Chapter Eleven
T he elevator door opened and Cross pulled Willa out, her dragging feet not slowing them down at all. Low-pitched growls punctuated every reluctant step. He punched in the door code and greeted Evren as he entered. His stepbrother looked from him to the girl and back, and amusement lit up his face.
“Jeremiah, Aera is back,” he called out. Then he lowered his voice. “He’s gonna kill you.”
“A little payback never hurt anyone.”
Evren looked at him with pity. “Nah, it’s going to hurt.”
Cross shrugged just as Jeremiah rounded the foyer. He halted and mimicked Evren, playing tennis as he looked back and forth.
“Who the fuck is this?” Jeremiah demanded.
“Collateral.”
“Fucking hell,” Jeremiah muttered. “I should’ve known you’d do something like this.”
Cross shrugged and thrust her into Jeremiahs’s hands. “I’m sure she’ll be docile enough to answer all your questions. She seems like a very mild-mannered young lady.”
The pitter-patter of running feet echoed down the hall, and he turned, knowing instinctively that it was Lorelei. As soon as he saw her, he rushed forward to sweep her up into his arms and bury his face in the crook of her neck. For a long moment, he lost himself in her scent. In the radiance of her being healthy and alive. Then he pulled back to look her over, inspecting with a fine-tooth comb.
“Are you better?” he asked. “No pain? No fever? No infection?”
She shook her head, cupping his face with her hands as she mouthed, I’m okay.
An unnatural silence stretched behind them and Cross glanced around. Six pairs of eyes stared at them, with Evren’s mouth hanging open in shock.
“What?” he demanded, frowning at his brothers.
“It’s just that you’re, um, smiling,” Evren explained. “I’ve never seen that before. It’s unnatural.”
Cross rolled his eyes and bent to sweep Lorelei up bridal-style. As he headed down the hallway to the bedroom, he heard the tape over Willa’s mouth being removed. Cross grinned, waiting for it.
“Get your gross hands off me!” Willa screeched. “What? You’re so hard-up for a date you have to steal a woman? Is your dick size also your IQ? Asshole!”
“Stop trying to kick me, woman!” Jeremiah shouted.
Pure satisfaction , Cross thought, pleased. For the brief time they were actual stepbrothers, they went out of their way to make the other miserable. Checkmate to him for this round. When they entered the bedroom, the doctor gave them a smile.
“Doc,” Cross greeted, as he sat Lorelei down on the bed. “Is she going to be okay?”
“I couldn’t find anything wrong, and the fever just disappeared. I wish I knew the cause of whatever she had.” She glanced at Lorelei. “If this happens again—”
“It won’t,” he assured her. “I’m going to protect her. What about the chip?”
She held up a plastic bag, with some blood smeared inside and a thin square piece of metal, about one inch in width and length.
“I can hardly believe this, but this was embedded in her shoulder. Who does this to a person?” She shook her head. “I didn’t find anything else.”
Cross took the bag and studied the chip. Horrendous rage filled him as he studied the proof that Costello Birsha was a monster. Yes, he was very aware of the pot calling the kettle black, but he owned that shit. He might have done a lot of fucked-up things in his life, but being with Lorelei, he was quickly learning that he did, in fact, feel pangs of empathy. Remorse and regret were very powerful emotions.
Evren stepped forward with his hand out. “I can analyze it.”
Cross turned it over to him, giving him a thankful nod. It was the best he could do because saying thank you to any of his stepbrothers was beyond his ability. He’d grown up being beaten. Abused. So, when he saw those bruises on Lorelei, all he wanted to do was wrap his fingers around Birsha’s neck and squeeze the life out of the man.
When Evren left, Cross gently leaned Lorelei forward to inspect the dressing. “No lasting effects, right?”
“Shouldn’t be,” the doctor said. “I gave her an antibiotic shot and am leaving some ibuprofen behind. There’re four stiches that should be taken out in a week. I can come back if you’d like.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow.” He glanced down as Lorelei looked up at him, and he moved some hair off her cheek. “We’ll figure out where to go.”
Lorelei picked up a notebook and pen to show him.
“I had my assistant bring that as well,” the doctor added. She smiled at Lorelei. “It was my pleasure to take care of you. Don’t overdo it, okay?”
Lorelei gave a thumbs-up.
