19. Colby
Chapter 19
Colby
When we left Fallout, I knew something had shifted between us. Fucking my wife in that alley felt… different. It wasn’t the same as all the times before. Something inside of me had changed. My feelings for her evolved into something more—and it scared the ever-living shit out of me….
I wasn’t able to get confirmation that the man I had stabbed in the alley was the one I was ordered to dispose of. So, for the past week, I had spent every night watching that back alley like a fucking hawk.
When I returned home just after three in the morning with no success, I immediately checked on Sienna. She was always fast asleep, as peaceful as ever, in the center of our bed.
Even though I had the overwhelming desire to crawl into bed and wrap myself around her, I refrained from doing so. Instead, I opted to sleep in the living room, stretched out on the black leather sectional.
She never said a word to me, not even to ask about the man from that night, so I let her be. My wife wanted nothing but to hate me and for me to leave her alone, and so I did. All while wrestling with my sanity and desire, which continued to burn hotter and brighter for her.
The one thought that threatened to swallow me whole was how she might have seen me now. Did she see me as some murderous fucking monster that enjoyed spilling the blood of others? She sure as fuck didn’t act that way when she begged me to fuck her right after I killed the piece of shit, but that could have been the situation itself.
She was so wet, though, practically drenched in her arousal.
I had always initiated our sex, but that night was the first time she begged me for it, and at the end of the night, I was left confused about both my feelings and hers.
Where did we go from here? Would she call the police and tell them what I had done? Did she fear me for what I was capable of? Was this the moment where she realized that she could never love me, a man so quick to violence?
It was the same routine day after day.
She left for work early in the morning without so much as waking me.
I would wake up, shower, and change before heading to the Ultrapool by nine, and throughout the day, I would check her whereabouts through my tracking app.
She was always at her Pilates studio until late at night or the penthouse, nowhere else.
After the evening show, I would return to the back alley of Fallout, sit there until close, and then return home.
Every night, while waiting for my target to finally make their appearance, I thought about her. Sienna may have started as just a woman I had the primal urge to claim, but I started developing deeper feelings for her as the days went on.
The thought of loving her terrified me because if she could never love me back… I couldn’t even fathom the alternative.
I resisted the temptation to approach her, wanting my wife to come to me when she was ready, but the longer I waited, the harder it became to keep my distance.
When my shift at the bar ended early, and I noticed she was still at her studio across town, I gave in to my desire and deep-seated need for her.
Letting myself into her studio, I wandered the empty space searching for her. She wasn’t working out on one of the reformers like the last time I was here, and the lights were all off. I caught a glimpse of light from under the door leading to the private dance room and assumed she was hiding from me there.
I peeked through the crack in the door as I opened it and watched as she danced across the room. Her toned body and wardrobe told me she had a dancing background, so it was no surprise that she was mesmerizing when in her element.
I wanted to know what she was dancing to, the kind of music she loved to listen to.
I wanted to know everything about my wife.
As she spun around the room, I stepped inside, wrapping my arms around her as she crashed into me, catching her off guard.
Her stormy blue-grey eyes stared up into mine, and I knew right then that it was the right decision. I should have confronted her days ago instead of waiting as long as I did.
“What’s wrong, love?” I asked, noticing that she had tears staining her cheeks.
I raised my hand to run a knuckle down its path. Her skin was so soft and smooth.
“No—nothing.” She stammered. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you listening to?” I glanced down at the earbud she had removed, curious to see what she would do. Would she share that information with me instead of shutting me out completely?
I was surprised when, instead of pulling away from me, she tucked the earbud into my ear and played the song she was listening to. It was an alternative version of “In The End” by Linkin Park, sung with a hauntingly beautiful tempo.
Closing my eyes, I leaned down, pressing my forehead against hers, swaying with the soft cadence of the song, pulling her tighter against me.
I wanted this with her—the intimacy.
I wished she would let me in, and give me a chance to win her heart without dismissing me completely.
“Dance with me,” I murmured in an attempt to be even more intimate with her—to be raw and real for once.
“I don’t—” She shook her head with apprehension.
“One dance, love.”
My eyes pleaded with hers for one chance, just one. If this didn’t win her over, I would leave her be until she was ready to come to me.
She squeezed my hand, gazing deeply into my eyes while tapping her earbud. The song started over from the beginning again, and I took both of her hands in mine, pulling her in close and leading her in an intimate dance across the room to the flow of the music.
I pulled her body in close, my hands gliding along the soft skin of her back as I spun her in my arms and away, before snapping her body back towards mine. She leaped into me and using the momentum, I wrapped her legs around my waist, swinging her upper body around me like a snake as her arms wrapped around my neck to complete the move.
