Chapter 36 Ransom
RANSOM
Between the feeling of Willow’s arms around me, the rumble of my Ducati, and the wind rushing by, I’m in fucking heaven. Riding bikes has always been good for me, giving me a much needed thrill, but there’s something about riding with Willow that makes it even better.
I take us in the direction of one of my favorite spots, a stretch of the city that’s mostly empty, except for some lots that have been ‘under development’ for years now.
I come here sometimes to ride and clear my head, racing up and down the uninterrupted roads until everything that was stressing me out starts to fall away.
Now I want to show it to Willow.
When we get there, I stop the bike, and Willow hops off, looking around. Before she can get too far, I grab her around the waist and pull her back in, hauling her onto the bike seat in front of me so we’re facing each other, her legs draped over mine.
“So, are you going to tell me what this is about?” she asks.
There’s a light in her eyes that tells me she’s not at all upset about me bringing her here, and I smile at her, reaching up to trace the curve of her cheek.
“What, do I need a reason to come see you?” I ask.
“No, you don’t,” she says, leaning into my touch. “I was just wondering if anything is wrong.”
“Nah.” I shake my head. “For once, there’s no crisis. I just… wanted to see you. I missed you. I feel like I’m always missing you these days. I got used to having you in my bed every night, and now you’re not there anymore.”
“Oh,” she says softly. “Well, it’s good to see you now.” Willow kisses my cheek and then leans back a bit. “Since you said there’s no crisis, I’m guessing there’s no news either.”
“Not yet. Vic’s still doing what he can, but we’re just hoping that this next drop will give us some more info to work with. A face or a license plate or something we can use.”
“Do you think X is the one doing the pickups himself?” she asks.
“Doubtful. Someone that powerful and connected probably has a lot of flunkies doing the dirty work for him. But if we can get some kind of identifier, hopefully it’ll be enough to lead us to X in the end.”
“Hm.” She purses her lips, frowning a little. “I’m glad you have a plan, but I hate that it means you have to keep doing jobs for X. Especially if they’re getting more dangerous.”
I lean forward and nuzzle at her neck, humming in agreement. “It would definitely be better if we didn’t have to. But if it leads to us being free from this asshole, then it’s worth it.”
“I guess so.”
I pull back, scanning her face. There’s a little line between her eyebrows, and her eyes are narrowed slightly. It’s the same expression she had when I saw her pull up in front of her apartment. I tap her nose with a finger, startling a laugh out of her.
“You seem like you’re thinking too hard,” I tell her. “You looked like that when I saw you in your car before too. Is something wrong?”
Willow sighs, blowing out a breath. “No, nothing’s wrong, exactly. I just have a lot on my mind.”
“I’ve been told I’m a good listener. If you want to get whatever it is off your chest.”
She hesitates for a second, and then nods. “I saw my grandmother earlier, and she made me an offer. A really amazing offer.”
She explains, telling me how she’s been given the chance to help run the Stanton estate and all the perks that would come with that.
My eyes widen as I listen, because she’s right. That is an amazing offer. Not having to worry about school or getting a job, just settling into a life that’s already carved out and ready for her… that’s the kind of shit that one-percenters do, and the rest of us just fucking dream about.
“It could completely change my life,” Willow says.
“I mean, Olivia is family, and she has all these connections. She knows basically everyone who’s anyone in this city and probably beyond it too.
I could throw myself into that. I could learn how to do what she does.
I could drop out of school like she wants, since I wouldn’t need to finish my degree.
I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to do for a career anyway; I just wanted to improve my life situation.
I wanted things to be better than they were. And this would do that. In a big way.”
I listen to her talk, and as much as she’s pointing out all the good parts of this deal, she still seems conflicted, as if she’s not totally sold on it.
It’s definitely not my place to tell her what to do here, but I offer what insight I have. “I remember you were really attached to school when you were staying with us,” I tell her. “You missed it and wanted to get back to it.”