Then she took her portable X-ray and murmured goodbye. Cross shut the door right in Evren’s face and locked it. Lorelei had her notebook up and he read her question.
“We are in the penthouse home of one of my stepbrothers, Jeremiah Delance. He owns this casino, the Monarque.”
She wrote another question, wanting to know what happened. Cross came to sit next to her on the bed.
“I fucked up,” he admitted, sitting on the edge of her bed. “I, ah, I killed that bounty hunter where anyone could see it happen. I can’t believe I was so stupid.”
She revealed nothing in her solemn grey eyes. He didn’t know where he now stood with her.
“Are you afraid of me now? Because this is who I am, Lorelei. I’m no angel. He wasn’t the first man I’ve killed and he probably won’t be the last.”
Slowly, she shook her head no.
He relaxed a little as a weight slid from his shoulders. He’d been so afraid she’d turn away, disgusted with his actions. “I had to call Jeremiah to help me clean up the mess. He also had his personal physician treat you. You scared the shit out of me, you know. Does that always happen?”
She shrugged, as if she was unconcerned, but he didn’t buy that response for a second. He tipped her face upward so she couldn’t hide.
“Does it?”
She gave a slight nod of her head.
“So, you absorb the sickness and then your body has to burn it off. Correct?”
“Yes, depending on the severity of the wound. Small stuff I barely feel. Larger wounds take time to recover from.”
He ran a hand over his face, looking like just he lost his faith. “I understand now.”
Lorelei cocked her head.
“The toll this has put on you,” he continued. “When that imposter father told me about you, about what you could do, I wanted you for myself. I thought you could make the fucking noise in my head go quiet. I’m a selfish bastard, but I never want you to save me if it means you suffer. I won’t make the same mistake with you that I made with Vivi. You deserve the life that was stolen from you, and if that means without me, then I’ll help you get it.”
If she left him, he didn’t know what he’d do. Once more, those dark thoughts crept around the edges of his mind, taunting that they hadn’t fully gone away. They were waiting to drag him into the black void he’d existed in ever since he left Illinois.
Lorelei wrote something and held it up. “No Colorado. No Illinois. No Missouri. What other states do you not like?”
Hope flashed through him before his poker face descended. He didn’t want to assume anything. “What are you saying?”
“I choose you, Cross.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He tenderly cupped her face and smiled. Cross wasn’t a person who believed in happily ever after, but he sure as fuck wasn’t about to flip it the bird.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured. “I don’t care where we live, as long as I have you. I have the five grand from the meth house and the ten grand your fake dad gave me. It should be enough to set us up somewhere, until I can figure things out, like a job.”
“I can help too.”
“No,” he said emphatically. “I will take care of you, at least until everything settles down. I ... I have a lot to atone for.”
She lifted a finger and laid it across his lips, silencing him. Then she shifted her hand up until it rested on his forehead. It took only a second to realize what she was doing, and he jerked his head away.
“Didn’t you just hear what I said?” he demanded.
She nodded, then pointed at him before pointing to herself, and she crossed her fingers in a show of unification.
“I don’t want to be the cause of your pain,” he whispered.
Lorelei smiled at him and tugged on his shirt to get him closer. He didn’t stop her this time, as she brushed her fingertips over his forehead. Immediately, tingles danced across the skin she touched, and then suddenly, the screaming in his head stopped. The only other person who had been able to accomplish such a thing had been Vivi Wence, back when he’d been president of the Heart of Darkness MC. When he’d kept her prisoner as a favor to a madman.
He used to think that was the worst mistake of his life, but after meeting Lorelei, maybe what happened was meant to be. Because if that hadn’t happened, he wouldn’t be here right now, with the most perfect woman in the world. Lorelei pulled away and cocked her head, waiting for him to respond. He lifted her hand and kissed the palm before laying it on his cheek. He stared directly into her eyes.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “I took you for a selfish reason, but I can’t watch you suffer anymore. You fought a dangerous fever for me . I’m not worth it.”
She mouthed, you are , and he could no longer keep back the tide of emotions slamming through him. He tenderly curled his hand over her waist, pulling her into his body, and she fit perfectly in his arms. He bent his head, claiming her lips. They were soft, caving to his insistent pressure, opening enough for his tongue to sweep in. Tantalizing. Erotic. How could someone so beautiful and innocent turn him on so quickly? Every other kiss he’d had in his life withered to dust in his memory. And when she wrapped her arms around his neck, when her breasts brushed against his chest, the world faded away. There was only her and him. No one else mattered. He planned to wrap her up in cotton wool and shield her from all the pain in the world.
