Chapter Six
River
“Fucking hell,” I mutter to myself, covering my face with my hands. I shouldn’t have yelled at her like that, but when I saw the blood on me, I just panicked. She shouldn’t have someone with literal blood on their hands touching her soft, perfect skin.
Just minutes before she walked into the garage, I was getting information out of our hostage. When I saw her, I thought I was dreaming for a moment.
My two worlds don’t need to collide, because one is heaven and one is hell.
Fucking hell.
After taking thirty minutes to calm myself down, I find Jeremiah sitting at the dining table. “I saw her run out.”
“You shouldn’t have let her come down there in the first place,” I snap, angry that he let that happen. “What were you thinking? I should beat the shit out of you.”
He puts his hands up. “She was here with me one second and gone the next. I’m sorry. And I wasn’t even sure if you were still down there.”
Clenching my teeth, I eye the food she brought over for me, the food Jeremiah has clearly helped himself to, which just annoys me further. I wash my hands properly and then serve a plate, sitting at the table alone; Jeremiah’s smart enough to hightail it out of here.
I fucked up, and I know I did. I probably scared her, and that’s the one thing I never wanted to do. I pull out my phone from my jeans pocket and send her a text.
River: I’m sorry. Can I come see you tonight? And the food is delicious, by the way, thank you.
My eyes are on my phone as I finish the meal, waiting for her to reply. I feel like shit eating the food, knowing she thought of me and brought it here, and I acted like a psychopath. I suppose I wasn’t expecting to see her, and I wasn’t in the headspace to do so.
I was in the headspace for motherfucking torture and breaking that man to get what I need from him. And being so close, I was focused and very intent on that and that only.
Does she now realize how fucked-up I am?
Maybe she’s reconsidering wanting to be with me.
I guess I would understand, but it would be hard as fuck to let her go. I don’t know if I could. I know she’s the woman I want to be with, above all others, and I would never find anyone else that I would feel that way about.
She’s irreplaceable.
Priceless.
And I need her to be patient with me.
She finally replies, putting me out of my misery.
Bella: Okay, I’ll see you then.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath.
The sad truth is I don’t think any woman could love the real me.
So Bella is never going to know that side of me.
Ever.
I show up with flowers and what I hope is an apologetic smile.
“I’m sorry,” I say as soon as she opens the door. Her eyes go straight to the red tulips. “I wasn’t expecting you, and it caught me off guard. And I had some blood on my hand and it just...yeah, I’m sorry. I hope you can forgive me.”
She takes my flowers and I step inside, closing the door behind me.
“You had blood on your hand? That’s why you freaked out?” she asks, brow furrowing.
“Yes, and my hand was touching your face and... I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“What do you mean? I’m not.”
“How did you get blood on your hand?”
Shit.
“I can see your mind thinking of a million different answers. Let’s skip the bullshit. Just tell me the truth.”
I’m quiet for a bit, trying to find the best way out of this. I can’t tell her the truth. Can I?
“I’m not lying. There was blood on my hands. That’s all.”
She stares at me for a long while. For the first time, I cannot see what she sees. She shutters her expression from me, giving me a blank look that I never want to see on her beautiful face again. “That’s your one, River.”
“My one what?” I ask, trying to reach for her.
She steps back and points a finger at me. “Your one time you can lie to me. You do it again and this is done.”
I’m surprised by her tone and don’t know how I feel about this.
“That sounds like an ultimatum.” I don’t like being told what I can or cannot do. Even by Bella.
She shrugs. “It’s not. It’s a fact. I’m giving you a choice. You can choose to continue to lie to me after this or you can choose to tell me the truth. It’s really your choice. I will accept you don’t want to tell me the truth about what I saw today. But it’s the last time I’ll be okay with that. We are a team. We do not keep things from each other. That is what I’m signing up for.”
She says it so easily. Like she’s not asking me to lay my soul out on display for her. I want to tell her the truth. I want to be a team. But I don’t think she’ll like what she hears. Can I risk that?
I watch her watching me and I know that she’s endgame. I don’t want to lose her. I don’t know what I would do if I did. And if that means I have to show her who I am, then I will.
“Understood. It won’t happen again,” I say, and nod.
I follow her as she leads us into her kitchen and starts digging through the cupboard for a vase. “The food was amazing. Romeo came in and ate the remainder of it.”
“Good, I’m glad,” she replies, filling the glass vase in her hands with water and organizing the flowers in it. “I sent a lot because I knew that some of them would want some.”
I love that she thinks of my MC brothers, even my cousin, that asshole Jeremiah.
Once the vase is presentable, she turns to me, and I open my arms out to her. She hesitates for a split second, but then comes to embrace me and presses her cheek against my chest. This woman is my whole heart.
“Have you eaten tonight?” she asks.
I smile against her hair. “You trying to fatten me up?”
She touches my stomach and laughs. “Maybe. It’s going to take a lot of cooking.”
I lift her up to sit on the countertop and kiss her deeply, catching her off guard. “I did eat, but I’m still a little hungry...”
She wraps her legs around me as I head for her bedroom, our lips still connected. I place her down on the bed, spread her thighs and slide down her silky pajama pants. She’s not wearing anything underneath. I tease her a little, kissing up her thighs and focusing everywhere except her sex, until she’s squirming in anticipation.
“River,” she moans, lifting her hips.
I love the sound of her pleading, so I give her what she wants and lick her pussy, tasting every inch of her. She shudders each time my tongue touches her clit, and I drag out her pleasure as much as I can, until she holds my head down and I give in and make her come. She takes a pillow and places it over her face to muffle her cries, and I keep my mouth on her until she sags back against the bed.
Then I strip down and push the pillow away from her, sliding inside her wet pussy. A growling sound escapes my throat as I look down at her, kissing her lips and slowly moving in and out.
I trace my lips across her jaw and down her neck; I know how much she loves to be kissed there and how much it turns her on. She pushes me onto my back and starts to ride me, while looking down at me. She loves this position, where she gets to take control, and I love seeing her like that. She plays with her breasts, squeezing her nipples and putting on a show for me. I reach forward and play with her clit, wanting her to come a second time before I get to finish.
And when she does, it’s like a chain reaction, because I come right after, finishing inside her. She lies on top of me afterward, with me still in her, and I slowly feel myself harden again with every movement she makes.
She looks up and smiles at me, and then begins to slide my cock in and out. If it’s round two she wants, I’m more than up for it.
I roll her onto her stomach, put a pillow under her hips, then slide in from behind.
We both moan together.
If only we can just live in this bubble. This only perfect piece of my world.
I can never get enough of her, and lucky for me, the feeling is more than mutual.