CHAPTER THREE
EDEN
We’ve only been trying for a baby for three months, but every time Kade touches me like this, I feel that same ache of hope. That maybe tonight is the night. That maybe something will finally take root.
He murmurs apologies against my skin, each one softer than the last, until my anger loosens and I melt into him.
When his hands slide down my sides, steady and reverent, I grip his shoulders and breathe him in.
I love his strength, the way his body moves with purpose, and how he always tries to give more than he takes.
Being with Kade has never been anything short of overwhelming. He’s big, powerful, completely capable of carrying me effortlessly, yet he touches me like I’m something precious. Something breakable. Something his whole world depends on.
He kisses me slowly, coaxing me closer until I feel heat blooming through me, tightening low in my stomach. I cling to him, caught in the push and pull of wanting him and wanting the future we’re trying to build together.
When the orgasm crashes through me, he holds me like he’s falling with me, breathing against my neck, grounding us both. Afterwards, he lifts me gently, carrying me to his chair, and pulls me onto his lap so I’m curled against his chest. His heart beats strong and steady under my cheek.
“Tell me more about this lingerie you bought,” he murmurs, voice rough with exhaustion and something warmer.
I smile against his skin, feeling safe and loved and hopeful all at once. “Maybe you’ll get to see it later,” I whisper.
He hums in satisfaction and holds me closer, his hands spreading over my stomach in a way that makes my chest tighten with longing.
“What did Kade say?” Fern asks.
“Nothing. Then he distracted me.” I shoot her a look. “What did Diesel say?”
She drops onto the couch beside me with a dramatic sigh. “Nothing. Same tactic. Though he did say it was nothing to worry about.”
“I guess sometimes club business will spill out into the club,” Maddie offers.
“It never does,” Martha cuts in quietly.
I follow her gaze straight to Rabbit as he walks past, and my little sister goes bright pink.
“I saw that,” I whisper, grinning.
“Oh my God, shut up,” she hisses, but the colour in her cheeks gives her away.
Martha’s six years younger than me, and we’re stupidly close.
We had to be. She was only eleven when Mum died, and suddenly I went from sister to guardian overnight.
But she never acted out, never made life harder than it already was.
While other teenagers were sneaking out, she stayed home after school, keeping me company after my double shifts, making sure dinner was done and the laundry wasn’t piling up.
She grew up too fast. It still makes my chest ache when I think about it.
“He’s a nice guy,” I say under my breath so only she hears. “Rabbit. He’ll be a club member soon.”
“He’s just a friend,” she mutters.
I smile into my drink. “Okay.”
But the way she looks anywhere but at him? Yeah. She’s not fooling me.
KADE
I call church to bring the men up to speed on Jimmy and Liam.
“This is Bull’s fault,” Cole growls, his jaw clenched, arms folded like he’s ready to crack teeth.
“I’m gonna arrange a meeting with Jimmy,” I say. “Try to reason with him.”
“You can’t reason with scumbags,” Razor snaps. “We thought we’d only need to keep him sweet for a few months. It’s been years. Years of hauling his shit around Nottinghamshire. We’re already going against everything we stand for, and now he wants more.”
“More?” I echo.
Razor nods. “Why do you think he’s suddenly popping up unannounced? He’s circling. He’s waiting for a chance to dump more heat on us.”
“It makes sense,” I admit.
Smoke slams his fist on the table. “We’ve been patient. Too patient. We’re the motherfucking Satan Kings. Nobody backs us into a corner. Maybe it’s time to show him why we used to be feared.”
A few of the men grunt their agreement.
“Taking out Jimmy leaves room for someone bigger to move in,” I remind them. “We agreed we’d keep him contained because we know what he moves and where. If we take him out, we inherit the mess. His debts, his contacts, his enemies, and fuck knows what else.”
“Pres is right,” Diesel says. “And we’re out of practice. I don’t remember the last time we had to call in the clean-up team.”
Tap leans forward. “We could help move someone bigger onto his territory, or take it ourselves. Jimmy’s sitting on a goldmine; he just doesn’t know how to run shit right. We need to get back in the game—”
“No.” My voice cracks like a whip across the table.
“I’m not dragging this club back into the depths.
That’s how it went wrong with Jimmy and Bull—they got greedy.
We don’t. We make what we need, nothing more.
We like the easy life. No point stirring up every criminal organisation from here to London. ”
The men are quiet. “But,” I add, “you’re not wrong about finding someone else. I’ll reach out to a few bigger cities. Feel out the networks. If someone wants to step on Jimmy’s toes and push him out, fine by us.”
“The women have a night out tonight,” Diesel says.
I exhale, rubbing my temples. “We can’t let them know what’s going on. They’re already suspicious.”
“Pres, we can’t let them out when Jimmy’s circling.”
“I know.” I nod to Tap and Cole. “Follow from a distance. If you see Jimmy or any of those estate rats, call me. We’ll show up unannounced. I’ll tell Eden it’s a birthday surprise.”
The men nod, accepting the plan.
I bang the gavel. “Church dismissed.”
Chairs scrape. Boots echo. Men file out.
Diesel hesitates at the door. “You sure you’re doing the right thing, keeping this from the women?”
I meet his gaze. “They’ve never known the shit we deal with. It keeps them safe. If the cops ever show up, they’re clean. That’s the tradition. That’s how Pops ran it. That’s how I’m running it.”
He huffs a humourless laugh. “Sometimes a heads-up might keep them safer. They’d be alert.”
“And they’d have a crap night worrying about shit they can’t change.” I take a step forward. “And last I checked, D, I’m the president.”
He scoffs and leaves the room, shaking his head.
I hate pulling rank. But this time, I’m right.
I stretch out on the bed, hands behind my head, watching Eden step out of the en-suite. She does a slow twirl, hair spilling over her shoulders.
I sit up immediately. “Really?”
She plants a hand on her hip. “What? I like this one.”
“No way are you showing off that much skin, Queenie. I can practically see the tops of your nipples.”
She glances down at the plunging neckline and laughs. “Okay, maybe they’re trying to escape.”
She disappears back into the bathroom, and a minute later she skips out again, this time in a fitted red dress that hugs every curve without actually spilling her out of it. Her legs look incredible. Her smile says she knows it.
I nod once.
She claps her hands, triumphant.
“You did the thing, didn’t you?” I narrow my eyes.
She bats hers innocently. “What thing?”
“You conned me.” She once admitted she shows me the worst outfit first, so the second one looks tame in comparison.
I grab her hand and tug her onto the bed. She squeals as I flip her onto her back, caging her beneath me.
“I can’t believe I fell for it,” I growl, half-annoyed, half-amused.
She laughs, wriggling, trying to escape, which only makes me more suspicious about what she’s wearing underneath. When she slaps a hand protectively over her skirt, my brows lift.
“Oh, now I definitely need to see.”
“Kade—” she warns, but she’s laughing, breathless, caught in that place between exasperation and desire.
I catch her wrists gently and lift them above her head, leaning down until our noses nearly brush. “What are you hiding?”
Her cheeks flush. Her pulse flutters. She’s trying not to smile. And then I see just enough red lace to confirm she absolutely planned this.
I let out a low, dangerous sound. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
“Kade,” she whispers, breath hitching, “I have to get ready…”
“I know.” I kiss her jaw, her cheek, the corner of her mouth. “And I’ll let you. In a minute.”
She huffs out a helpless laugh. “You’ll mess up my hair.”
I grin against her skin. “I won’t touch your hair.”
The promise hangs between us.
And for a moment, getting ready is the last thing either of us is thinking about as the rest of the world fades, leaving just her beneath me, soft and warm and laughing into my kiss.