Chapter 83 #3
He says nothing, but his grip on me tightens.
“You’ve been my oxygen ever since, Lex,” I whisper.
His jaw works like he’s fighting everything he wants to say.
“Remember when you took me to Northvale to show me your senior project?”
“The Blackwood?”
“Yeah. The Blackwood. A whole hotel. Your senior project isn’t just a sketch or a floorplan. It’s a monument. A skyrise dripping in black marble and steel. Brutal, stunning… you.”
He exhales through his nose, like he wants to downplay it, but I know him too well. The pride is there, just under the surface. Like a flame he’s still learning how to let burn.
“You said it looked like us,” he says.
“I did. Because it felt like us. The way the shadows wrapped around the glass. The sharp edges and warm spaces. That rooftop suite with the black infinity pool—”
“With the underwater speakers,” he adds, voice lower now. “Because you said you wanted to float and still feel the music.”
I smile. “And the dance studio on the 22nd floor. You designed a fucking dance studio, Lex.”
He shrugs, but his hand finds mine. “Had to give my baby a stage.”
I laugh under my breath. “You didn’t build me a stage, Lex. You gave me a cathedral.”
He goes quiet again for a second. “I’m going to build it, malyshka.”
I blink up at him.
“The Blackwood,” he continues, eyes locked on mine. “It’s gonna be real. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year. But I will build it. Our hotel. Our home. I want you dancing in the lobby barefoot and Cade painting masterpieces on the rooftop terrace. I want the world to know that it’s ours.”
“I believe you,” I whisper.
His thumb brushes the back of my hand.
“You know what else I remember?” I ask, leaning closer.
He lifts a brow, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Baby if you say the drafting table, I’m gonna need a cigarette.”
“No, after that. After we messed up all your blueprints and I was laying on your sweatshirt on the floor, hair a mess, mascara halfway down my face…”
His voice drops into a hush. “You said you felt like the world finally made sense.”
I nod. “Because it did.”
Lex swallows hard.
“I remember how you looked at me that night,” I say, voice soft. “Like I was the last piece of a puzzle you didn’t even know you were trying to put together.”
He doesn’t answer. Just pulls my hand up and presses a kiss to my wrist, just below the edge of my bracelet. A kiss so tender, it feels like it rewrites the rage inside him. Like it melts it.
“I’ve been spinning all night,” he admits. “That duet, the trio, Roman, fucking everything. But you…” his forehead presses to mine. “You bring me back, malyshka. Always.”
“That’s what love is supposed to do, Lex. So you see,” I say, brushing my fingers against his cheek, “we may not have years of remember whens, but we’ve got a ton of really good ones that matter just as much.”
He’s quiet. Then, softly, “Yeah. We really do.”
I nudge his chest. “Now get it together, Hollow King.”
His smirk returns, slow and wicked, the kind that curls with smoke and danger.
In a blink of an eye, his mouth is on me, hot and unrelenting.
His hands drag me backward toward the door, slamming the lock with one swift flick before he presses me against the cool marble counter.
It’s too fast, too hungry, but that’s us. Fire with nowhere to go.
Lex grips my thighs, lifts me like nothing, and sets me down hard on the counter. The silk of my dress slides up in waves as he steps between my legs, hands rough, hungry, already searching—
And then he freezes. His fingers halt mid-motion.
His eyes flick up to mine, dark and electric. “Where the fuck are your panties?”
“In this dress? There’s no way I could possibly hide a panty line.”
The sound he makes isn’t human. A low, vicious growl rips from his chest like it physically hurt him not to know that sooner.
“Fuck, malyshka.”
His hands grip my thighs harder, like he doesn’t know whether to drop to his knees and feast, or bend me over right now and ruin us both.
“You’ve been walking around all night with nothing under this?” he rasps, voice shredded with disbelief and lust. “Sitting next to Cade. To Roman. Like this?”
“I wore it for you, baby. The dress, it’s all for you.”
“Fuck,” he groans, already sinking to his knees. “Look at you.”
“Lex—”
His mouth is on me before I can finish. His tongue, his fingers, all of it demanding and unrelenting. It’s messy and hot and perfect. My hands slam back against the mirror, head tipping as he devours me like it’s the only way to make it through the night.
