Chapter 25 #2
“Because your memory is shit,” he says, and I gasp, affronted.
“Have you forgotten about Keystone? The people who are very explicitly trying to harm you? Have you forgotten everything I told you in your conference room or in your foyer or on the goddamn plane? Jesus, Shae. I know you’re smarter than this! ”
That pisses me off.
“Excuse me, Mr. Secrets! I am smart. Brilliant, in fact. And that’s how I know being around you is inviting trouble. Getting myself and my kids?—”
“ Our fucking kids .”
“—the fuck away from you and your drama is the best thing for everyone,” I finish, ignoring his interjection.
“So, if you’d be so kind as to undo whatever the fuck you did to block me from flying, I’d grea— hey! ”
Storm moves so quickly that I’m thoroughly disoriented when he flips me over his shoulder and strides across the gym and out the door.
“Hey!” I shout, pounding my fists into his spine. “Put me down, asshole!”
Storm chuckles darkly, and I bounce even harder as he re-adjusts his hold and turns a corner. I squirm, trying to get out of his embrace, but then I squeak when his hand lands hard on my ass cheek.
“Stop moving, Sweetness,” he grinds out.
His hand is still. On. My. Ass.
It takes all my strength not to moan when he rubs the flesh over my silky sleep pants. I was so flustered from the call with King that I didn’t bother changing out of my pajamas.
“Storm Sandoval!” I screech, and he delivers another slap, this one harder and most definitely shooting me closer to coming on his shoulder.
God damn it. I hate him.
“I swear to God —” I start, but Storm opens a door and steps through it into what looks like a garage. Clean car and rubber scent the air, and I scrunch my nose.
Is he about to take me to the airport? Not without the kids.
“Storm, I’m warning you,” I start, but he sighs and sits me on the hood of an SUV. Looking back, I see it’s a G-Wagon.
My G-Wagon, if the small ornament Tempest made in art class hanging from the mirror is any indication.
“How the fuck did you…?” I lose the ability to speak when he grabs my chin, forcing me to look directly at him as he huffs.
He looks downright feral right now—powerful.
Like a god.
And I hate that I want to fall to his feet and worship. I need to get the fuck away from this man.
I shift, trying to slide down the hood, but Storm steps between my spread legs, pinning me to the vehicle.
Well, shit.
“Let’s get this straight right fucking now, Sweetness,” Storm says. With the thin fabric covering my ass, the cool metal of the car hood feels downright erotic against my parts.
“You and I are long overdue for a talk. So, we’re gonna do that right now, because you’ve got some shit real fucked up in your brain. And I think you need a reminder of who the fuck I am.”
Oh, my God. I want to cry and rub against him like a goddamn cat.
I hate this. I hate this!
“Fine,” I bite out, tilting my chin down. “Talk.”
Storm’s eyes narrow, and he grins.
“Wonderful, Sweetness. I have three points of discussion.” He leans deeper into me, pinning me even more so he can raise a hand, lifting a finger.
“Point number one: The kids are not a bargaining chip. I know you think you have sole discretion over decisions regarding them, but I’m sorry to tell you, baby. Those days are over.”
My heart rate starts to kick up, and I feel like punching him.
“Storm, you’ve been a father for all of four days?—”
“I’ve been a father for eight years, Shae. I didn’t abandon them. I didn’t know about them. And you can’t be so jaded that you’d think I’d walk away now.”
That shuts me up, because he’s right. I look away from him.
“Aht-aht,” he says, tsk -ing and gripping my chin again. He caresses the dimple beneath my bottom lip when he makes me face him again. “We’re talking like adults. No looking away.”
I suck my teeth. “You have me pinned to the hood of my car, Storm. That isn’t very adult of you.”
“Oh, it’s very adult of me, Shae. You have no idea how many adult thoughts are going through my brain right now.” And to prove his point, he grinds his lower half against me, and holy fuck I want to?—
Stop it.
“Agreed on point number one. But that goes both ways, you know. You can’t use them against me either. You can’t threaten their well-being or safety in order to force me to do something,” I say, and a twinkle of fear goes down my spine.
“You’d think I’d do that?”
No.
“I don’t know,” I say just to be a bitch.
Storm nods slowly with a thoughtful look.