Willow nods. “I know. But with all the new opportunities that have come up, I’m not sure if I’m just holding onto that because I’m being stubborn, or if that’s what would really be best for me. I just don’t know.”
I watch as the emotions play out over her face, drawing her a little closer to me on the seat of my bike.
“Can I tell you something?” she asks suddenly, her brown eyes shining.
“Of course. You can tell me anything.”
“Sometimes… sometimes I still feel like I don’t belong in my grandmother’s world. Olivia has done so much for me, so much to make me feel welcome, but there’s always a part of me that just feels like I don’t fit there.”
I nod. It makes sense. In my mind, she’s worth a million of the kind of people Olivia Stanton hangs around with, but that’s different than feeling like she fits in with them.
And not feeling like you fit? Doubting your place in the world? That’s something I know a hell of a lot about.
I hesitate for a second, tracing a pattern on her back with my fingertips as I get lost in memories of my own. When I speak again, my voice is low.
“Yeah. I get how that is. I’ve never told anyone this, but Malice and Victor are only my half-brothers. They share all the same DNA, and sometimes it makes me feel like I don’t belong either.”
Willow’s eyes go wide, her lips parting on a soft inhale.
“I… I had no idea,” she whispers.
“Neither do they.” I shrug, leaning back a little and letting out a breath.
Her brows shoot up toward her hairline. “Really? I thought you three shared everything.”
“We do, mostly,” I tell her. “It’s just… fuck, I don’t know. I haven’t found a way to tell them yet. Part of me is afraid, I guess. That it’ll make them look at me differently if they know we’re not fully brothers.”
Willow reaches out, stroking a gentle hand up my arm. It’s comforting to have her here, to tell her this and have it not change the way she looks at me.
“So you guys have the same mom?” she asks.
I snort, shaking my head. “I wish. Our dad cheated on Diana—Vic and Malice’s mom.
Because he was a total piece of shit like that.
Then the other woman got pregnant and had a baby.
Me. I was less than a year old when she died, and dear old dad was just going to leave me to be taken in by whoever found me, I guess.
But Diana found out about it all and offered to raise me. ”
“Wow,” Willow breathes, looking stunned.
“Right? I was the product of her husband cheating on her, but Diana was too kind-hearted to punish me for that or let me end up in the system. It made me love her even more when I found out the truth about everything. Because she cared about me as much as she did about Malice and Vic, even though I wasn’t her real son.
And it fucking sucks, remembering that she wasn’t my real mom. ”
“She was real enough,” Willow murmurs. “She loved you and she raised you. That makes her your family.”
She leans forward and kisses me, and I close my eyes, banding my arms tightly around her.
“Thank you for telling me,” she whispers. “I’m glad I know.”
“Me too,” I say roughly.
Our lips separate, and she rests her forehead against mine, her breath brushing my skin.
“I hope one day you’ll be able to tell Malice and Vic too.
I know they won’t think any less of you.
They love you, and I don’t see how that could ever change.
You’ve been with them through everything. You’re their brother.”
Her words are soft and quiet, but they hit me right in the chest. I’ve kept that secret for so fucking long, and although there have been plenty of days where I’ve almost forgotten about it, almost forgotten the fact that Vic and Mal share something I’ll never have, there were other days where it weighed on me.
My dad was the one who told me. He did it to fuck with my head, to make me doubt myself, like the fucking master manipulator he was. And after he and Diana both died, I was the only person in the world who knew the truth.
Now one other person knows, and I’m glad as hell that it’s Willow.
I kiss her again, harder this time, letting the full breadth of my emotions pour into the connection of our lips. She responds immediately, her small fingers sliding through my hair as her tongue slides against mine.
“Thank you, angel,” I mutter into her mouth. “Fucking thank you.”
I bite down on her lower lip softly as I finish speaking, making her gasp. Then she moans, her hips hitching closer to mine, and I chuckle.
Her hands start roaming, moving up my arms and over my shoulders, and I let my own hands move to her lower back, pulling her in closer so there’s almost no space left between us.
That’s the way it should always be. Nothing between us at all.