I gasp, legs shaking. “You…. are insane. Oh!”
He grins against me. “You love it.”
My release hits sharp and sudden, shattering through me as I grind down on his mouth, fingers curling in his hair like lifelines.
He stands, wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, eyes dark as sin. Then he’s undoing his belt, fast and impatient. He grabs me by the hips and yanks me forward, lined up, breathing hard.
I pull him in with a fistful of his shirt and kiss him as he sinks into me with one punishing thrust. We both moan.
The rhythm starts hard and stays harder.
The sound of skin, the slam of hips, the scrape of my heels against the counter.
His hand cups the back of my neck. Mine claw at his back. His forehead presses to mine.
“Mine,” he growls. “Say it.”
“Yours,” I pant. “Always.”
He slams into me again.
“Fucking say it louder, malyshka.”
Another thrust.
“Yours, Lex. I’m yours,” I cry out.
The heat rises like wildfire. My breath’s a mess. His jaw is clenched. His fingers bruise into my hips.
“I love you, malyshka” he grits. “So goddamn much.”
“I know. I love you too.”
My second orgasm slams into me without warning, the kind that punches the air from my lungs and leaves my whole body shaking. He follows a beat later, gasping into my neck like I stole the last bit of his oxygen.
“I needed this,” he says.
“I know. Me too.”
His voice comes quieter now, hoarse. “I’m still building that hotel, you know.”
“You fucking better,” I whisper.
I stand, tugging my skirt back into place. “Let’s get back to dinner before Ellie comes charging in here like a Gucci-clad hurricane.”
Lex keeps one hand low on my back as we walk back to the table, guiding me with that quiet possessiveness that always makes me feel claimed and loved.
When we reach our table, I pause in front of my seat between Cade and Roman. Lex pulls the chair out, but instead of walking to his, he drops into mine, legs spread wide and pulls me straight into his lap. I settle back against him, not fighting it.
Cade doesn’t say a word—just smiles, warm and knowing, and reaches out to squeeze Lex’s hand where it rests on my thigh. Lex links their fingers silently.
Across the table, Ellie arches a perfectly sculpted brow. “Well, finally. Thought maybe you two were christening the damn bathroom.”
Lex doesn’t even blink. “We did.”
The table freezes.
He leans back, “She screamed my name, twice. Maybe three times. I lost count.”
“Lex!” I hiss, cheeks flaming.
He just grins. “What? Don’t act shy now, malyshka. They should know how fucking perfect you looked with your dress around your waist and my hands on your thighs.”
Ellie shrieks. Cade groans and drops his face into his hands.
Cal laughs so hard he nearly chokes. “Jesus Christ, man.”
“He’s your problem now, Cade.” Daniel mutters from across the the table.
Roman lifts his glass, slow and thoughtful. “Bold. Looks like she chose well.” His eyes lock on Lex’s, not confrontational, not warm. Just measured. Evaluating. “Don’t ever disappoint her.”
Lex holds his gaze. “Never.”
Ellie fans herself with a napkin. “Okay, seriously? You two need a 12-step program and a cold shower. In that order.”
Savannah lifts her wine. “Honestly, I’m just impressed you made it back to the table with your outfit still intact.”
Clay chuckles, easy and proud. “Well she’s practically a Whitmore now. We always bounce back fast.”
A few people laugh. Glasses clink.
Irina’s voice is quiet but sharp. “Barinov.”
Lex goes still. Cade’s glass pauses mid-lift.
Cal—oblivious or just plain ignoring Irina—leans forward with a grin. “Wait. Nashville.”
Lex leans in, eyes narrowing with a smirk. “There it is. I’ve been waiting for someone to finally bring up this legendary Nashville story you all whisper about but never fucking explain.”
He turns to me, eyes gleaming. “What’d you do, malyshka? Burn something down? Steal a stage?”
Ellie gasps. “Oh my God, the concert trip! Lex, you’ll love it.”
Cade groans. “You mean the trip where you two said we were going to Cabo and we landed in Tennessee?”
Lex blinks. “You thought you were going to Cabo?”