“Point number two,” he cuts in, using his other hand to rub a lock of hair between two fingers on his other hand. “You’re not safe out there, and you know it.”
I resist shuddering. I do know it’s not safe out there. Once Storm told me about the Keystone deal, I knew some fuck-shit was coming down the line for me. That’s why I usually stay strapped, and I have a plan to flood wherever I land with security.
“Whatever justifications you’re spinning in your brain to convince yourself that you’re safer anywhere except with me, drop them, Sweetness. You were chased off the road and nearly shot in Versailles. Is your pride worth our children’s security?”
“Fuck you!” I spit, pushing him back. I might as well have pushed against the Washington Monument. Storm grabs my wrists, letting me struggle against his hold.
“Shae, put your hate aside for a moment and listen to me!” It’s the first time he’s raised his voice in the entire conversation, and the urgency in his tone has me shaking and freezing in his grip.
“The CEO of Keystone is dead, Shae.”
I can’t understand what he’s saying at first.
“W-what do you mean?” I stutter.
He leans closer, his lips brushing the shell of my ear.
“I mean, Sweetness, that Kenyon Braxton, CEO of Keystone Financial, died in a fiery plane crash yesterday. The news is making it out to be an accident, but we know better. Don’t we?”
My mouth drops open as sheer panic and disbelief war with each other inside my chest.
“Kenyon Braxton burned to a crisp inside the company Learjet on his way to the Caribbean. Except, he never made it out of Chicago.” Storm’s words aren’t delivered with any malice, just straightforward facts. I think that’s what makes it more terrifying.
It wasn’t an accident.
“Storm,” I pull back and search his face, hoping I can trust what I see there—hoping he’ll give me the truth. “What’s going on? Why is this happening?”
He closes his eyes for a long moment, as if my question pains him. But then, when he answers, this new, resolute Storm returns.
“The thought of something happening to you or the kids…” He looks down to where our bodies press together, taking in slow, measured breaths.
“All I’ve ever wanted was to protect you.
To keep you safe. Please don’t take that from me, Shae, because if there’s one thing I know to be true, it’s that your safest spot is right here next to me. I know that now.”
Now? He knows that…now?
I can’t think of what to say to that, so I tilt my chin down in acknowledgement. After a cleansing breath, his teasing grin comes back.
“And finally, the third point,” he says, oh-so calm. “While you’re here for the foreseeable future, we’re going to get to know each other again. I’m going to get to know our children. Our beautiful children, Shae.”
His expression goes soft in a way I don’t think I’ve ever seen on him. He’s open, vulnerable, and…happy. Even in the midst of all this bullshit, he looks happy when thinking of his children.
Maybe…maybe he really is all in when it comes to them.
I stop fighting.
“Storm,” I start, but realize I don’t know what the hell to say.
“When I saw them for the first time at Versailles…it was like I couldn’t breathe, but I didn’t mind it.
Looking at their little faces, getting to experience Tempest’s attitude, and the curious way Raiden looks at the world—I was in awe, Shae.
And from the second I learned of their existence, I loved them.
I love them.” His words are soft, but his gaze doesn’t stray from mine while he speaks.
“They’re yours, baby, but you’re gonna have to learn how to share. I plan on being a father to them. I plan to learn everything there is to know about them. And…” He tucks a piece of hair behind my ear, the same lock he’d played with moments before.
“And, Sweetness, I plan on us being a family. Whatever family looks like for us.” I want to look away from him. My heart pounds as my soul screams, “No! Don’t fall for his stories!”
But as I get lost in his gaze, all I can think is….
“How the hell am I supposed to ever trust you again, Storm?” My words sound pained, and it’s because they are.
Storm’s hand goes around the back of my neck, squeezing the flesh there for a moment before sliding his hand down my front, over my racing heart.
“I don’t know, Shae,” he murmurs, and I feel the honesty in those words down to my toes. “But I plan to figure it out.”
He kisses my forehead, his lips lingering, and I can’t help it. I relax into him.
I give myself this moment.
“Stay, Shae,” he whispers, his lips still pressed to my flesh. “Don’t run away. Just…just stay and let me keep you and our babies safe. I promise I won’t let you or them down again.”
I lose the battle against my tears, confusion and hope numbing me to all reason.
But instead of answering him, all I do is sigh.