Chapter 26 Rick #2
I can see the struggle on Dom’s face. He doesn’t want to argue with her, but does anyway. “Don’t be ridiculous. They need all the training they can get before we do this.”
“And I’ll train them,” she snaps back.
“If we all train them, then we only each have to train two people. It would be much more effective. Just let us help you.” Dom’s voice loses its defensive edge until he sounds like he’s almost pleading, but Jade won’t hear it.
“We don’t need your help!” she screams, pushing out of her chair to stand over him.
“Yes, you do, Jade. You don’t have to like me.
You don’t even have to talk to me, but if you care about them.
” He waves his hand around the table where we sit and stand around her, and I see Jade stiffen.
“You’ll let us help you. That’s their best shot at surviving this, and if you'd put aside your anger with me for two seconds, you’d see that.
Don’t let your anger blind you and make you sloppy.
That’s not who you are!” Dom’s chest heaves as he stands as well, looking down at her, but unlike her, he looks sad.
The fire in their eyes is so much alike, the way their brows pinch together, their stubborn nature.
“Fuck you!” She hisses, slamming her hands into his chest, making him stumble a step back before he rights himself.
Dom says nothing, staring at her as if they’re having a silent argument.
“Fine,” Jade finally relents, throwing up her arms in annoyance as she falls back into her chair. “But we train at the house, and you train them how I say.” She points a finger at him, demanding this, with no room for negotiation.
Dom nods, even though she’s no longer looking at him.
“You know she gets to kill him, right?” Dom asks with a smirk, looking at Leo, whose full attention had just been on their argument.
He shrugs but doesn’t disagree.
“I don’t care who kills him. Just make it hurt,” Jade says, waving it off.
“That we can do, Doll,” Zander says with a smile as he drapes himself over her shoulders. He’s so much bigger than her; they look ridiculous, but the small smile that pulls at her lips tells me she needed him.
“So, for now, we train and wait for Elio to get back to us with the location. Thankfully, the event is for his niece, so it will be somewhere they know, and he can get us more information on the layout and guest list as he gets it,” Kratos tells her before turning back to Leo.
“Your job is to make sure your father is there, no matter what.”
“Oh, he’ll be there. I don’t even need to check to know that.
All he wants is to be the boss, he wouldn’t dare miss this.
The hard part will be getting Mikhail there, but I’m sure we can figure it out.
” Leo’s confidence makes it seem like it really will be that easy, but the look on Dom’s face makes me think he’s in for more of a challenge than he expects.
That’s their problem, though. I don’t care what they have to do to get him there, so long as he’s there.
“What do we do in the meantime?” Trent asks.
He’s been quiet most of the time, but I know he’s been listening.
His brain is wired like a cop's, which allows him to plan and put those plans into action, but he grew up fighting the same as the guys and me. He might not have wanted this life, but I have a feeling it’s going to suit him just fine now that he’s in it.
“It’s business as usual for now,” Leo shrugs. “You guys run Vengeance, go to school, parties, whatever. Except for you.”
Jade huffs a sigh as he points a finger at her, running a hand down her face, and it’s amazing that only one knife was thrown during this meeting.
“I know, I know, lie low.”
Her tone tells us exactly what she thinks of that plan, but she doesn’t fight it.
For now.
I wonder how long that will last. Jade doesn’t do well sitting around.
We’ll just have to make sure we keep her busy.
As soon as the thought forms, I push it away. I have a million and one ways to keep her occupied, and almost all of them will have me hard as a rock if I give them more than a moment of thought.
I’ve missed her something fierce, but I’d rather not pitch a tent at the table as we talk about war plans with people who could still be waiting to stab us in the back at their first opportunity.
“Well, I think we're done for now, then. Call us when you have more, and we can start training next week. Let you guys get your heads out of your asses now that the boss is back.” Leo says with an easy smile that doesn’t fit the hostility I can see in his eyes.
As if he wasn’t the one who took her and threw us into the tailspin to begin with.
This guy has more screws loose than Zander.
Dom and Leo head out without another word, even though it looks like Dom is seconds from begging her for forgiveness. He somehow holds it in and makes it out the door.
