Chapter 30
“What arethese friends of yours like?” Kendall asks me as we walk around the block to where we’re meeting Tessa, Sin, and Raven.
I think about it for a second, because I don’t know a way to describe Sin and Raven to normal people. Tess and I are not a lot different from them now, but we hide our crazy a lot better than they do.
In the end I decide honesty is the best policy. “I’d say they’re like moderately reformed psychos. So a piece of advice. You know that thing you do when you see a beautiful woman, the thing that Gina hates?”
“The staring thing that gets me sent home to sleep alone?” he asks.
“Yeah, that. Also the flirting thing when you talk to anyone with breasts,” I remind him.
“It’s not like I mean to,” he mumbles.
“Look, if you think Gina is bad when you do it accidentally in front of her— My friend’s nickname is Sin for fuck’s sake. When I first met him I thought it was a play on his name, Jackson Sinclair, and because he gave off a bit of a bad boy vibe, but now I know it’s derived from assassin, which he was forced to be for many years.”
Kendall gives me a disbelieving look. “Now you’re just yanking my dick. You know, there’s a rumor that you’ve killed like a dozen people. So am I supposed to believe that too?”
“No,” I scoff. “It’s probably more like half that number.”
“You’re not very funny,” he replies.
I shrug. “I don’t think death is ever funny. Sin on the other hand has a twisted sense of humor. Back to my warning, don’t check out his wife, or flirt with her. If I do it, don’t copy me. I like to piss him off, and I can survive it. You won’t. Don’t flirt with Tess either.”
“Look man, you know I don’t mean anything by it. I’m not really flirting with her, not purposefully at least. I’m head over heels for my girl. You don’t have to threaten to kick my ass,” he rambles.
I shake my head. “I’m not that insecure. I mean, yeah, I don’t love it, but I trust her. Sin’s overprotectiveness extends beyond his own wife. You’ll see what I mean. We really should have brought your girl with us.”
“I wanted her here, but we’re trying to save money for the wedding. You’ll understand after you propose and start planning yours.”
I laugh. “Shit man. I’m not going to have a big wedding. Tessa would be mortified having all those people watching her. We’ll probably just have one of the crew get ordained online and do it at Sin and Raven’s or do something morbid and go where I got blown off my ass and almost died.”
“I can’t tell if you’re joking or not anymore,” he says confused.
“Not joking. You should see my immunity deal. It’s not as big as Sin’s but still pretty impressive.”
“Maybe I should just go back to the hotel,” he mumbles just as Sin’s SUV comes around the corner.
“Too late now. It won’t be that bad. I’m pretty sure he won’t kill you. He hasn’t killed anyone in months,” I tease him. I mean, it’s true, but it’s not like Sin ever really wanted to kill anyone. Except maybe Damien, but Lucien was given that honor.
Tessa opens the door when Sin pulls to a stop in front of us. Seeing her beautiful face smiling at me eases the tension in my chest I didn’t even realize was there. It’s amazing how I’m able to keep discovering how much more deeply in love I’ve fallen for her. Now I’m at the point where knowing she’s far away from me fills me with dread.
When we pull into the driveway I all but forget about Kendall. The moment Sin puts the vehicle in park I throw the door open, jump out, and grab Tessa before she climbs out on her own. She squeals as I throw her over my shoulder. Before I run into the house with her I yell back to Sin, “Show Kendall around. We’re going to be busy for a while.”
He shouts back, “Make it a quickie. We’ve got something to talk to you about.”
I swat Tessa on the ass. “You heard the man. We’ve got to make this fast.”
“I don’t think you know how,” she says.
“I do love a challenge.”
My long legs bring us quickly to the room Tessa used when she stayed here. I kick the door closed and set her on her feet. Despite all the talk of hurrying, I don’t rush this. Kissing Tess is one of the greatest pleasures of my life. Then our tongues meet, and my hunger for her takes over.
We’ve always had to fight a battle to be together. From the beginning there’s been something trying to pull us apart. First, it was that I was from the wrong side of the tracks, then it was our parents getting married, and after that it was my pride. Now it’s my team trying to pull us apart. It’s exhausting, but my life has always been a struggle, and I can’t imagine anyone else I’d rather go to battle for.
We tear at each other’s clothes in a frenzy. Her hands pull up on the hem of my T-shirt. I stop kissing her long enough to pull my shirt off. “Yours too,” I rasp.
