48. Riley
I wakeup with a pleasant ache between my legs and a hard cock pressed against my ass.
“Morning, princess,” Dante whispers in my ear, his big body spooning me from behind and his hand splayed wide across my stomach, holding me against him.
I close my eyes against the sun streaming in through his windows. Today is going to change everything, and I’m suddenly greedy for anything that will put it off a little longer. I’m greedy for him.
And Dante, just like he always does, reads me perfectly.
“One more,” he says, hooking my leg over his from behind and sliding into me.
“God, yes.”
He smiles against the back of my neck, pressing a hot kiss there and then pushing me forward. Rolling me onto my stomach as he slowly pumps into my body, building a slow heat that starts to consume me.
“You feel so fucking good,” he murmurs, his body blanketing mine completely as his hands settle on my hips, holding me in place. “Love those sounds you make for me.”
I dig my fingers into his mattress, rocking back to meet his thrusts, and give him what he wants. Let him hear exactly how good he makes me feel, my orgasm creeping up on me without any warning and rolling through me like a wave.
“Oh fuck, fuck. Yeah, like that,” Dante groans, shoving me down into the mattress and finishing himself inside me before resting his forehead on my back for a moment. “Gonna miss this,” he says quietly.
I sigh. “Yeah.”
But we both know it doesn’t matter, so after he presses one more kiss to the back of my neck, he rolls off me and we both get out of bed.
“I should go make sure Chloe’s up,” I say, standing in front of him, naked. “Do you know when we’re supposed to head to the meeting?”
“A couple hours, I think,” Dante says, cupping the back of my neck and running his finger down between my breasts. My skin is pale again, other than the twin scars from Logan, and I almost wish the hot wax had left more of a mark. “Logan’s got everything set up with the estate manager.”
A lump tightens my throat. Of course he does. I’ll be claiming my inheritance today, and that means that once we head out, I won’t be coming back to the Reaper house.
Not ever.
“I should shower,” I whisper.
Dante’s lips quirk up, then he nods and kisses my forehead. “Go.”
I swing by my room to collect some clothes and find Chloe already awake and in the middle of packing.
“Is it okay to take all this stuff?” she asks, rooting through my drawers and holding up a few of the things Dante bought for me after Logan shredded my clothes.
I nod, forcing a smile. “Yeah, it’s all ours. Get yourself ready, okay?”
Chloe has nothing, not since we rescued her. But that’s okay. We can share.
I escape to the shower before I do something stupid, like get emotional, and when I finally finish getting dressed and step out of the bathroom, Maddoc is there.
“Were you looking for me?”
“We need to get going,” he says, his voice cool and his eyes shuttered.
I lift my chin. “I’m ready. Let me just go get Chloe.”
He nods sharply, turning toward the stairs. But then he whirls back around and grabs me, his fingers digging into me hard enough to bruise.
I gasp, my body flaring to life. “Maddoc. What—?”
His only answer is to press me back against the wall, pinning me there with his body as he grips my throat and tilts my chin back. His eyes are blazing now, that alluring light gray ringed with darkness like the center of a flame. Then he takes my mouth, hungry and consuming, kissing me like a starving man.
I cling to him, kissing him back just as desperately. It tastes like everything that he’s shut off between us since the night I fucked all three of them, and when he wedges a thick thigh between my legs and starts to take me apart with his dominance, I let myself forget—just for a moment—that this is it.
But then it’s over. We break apart and he stares down at me in silence for a moment, then sighs, his hand gentling around my throat.
“Butterfly…”
He breathes the nickname he gave me what feels like forever ago, gazing down at me like he’s trying to discern something in my expression. Or maybe he’s just trying to memorize my face, since there’s a good chance he’ll never see it again after today.
I bite my lip, holding in words that there’s no point in saying now. Not unless he’s about to ask me to stay.
But of course he doesn’t. It’s like he just needed to say my nickname to say goodbye.
“Riley?”
It’s Chloe this time, calling to me from our bedroom, and Maddoc drops his hand, his face shutting down again.
“I’ll see you downstairs,” he says, turning and leaving without another word.
I touch my lips, then turn and go to Chloe. “Got everything ready?”
She nods, but she’s tugging on her hair like she’s nervous. “I think so.”
I force a smile. “Don’t worry. If we’ve forgotten anything, I guess we can just buy it now, you know?”
She laughs, shaking her head. “That’s crazy. But yeah, I guess? Do you really think they’re going to just… just give you the money like that?”
I shrug. “I guess so.”
Chloe’s laughter dies, and she gives me a serious look. “Nothing is ever that easy.”
I go to her and kiss her forehead. “I know, but it will be fine. I trust these guys.”
Chloe looks deep into my eyes, then gives me a tentative smile. “Okay. Let’s go, then.”
We grab our bags and head downstairs, handing them over to Dante as he and Maddoc coordinate logistics with some of the Reapers they’ve called in to escort us. Dante takes everything to the Escalade and Maddoc gives Chloe and I a brief acknowledgment before stepping outside with a couple gang members I recognize but don’t remember the names of. Logan is busy preparing coffee in a couple of to-go mugs that, knowing him, are probably for me and Chloe.
