Damn straight, I had.
Gunner was home.
Sledge and I finally managed to get it on.
All was right in our little bubble, and I deserved to just enjoy it.
Damn fucking straight.
*
Chapter Twenty-One
Pay it forward…
Sledge
“Answer it.”
“I don’t want to answer it, Queenie.”
Queenie snatched the phone from me and pressed it to her ear. “Hello?” She smiled wide. “Hey, Deedra!”
It was the news. They had been calling me since Gunner had come home, but I never answered it. I wasn’t interested in having them burst into my new-found family and blast it all over the TV. Gunner and Queenie’s faces were already all over the TV enough with the candid photo they managed to snap when we were leaving the hospital. They didn’t need to actually barge into our world and record everything.
Queenie gave me a thumbs up. “A follow-up story?”
I shook my head no.
Queenie stuck out her tongue.” I think that sounds like an amazing idea. I know Sledge is going to think it’s a great idea, too.”
I rolled my eyes, grabbed my beer, and tried to tune out the rest of her conversation.
It wasn’t possible.
Deedra and her camera guy were coming to the fucking clubhouse on Tuesday to do an interview and make another video like the one we had made when we were searching for Gunner.
“I don’t know why you agreed to that.”
Queenie handed me back my phone and smiled wide. “Because I want the world to see that Gunner is home and safe.”
“They know that, Queenie. We don’t need to hop on the TV to prove to anyone that we’re happy.”
She rolled her eyes and swiped on her phone. She held it up to my face. “This is why I want to go on TV. That reward money is just sitting there, and I want to do something with it.”
“Like what?”
She smiled wide and launched herself into my arms. “Like pay it forward and help other people like people helped us when we needed it.”
I pressed a kiss to her lips and shrugged. I really couldn’t argue with that. I knew Queenie had a huge heart, and I guess the world was about to find it out, too.
*
Chapter Twenty-Two
Daddy?
Queenie
“Does my hair look okay?”
“You look like you.”
I rolled my eyes and fluffed my hair. “But does it look good?”
Sledge grabbed me around the waist and pulled me away from the mirror.
It was the day of our interview, and I was slightly freaking out about a few things. Well, just two. What my hair looked like and if Gunner was going to wake up cranky from his nap. It was always fifty/fifty odds when it came down to it, and I felt the odds were stacked against us today.
“You look beautiful. Stop fussing and go get Gunner. Deedra will be here in half an hour.”
“Eek! I need to get Gunner up and changed.” I dashed out of the bathroom and over to Gunner’s crib. Tomorrow, we were supposed to start moving into our new rental and had been staying at the clubhouse until then.
My tiny apartment was just too small when we were all back in it. I know it was probably all in my head but after Sledge reminded me I always wanted to give Gunner the best, I knew that tiny apartment wasn’t it.
So, to the clubhouse we went. Where his room was bigger than my whole apartment and there were plenty of people there to love up on Gunner and make him feel even more loved.
I swear, if I didn’t know better, Kimber and Fancy were plotting to kidnap Gunner overnight tomorrow so Sledge and I could get moved in.
I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
“Hello, handsome,” I cooed as I picked him up. “You were already awake busy making a big ol’ poop weren’t you?”
“Whoa!” Sledge called. He covered his nose with his elbow and pointed at Gunner. “Who gave the kid eggs?” he laughed.
Gunner smiled huge and giggled loudly.
“Happy but stinky,” I called. “I guess I can handle that.” I laid him on his changing table and had him ready in record time, even with a poopy diaper. Sledge helped me slip him into his new onesie and bright blue pants before Deedra walked through the clubhouse door.
“There is my baby!” Kimber called. She scooped Gunner from my arms and headed off toward the couch.
“Excuse me,” I laughed. “But that is my baby, and please don’t get him dirty. He’s got a very important interview in a few minutes.”
Point grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped the top. “So what exactly is going on?”
I rolled my eyes. There was the badass biker way, having a beer at eleven in the morning. “The news is coming to do a follow-up with Gunner and me, and then, I’m going to announce what we’re doing with the reward money that was fundraised.”
“Invest in the newest local business, Skinz?” Point suggested.
