Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
RAFE
“Rafe, I’m close.”
I look down at the gorgeous sight pinned underneath me, her pale, perky breasts bouncing with every thrust into her tight pussy, her eyes a glaze of winter violets, and those kiss-swollen lips parted slightly as she pants out puffs of air against my chest.
We’re lying on a blanket under the maple tree at our favorite park, the night sky starlit and perfect above us. The summer air is warm and humid, carrying the sweet scent of honeysuckle vines. Our clandestine times together are becoming fewer and further between. Max has me and the guys under a tight leash making runs, collecting money, taking a baseball bat to someone who has fallen behind on their payments. It’d been a week since Alexandria and I were able to meet, and we didn’t waste a second. I had her naked and my cock shoved deep inside her as soon as we laid eyes on one another.
I always love kissing her when she comes, drinking in her moans of pleasure. When I feel her walls begin to flutter, I seal our lips together, my tongue dancing with hers. She crests into her orgasm, her melodic moans and the way her hands come around to grip my ass and pull me even deeper inside her, set me off and I’m coming with her. We stopped using condoms months ago, but I don’t ever think I’ll get used to taking her bare. The heat and slickness of her pussy are too damn good.
Like every time we make love, she wraps her arms around me and holds me tight, not allowing me to roll off her. She says she likes to feel my weight on her. That it makes her feel safe.
I slide my hands out from under her shoulders and cradle her face. My beautiful girl. Kissing her softly on the lips, I nibble a trail down her sweat-soaked skin to her temple and behind her ear. Her giggle of contentment makes me smile.
“I love you, Rafe.”
“I love you more, mi dulce rosa.”
She giggles again. “Not possible.”
I reach for my phone and find one of the songs she likes, one we often dance to under the moonlight. As “From This Moment” quietly plays, we kiss for long minutes, enjoying holding one another as the warm ambient air gently cools our overheated skin. How I’m the lucky guy she chose, I’ll never understand. Both Jax and Keane want her. They always have. But neither one of them would make a move because Kellan basically threatened to kick our asses if we tried. Too bad I’m not a good listener. He may be my best friend, my brother, but Alexandria has always been my sweet rose. She’s always been mine. I’ve loved her since I was eleven years old and didn’t even know what the meaning of love was.
“Rafael.” Her voice trembles. She never calls me by my full name unless she’s mad or upset.
I raise up onto my elbows, my brows furrowing when I see the color leach from her face, turning it a ghastly gray-white.
“Baby, what’s wrong? Am I hurting you?”
“Wake up.” Her voice is but a shadow on the breeze, almost too faint to hear. Horror strikes me when blood starts pouring from her eye sockets, out of her nose, and from her lips. “Rafael, WAKE UP!”
“Jesus Christ!” Keane startles when I bolt upright. “Holy fuck! You’re awake.”
He gets up from the chair he was sitting in and rushes over to the bed. I’m in a bed. How the hell did I get here? Music is playing from a phone set up next to me on a nightstand. It’s playing the song I was just dreaming about. The last thing I remember is?—
“Andie!” I practically yell, shoving Keane’s hands away from me when he tries to grip my shoulders.
Something pulls on my arm, and I curse at the sting. Why am I hooked up to an IV? Trying to get out of the bed, I’m hit with a punch of intense pain, and my chest seizes. It’s excruciating to the point where my body locks tight, and I fall back onto the bed like a felled tree made of lead.
“Shit, Rafe, stop trying to move, you asshole. You were shot in the chest.” While holding me down as I struggle to move, Keane one-hands his phone and holds it up to his ear. “Jax, get your ass in here now!”
“Where’s Andie?” I demand, getting frustrated because I’m too weak to push him off me.
The door to the room opens and Jax comes in, followed closely by Liam and that scary Russian dude who works for Declan.
“That’s not good,” Jax says, looking at me.
Keane curses, lifting his hand from my chest. It’s covered in blood. I look down at my torso. My shirt and part of the sheet covering me are soaked in crimson red. Well fuck.
The next time I come to, the room is dark and someone’s snoring to my right. The pain in my chest isn’t as bad as before, but that’s probably from the cocktail of drugs they injected me with that I’m still floating on. Every part of me hurts, not just where the bullet punctured right below my clavicle.
My eyes don’t need to adjust when I open them and look around. Keane is slumped over, his head in the crook of his arm, fast asleep at the foot of the bed. That can’t be comfortable. I test trying to move.
