Chapter 28 Kratos
Kissing Jade is unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced.
I’ve had lots of highs in life, the thrill of winning a fight, the power I’ve worked to achieve with Vengeance, watching the light leave my bastard father's eyes—none of them come close to the feeling of her pressed against me.
It took me too damn long to realize what I felt for her, and even still, Dom had to point it out.
Years ago, when we first started in the underground, women threw themselves at me–not that they still don't, but at least now most know it will be for nothing–none of them meant a thing.
I had my fill of women after I was free from my father.
I thought I could fuck the memories of him out of my mind, but it never helped, and eventually, I turned those memories into anger that I used to make me what I am today.
One night, I’d been balls deep in one of the hottest girls in Sin.
Everyone wanted her, but she didn’t fuck just anyone.
She was all about building her status and climbing the ranks, and she did so literally.
Hell, I shouldn’t have even been on her radar, but my reputation for turning women away made her unable to resist the challenge.
I don’t remember her name or how we even ended up in her room, but none of it mattered when my phone lit up with an unknown number.
I knew it was Jade, and just like that; I wasn’t interested.
Jade needed me, and that was all that mattered.
I spent that night with her at a burning cabin in the woods.
Some piece of shit had been taking girls for years.
He’d been high on her list. Every girl he purchased ended up missing.
It takes a sick fuck to purchase women, but to do so just to hurt them…
just thinking about it could throw me into a murderous rage.
That was also the worst I’d ever found Jade, and considering how messed up she’d gotten in the beginning, that was saying something.
Apparently, the asshole got off on torture.
He would torture the girls until they succumbed to their injuries, then rape them, burning their bodies and dumping the ashes in the lake not far from the cabin.
She’d had bruises everywhere. Her left eye was black and blue, swollen to the point that she couldn’t even open it.
Cuts littered her arms and legs in such neat rows that they could’ve only been done on purpose.
Two of her fingers were broken, bent in ways that let me know it was done deliberately for her to feel pain.
Her wrist and shoulder were dislocated from her escape, and that was what I could see.
That didn’t include any internal damage she might have, like bleeding or broken ribs. Not to mention mental scars.
It had taken me hours to get her cleaned up and check over all of her injuries. She’d set the cabin on fire before I arrived, and by the time I had finished, it was nothing but a pile of ash.
I’d kept her with me for two nights after that, and while I wanted to keep her longer, she wouldn’t allow it. She insisted on going back when the contract was up so as not to raise suspicion.
Nobody ever even reported the fucker missing. The world must have been happy to be rid of something as monstrous as him.
By the time I made it back to the apartment Dom and I shared, I’d forgotten all about the girl I’d left. For the next few months, she alternated between trying to get me kicked out of Sin and trying to get me back in her bed. Neither worked.
After that night with Jade, I wasn’t interested, and not just with her. I wasn’t interested in anyone. All I wanted was to get myself in a position that would ensure she never had to endure that type of shit again, and there was only one way I knew to do that.
Over the next few years, I threw everything into building connections.
I kept to the streets, did the runs, won every fight in the rings, and moved my way up the ladder.
I became the muscle in Sin. If they needed someone interrogated or beaten to shit, I was who they turned to.
I earned a reputation as brutal and bloodthirsty, and before long, my name was being whispered on the streets.
I became one of the best-known names even before they fully recruited me.
After that, it was easy to play the game, bringing people with me, trading out my own deals, and letting stories of Froggie run wild.
Froggie was the boogeyman and a ghost, and people were afraid even before Vengeance was what it is today.
Dom stayed with me through it all. He was the only one who saw the switch from a lost asshole who wanted better but couldn’t even take on his father, to a man who would kill anyone who tried to get in his way, and I’d killed more than my share.
Jade had access to people in the rings, but she couldn’t just off all of them without someone catching on.
So when she couldn’t, I did, but I didn’t stop there.
With ears on the ground, I heard all about the lowlifes our city had all over the place.