When she finally pulls back to catch her breath, her brown eyes are darker, making the little flecks of amber in them stand out. Her lips are a little swollen, making them look even more full and plush, and I groan.
“You look so fucking good like this,” I tell her. “Still sweet, but with that edge of the dirty girl in you that makes you so irresistible.”
“Then don’t resist,” she shoots back, her eyes gleaming.
“I have no fucking plans to, pretty girl.”
I smirk, leaning in to kiss her again, trailing my mouth down her neck while she shivers against me.
“Good,” she pants.
She’s grinding against me harder now, rubbing the heat of her clothed pussy against the rising hardness of my cock, and I love that she’s basically dry humping me on my bike.
It doesn’t even seem like she cares that we’re out in the open.
It’s not a well-trafficked area, but still, anyone could see her if they happened by.
But maybe she likes that.
Maybe that makes it even better.
A wicked idea forms in my head, and I grin, unhooking her legs from over mine so that she’s sitting more fully on the seat. Then I reach around her to start the Ducati back up.
Willow gasps at the sudden rumble of the engine, her eyes flying wide as she clutches on to me. “What—”
“Don’t stop,” I tell her with a wink. “I’m only giving you more to work with.”
I rev the engine, and I can see the moment when it hits her what I’m doing.
Her jaw drops open, a gorgeous flush rising up her cheeks—but she doesn’t need any more urging from me to take what she needs.
Her hips start to move again, grinding down on the bike seat, pressing closer to the vibrations that rumble through her.
“Is that good?” I ask, a teasing smirk on my lips. “Are you going to hump my bike until you come for me?”
“Ransom…” She clamps her bottom lip between her teeth, but she doesn’t look away from me, and she doesn’t stop the little rolls of her hips. “Oh, fuck.”
I work the throttle, giving the engine little revs as I watch the expression on her face, following her lead as I help her get herself off.
“That’s it,” I murmur, my cock so fucking hard I could bust a nut in my pants. “That’s it, beautiful. Just let it go. I know you want to.”
Her hands rest on my shoulders, and she uses the leverage to help guide her movements, little whimpers and moans pouring from her lips. With the bike still in neutral, I rev the engine again, and she cries out softly, pressing down harder, her hips moving faster and faster.
“You close?” I rasp.
“Yes…” The word is hardly more than a breath. Her eyes are closed, her face screwed up in concentration as she chases her pleasure, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more fucking stunning than this.
I rev the Ducati one more time, watching as the vibrations hit her like a shock.
Her mouth falls open on a silent cry. Her body goes rigid for a second before the pleasure explodes inside her, and she trembles through her orgasm.
I can feel it as she clings to me, the way each burst of pleasure wracks her body, and it’s fucking intoxicating. Having her like this, coming apart on my bike while we sit here in this empty lot, is hot as fuck.
My cock gives a demanding pulse against the confines of my pants as I release the throttle, pissed at being left out of the fun, but this wasn’t really about getting me off. It was about Willow. And it was so fucking worth it.
“What did you think about that?” I ask, lifting her chin with my fingers so I can look her in the eyes.
Willow laughs breathlessly. Her cheeks are still flushed, and the smile that spreads across her face makes a warm ache fill my heart.
“That was… holy shit. I just humped a bike!”
I belt out a laugh at that, grinning at her. “Are you starting to get the appeal of motorcycles?”
“I mean, I thought I got it before, but now… I just… oh, my god.”
I lean in and kiss her again, soaking up more of her sunny presence. I’m about to suggest we go get something to eat because it’s definitely dinner time, but then her phone buzzes quietly in her pocket.
“Oh, hold on,” she says. “Let me get that.”
She pulls the cell phone out, glancing at the screen, and a puzzled look crosses her face. She swipes to answer the call, raising it to her ear.
“Hello? Yes, this is… What?”
I don’t know what the other person on the line said, but the change in Willow is immediate. She stiffens, her face turning pale, as if all the blood has drained from it at once.
Shit. This can’t be good.