The bed is mere feet away, but that would require I stop touching her long enough to make it there. The dresser is much closer. There are a few decorations on top, but I sweep them off. They crash to the floor with a loud thump. I lift her up and set her down on the newly empty space. I yank on her jeans and throw them aside. I unbuckle mine and shove them down as far as I need to free my cock.
My hand slams against the wall above her head as I thrust deep inside her tight, wet cunt. “Fuck, Vixen,” I groan into her mouth.
“I need you, Ford.”
“You have me,” I tell her and start to pump my hips between her legs.
Her fingers slip into my hair and pull. The sting makes my balls pull up into my body, and I almost come, but I realize at the last second she’s trying to get my attention. I allow her to guide my head back to look at her.
“I mean, I need you. I hate you being gone every other weekend. If you go pro it will be much worse than this,” she says.
I kiss the corner of her mouth. “You probably don’t need to worry about that, because I’d have to actually play to have a shot at getting drafted.”
Her eyes flick down for a second, then slowly lift back up to mine. “Would you be okay if I traveled with you?”
“Even if we have to pay for it ourselves. I always want you with me,” I reassure her. “You aren’t worried that I’d cheat on you or something, are you? I would never. I have never.”
She shakes her head. “No. I trust you.” Tessa pauses and the significance of what she said, and the fact that we both know she means it, stretches between us. “I really do trust you.”
“Marry me,” I blurt out. This will not be the official story of our engagement, but this is us.
Tessa stares at me speechless for several seconds. I rock into her, finding that spot I know makes her eyes roll into the back of her head. I know her, body, mind, and soul. She’s my other half. “I can make you say yes,” I tease her.
Instead of answering me, she fuses our mouths back together. If I thought we moved with hunger before, we’re both ravenous now. When she finally says the word I need to hear it’s in loud chants. Her nails score down my back, and I follow her over that edge with a long satisfying groan.
With wobbly legs, I manage to lift her and guide us both to the bed, where we collapse in a sweaty tangle of limbs. Her long hair is curling in the front from sweat, and sticking to her skin. I brush it back so I can get an unobstructed look at her doe eyes.
“Will you marry me? I don’t want to live without you, and I’m fucking sick and tired of there always being someone who thinks they can come between us.”
Her lids lower for a moment, then slowly rise to mine again. “Is that the only reason?”
“No. I want to marry you because you’re my person. Without you I’m missing a vital piece. I know what it’s like to live without you, and I don’t ever want to be that person again. I don’t know how I managed to win back your trust, but you make me a better man, and I want to spend the rest of my life being the man who deserves to love you.”
* * *
I pullTessa closer from where she’s sitting on the sofa, until her legs are looped over mine and she’s sitting perpendicular to me. It’s been hours, not days, but I can’t even be inches away from her right now. I play with the promise ring on her finger, and wonder when I can swap it out with an engagement ring.
Her eyes flick to my fingers, and she puts her hand over mine. “I like this ring,” she whispers.
“I want to give you a bigger one,” I whisper back.
Tessa shrugs. “Too bad. I’m quite fond of this one.”
Raven comes in and flops down on the couch opposite us, ending our conversation. “I”ve got delivery on the way. Super healthy stir fry crap for you two athletes and my insane husband. Tess, you and I can eat normal food.”
Tess groans in gratitude. “Thank God. I”m a healthy eater, but damn, and I’m starving.”
Sin joins Raven on the couch, picks her up and puts her on his lap. “I hope you ordered double. From what I heard those two worked up an appetite.”
“You’re just jealous because we didn’t ask you guys to join us,” I joke.
“I was too busy thinking about this to get jealous.” Sin picks up a manila folder from the coffee table and tosses it on my lap. I open it and flip through the first few pages. I”ve been around him and Lucien long enough now to know what a surveillance log looks like.
I look around the room and notice that Kendall isn’t with us. “Where’s Kendall?”
Raven tips her head toward the door. “On the porch talking to his girlfriend.”
I’d rather not discuss strategy among someone who’s outside of our family. While it’s just the four of us I ask him, “Who have you been cyberstalking?”
