Chapter Nine
“IntoThenight”—Santana(feat.ChadKroeger)
T his might be a terrible mistake, but it didn’t feel like it. Kissing Dalton again was like suddenly finding the other part of myself that I thought I’d lost forever.
Making a decision that seemed like a horrible idea, but unable to find regret in it, I slowly ended the kiss. “Hold that thought,” I softly instructed, then I got to my feet.
After making sure all the doors and windows were locked, I set the alarm and went back to Dalton. I held out my hand and he reached up and curled his long fingers around mine.
The surprise in his blue, blue gaze was almost comical when I tugged at his hand, signaling him to get up. Cautiously, as if he was afraid I was going to walk him to the door and kick him out, he got to his feet.
Gently, I pulled him along behind me as I went the opposite direction, down the hall to the spare bedroom where I was staying, then inside.
“Ry,” he cautioned when I closed the door, but I shook my head.
I released him when I leaned back against the door.
“Do you want this?” I asked.
He groaned. “Baby, I don’t think you have any idea how bad I want this. But this is something I might need to prepare for,” he dragged a hand down his face.
“You’re fine,” I assured him. Then, I stepped closer to him. His arms instinctively engulfed me when I got into his orbit. The kiss that followed was mind-blowing.
Taking charge, I walked us toward the bed. When he reached the edge, the backs of his knees buckled, and we toppled onto the comforter. Laughter bubbled forth which he quickly tried to subdue with a kiss and a shhh!
“Don’t worry, like I told my mom, Anson sleeps like a rock.”
“Doesn’t mean your mom does!” he whisper-shouted.
I grinned. “Where do you think he gets it from?”
“So, we’re really doing this?” he asked, looking both hopeful, but suspicious.
“If you are okay with it, yes. I need you. I’ve missed you so much I can’t stand it. All it took was seeing you again for me to know. I think that’s part of the reason I was so angry when I first saw you yesterday. I was angry at myself for still loving you—still wanting you after everything I thought you’d done,” I explained.
He took a two-beat pause and then he grabbed me. As if it was killing him not to have contact with me. And like anytime we were together before, we quickly shed our clothes. It was always like we couldn’t get close enough, quick enough.
Before I knew it, I was on my back, he was over me and his hands and mouth were roaming in all the right places. When I felt him nudge at the juncture of my thighs, a moment of clarify broke through. “Wait!”
He immediately paused, his breathing labored. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you—I mean… do you know if you’re clean?”
He dropped his head into the pillow by my neck. After a pause, there was a muffled, “Yeah.”
“Have you been tested recently?” I had before I left Chicago. My last casual relationship had ended and because we had been on and off, I figured it was a good idea.
“Don’t need to,” he mumbled into my skin and the movement of his lips tickled me.
Not wanting to be heartless, but needing to stand my ground, I ran my fingers through the hair at the back of his head. I tried to gently explain, “Look I’m not comfortable taking chances on your guts, babe. Guys can be carrying things and not know it. I think we should maybe wait until we can do that.”
“No, I mean there’s no way.”
“What?” I was confused.
“Fuck, this is almost embarrassing,” he mumbled into my neck. Then he inhaled deeply and let it out slowly, his warm breath feathering over the sensitive skin at the base of my throat. “There hasn’t been anyone… in a long while.”
“Okayyyy, but you still should be tested, no matter how long it’s been… How long has it been?” That last question was for pure nosiness, but I was beginning to think this man didn’t understood how STDs worked. He could have something for years and not know. He still needed to get tested. Fuck, this was killing my mood.
“Since you,” he softly admitted.
My heart stopped for a beat, then took off like a thoroughbred at the starting gate. My lungs refused to work during that pause and the air trapped in there came out in a rush with my galloping pulse. “Dalton?”
I gently pushed on him. I needed to look into his sky-blue eyes for this.
He rose up to one elbow, but he wouldn’t look me in the eye.
My hand found its way to his cheek without my conscious thought. Using my thumb, I tipped his head up. “Look at me.”
Before he completed my request, he squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, what I saw in those clear blue depths, stunned me—took my breath away. “You were my world, Ry. No one could compare to you.”
“That’s why you kept the ring?” I asked, completely astonished.
He shrugged. “Maybe? I honestly don’t know why I kept it all those years. I just couldn’t part with it knowing you had picked it out. It was as if you were connected to it.”
“I can’t believe you carried it on your key ring,” I whispered, trying to lighten the mood.
A crooked grin lifted one corner of his mouth. “Maybe not my brightest move.”
Then we both sobered again. He used his fingers to trace my eyebrows, then his thumb brushed over the curve of my cheek.
“I want us to try to be a family, Ry. If it doesn’t work out, then at least we can say we gave it an effort—we can remain friends and raise Anson together as a happy coparenting unit. But, baby, I want it to work. Without you, I’ve come to realize I was only going through the motions. I wasn’t actually living. The moment I saw you—well, after I got over the initial shock of everything—the world was brighter, the colors more vibrant, the music richer. And I knew. Please think about it. I won’t rush you or pressure you. Just promise you’ll think about it,” he pleaded.
I was practically melting into the bed. All I could do was nod.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I whispered back.
We sealed it with a kiss… and the rest was Christmas magic.
S tanding outside in the dark as I watched their naked bodies writhe and connect, fury bloomed within me. It crackled like flames and ignited the greed and hate that simmered in my veins.
That was supposed to be mine.
After all the work I’d done to cultivate this situation, they had ruined it all. They were going to pay. I was still going to get what I wanted, because I always did.
The fact that she’d had his kid didn’t matter one iota. By the time I was done, that would be irrelevant.
As I watched him fuck her, I reached down and rubbed myself over my black pants, pretending it was me naked, and sweating, and fucking like an animal. I timed it perfectly, because I came when he did, and I reveled in the sounds they made.
Then I straightened my black jacket and pulled my beanie down further over my ears. They were completely unaware of my presence and something about that turned me on.
Perhaps I’d find some poor unsuspecting soul to fuck on my way home. Maybe I’d kill them afterward. Pretend it was… ahh, I was getting ahead of myself.
A wicked smile curved my lips as I slowly descended the stairs, the crotch of my pants wet as a reminder of my goal.
Upon reaching the still busy street, I blended in with the unsuspecting crowd. They had no idea the power that walked among them. It fed my confidence and power.
Soon, I would have everything I wanted and everything they loved would lie in tatters at my feet.
Thank you for reading my Christmas introduction to my new Kings of Anarchy series. Join me in July when I release my first Kings of Anarchy MC Louisiana Chapter novel to find out what happens with Dalton, Ryian, and Anson and the rest of the Louisiana KOA!