“Wouldn’t do that unless you want Pearson to knock you out again.” Jax is standing to my left, leaning against the window, the glow from his tablet making his face look like an apparition. He doesn’t look my way, seeming to be lost in whatever he’s doing.
“Vulcan nerve pinch works every time.”
Jax chuckles low. “Forgot how much of a nerd you are,” he replies, fingers swiping and typing constantly.
Even though my throat feels like I just gargled razor blades, I force myself to speak. I had the dream about Andie for a reason, and my gut is screaming at me that something’s wrong.
“Where’s—”
Keane rouses with a loud groan, sitting up to crick his neck from side to side. “Next time I fall asleep like that, drag my ass to the floor or something,” he complains and rubs the back of his neck.
Tired of being interrupted, I ask, “Where’s Andie? Is she okay?”
Silence. Nothing but dead silence. My heart starts pounding, making me dizzy.
“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Jax replies, but his tone of voice has me on edge.
Keane must know I’m about to lose my shit because he quickly adds, “She and Liam were in a car accident.”
“When?” How fucking long have I been out? Part of me is relieved. Whatever went down the night of the meet, she must’ve come out of it unharmed, or Liam was able to protect her.
Jax reluctantly looks away from his screen and glowers at Keane. “Just tell him, already. He’ll find out eventually.”
“Tell me what?” Damn whatever drugs they gave me. They’re making it hard for me to think straight.
The door bursts open, light flooding into the room and making my eyes water. Liam points at Jax. “Tessa wants you.”
Jax runs out of the room like his pants are on fire, with Liam hot on his heels right behind him. Keane stands up abruptly, about to follow them, when I call out, “You’re going to tell me right the fuck now what the hell’s going on.”
Giving me a brief glance over his shoulder, he replies, “Your fucking brother is what’s going on.”
I didn’t think my pain could worsen, but I was wrong. Alejandro has Andie? Dios, no . How could they let my brother get his hands on her? I start shouting like a crazy person until someone finally comes. That person is Pearson. Great.
His massive arms cross at his chest, and he cocks an eyebrow of annoyance at me.
“Help me get out of this damn bed.”
“You think that’s wise?” he asks in a thick accent that reminds me of that guy, Drago, from the Rocky movies.
When I pull the IV line out of my arm, he shakes his head and walks over to the side of the bed.
“You Americans. Stupid and stubborn.” He puts a beefy arm under my left armpit and grips my elbow with his other hand, then plants his feet to help me up.
“I’m Mexican, jackass.”
Gritting my teeth, I push past the excruciating discomfort of trying to move, and with his help, I’m able to finally stand. He readjusts his hold on me when I sway backward. My vision comes and goes as I fight not to pass out or throw up. I don’t think he’d appreciate either.
Pearson gives my bandage a quick check and nods before taking all my weight as we slowly hobble out of the room. I can already hear raised voices down the hall. Everyone must be in the living area or kitchen. I don’t think I would’ve been able to make it if we had to walk to the elevator and go to another floor.
Tessa is the first to see us when we appear. “Rafe, what do you think you’re doing?”
Conversation stops and all heads turn my way.
I blame the drugs for what comes out of my mouth. “Consider me Inigo Montoya.”
Declan, Liam, Keane, and Jax all look at me like I’ve lost my mind.
Tessa laughs loud and long, apparently getting my Princess Bride reference, and the men look at her with confusion.
“More like Westley when he confronts Prince Humperdinck,” she replies and rolls her eyes at the guys when they remain clueless. “Seriously? Forget it,” she huffs. “I suppose you don’t happen to have a direct way of communicating with Voldemort, or some floo powder that will take us right to him?” she says to me.
“What if I said I might?”
Turning back to her laptop, she waves me over. “Then you, Rafael, just became my best- est friend.”
“Did any of you understand that?” Declan asks the guys, and they shrug but move out of the way when Pearson helps me over to the couch where Tessa is sitting.
I pick up whoever’s cell phone is sitting on the coffee table. “Can this be traced?”
It must be Tessa’s phone because she answers, “If it can, they’ll think the phone is calling out from Jakarta.”
Good enough. I hand the phone to her so she can unlock it. It takes four rings before someone answers, and I’m honestly surprised the number still works.
“I had a feeling I’d be hearing from you,” a raspy voice says in Spanish.