“That would be your football coach. When you told me what was going on it just seemed a little too sketchy, so of course I had to do some digging.” He grabs his laptop, opens it, and turns it to face me. There is live footage being streamed of Coach Greer talking to a man in a parking garage of all things. Talk about a cliché place for a covert meeting.
“Not just cyberstalking I see. Why am I looking at a video of Coach Greer playing spy games in a parking garage?” I ask him.
Sin picks up his phone, dials a number, then puts it on speaker. It rings a couple times and then a familiar voice answers.
“Hello, brother. You know calling me kind of defeats the whole undercover thing I”ve got going on,” Lucien says.
“What kind of psycho has their ringer on?” Sin asks.
“Asks the psycho who calls instead of texts,” Lucien fires back.
“As entertaining as your super weird arguments usually are, can we get to the point? Our food will be here any minute and I”m pretty sure that Ford”s friend thinks that we”re all insane,” Raven intervenes.
I mouth, “Thank you,” to her.
“Oh, Ford brought a friend? Is she hot?” Lucien asks.
“It’s one of my teammates, Luce,” I say, then mentally slap myself in the face.
“Okay, is he hot?” Lucien asks undeterred.
Naturally this is exactly when Kendall joins us, and lets us know he heard Lucien’s question. “They call me, Ken Doll,” he replies.
“Well, that either means you”re hot, or you have no dick,” Lucien says.
“My fiancée doesn”t complain,” Kendall says.
“Boo, you”re going to be boring,” Lucien pouts.
Raven snaps her fingers by the mouthpiece of the phone. “Dear God, brother. Do I need to get you tested for ADHD?”
“No, I was diagnosed with that years ago. I guess you’re trying to not so subtly remind me to get back on the point, right? And you probably want to know what our dear Coach is up to?” Lucien asks.
Raven rolls her eyes. “Something like that yes. We certainly didn”t call you so you could hit on the football player you didn”t know was here.”
“I knew Ford was there. I haven”t gotten around to hitting on him yet. Probably because I”ve made a policy not to sleep with the same people you have. I don”t think that we should do any Blackthorne double dipping.”
“Yeah well, I”m a Sinclair now.”
“If I can’t escape being a Blackthorne, neither can you. It’s a stain that never washes off. Besides, I”m not really hitting on the football player. Ted and Amber are up at the cabin and I”m bored,” he says.
Sin groans. “If we could finish this up, you could go join them.”
“Check your email. I sent the pictures minutes ago.”
“So this entire time we”ve been having this asinine conversation—” I say.
“The answer has been in his email? Yep. I just wanted to see how long he would let me go on before he lost it or decided to check his messages. Peace out, bitches. I”m heading to the cabin,” Lucien says, and promptly ends the call.
I look over at Raven and say, “Is it just me or is your brother weirder than before?”
A sad look comes over her face. “It”s how he copes with stress.”
“Humor, or violence. Sometimes dark humor, while committing violence. You know he had to step up and take over Damien”s organization, right? The power vacuum that was left with no one running the organization was causing too many problems. Our dear agents Marks and Holbrook asked him to step in and help them wind up the organization,” Sin explains.
“That explains what he meant about the stain of being a Blackthorne,” I say.
Sin checks out of the conversation while he examines something on his laptop. Raven carries on as if he didn”t just zone out, because honestly, this is a normal occurrence. “This is one time I”m okay being left out of the family secrets. I know he”s had to see some stuff that even he didn”t know about, and isn”t ready to deal with. Our father was worse than we thought, and we thought he was pretty awful. Teddy has been helping him shut down all of the various outposts and satellite operations my father had his hands in. It”s nothing you need to worry about though. It”s not like we”re all going to end up living in a mercenary compound again. Lucien might, but the rest of us will be fine.”
Kendall turns to look at me. “Does Coach Greer have any idea who he fucked with?”
Sin laughs quietly to himself. It doesn”t sound humorous, but eerie and haunting. “No, but he is going to find out. What do you say, Shaw, are you up for some of our brand of justice one more time? I think it’s the only way to make sure the two of you can be together without interference.”
Once again, Sin turns his computer so that I can see his screen. This time he shows me a picture, zoomed in on almost the same image as the video, except this time the other man is clearly identifiable as none other than, Wendell James.
Tessa leans forward. Her head snaps up and some silent communication passes between her and Sin. Somehow, I don”t foresee Wendell surviving the lesson that Sin plans on teaching.