10. Magnus #2
“Somehow, I was probably worse back then. Anyway, I was a delinquent. I fucked around and vandalized everything I could. I trespassed; I stole shit to pawn. Anything I could do to earn a few bucks to eat. I bounced around at aunts and uncles, cousins, fuck, I used to crash on random strangers’ couches. I did anything I could to survive.”
I’ve never been one to talk about my past, but with her, right now, it’s like she needs this story more than my desire to keep it in.
June pours syrup on her pancakes and eats a small bite. Without really thinking about it, I reach over and wipe the syrup from her lip with my thumb, licking it off and continuing my story.
“I was fucking around at this construction site one day. Trying to find tools to steal. I heard a commotion, some yelling. Nothing crazy, but then there was a gunshot, and I froze in place. I hid up against a slab of sheet rock that hadn’t been hung yet.
It was just propped up along the wall. I remember pressing up on it, trying to fucking disappear.
But I leaned back too far and my head went in between the studs and into the insulation.
That shit itches like a mother fucker, and I could barely sit fucking still.
I had a crowbar in my hand, like it would somehow outpower a gun. I was a kid, ya know?”
June nods and takes another forkful of her pancakes into her mouth.
"Anyway, this big brute of a man rounded the corner into the unfinished room I was in.
I held my breath, thinking I could pretend I didn't exist if I didn't move.
He held a pistol at his side and stared right fucking at me.
I nearly pissed my pants. He looked from the crowbar to me like four times and then he finally spoke.
He had asked me what I was doing, and in all my years running around various types of criminals, I knew there was no way I could bullshit this guy.
I had spent my whole life reading people, figuring out who I could fuck with and who I couldn't. It's probably the only thing that’s kept me alive this long. Well, that and I can run really fast.” I chuckle and accept the bite that June offers me.
“Was it Dom?” June asks.
I nod slightly. "Dude was intimidating as fuck.
Like pure evil had stepped through the door.
He asked me what I was doing and I told him the truth.
That I was stealing tools to take to the pawn shop.
He asked me why and I said I needed money to eat.
I remember there was this moment where I swear he was deciding whether or not he was going to kill me right there.
I contemplated going after him with the crowbar but I knew I'd never outmaneuver him.
Finally, he spoke, but it wasn't what I expected.
He motioned with the gun for me to follow him, turning around on his way out and telling me to leave the crowbar.
"I thought that was it, that he was going to just take me somewhere else to shoot me, somewhere that it would be easier to clean up.
I had seen and heard about shitty stuff that happened in and around that neighborhood, but I had never been that up close and personal to it.
To the fucking grim reaper himself. I followed him through the house, past the room he had shot that other guy, where a couple dudes were cleaning up the mess.
He led me out front and told me to get into his car.
I still didn't know what he had planned for me, if he was going to sell me into human trafficking or had something more sinister in mind.
In those few minutes, I ran every possible worst-case scenario through my head.
I couldn't fucking believe it when we pulled up in front of a diner.
I thought it was fucking weird, like why bring me here to off me?
But he put away his gun before getting out of the car, walked me right into the place, sat me down at a booth and told me to order whatever the fuck I wanted. On him."
June’s eyes widen a bit like she’s hanging on my every word.
“I got the biggest fucking cheeseburger of my life.
French fries and onion rings. A chocolate milkshake.
I nearly puked. I ate so much but I figured, I'm going to die anyway, what the hell.
But I didn't die. Instead, Dom remained stiff as a board in the booth across from me.
His suit was perfectly pressed and his cufflinks were shiny as fuck.
He asked me about where I was staying, how I got money, if I had any family.
But then he asked me why I told him the truth.
I didn't have an answer really, just that my gut told me to. "
I pop a slice of bacon off the tray and munch on it.
“Then what happened?” June swallows down some of the orange juice I brought her.
"Well, he asked me if I wanted to make some cash.
Told me that it would probably be sketchier than how I was already acquiring my funds, and that it was still illegal, but that he would be there if I ran into any trouble.