He hasn’t looked at us since we’ve come down, and the way he’s shutting me out reminds me so much of my first few days in this house that it makes my chest hurt. I’ve seen behind the blank mask he so often wears, and even though I get that it’s a way to protect himself, after what we’ve shared, seeing it back in place like this just drives home the fact that whatever I found here with the three of them is over now.
Chloe looks back and forth between the two of us, and whatever she sees on my face puts a look of sympathy on hers.
Logan finishes doctoring the mugs and turns to hand them to us. “You can drink these on the drive over to the attorney’s office,” he says flatly. “There isn’t time for a full breakfast.”
“That’s fine,” I say, knowing my stomach is too twisted up to worry about food anyway. I take the mug he’s holding out to me, but instead of taking hers, Chloe backs away.
“I, um, I think I might have left something upstairs,” she blurts, scampering out of the room. “I’ll meet you in the car!”
Logan stares after her, unblinking.
I move in front of him, forcing him to look at me. “Logan?”
He finally blinks. “We should go.”
I put my hand on his chest, stopping him. “Thank you.”
He nods stiffly, his eyes skipping over mine and settling on the travel mug he gave me.
I laugh softly, shaking my head. “Not for the coffee.” I bite my lip for a moment, not sure what I want to say but definitely wanting to get through to him that… that he matters to me. “You’re not the monster you think you are,” I finally whisper. “Or if you are, you’re one I’m lucky to have known.”
His blank mask finally slips, just for a moment, and his heart rate ticks up under my palm. But before he can say anything Maddoc comes back inside, his face grim. “Time to go.”
Logan nods sharply, and pulls my hand off his chest… but before he drops it, his thumb rubs over the back of my hand in something a lot like a caress. Or a goodbye.
Chloe comes back downstairs, and the guys hustle the two of us into the Escalade, coordinating with the caravan of other vehicles that fill the driveway as we all head toward a part of town that makes me feel incredibly out of place.
“Here,” Chloe says, slipping something into my hand in the backseat of the Escalade.
I look down. It’s one of my favorite nose rings, the black faux-diamond skull that she always says makes me look badass.
I smile at her, and switch out the blue teardrop-shaped one for the skull. I slipped the blue one in yesterday, feeling sentimental, but she’s right. Now isn’t the time for that.
Logan pulls into a parking garage under a high-rise office building, a half dozen Reaper vehicles following us in and arraying themselves around the spot he parks in.
“Ready, princess?” Dante asks, turning to face me from the front passenger seat.
I squeeze Chloe’s hand and nod, but it’s only true because they’re going inside with me.
Maddoc speaks quietly into his phone, coordinating with his crew, and then finally gives us the go to head inside. A handful of his men accompany the five of us, and for a moment, a frisson of nerves twists my stomach into a knot. I’m not sure whether Maddoc actually expects there to be a problem here, or if these are just the kind of precautions he’s learned to take as leader of the Reapers, but I half expect to get turned away before we even get started.
Instead, the uptight-looking older woman seated behind a massive reception desk looks a bit taken aback when we walk in, but quickly rallies and shows us into the attorney’s office.
The estate administrator, a slim woman in an expensive suit, zeroes in on my skull mood ring the minute we walk in. “Ms… Sutherland?” she asks, a pinched look around her lips as she looks me up and down.
“Sutton,” I correct her, straightening my shoulders. “Riley Sutton.”
“I see. And you have documented evidence of your relationship to the Sutherland family?”
I’ve been so focused on what I’m losing here—leaving the Reapers behind and losing the connection I’ve found with these three men—that I honestly haven’t given much thought to all that I’m gaining. The well-masked distaste in her voice gets my hackles up, though. This is my birthright. My inheritance. If she doesn’t like the fact that I’ve shown up to collect it looking the way I do, or in the company I choose to keep, then fuck her.
“Yes,” I say, staring her down. “We’ve got everything in order.”
And thanks to Logan, we do.
He lays it all out for her, answering question after question as she rifles through the paperwork he’s put together. Chloe keeps a hold of my hand, Maddoc and Dante flanking us on either side, and even though I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, the woman finally admits that everything checks out.
“I’ll need you to sign a few things,” she finally says to me, pushing a stack of papers across the desk toward me. I follow her directions, putting my signature in a dozen places while my heart tries to beat out of my chest… still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
But it doesn’t, and once all the paperwork is handled, she gives us instructions for accessing the money, and the meeting ends.
“That’s really it?” I whisper to Dante as we walk out.
He nods, one hand resting protectively on my back until we all shuffle back into the Escalade. He gets behind the wheel, and Logan takes the front this time while Maddoc slides into the back with Chloe and I, conferring with the other Reapers before giving Dante the signal to head out.
“That’s really it, princess,” Dante says as we exit the parking garage in the middle of a caravan of SUVs bristling with gang members. “The money is yours now. Once we get you to the safe house, you can—motherfucker.”
Whatever he was about to tell me I could do is cut off when a sleek silver car skids into the lane in front of us, cutting us off from the caravan of Reaper vehicles. Dante cuts the wheel hard to the left, taking the Escalade up onto the sidewalk to avoid a collision. It puts us parallel to the silver car, and I see its windows start to lower as Maddoc shoves me and Chloe down.
Then the other car opens fire.