Cal nods, completely unbothered. “They conned Eric into flying us out.”
Lex’s brow lifts. “Wait. Sky Daddy Eric?”
Cal points. “The one and only. Didn’t ask a single question—just fueled the jet, cranked a playlist, and loaded it with drinks and snacks for the girls.”
Cade cuts in. “Yeah, except he took a huge fucking detour that left us stranded in Nassau for two days before we even got to Nashville.”
“He said the universe needed us to vibe longer,” Ellie says, mimicking Eric’s stoner tone perfectly.
Savannah groans. “That man is a walking liability.”
Lex’s laughs “That guy’s a nut job.”
Roman raises a brow. “And you trusted him with an international flight?”
“He’s FAA-certified… ish,” I mutter, sipping my drink.
Lex shakes his head. “I’m never getting on a plane again with any of you ever again.”
Clay chuckles, “You’re not truly family until you’ve almost been deported because of Sky Daddy.”
Cal grins. “Anyway, the girls told us it was a beach week…”
“Yeah,” Cade mutters, “and instead we ended up at a Jason Aldean concert. In Nashville. In the middle of July.”
Ellie points her fork at him. “You had a great time.”
Cade’s smirk is dry. “Sure. Right after Eric tried to kill us in the air, I got second-degree sunburn, nearly passed out from heatstroke, and your drunk friend spilled beer on my new boots.”
I nudge him. “I taught you to two-step.”
“You spun me like I was auditioning for the Grand Ole Opry,” he says, mouth twitching.
“It was cute,” Ellie adds. “Until Tucker showed up.”
Cade’s jaw ticks. “Ugh. The bull rider.”
Lex raises a brow, intrigued. “Tucker?”
Cal’s already laughing. “Some guy Bells met at the concert. Invited us to a bonfire after party.”
“He was nice,” I say sweetly.
“He was clingy,” Cade mutters.
Ellie grins. “Cade went full-on bodyguard mode when Tucker kept trying to dance with her.”
Lex’s eyes cut to Cade. “Really?”
Cade shrugs, smooth. “Didn’t like the way he kept touching her.”
I glance between them, biting back a laugh. “Babe, you shoved the guy into a hay bale, went full on Lex-mode and everything.”
“Good job, babe. Making me proud,” Lex hums, amused. “So what happened to this Tucker guy?” he asks, eyes flicking to me.
I lean back into his chest, swirling the ice in my glass. “No idea.”
“She ghosted him,” Ellie grins.
Lex’s mouth twitches. “You ghosted a bull rider, baby?”
“He said I had buckle bunny potential,” I reply. “I panicked.”
Cal snorts. “He sent you that belt buckle in the mail.”
Cade arches a brow. “And you kept it.”
“It was cute!” I protest. “I wore it with my cutoff shorts.”
Ellie fans herself. “It was a look.”
Lex groans under his breath. “Jesus Christ, baby, are you talking about the one you wore—”
“Yep,” Cade says cutting him off and smirking.
Lex sets down his glass with a thud. “That buckle’s not surviving the week. When we get back home, it burns.”
Cade leans back, smug as hell. “Easy, babe. You’re gonna break your glass.”
“Not if I break this Tucker fucker first,” Lex growls as laughs break out around the table.
“Pretty sure that was the last time I saw you before you disappeared off to Wexley and fell for this guy,” I say, nodding between Cade and Lex. “We barely talked at all my senior year.”
Cade’s smile falters just slightly. “Shit. You’re right.” His eyes flick over mine, softer now. “I think I was so wrapped up in school and everything else I didn’t even notice how far apart we got.”
That’s when Clay raises his glass, the soft clink drawing everyone’s attention.
“Alright everyone, glasses up. To the ones we’ve lost,” he says, voice steady. “To the ones who fought their way back. And to the ones who walked in later but still made this place feel like home.” He looks around the table, gaze lingering just a second longer on Lex. “May it hold.”
Glasses lift. Drinks swirl. Crystal kisses crystal.
And as the sound fades, Lex leans in—his lips brushing my temple, voice low enough only Cade and I can hear.
“Home,” he whispers.