Chapter Twenty-Nine
Twenty-six hours later. St. Louis, MO.
I stared down at Nik’s sleeping body, watching her chest rise and fall over and over again as I tried to get the image of Xander out of my head.
My brother was dead.
My brother died doing what I told him to do.
My brother took a fucking bullet for the annoying girl who grew up next door to us.
My brother gave his life for the only woman I’ve ever loved.
Now, I was here a day later, watching that woman sleep in my bed, in my house, in the city I’d spent the last several months protecting because my home was here.
Oasis was here.
“Cain.”
As I rubbed my finger back and forth across my lips, I turned away from my bed to find Leon leaning against the door, studying me. “You sure you”re ready for this?”
I looked to Nik and then back to Leon. “Every last drop of blood he has left in his dying body will be spilled by me,” I vowed, walking out of the room.
Leon moved, letting me by, and I heard him close the bedroom door behind me. I went directly into my office, knowing that he, Dontell, and Jeremy were about to see another secret of mine.
As the seven screens turned on, I heard D mutter something under his breath. I turned to find them all staring at the screens. Dontell’s brows were raised, Leon’s brows furrowed, and Jeremy’s jaw was tight.
The Oasis leader looked at me. “What the hell is this?” he asked.
“A security blanket,” I told him, my voice empty as I clicked a few buttons. A second later, I took a step back, watching the dots pop up all over the city.
One for Mina, which was blue.
One for Casey, which was green.
One for Amara, which was red.
And then, of course, there was Nik’s yellow dot.
“The trackers are on their cars, but if you want something more permanent, just say the word,” I explained.
“The fuck you mean, something more permanent?” Leon asked, his eyes on Amara’s dot. “When the fuck did you plant these?”
“As soon as we landed.”
My friend blinked.
“Cain…” Dontell started but trailed off. “Why?”
“They are my fucking family,” I clipped. “Not fucking losing them.”
The boys stared at me in understanding, but for good measure, I added, “I can install the program on your phones so you can track them whenever you want. Hell, I can add you and they can track you.”
“So this is like sharing your location on a phone?” Dontell asked.
I shook my head. “No. This program can only be accessed by me. If anyone tried to hack into it, it will self-destruct and erase all data.”
“Again, I ask, what’s the more permanent solution?” Lee pressed.
Without a second thought, I gave it to them. “A microchip.”
Jer’s jaw dropped. “A what?”
“Cain, I seriously thought you just made car engines,” Dontell gaped. He shook his head and looked at me once more. “How smart are you?”
They had no fucking idea—hell, I had no fucking idea.
Leon ignored them. “Do you have one?”
I nodded and walked over to the desk, typing more buttons. Then a second later, my orange dot popped up on the screen. D looked me up and down. “Where is it?”
“My neck.”
“Show me,” he ordered.
I shook my head. “You won’t see it. It isn’t directly under the skin; it’s implanted in the muscle.”
“And you just want us to tag our women with these?” Jer asked, his voice cautious.
“No,” I answered. “And if you want me to deactivate Casey’s tracker, I will.”
They looked at me, but they weren’t judging me.
“We’ve come too close to losing everything, boys,” I said, my words heavy on my tongue. “I’m just trying to protect my family.” I gestured to the screens. “This is just one way of doing that. We have no idea who or what is going to hit us next. After yesterday…we’ve made even more enemies than we had before.”
Jer sighed through his nose, nodding. “I know. James’ debrief this morning wasn’t pleasant.”
“I don’t regret doing what we had to do in Devils Den,” Leon bit off. Then he looked at me. “Only thing I fucking regret is losing your brother.”
A lump formed in my throat as a weighted silence came over us. I looked to my feet. “My brother and I…we never had the best relationship.”
“We know,” Dontell murmured.
“I don’t want to lose anyone else,” I told them, raising my head again. “These trackers are just protection. You have my word.”
“Does Nikki have one in her neck?” Dontell asked.
My mind flashed back to the first night she was here, the night of Tiggy’s funeral. I’d waited in the alley until close to three in the morning, and when Sullie left, I waited until I knew Nik was asleep. Then I’d broken in and implanted it myself. The only thing she felt was the small prick from the needle, and I was lucky she was a heavy sleeper.
“Do I have what in my neck?”
Fuck.
I stiffened as the men shifted, revealing the most beautiful woman in the world to me. She was standing in the doorway, her eyes bouncing back and forth between us. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she was wearing one of my shirts. Her green eyes were alert and when they landed on the screens, she stammered, “W-what the fuck is that?”
“Boys, we’ll meet you at the warehouse,” I said, my eyes not leaving her.
They cleared the room, and once the front door of the house shut in the distance, I took a step towards her. “Your first night here, in St. Louis, at Sullie’s loft, I snuck in while you were sleeping,” I explained, my eyes holding hers. She was going to get the truth. This was the last secret between us. I was done keeping secrets. “I walked back to that bedroom, watched the woman I loved, a woman I’d thought I lost, sleeping soundly.”
“Cain,” she whispered, her hand going to the back of her neck. She looked to the screens and then back to me, her eyes wide. “What’s in my neck?”
“A tracker,” I said simply.
I expected anger.
I expected shock.
Hell, I even expected fear.
The last thing I expected was the next words out of her mouth. “Did you do it because you loved me?”
I huffed a humorless laugh as I said, “Of course I fucking did. There was no way in hell I was losing you again.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “You’re crazy, you know that right?”
“Been that way since day one, baby,” I confirmed, taking another step towards her. “You going to run from me, clover?”