Obviously, the pay was better, too, and more consistent.
He told me I'd never have to worry about where I'd get my next meal. "
June sighs. “That explains why you’re a little obsessed with food.”
“Yeah, probably.” I shrug, not having ever really put the two together. I’m damn good at reading other people but I’m kind of an idiot when it comes to dealing with myself. The only thing I really know for sure is how much I fucking love this girl sitting in front of me.
“You want another bite?” She holds out the pancake stuffed forkful, her other hand below it to catch any of the syrup that falls.
I allow her to feed me and reach for her coffee to wash it down.
“Dom and I had a pretty sudden understanding of one another, and it wasn’t long until I started picking up little tells from the people he associated with.
I caught a couple of them in a lie, and once Dom really realized how good I was at reading people, he brought me in even closer.
I was like a fly on the wall for a lot of meetings.
No one understood why he kept me around, but Dom kept weeding out traitors and growing the ranks.
I never once betrayed or gave him a reason not to trust me, and there wasn't anything I wouldn't have done for him, and vice versa.
Loyalty is a hard thing to come by, especially in our world.
Dom was the first person to ever really give a shit about me, and as foreign as it was, I wasn't about to fuck that up.
I think it was like five years later when he came across Hayes, the poor kid was fucking traumatized and psychotic but Dom saw his potential, too.
The dude doesn't spare many, if any, really.
But Hayes and I were lucky enough that Dom took us under his wing and gave us this life.
If I'm being honest, I probably would have either ended up in jail or dead if it weren't for him.
The same goes for Hayes. I know he did it for his own gain, but we would have never amounted to anything without him. "
June reaches for my hand. “I can’t imagine a world without you or Coen or Dom. I’m glad you three found each other. It’s like you were the family you always needed.”
“Found family, for sure.” I weave my fingers around hers. “But we were even luckier finding you, princess.”
"It's kind of strange how it all worked out.
My history with Coen, meeting you and Dom separately, waking up in this house, and seeing you all standing next to each other.
Fucking Coen pointing a gun at me." She pauses like she's recalling the memory.
"I couldn't believe any of it. I was in shock.
The Coen I knew, from ten years ago, he would have never hurt a fly.
Then I run into him at a bar and he tells me he's in private security.
" She forms air quotes with her fingers around the last two words.
"He nearly broke my date's arm. Slammed him into the bar and didn't let him go until I told him he was with me. "
"A date?" I do a poor job of disguising my jealousy.
“It lasted for a whole five minutes. I got the guy’s name wrong like four times. I think that was the day I delivered food here.” She rubs at her temple. “Feels like an eternity ago.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” I skim my thumb along her cheek.
“I missed this,” she tells me, her gaze boring into mine. “Us.”
I exhale and wish like hell I could continue spilling all the secrets, tell her every little detail about every little thing until there was nothing hidden between us.
I want her to know everything—my past, my present, my future.
Because none of it matters without her. I didn’t come alive until she showed up on my doorstep all those months ago.
They say love at first sight isn’t real, but I knew from the very fucking moment I laid my sights on her that she had stolen my heart.
“I miss you even when I’m with you.” I lean toward her and press my lips to hers. I breathe her in and kiss her deeper, the intensity of her touch growing with each eager advancement. I climb onto the bed and push her gently back as I position my body between her legs.
She holds herself up with her elbows until I’m fully on top of her, her body relaxing back onto the mattress.
I tug the pillow down and position it under her head and then grab a second one and place it under her ass.
Pulling up her oversized tee shirt, my mouth instinctively finds her bare skin, and my lips leave a trail of kisses on her stomach.
Inching farther south, I make my way to her center and nudge her panties to the side with my nose, licking at the crease of her thigh.
I slide my tongue along her wetness, too greedy in my own desire to taste her sweetness, and flick her clit, popping it between my lips and sucking on it.
June arches toward me and moans, her hand gripping the top of my head and pushing me into her.