The second they leave, Jade stands and heads to the bar, hopping over the counter as easily as if she were simply jumping over a crack in the sidewalk.
“Fuck, that was miserable,” Jake says, following her to the counter, taking a seat on one of the barstools.
Jade smiles at his words as she pulls out shot glasses, pouring a generous amount into each as the rest of us make our way to them. “Hence the alcohol,” she teases before throwing back her shot. With a shake of his head, Jake does the same.
“And I thought my sister was bad.”
Jade barks a laugh, slamming her shot glass back on the counter with just a bit too much force.
“Low blow,” she says with a grin, shaking her head.
She’s still tense, but I can see the difference in her just being able to breathe for a second. Her life has been so much fight or flight that she’s learned to thrive in it, but that probably makes these moments of normalcy even more satisfying for her.
If that’s what she needs right now, we can give her that.
Hell, I’d find a way to give her the damn moon if she wanted it.
I walk past the stools the others drop into, around to the bar entrance, and pass around Jade to pull out actual glasses to mix proper drinks.
With a soft smile, Jade lifts herself onto the bar, letting her legs kick back and forth, making her look small and adorable as she watches me mix and pass out drinks.
I lean past her to hand Kratos a beer, knowing he doesn’t care for much more when he’s out. All of us know better than to get drunk with so much going on, but one drink is far from enough for that. Hell, one drink is hardly enough to take the edge off, but that’s all we really need.
Her lips press to my cheek as I lean past her, and I can’t stop myself from turning into her so that our lips meet. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t miss her, even if I wanted to. Having her so close these last few days has been wonderful, but she still felt so far away.
Dealing with her time away, everything with Dom, and finding out she has a family.
A very important family, the same ones who might be the reason she ended up in the rings to begin with.
It’s a lot, and I’ve tried to give her space.
We all have. Being there for her, focused on the next move and not on the hole she left in us when she disappeared.
Now that things have calmed down, it’s almost impossible to fight it, though. The need to be near her, feel her. Even if it is just a simple press of our lips together, it’s all-consuming.
Someone whistles loud and obnoxiously, reminding me we have an audience. I don’t even have to look to know it was Zander, but I pull back all the same. I don’t give a fuck about an audience, but I’m not sure that she shares that sentiment, and until I do, I won’t push her.
I keep my eyes on her even though I can feel the others watching us.
Jade peels her eyes open, slowly blinking up at me, and I can see the emotions swimming in her eyes.
It seems like such a normal thing, but I know better.
The masks we hide behind are so normal that they become a part of us.
The fact that I can read the emotions on her face is huge, and I can’t stop the smile that tugs at my lips as I look down at her, pressing my forehead to hers.
Unable to pull away completely, not yet.
“I missed you, Firefly.” The words tumble from my mouth without my consent, but that doesn’t make them any less true.
My voice is low, raw. Emotions aren’t my strong suit, but I’ll be damned if I don’t want them to be with her.
I’ve never wanted anyone but the guys in my life.
I didn't need anyone but my brothers. But when she was gone, it was as if I’d lost a piece of me, the piece that makes the world make sense.
I’d been here, but not whole, a shell of the man I knew I could be with her.
Now that she’s back, it’s as if everything is clear again. If I have to rebuild who I am to show her what she means to me, I’ll do it.
Anything she needs.
“I missed you, too, Ricky boy,” she whispers with a sassy smirk, and her eyes shine with mischief, just like the night she made me chase her around the house naked to fuck her on my desk.
I’d been unable to even enter my office when she was gone, the weight of losing her too much to let myself enjoy that memory.
Now that she’s back, we can make a thousand more.
The thought used to scare me, giving in to my monster.
Letting myself lose control with someone used to be dangerous, but not with Jade.
Jade knows what we are, who we are, and she wants us anyway.
Hell, she might want us more because of it.
She fits into all of our missing pieces.
Even Spencer’s paranoid ass caved, just like I knew he would.
She’s all-consuming, and I want nothing more than to fall headfirst into her and never emerge again.
