by Ella Wolfe
“What about kids?” I asked slowly.
“Do you want them?” Skye was peering up at me, as if I had the answer to all her hopes and dreams in my hands, and I was threatening to crush them.
Kids hadn’t really been on my radar throughout my life. Growing up like I did, without typical parents, had put me off ever having kids of my own. Then, after I became a wanted man and assumed I would live alone, kids didn’t even factor into the equation.
Now, though, things were remarkably different. I had a life now. I had a house, a job, and, more importantly, I had Skye. Skye would make a great mother; I could already imagine it. Any kid born to her would be the luckiest child in the world, and she would make sure of it. I found it difficult to see myself as a dad. I had no experience in that field, apart from the bare bones that I received from my own father. That wasn’t what it was about, though. The real question was, would I be willing to start a family with Skye?
The answer was yes.
Of course, it would take a while for her to get pregnant once we started trying, and it wasn’t a sure thing that we would even end up having kids. I didn’t want to get my hopes up if–
My thoughts seemed to stop right in their tracks as I looked down into Skye’s hopeful face.
“Shit,” I said aloud, as my eyes grew wide with shock.
The utter disappointment in Skye’s eyes as she misunderstood my words felt like a vice around my heart.
“Are you pregnant?” I exclaimed.
Her eyes filled with tears at my outburst, but I couldn’t help my shock. I had to know if it was true. She confirmed my thoughts with a single nod of her head.
I couldn’t help the way my lips began to stretch up in a wide smile, as I looked at her beautiful face.
“I’m picking the name!” I demanded immediately.
Her cries turned to those of happiness, and she leapt forward to kiss me passionately. She put all of her emotions into the kiss, tears still running down her cheeks, as she tried to convey her happiness to me.
“You should’ve known that, for you, I’d do anything.”
Our frantic kiss turned into a slow and sensual indulging of the mouths. Our clothes came off one piece at a time, in no particular order. We weren’t rushing anything these days. We had all the time in the world. It wasn’t long before our clothes were on the floor, and we were naked and warm in each other’s arms.
Our bodies were so acquainted with each other’s now, but she still excited me every time. It was an excitement that came from the familiar and one that I could never truly explain.
My fingers explored Skye’s body as if it were for the first time, sliding over her stomach and round to her hips.
“He’s in here now?” I looked up at her, a childish curiosity in my eyes.
Skye nodded as I spanned my palms over her belly. A brand-new life would be growing here soon, one that was half Skye and half me. With a gentle touch of my lips to her stomach, I tried to imagine what it would be like in a few months, swollen and glowing with a life inside. My grin couldn’t be contained, even if I tried.
Finally pulling up and moving back to her face, my hands started rubbing all over the rest of her body, working Skye up to her climax. There was no sense of urgency as we slid our slippery bodies over each other, legs tangled, arms running over one another. Skye reached for my hard length, stroking me gently between my legs, as I did the same to her.
We were close, the both of us, and Skye knew it too.
“Knox, I need you,” she whispered.
I didn’t hesitate as I slipped myself inside her with one wet thrust. Our resounding sighs at the feeling of completion sounded out in unison, and, for a moment, we stayed there, unmoving.
“Are you happy?” Skye asked me as we lay still together, not yet ready to reach our orgasm.
“More than happy,” I replied, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
We kept our gazes on each other as we began to move together, a slow and steady rhythm that matched the beating of our hearts. Our climaxes spread through us in unison, as we shuddered, convulsed, and exploded around each other.
“I love you, Skye,” I whispered on her lips. It was the first time I had said it to her, even though I couldn’t remember how long I’d felt that way.
Skye had never forced the issue, though, and now, as the words fell easily from my lips, I couldn’t describe how true they were.
“I love you too, Knox. So much,” she whispered, shuddering around me.
We lay in the aftermath of our lovemaking, because that’s what it was, and I felt contentment filling my lungs and spreading through my veins.
“You’re still not picking the name, though,” Skye teased, and I couldn’t help my light chuckle.
“Together, then?” I asked. We both knew that I wasn’t just talking about baby names.
We had been through a lot together, more than what most couples would go through in a lifetime. But we’d come out on top, working together to fight our way to where we were now, happier than we’d ever been before.
“Together,” Skye agreed serenely, knowing, as I did, that being together was all we would ever need.
THE END
A Gift for You – PRICE TAG: A Dark Bad Boy Romance
They will pay. Even if it kills me.
Jett
This was supposed to be simple.
Find my father’s killers.
Make them bleed.
But then she came along and screwed everything up.
Now, she’s haunting my dreams and my reality alike.