Her lip trembled as I reached out and cupped her jaw. “Because I don’t give a fuck if that’s crazy,” I quipped, pointing to the screen, baring my teeth to her. “All I’ve done since you came to St. Louis is watch you, love you, and protect you. That’s never going to change. If you choose to leave me over this, it won’t change.”
“Cain—”
“Watched my fucking brother die yesterday, Nik. After that, there’s not a chance in hell I won’t be watching your every fucking move. You hear me? I know I’m going to survive this. I know I’m strong enough to survive losing Xander.” I pulled her to me, her soft body pressing against mine. “What I won’t survive is losing you, Dominique Wells. I’ll be spending the rest of my fucking life watching over you, whether you’re with me or not.” Her eyes bounced back and forth between mine as I held her jaw, my lips a breath away from hers.
“No one has ever cared for me as much as you do, Cain Donovan. The way you love me is perfect,” she whispered.
Those words rocked me to my core, right down to my fucking soul.
In the next second, both of my hands were in that fucking messy bun that drove me insane, her back against the wall as I claimed her lips. A soft whimper came from her as her arms shot up, wrapping around my neck.
I don’t know what the hell it was, and when I was old and gray and looking back on this day, I still wouldn’t be able to explain it—this feeling eating me alive, a raw, unfamiliar hunger for my beauty. Those words snapped a cord inside me, and as she whimpered against my lips, taking my harsh kisses as I drank from her, I bent, lifting her up.
Nothing else mattered right now, not after those words.
Nothing but her.
Like the good girl she was, her legs immediately wrapped around my hips. I pulled one of my hands from her hair, dropping it between us, my fingers working my belt. “Need you,” I rasped against her. “Need to show my woman how much I care for her, how much I love her.”
She whimpered against me, pressing her chest into mine.
“Please, baby,” I begged, my voice ragged. “Give Daddy this little pussy. He needs it.”
She broke from me, gasping at my filthy words. “Cain—God! Yes!” she moaned, her hands dropping between us in a rush, ready for us to be connected. “Let me take my panties off,” she said, breathless as I pulled my aching cock out.
“Nah, gonna fuck you with them on,” I told her, shutting her up again with my lips. I slapped her hands away, dipping in between her legs, my knuckles brushing up against the damp cotton of her panties. “Jesus,” I muttered against her lips before yanking them to the side. “My hungry little cunt.”
“Take me, Cain,” she whispered, desperation in her voice.
Fisting my cock, I lined myself up with her pussy and snapped my hips, thrusting all the way inside of her. Her walls fluttered around me, and I had to grind my molars to stop from jetting inside her. My hands went to her ass as hers went into my hair, and I held her eyes as I whispered, “Stay still for me. Just take Daddy’s cock, okay?”
My words undid her, and she gasped as her head fell back.
I pulled out and shoved my cock back inside her tight hole, thinking clearly for the first time in over sixteen hours. Fuck, this woman.
She was fucking ground zero.
She was my home.
She was my everything.
I fucked her, stretching her as she held on to me, staying in place like I told her to. I watched her face, memorizing the way her jaw fell open, her eyes rolled back, and her eyelids fluttered. I savored the flush crawling up her cheeks as her pussy tightened around my length, trying to keep me inside.
“Made for me,” I grunted between thrusts.
“Yes,” she breathed, kissing me.
I didn’t stop fucking her at a brutal pace, breathing into her open mouth, savoring her. My balls began to tighten; I needed her to come all over me. I needed her mess on me before I took a life. Cigarettes weren’t going to cover it today.
I needed my clover girl.
My hand snaked around to her front, my fingers finding her swollen, wet clit. As I worked her, feeling her panties rubbing against my fingers, I trailed my lips across her jaw before finding her ear. “My lucky charm,” I murmured. Even after everything, the hell we went through yesterday, I owed her for pulling me out. I owed her for not giving up on me. I owed her for saving me.
“C-Cain,” she gasped, her nails digging into my shoulders.
“Need my pussy to come,” I cooed.
“Babe,” she gasped.
“You gonna do that for Daddy? Hm?” I asked sweetly, slamming into her now. “You gonna milk this dick, clover?”
She didn’t give me an answer.
She was too busy screaming my name as her cunt clamped down on my cock, doing exactly what I needed her to do. I lost myself to her and the pleasure she gave me. As I filled her, I chanted her name like fucking prayer, knowing damn well the Big Man upstairs already answered it.
Four hours later.
Nik and I walked hand-in-hand into the warehouse where we’d brought Victor and Ivan.
Now, Kavi was in there, waiting for his final judgment.
And I was the lucky son of a bitch who got to reap his piss-pour excuse of a soul from this planet.
Just before we entered, I turned Nik to me. “You don’t have to go in there. You’re going to see sides of everyone—me included—that you’ve never seen before,” I told her softly.
I didn’t want her walking into something she didn’t want to see or couldn’t handle. She’d already seen enough the last few days, and there was still so much for us to process, things we needed to do together.
“That man in there has been tormenting Oasis for months. He had Cleo kidnapped, killed Tiggy, planted a rat in Oasis, had Amara kidnapped, and had me nearly blown to fucking pieces before killed Xander yesterday, Cain,” she explained, her voice gentle but firm, anger in her tone. “I will absolutely be going there to watch you kill him, and when you’re done, we’ll walk out just like we’re about to walk in. Together.”
There was nothing more to say.
All I could do was grab her face and gave her one more kiss.
When that was done, we entered, and a slow, wicked smile spread across my face at the scene in front of me.
Dontell seemed to already be playing.