Chapter 34
BOBBY
“When we talked about you coming to Sunday brunch, I didn’t mean today. I meant in a month or so.”
I glance over at Ever. We’re a third of the way to Montgomery. She’s against the door with her arms crossed and has been like that since we left Dumas.
Slate drove down in his truck with Gage riding shotgun. They weren’t happy about taking separate rides when we’re going in the same direction, but I’ll be damned if I share mine and Ever’s space with another guy, including my best bud.
“Gage catching me with my pants down”—literally—“changed the timeline.” We’re at a stoplight.
I reach for her and tug her over until our thighs rub.
“Even if he hadn’t, you forked over your happiness for my time, and you gave up control of your life to me when you wanted to dominate me in the bedroom.
” Fuck me, did she. I came so hard in her mouth, I couldn’t utter a single fuck or a string of fucks. My woman left me speechless.
Then, when she swallowed my cum with her eyes on mine, not looking away, demanding that I submit to her tight, glorious mouth—she wanted a round two with my randy beast—I did what I’ve never done.
With my hands clasped behind my head, given strict instructions not to touch her, I submitted to her mouth and her beautiful eyes.
I let go of my control over my body, closed my eyes, and trusted her to take care of my cock with her mouth, fingers, then her pussy when she climbed on my lap and rocked her hips over my limp dick until I got fucking hard for her again.
She submitted to me by getting on all fours with her ass in the air. I barebacked her pussy, then her ass, and made love to her . . . to my Ever.
Nothing compared to the experience.
“Will I be unhappy forever?” She playfully pouts.
I hold back my smile. The light turns green. I turn into a strip mall and drive up to the drive-thru window.
“What are you doing?” Ever’s tone is tight.
“Continuing the unhappy streak you’re on.” I squeeze her thigh. “What would you like, beautiful?”
The barista waits for us with a smile.
Ever gives me her answer, then looks away, but not before I catch her cute closed-mouth smile. I put in our orders and pay. I get back on the road with a less unhappy Ever Moretti.
“Anything I should be aware of before I step into enemy territory?” I sip my black coffee. “Do they have an arsenal of Nerf guns in the house? Rabies-infested dogs? An Annabelle doll?”
I stop at another light. Thank fuck we’re at a stop.
Ever doesn’t like it when I take my eyes off the road when I’m driving.
I get it. Safety first. But damn it, I like taking her in.
She’s drop-dead gorgeous from her teal Chucks to her dark-blue jeans and a short-sleeved white top that shows bare midriff when she lifts her hand to take another sip of her coffee.
And don’t get me started on her pretty rust-brown eyes and dark-chocolate hair that spills over her shoulders and chest.
Ever sets her coffee in the cupholder, pulls the edges of her long-sleeved black-and-red flannel together, and sticks out her tongue and rolls her eyes. “We shouldn’t have binge-watched The Conjuring movies, and we definitely shouldn’t have watched Cujo.”
Laughing, I bop her nose. She is so fucking adorable, giving me a tip of her chin and being overly dramatic when she turns away from me with her nose in the air. I grasp her by the chin and land a kiss on her mouth.
She gasps, and I slip my tongue inside. “Fuck, you taste sweet. Remind me to get you a white chocolate raspberry mocha more often. You taste sweet on my tongue. Will taste sweeter when I eat you out.”
The light is still red. I caress along her thigh and dance my fingers closer to her heat. Her lips part. Her eyes are hooded like I’ve fucked her hard, she’s come, and she’s floating in the afterglow of her body’s release. “Dessert when we get home.”
Home is a makeshift bed in the master bedroom of the money pit that is beginning to mean more to me than a bad investment.
Whenever I’m helping the guys in the house, I hear Ever talk about her vision for what the house would look like, and I see it coming to life before my eyes as I step into each room.
The light turns green, and I return my attention to the road.
“Are you going back to Alexandria after you drop me off?” Ever reaches for her drink and cups it in her hands. She takes a sip and looks straight ahead.
She’s been quieter than usual since we woke up in a makeshift bed, inside a house that is mine but isn’t ours. “Would you like me to stay?”
“Only if you want to.”
“This isn’t about me, Ever. Do you want me to stay, sweetness?”
“I do.”
She’s been saying those two words to me, and I hope she never says those words to another man. I blink. Where the hell did that thought come from? I’m not in a rush to get married and start a family.
“Then it’s done. I stay.”
“I want to stay with you.” She covers my hand and interlaces our fingers.
“Works for me.” I bring our clasped hands to my mouth and drop kisses on her knuckles.
“Gage, my brother, the crew—”
“Should mind their fucking business. They have their own shit to deal with without worrying about yours. Do you understand?”
“You want me to take control of my life.”
A statement rather than a question.
“There’s no wanting involved, beautiful. You already gave up control of your life to me for one night of dominance. What you do with your brother, Gage, and the crew is up to you. I won’t speak for you, nor will I make the decision for you.”
It’s on her to decide who she gives the power over her life to. Personally, the power belongs to one person—her.
“How’d you get so wise?”
From a father figure. “Dom Costello, my business partner. He’s also my emergency contact.”
Why did I tell her that?
“In case something happened to you when you were in the marines?”