Tempting me.
Teasing me.
Seducing me with the merest glimpse of her porcelain skin.
She talks a big game; she thinks she can handle me.
But there’s no turning back once we’ve gone down this road.
We’re in too deep, and there’s no way I’m letting her go.
Dayna
I never wanted to come back here.
But I couldn’t stand to see my mother suffer anymore.
Every bruise dealt by my stepfather’s drunken, whirling fists was like a dagger to the heart.
We had to escape.
But I left one horror story just to waltz into another.
Jett Walker is hell-bent on revenge, and he doesn’t give a damn who gets hurt along the way.
The right thing to do would be to stay far, far away from him.
But I can’t.
I can’t abandon the kid I knew all those years ago.
He’s a man, now.
Not a good one. A monster, a killer, a brute.
But somewhere, buried below those swirling tattoos and bulging muscles…
…is my salvation.
I just hope I can afford what he is taking from me.
Even freedom comes with a price tag.
Chapter One
Dayna
The early morning light flitted through the partially open curtains of the motel room I was in, luring me gently from my slumber in time to catch my mother leaving for work.
Perhaps if it was a little darker, if I was a little groggier, or if she had turned away a little faster, I would’ve stayed blissfully unaware for a few moments longer. But as it was, the faint bruise on her skin could’ve had neon lights pointing to it considering the way my eyes automatically zeroed in on it.
I suppressed a flinch as my eyes raked over my mother’s frail form and bruised body. Though it was starting to fade, and her heavily made up skin covered almost all traces of the damage, her injury seemed to be imprinted on my mind, rising to the surface every time she looked at me. It was a painful reminder of a life we had only recently managed to escape.
Sensing my awakening, like only a mother could, she turned to me and offered a gentle smile. That smile spoke volumes. It was an I’m-glad-to-be-here smile, as well as an I’d-do-it-all-over-again smile. And damn if that didn’t cut me the most.
I stretched a hand out to her a
nd she hobbled closer.
“You’re leaving already?” I asked, my voice still filled with remnants of my slumber.
“It’s almost five, Dayna,” she replied.
“Oh.” I thought it had been a lot earlier. “Bye Ma. I swear today will be the day.”
“I trust you, Dayna. I know you’ll find something.” She leaned in and placed a delicate kiss on my cheek. Knowing perhaps that her bruise would upset me, she kept her right side turned away from me. I hated that I was grateful for it.
Heading out at last, I waited until the flimsy hotel room door closed behind her before I let out a heaving sigh.
I still couldn’t believe that after all these years we had ended up back in Waco, Texas, the place where I’d spent the majority of my childhood. Back then, I was just a carefree kid who had no idea of the struggles I would soon face. It was just me and my mother then, just like it was now, and I knew it would be a long time before we let anyone in our lives again.
As soon as we arrived back in town, my first thought was how eerily unchanged it all was. Same houses, same people, same roads, and with my mother returning to the same diner that she’d worked in over twelve years ago, I felt like I’d taken a step back in time to my early youth. But as I kept looking down the symmetrical streets and familiar storefronts, I couldn’t help but feel that something was starkly different to before, though I couldn’t put my finger on what. It took many moments for me to consciously understand that it was me who had changed, along with my entire outlook on life. Waco no longer represented comfort, or happiness, or a place to call home.
Especially since we were currently housed in a partly dilapidated hotel that I hadn’t even realized was part of the town. It had stained carpets, a lumpy bed that my mother and I had to share, and an acidic smell that I couldn’t quite place. Considering it was a roof over our heads and didn’t have monsters lurking in the shadows, I considered us lucky to be here.
Deciding it was finally time to suppress my self-pity, I rolled out of bed and grabbed the newspaper that my mother had left by the door. I had told her that today would be the day I found a job and I would keep my promise. We’d been here for two weeks and I still hadn’t found a thing, but if we had any chance of starting a new life, I couldn’t just rely on my mother anymore.
I scanned through the job listings; most of them I was entirely uninterested in or completely unqualified for. I tried to rein in my increasing disappointment and frustration when a small advert caught my eye.
It wasn’t only the fact that I’d finally found a job that fit my skills exactly; an admin job was right up my alley and that alone would have perked me up. But the name of the shop was what completely shocked me.
In all my reminiscing about my youth, I had conveniently forgotten the person I’d spent most of my childhood with, mucking around and playing catch. Jett Walker used to be the sweetest boy I’d ever met, taking a shy and awkward younger girl under his wing and helping her out when the other kids bullied her. I had a vague recollection of our parents knowing each other but as a kid, Jett Walker was practically family.