“Spend the night with me?” I force the question out, past my insecurities that scream I’m dangerous, that this is a bad idea.
I need her. It’s too late to be afraid when I know the feeling of her pussy wrapped around my cock and the high it is to have her want me, all of me. Even the parts that used to scare me.
Jade bites her lip, and for a moment, I worry she’s changed her mind about me. Did time apart make her rethink this? Did she finally realize the danger she could be putting herself in at my hands? Her eyes drift to Kratos as he looks between us before he gives her a nod, taking a swig of his beer.
“I’ll be in Kratos’s room tonight,” she whispers, her words almost shy as she peers up at me through her lashes.
I try to keep the disappointment off my face, but I’m sure I fail. It’s a hell of a lot better than what I first thought, and I know we have to share her, but I’d really hoped to have some time with her.
There’s always tomorrow, I remind myself, pulling back with a nod so that she knows I understand.
I don’t make it far. Leaning forward, she throws her arms around my neck.
Pulling me back to her hard enough that I have to brace my hands on the counter to stop myself from tipping forward and crushing her.
She wraps her legs around my waist, pressing me hard against her, and I know she can feel how fucking hard I am.
“But you can come join us. If you want,” she offers, nibbling at my ear.
My cock strains in my pants at just the thought, and she chuckles low and breathy at the feel of it pressed against her.
She grinds against me, and I have to swallow down a groan at the feeling of her.
As quickly as she grabbed me, she releases me again, and it takes me a second to gather myself enough to stand.
The smile on her face lets me know just how proud she is of herself.
“Is that an open invitation?” Zander says, full of excitement, and I shake my head. He’s terrible at sharing Jade.
“Absolutely not,” Kratos says, reaching out to grab Jade’s waist, pulling her backward off the bar top to fall into his lap.
“Doll! Tell him that’s not fair.” Zander pouts, but all she does is smile before burying her face in Kratos’s chest, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
“I don’t give a shit what’s fair. You get her all the damn time. You need to learn to share,” Kratos tells him with a stern look that would have had him running in the other direction weeks ago. Hell, it still might if they were arguing about anything other than Jade.
“I do share!” Zander snaps, jumping up in outrage. “Ask Trent. I’m great at sharing!” he says, turning to Trent as if he expects him to back him up.
Trent’s eyes go wide in horror as we all turn to look at him before he chokes on the drink he’d been attempting to swallow.
Jake slams his fist on his back a few times as he coughs and clears his throat.
Once he finally gets it together, he holds his hands up in surrender.
Looking around like he’s worried he did something wrong, stumbling over his words, unable to form a sentence.
I knew the three of them slept in the same room the other night, and I heard the aftermath. The whole house did, I’m sure, but in my mind, I’d imagined Zander was the one who had her screaming. Never did I think they both had been to blame for the blue balls I experienced all day.
Interesting, Trent wasn’t someone I thought would share well, especially not with Zan, Spencer, or myself.
“I don’t know. I think you could use a few lessons. You did okay, but it could have been better,” Spencer says with a shrug before finishing his drink in a single gulp.
“Jesus, fuck, guys,” Trent mumbles, burying his face in his hands.
Jade’s laughter breaks through whatever Zander is about to say, ringing around the empty club. The sound of it stops us all as we turn to look at her, where she sits on Kratos’ lap, laughing so damn hard he is quite literally holding her up.
A smile pulls at my lips, hearing her so happy and light, and before long, the rest of us are laughing with her.
Of all the things that we have to deal with right now, this is the one that got us most worked up: who gets to spend the night with Jade?
It’s so ridiculous that it’s funny, and it’s exactly what we need.
We laugh for so long that Jade’s left wiping tears from her eyes as she struggles to get herself under control.
I can’t remember the last time I felt so light, so ready to do whatever it takes to keep the people I care about safe, but it feels freeing.
Looking around at my brothers and our girl, I know they feel the same. We don’t even have to say it. It’s written all over their faces, just like I’m sure it is on my own.
“Let’s go home,” Jade says, finishing her drink before she jumps onto Zander’s back, demanding a piggyback ride to my bike that she’s now claimed as her own.
Home sounds good.