I tapped my finger to my nose and pointed at Point. “Nope, not even close.”
“Oh, damn,” he mumbled. “Here I was thinking it could be used to pay the girls a good base wage.”
“Do you know you make me roll my eyes a lot, Point?”
He took a swig of his beer and shrugged. “You’re welcome?”
Jesus. I liked living at the clubhouse but I would like being back in our own place for some peace and quiet. Besides, the place Sledge had found was only a quick five-minute drive or a ten-minute walk. I could always come over here to get my fill of badass bikers and then head back to my little bubble with Sledge and Gunner.
“She’s here,” Fancy called. “And I am going to have to ask her just where she got her shoes. They are cute.”
“And this is my cue where I fade into the background and do some laundry.” Point gave me a two-finger salute before Deedra even walked in and headed down the short hallway.
“He’s an odd one,” Kimber cooed to Gunner. “So odd, right?”
The interview with Deedra flew by like the first one did, and then, she filmed a few moments of Gunner and me playing and also of him sleeping in Kimber’s arms and then when he decided to puke all over Fancy. She managed to get some good footage, and then there was some that I also hoped she didn’t use. Puke wasn’t cute even if it was a baby doing it.
“Okay, I think that’s it.”
“Actually, I have one more thing I want to sort of announce, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure,” Deedra gushed, “we plan on airing this in three parts, so we can always use some more footage.”
I clapped my hands together and squealed. “Perfect. Just let me go get everyone. They don’t know the surprise, either.”
A few minutes later, everyone was gathered in the common room and Gunner and I were sitting in front of the camera again, but this time, Sledge was with us.
“What surprise do you have for us, Queenie?”
I smiled wide and practiced the little spiel I had worked out earlier. “Well, when Gunner was kidnapped, the thing that just took my breath away and made me realize what an amazing community Whitmore is was when I found out my good friend Petra had started a reward fund. We never did get any tips that helped with finding Gunner so that huge sum of money is just sitting there.”
“How much was raised again?” Deedra asked.
“Uh, the last I looked, we were at eighty-nine-thousand dollars.”
“Wow,” Deedra gasped. “That truly is amazing.”
“It is, and that’s why I want to use that
money and start the GS Reward fund. Any money raised will now be used to help in any future missing person cases in the Whitmore area. Gunner unfortunately wasn’t the first missing person in the area, and I’m afraid he won’t be the last. I believe having the fund available for any tips on missing persons will be beneficial to everyone and hopefully help make everyone’s story end like Gunner’s. Safe and back home.”
“Wow, Queenie. That is amazing, and I know everyone will be glad to hear the money is going to something to benefit that local community.” Deedra smiled wide and her camera man yelled cut.
“Did I do okay?” I asked Sledge.
“Sounded good to me, sugar.” He leaned close and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Looked damn good to me, too.”
“You’re biased,” I laughed.
“Or in love with you.”
My jaw dropped, and Gunner squirmed in my arms. “Sledge,” I gasped, “take that back.”
He grabbed Gunner from my arms and held him to his chest. He quieted right down and fell asleep again. “Not taking it back because I meant it.”
“This is too fast.”
“That bullshit again?” he growled. “There ain’t no fucking timeline that says I can’t love you, Queenie. Stop acting like there is. If people don’t like that I love you, then they can go fuck themselves because the only person I’m fucking is you.” He pressed a kiss to my lips again. “Forever.”
“I fell in love with you the days you helped me pass out thousands of fliers and didn’t complain once. I really knew I was in love with you when you covered me with your body when that psycho tried to kill us. No one has ever done something for me without getting something for themselves out of it. You’re it. You’re the one who wants me for me and I love you.”
“Wow,” Kimber gasped. “Now that is what you call a proclamation of love.”
Sledge turned to Kimber and handed her Gunner. “Hold him for me for a second, would you?”
Kimber grabbed Gunner and took a step back. “You may now kiss this cutie’s mama.”
“Only if I get to kiss his daddy,” I whispered.
“Fuck Sledge. Now that is the best name I’ve ever been called in my life.”
*
Midnight Wreckage (Kings of Vengeance MC Book 4) Page 13