He was two years older, but that never seemed to matter when I was running around chasing him everywhere he went. In a way, I was glad I left before he started dating girls and breaking hearts. But now, back in Waco, I’d completely forgotten that he would be in town too.
Jett Walker Motorcycles.
It had to be a sign, didn’t it? There was no way it could be anything else. I’d already dismissed the possibility that it was another man with the same name, so caught up in my own fantasy that I’d started weaving in my head. After all, how many people named Jett Walker could there possibly be in Waco?
Grinning foolishly to myself, I decided that I would indeed pay him a visit today. Even if he didn’t hire me for the job, it would be nice to see a familiar face after so many years, a reminder of happier times. I bustled around eagerly, getting dressed and feeling lighter than I had in a long time, perhaps years. If the state of the town was anything to go by, I was sure he hadn’t changed a bit.
Chapter Two
Jett
The clicking of heels was the first thing that I noticed when she arrived. I was working on a bike, shirt off, sweating in the hot garage while trying to concentrate. The radio was on, some long forgotten rock song blasting out of faulty speakers. I didn’t care. I just needed something to distract me from the silence.
It had been three months. Three long months filled with carefully controlled rage and the suppression of vengeful thoughts. I’d never understood before, the appeal of the club. I used to hate my old man, a buried guilt that had festered exponentially since his death. The hatred stemmed from the club, no doubt about it.
Growing up, I knew that he was the club president first and father second. All my friends as a child used to talk about him like he was a god. I ended up avoiding everyone and everything, trying to find ways to escape the club that seemed to dominate every aspect of my life.
In the end, it was a cute little girl with pigtails that ended up saving me. These older girls were picking on her, probably because she looked so damn innocent and vulnerable. I didn’t even need to say much to the girls before they ran off screaming. I guess even then my reputation was enough. Or my father’s reputation.
Years later, I learned to accept my father and the club. I never wanted to join it though. Not in a million years. Or not until my dad died and I finally understood the appeal.
I signed up the day after his funeral, marching up to my uncle, the new president of Hell’s Raiders. I knew we would be on the same page, wanting vengeance for his murder. In the past few months I’d had more family and support than I did in my whole life, but it was too late now.
Now I didn’t need or want any of it. I wanted to avenge my father and I wouldn’t stop until I did.
The clicking of heels was getting louder and louder until the front door of the shop opened and the telltale chiming of the bell snapped me out of my thoughts. It took a moment for me to look up, but when I finally did, I immediately raised a brow at the woman. To say that she was out of place was an understatement.
She was in a tight white miniskirt and a black fitted shirt with some lace frilly shit on the sides. She was tall, even taller because of the heels, and blonde. My kind of woman.
I felt the sides of my mouth twitch into my natural cocky smirk and stood up, wiping my hands on a spare rag.
She seemed familiar, but even though I couldn’t remember everyone I had ever seduced into my bed, I knew that I’d gone nowhere near her before.
Finally stopping before me, I noticed that she had the widest smile I’d ever seen plastered all over her face, something that brought a weird ache to my chest.
“Jett!” she yelled, taking a step closer and wrapping both arms around my neck, drawing me close to her.
I froze at her touch. Who was she?
Her embrace felt strangely intimate, like we were reuniting after a long separation, or like we’d known each other our whole lives. I cursed myself again for not recognizing her.
I pulled back, oddly wanting to return to her touch, and took a step away from her.
“Have we met?” I asked, keeping my blunt façade intact.
She withdrew from me, smile still in place though slightly less restrained.
“Sorry, Jett. I should’ve introduced myself; it’s been so long. It’s Dayna. Dayna Blake?”
My eyes widened in surprise and I felt my face break into the first genuine smile I’d expressed in what felt like years.
“Holy shit! Dayna?” Not knowing what came over me, I stepped forward and this time pulled her into my arms, her body flush up against me, her head in the crook of my neck.
I couldn’t believe that she’d come back after all this time, looking like a runway model. “What are you doing back here?”
Dayna’s smile faltered slightly at my question but only a moment before she brushed it off.
“Mom a
nd I decided to come back. Familiar territory, you know?”
I nodded, still completely enraptured by her. I always knew she was pretty when we were kids but now she was all grown up and damn she was gorgeous.
“I still can’t believe it. It’s been what, ten years?”
“Twelve actually. When did you open this place up?” She asked.
“Couple years back. How’d you know I’d be here?”
“I saw your ad this morning. I couldn’t believe that I’d forgotten you lived here so I came by as soon as I could. I wanted to see a familiar face.”