As I released her from my grip, she slid down between my legs, and I stepped over her, widening my stance. With my hands under her arms, I lifted her from the floor. She placed her hands on my shoulders, and I used my knee for support as she pulled her leg upward into an arabesque.
My wife was flawless—breathtaking in her element of dance.
I stared up in awe as our eyes locked with one another. This woman was mine, all fucking mine.
Feeling her weight shift on my shoulders, I bounced her foot off my knee and tilted my head to allow her body to fall against mine. She rolled down my back until her feet touched the floor.
With her back pressed against mine, I gripped her hand and pulled her to my front, grinding my hips against her back with the music, not wanting this moment to end.
A single moment where she no longer fought with me but instead moved with me. I buried my face in her hair, breathing in her scent deeply. It was comforting—how much she smelled like home.
I spun her back out and dipped her body down, her arms flowing above her head and a leg wrapping around my waist for support. She relaxed in my arms, holding her body up with her leg and hips, before I lifted her upper body until it was flush against mine.
My wife’s blue-grey eyes swirled with her fierce storm—the one that swept me away, taking me wherever she wanted to go.
“Colby.” My name was a breathless whisper as her eyes searched mine.
She left me just as breathless, my lips parting at the sound of my name on hers, as she leaned up and captured my mouth, kissing me deeper than she had ever kissed me before.
I backed her into the corner of the room as her mouth continued exploring mine, unable to hold back from tasting her.
When she started tugging at my shirt, I smiled against her lips before pulling it off my back and dropping it to the floor.
Her eyes roved my body in awe as her hands trailed down my chest and abs as if committing every dip and curve to memory.
“Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”
Her eyes flicked back up to mine, and I tensed, feeling her fingertips gliding along the inside the waistband of my sweatpants.
“Why?” Was all she gave as a vague answer, and I knew what she meant by it; I could feel it, but I wanted her to ask me.
“Why what?” I asked, offering her another chance to tell me what had been eating at her this past week.
“Why the sudden space? The silent treatment?”
I drew in a breath, pulling her closer to me. How was I going to explain this past week to her? That I had been out late waiting to catch and murder whoever was still sexually assaulting women in the back alley of Fallout?
At this point, I believed he was the man who had attempted to fuck her in that alley. This had been the longest the club had gone without an attack; I just needed Nick or Dustin to confirm it, and I was done with my job.
“I’ve just been busy with work.” I shrugged, giving her a half-truth. “And I didn’t want to disturb you so late at night; you always look so peaceful when you sleep.” Even though every single fucking night, I wanted to be in that bed pressed right up against her warm body.
“Is there someone else?” She uttered, her eyes drifting away from mine, and I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped my lips.
Did she genuinely believe that I would have replaced her? That I could find someone else worthy of being my wife besides her? Not a fucking chance.
I gripped her chin, pulling her gaze back to meet mine.
“There won’t and never will be anyone else. You’re it for me, love. All I’ll ever need in this life and the next.” I pushed every ounce of truth into my words, feeling them down to my twisted core.
“I don’t understand. You’ve been avoiding me…” She gave me an aggravated look. “Not a single word as I passed you in the mornings before leaving for work. This is the first time you’ve had contact with me in over a week.”
I rolled my eyes before gripping her head from behind and leaning into her.
“My wife demanded to be left alone, and I gave in to her demands. Don’t tell me you changed your mind about me already?”
The fact that she believed I was intentionally ignoring her told me she cared more than she would ever admit, and her silence at my response spoke volumes to that truth.
“Should I take your silence as a yes?” I teased when she didn’t answer me, and then I crushed my mouth to hers, kissing her deeply, passionately, and with a fervor that I never gave her before.
I could feel her pushing back, but not in a way that told me to back off. She pushed against me to pull me in.
Soft, warm hands glided across my skin, moving from my waist to my back and up to my shoulder blades.
“You break my heart, Colby Bryce, and I’ll slit your throat in your sleep. Consequences be damned.” She breathed a threat, her voice shaking with desire and fear of the unknown—the fear of trusting me.
“If I break your heart, Sienna Bryce, I’ll slit it before you even get the chance,” I confessed.
I would do anything for this woman; breaking her heart wasn’t even a consideration. The fact that she even thought there could ever be someone else for me was an insult.
I would show her exactly what she meant to me, starting with preparing her to pass her test.
A life without her was one I no longer wanted to live, and I would drive a knife through my heart before I ever came close to breaking hers.
“Then take me home. I’d rather not fuck my husband in the corner of a dance studio when he owns a bed larger than this room.” She insisted, biting her bottom lip and dropping her eyes to my mouth.
“ We own, and I’ll do anything my wife asks,” I growled, picking her up by her thighs and stealing another passionate kiss before carrying her out of the studio.