Chapter Eighty-Two
Helios
I was fucking high on life.
My woman. My land. Our house.
She’d fucking hate being away from the beach, but I had the island. I’d get her out to the Exumas as often as possible, then monopolize the rest of her time. Give her reasons to be on my land.
I wasn’t gonna take her away from her house.
I wasn’t that much of a dick.
But hopefully in time, she’d like being on the acreage.
My head in the fucking atmosphere over this shit, ignoring our vibrating cells in my jacket pocket, I glanced in the rearview as I made the last turn toward the house.
My woman tipped her chin.
Fucking smiling, I pulled up to the gate and entered the code.
As we waited for it to open, she pulled alongside me and flipped up her visor. “Race you?”
“Not a fucking chance.” I hit the throttle and cut through the gate ahead of her. Then I fucking braked when I saw the cars in the driveway and barked orders through the helmet comms. “Hit the brakes, now. Stay on your bike.”
Already around the bend in the driveway, she stopped, but not before she saw what I was looking at. “Why are Ares’s and Ghost’s cars here?”
Exactly what the fuck I wanted to know. “I’m finding out. Hold position and stay the fuck back. I mean it, woman.” I wasn’t letting her get ambushed. No fucking way.
“Okay.”
I pulled in front of the cars, and Ares stepped out of the house.
I flipped up my visor. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I demanded.
Ghost walked out of the house and fucking flanked Ares.
Ares’s gaze cut to Haven first, then he looked at me. “We need to talk.”
“No, we fucking don’t.” Both of these assholes could fuck off.
“This concerns all of us,” Ghost interjected.
“Doesn’t fucking concern Haven,” I warned.
Ghost looked at me dead-on. “Unfortunately, it does.”
Her voice came through my helmet. “Helios?”
“Thirty seconds, Haven. Hold position.” I shut off the comms. Then I glared at Ares. “You’re not fucking ambushing her again.”
“There’s been a car accident,” Ares stated. “In Costa Rica.”
Ghost dropped the hammer. “Your mother and Feralyn’s father are dead.”
Fucking Christ. “Give me a minute to get Haven and the bikes in the garage. Then I’m telling her.” I looked between them. “We fucking clear?”
Ares nodded.
“Copy,” Ghost replied. “My wife is inside, cooking everyone dinner. We’ll meet you in the kitchen and discuss arrangements.”
Fucking great. More people. I was too pissed to bother acknowledging that it wasn’t only Haven’s father who was dead. The piece-of-shit sperm donor had also been Ghost’s father, but I doubted Ghost held any sentiment for the asshole.
I tapped on my comm as Ares and Ghost headed back into the house. “Let’s get the bikes in the garage, Haven.”
“What’s going on?” The worry in her voice came through the headset, and that pissed me off more than our shit-for-brains parents getting themselves killed.
“Tell you inside, beautiful.” Fuck, I didn’t know how she was gonna take this. Orphaned. Not that my woman wasn’t an adult, and I had her back. Not to mention, neither of us had fucking parent figures anyway, but Jesus. “Come on.”
I swung the Ducati around and headed toward the garage. The first bay door was already open, and I pulled in with Haven on my six.
We both threw our kickstands down, and I was off my bike before she got her leg over. Tossing my helmet onto a shelf, then reaching for hers, I undid her chin strap and pulled it off.
Those amber eyes met mine. “Something’s happened, hasn’t it?” Fear coated her voice. “Ghost never comes around unless something’s wrong.”
I took my woman’s face in my hands. Then I gave it to her straight. “There was a car accident in Costa Rica. Your dad and my mom didn’t make it. I’m sorry.”
For half a beat, she didn’t fucking move.
Then she blinked. “What?”
Ripping off the fucking Band-Aid, I downloaded all the shit.
“Your father’s deceased. Ares, Ghost, and Ghost’s wife are in the house.
We’re gonna share a meal and discuss arrangements.
Whatever you want to do for them, we’ll make it happen.
Then I’m gonna kick everyone out and fucking hold you.
But if you need me before that, or if you want everyone gone, say the fucking word. ”
Her silent tears started to fall. “Your mom,” she whispered. “She’s gone too.”
“Yeah.” Sweeping my thumbs across her cheeks, I kissed her forehead, then pulled her into my arms. “We’ll get through this.” I’d get her through it.
But fuck me, I was a selfish fucking bastard.
My second thought, right after my concern for my woman, was that now I could marry her—without our fucking parents being an issue in her head.
Holding my woman, I gave her a minute as she clung to me and silently cried.
Then I pulled back enough to tip her face up.
Those eyes, her grief, fuck me. I wanted to immediately kick everyone out of the house, but I knew my woman.
Whether she wanted to deal with this right now or not, she’d regret it later if she didn’t.
She’d also be pissed at me if I kicked Ares out.
But Ghost was another fucking matter I needed to address before I walked her into the house.
I wiped her cheeks again. “You gonna be okay for now with Ghost here? His wife?”
“I—I can’t ask them to leave.”
“You wouldn’t ask shit. I’ll tell Ghost to get the fuck out.”
She drew in a deep breath, and I watched her resolve kick in like the fucking warrior she was. “No. It was his father too. We should all discuss this.” Her gaze drifted for a beat, then she looked back at me. “But what do you want? So I know.”
This woman. I fucking loved her. “I just want you, Haven.”
“Helios,” she whispered, more fucking tears falling.
“Whatever arrangements you want, I’m good with.” I kissed her. Once. But I made sure she fucking felt me. “I got your six, beautiful. Always. You ready to do this?”
She swiped at her face, then nodded.
“Let’s go inside.” I took her hand.