“In case anything happened to me, period.”
“But I thought you were close with Blaise and the Lexingtons?”
“Dom is more family than my blood relatives, Ever.” I check the GPS on my screen. We’re almost to José’s place. I pull into a grocery store parking lot and park.
“Ever, there’s something I have to tell you.
I want you to hear it from me first before shit hits the fan.
” I shut off the engine, unbuckle, and turn to her.
“Those times when I went to Alexandria for business that required me to be there in person . . .” I blow out a breath.
“I was at the police precinct, speaking with the detectives who worked Carlos’s murder case. ”
“What would you have to say to them? Unless . . .” Her hand goes to her throat. Her other shakes. I take the coffee cup from her and set it back in the cupholder.
“Unless I was there,” I finish for her.
“The rumors are true. You led him to the kill shot point. You killed him.” Anger twists her face. Her eyes shine with tears. I’ve never seen Ever more beautiful.
I reach for her. She recoils from me. Before she can unlock her door and run out into the parking lot, I unbuckle her and, scooting to the middle of the seat, pull her into my lap, grip her jaw in my hand, and force her to look at me.
“I was there, but not for that reason. The hit was for me. I was supposed to die that night.”
Her eyes widen with terror. “No. No.” She shakes her head. Her fingers grip the front of my shirt. “Why?” she asks in a strangled whisper.
“Someone wanted me dead. Carlos must’ve seen the red dot over my heart. He pushed me out of the way and took the shot.”
Her grip tight on my shirt, she yanks me to her until we’re a hair’s breadth from one another. “That’s impossible. There are experiments proving a person can’t dodge a sniper’s bullet.”
This girl is smart.
“I’m not smart.” She’s reading my mind now. Or I’m becoming an open book like her. “Riley knows random shit a normal human doesn’t.”
I smile. She smiles back. I press my mouth to hers, wanting to fuck her right here and now for how she makes me feel. Happy. Grateful. Wanted. “I don’t understand it either, but he did what he did and saved my life.”
“You’re right.” She scrunches her face, looking downright adorable. “There have been stories of people with superhuman strength, lifting cars off their loved ones.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” I offer.
“Yes.” She relaxes her grip on my shirt. “He cared for you.”
I shake my head. “It’s who he was. He acted without thinking.”
She nods. Tears form in her eyes. “Did the detectives have anything new on the case?”
“They do.”
“And they told you? They believed you?”
I wondered the same.
When I stepped inside the precinct, I was certain I’d be led out in handcuffs and taken straight to an interrogation room. But that didn’t happen. The lead detective led me to his office, and we spoke like we were old friends catching up.
“Dom believed me. He has friends on the force. He gave them his word that I was solid. Then he mentioned I served in the marines, and that did it for them.”
She nods, this slow up and down. “Dom is a good man.”
“He is, sweetness.”
“Does José know?”
“I asked. They said they haven’t had the chance.”
“Will you tell him?”
“I’m planning on it.” I take her hands in mine. “This is the important part. Look, I don’t like asking for help, especially from people who’d rather I rot somewhere in a dark corner without the use of my limbs and get eaten by rodents—”
She stops my next words with her finger on my mouth.
“Is this from experience?” She squeezes her eyes shut. “Please don’t say ‘something like that.’”
“No, baby. This is from one of the horror movies I watched without you.”
Her eyes open. “Thank goodness.”
“When I went to get permission from your father and spilled about what happened, I asked for his advice.”
“He’s in prison for murder!”
“I know, baby, but you love him, and that tells me he’s a good man.
” I bypass her glare and continue. “He told me essentially what you said. That I’m not an island.
I need help from your brother and his crew.
Someone spread those rumors. They started circulating a few months ago.
This person is either getting the cops to look at me, or they’re hoping I’m so pissed I’ll out myself and admit I was there with Carlos. ”
“But you were.”
“No one knew Carlos and me were in that part of Alexandria that night except for Slate. Did he say anything to you?”
“No.” Her voice is soft. Her expression is contemplative. “He told me he was going to Alexandria, but didn’t give specifics. He said he’d call later.” She shakes her head. “Tyler came over the next morning. I couldn’t understand why he made the two-hour drive. Then he told me.”
A strangled cry escapes her trembling lips. I hold her tightly to me and rub her back. Nothing I say will comfort her, but I try.
“He loved you, Ever. They both do. Damn it, José, the crew, they all love you. I love you.” I smooth my hand over her hair. “You are one strong woman grieving the loss of your mother and Carlos.”
“Don’t die.” She edges away from me. “I can’t lose you.”
I press my mouth to hers. “Don’t you know, sweetness?”
Her brows furrow. “Know what?”
“The villain doesn’t die. He comes back stronger and fiercer.” I take her jaw in my hand and jerk up until we’re eye to eye. “I will burn the world for you, Ever, even when I’m breathing my last breath, baby.”
I look out the windshield and tip my head at the road in front of us that will take us to José’s house. “Ready to face the music?”
Her palm lands on the back of my head, and she’s taking control, bringing my attention to her again. “Bring it.”
That’s my girl.
“Oohra.” I slam my mouth over hers. She’s taking control of her life, one piece at a time.