He wanted to please her. Show her how much he valued her. Wanted her. Needed her. He pushed her back until she lay flat on the bed, and while she watched him, he took off his shirt. Her gaze traced over every inch of his body, pausing on each of his tattoos. Desire darkened her eyes, and it pleased him that she liked his art. The slight pain from the tattoo needles had always distracted him from the rage, and over time he got addicted to burn.
As he kicked off his shoes and unzipped his jeans, panic filled her face. Cross held up his hand. “Don’t be scared,” he assured. “I’m not going to fuck you. Not yet, at least. All I want to do is give you pleasure. Will you let me do that?”
She studied his face, and he’d never seen that level of vulnerability before. As he stood before her, waiting for her acquiescence, his heart thumped heavily in his chest. Slowly, she nodded, and if he could feel happiness, it would be at this moment.
Maybe she would be his salvation.
He knelt on the bed, easing up to her, to trace over her delicate face. Down to her collarbone, lightly tracing over her cloth-covered breast. Her breath hitched and he shot a quick glance at her face to make sure she was still with him. Her wide, grey eyes watched him, her chest heaving as her body came alive.
Cross wanted her naked, so he slid his hand under her shirt to lift it up. Bare, soft skin. No bra. Watching her closely, he wanted to make sure she was still with him as he bared her body. He’d never seen someone more beautiful. Although some might say she was frail, he didn’t see her as fragile. Tracing over her breasts with his fingertips, he focused on removing her pants.
“Lift your hips,” he ordered, and she obeyed.
She lay before his hungry gaze, the blush that had tinted her cheeks now covered the rest of her, and bent her legs to shield herself.
“Don’t hide, Sweetheart,” he murmured, easing her legs down and open. “Every part of you is beautiful.”
He positioned himself between her thighs, spreading them open as anticipation swelled. In the club, he had been a self-absorbed lover. He never went down on a woman because club pussy was made just for cocks, not for mouths. Some men might like tasting another man’s cum, but he wasn’t one of them. Innocence oozed out of Lorelei, and knowing he’d be her one and only had him determined to rock her world. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t thinking about himself. No other man had known her and he damn sure didn’t want some other asshole sniffing around thinking she was free. Because she wasn’t. She was his, and he was going to make damn sure this experience was good for her. From now on, it was all about her pleasure and the orgasms he was determined to give her.
Gripping her ass, he brought her pelvis up to his mouth and tasted her for the first time. The sweetness of her cunt had his eyes rolling back. Pure nirvana. As soon as his tongue rasped against her sensitive nub, her body arched like it had touched a live wire. The awe on her face gave everything an edge that pumped through his blood, lighting him on fire.
“You taste like honey,” he murmured, blowing against her core which caused her to shiver. He loved her response. “You were made for me.”
Licking up and down, he sucked on her sensitive nub, as her tight pussy quivered around his tongue. The moment she came, he had never seen anything more sensual, more beautiful in the throes of bliss. He wanted to see her come undone every day for the rest of his life. When her body finally relaxed and she sagged back onto the blanket, he eased up his torment but he didn’t withdraw.
He wanted more. “Give me another one.”
Placing his hands under her knees, he pushed back her legs and scooted up until they hung over his arms. Then he dropped his head over her wet pussy and began anew. He flicked her clit in quick, repetitive motions, and her mouth opened in pleasure. If she could talk, he had no doubt she’d be gasping and moaning. Her cream ran and he lapped it up, already addicted to her taste. He sucked on the little bundle of nerves and she splintered apart again. She tasted so damn good. Possessiveness gripped him.
Mine!
When she collapsed, panting and sweating, he finally let go of her legs. Wiping his face on the blanket, he scooted up until his head lay on a pillow. Then he pulled her into his arms, and she nuzzled into his chest. He was so fucking hard it was actually painful, but he didn’t care. He’d have a turn someday. Slowly, her body went slack and he knew the moment she fell asleep. Her breath tickled the hair on his chest, and with the static gone from his head, it was easy to relax. Before he knew it, slumber claimed him.