As soon as the opportunity turned up, I took care of it.
Sometimes, I did it just to rid the world of them before they could do more damage.
Sin never let me take the fall, even in the beginning, when I was sloppy.
They needed me, wanted me in their ranks, and over the years, my skills grew.
Now I could probably kill someone in a room full of people and get away with it.
I hadn’t tried it yet, but I might have to soon, though.
Dom never knew exactly where I went when I disappeared. Nobody did. But they didn’t ask questions. They knew I’d be back and ready to go. I always was.
I’ll never forget the night we left Sin and met Elio for the deposit on the run-down, abandoned building that’s now Hopper’s.
We sat for a while. Elio only ever runs on his own time, the way people with status and money often do, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Not when he was taking a risk on a nobody from the streets.
I had money from my father's business, and while it still made money, it wasn’t endless, and building a gang isn’t cheap.
I needed Elio, so I’d shut up and waited, even in the rain.
“You love her, don’t you?” Dom’s voice cut through the sound of thunder as it cracked overhead, and I pretended like I didn’t hear him.
“Alright, don’t tell me, asshole. But I know that’s what it is; I’m not stupid.
I’ve never seen you care so much about something before.
” He looked up to watch the lightning crawl along the clouds.
“I don’t need to know the details, man. At this point, I’m not going anywhere.
You’ve had my back for longer than I’d like to admit, and now I’ve got yours.
If you need me, I’m here for both of you. ”
When he looked over at me, I could see just how serious he was.
He nodded, and I nodded back without a word, letting him know I understood even if I couldn't bring myself to say the words aloud.
Elio pulled up a moment later, and he let it drop, but his question played in my mind for the rest of the night.
For the next couple of months, I’d go back to that question over and over.
Did I love her?
Or is this just because I owed her for saving me?
The call about Brittany came later that week, and when I found Jade broken over a girl she couldn’t save, I realized it was both. I loved Jade, and loving her made me feel like I owed her more. This girl, who saved me and sacrifices herself for others, doesn't deserve this life.
Jade deserves so much more, and I’ll be damned if I’m not the one to give it to her.
I’ve loved Jade from afar because I knew she didn’t need more on her plate, but having her here, it’s too much for me.
She’s been at the front of my mind since the moment the guys pulled her from that pit, and every day she only buries herself further.
I wasn’t joking when I said she was like a part of me now, and losing her—I can’t even fathom it.
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. I built Vegeance for her, and I would walk away if she asked me to. I could watch her be with Zander if he was her choice, but if she’s happy with both of us, that’s even better.
The taste of her is intoxicating. Better than the Macallan eighty-one-year-old aged whisky Elio gave me when Hopper’s opened. It had cost him a hundred thousand dollars at an auction, but it’s not even comparable.
I tighten my hold on her, pressing her further into my chest as if I can consume her, merge us into one.
She’s wearing nothing but my t-shirt with a pair of black lacy underwear that hardly covers her ass.
I can feel her nipples through the fabric, and I can’t stop the rumble of satisfaction that it pulls from my chest.
Fuck, having her like this is dangerous, but I don’t think that I could pull myself away even if someone held a gun to my head. The only way I’m going anywhere is if she tells me to.
We kiss for what feels like forever while also not feeling like long enough.
Our lips mold together, testing the feel and taste of each other as our hands explore.
She snakes her hands up from my shoulders over my neck to run through my hair.
The feeling of her fingers dragging along my scalp almost overwhelms me, but when she closes her hands around the hair at the base of my skull, the slight tug has me surging forward to kiss her with a bruising force.
I run my hands up from her hips, caressing the soft curves of her waist, ghosting them over the sides of her breasts.
She shivers at the touch, and it takes everything in me to move them back down again, following the same path.
It would be so easy to fall into my lust for her, to tear the thin fabric from her body and devour her, and with the way she responds to my touch, I doubt she would have any complaints.