Chapter 21
JADE
Sitting in Kit’s living room—well, Gunz’s house—their house?
Whatever you wanna call it—I sit quietly in an oversized pair of blue sweats from Bulk, Jez’s old man, as the sisters sip tea and spill tea about our current lockdown situation.
Thankfully, they don’t pry me for details about what happened yesterday.
Loretta’s on the couch beside me, only half paying attention to them.
She pats me on the knee. “You good?”
Offering her a tight smile, I nod and lift my mug of warm green tea to my lips. Her frown says she doesn’t believe me, and honestly, I don’t care. When Bink and the sisters came by Josh’s bedroom and all but dragged me out, I haven’t said much. What is there to say?
Except that I’m engaged.
Josh wants to marry me today.
That… I think I’m in love with him.
Oh. Ya know, the typical stuff that I never, in a million years, thought would happen, much less planned to talk about in a group of boisterous sisters.
The front door bursts open, and in struts Jez, with the world’s biggest smile on her face. Everyone quits talking and turns to her. Draped over her arm is a black and red dress. She holds it up for everyone to see, and those sharp eyes of hers cut to me.
“Looks like someone forgot to tell us she’s getting married today.”
Shit.
Okay.
Yep.
This is happening.
Someone let the cat outta the bag.
Bink’s blonde head whips around so fast I’m surprised she doesn’t twist her head straight off. “Jade. What? Holy shit.” She dances on the balls of her feet as a dozen eyes land on me.
Loretta pries my mug from my hands, as I just now realize I’m squeezing so hard, I may Hulk-crush it. Reaching across me, she sets it on the end table, beside a bowl of Dum Dum suckers, then steals my hand and raises it in the air. The hand with the ring. Josh’s ring. My engagement ring.
The whole house bursts into chaotic excitement, and I shrink into myself, growing smaller by the second.
Air saws in and out of my lungs as these beautiful souls congratulate me and toss a million questions in my direction all at once.
Their smiles are bright and carefree as I squirm in my seat, unable to speak, as they fawn over my ring, Josh, and our impending nuptials.
Before I realize what’s happening, the tears come.
My bottom lip wobbles, and everything inside coils tighter and tighter as the world shrivels.
Male voices whisper in my head. Loretta’s fingers turn into theirs.
Bink’s mouth morphs into a lecherous grin on a different person’s face—one with a goatee and dark, hate-filled eyes.
I can’t do this.
It’s too much.
Too loud.
Covering my ears, I squeeze my eyes shut and hope it stops. I wish I could be normal. That I didn’t have to live with this. That I could be the old me. Not this person. Not broken. Not overwhelmed by noise and people and… everything.
Ugliness ravages me, drowning the good.
Drowning them. My friends. My sisters. The women I wish I could be better for.
Their words try to penetrate as I rock on the couch, waiting, wishing, hoping for the world to stop spinning. But it doesn’t. His breath touches my neck, and I retch. A finger on my thigh has me twisting away.
I’m sorry.
I’m so sorry.
So. So. Sorry.
WHITE BOY
“White Boy!” Bink screams as she races into the clubhouse. “White Boy!”
Her eyes are rimmed in red, tears dripping down her cheeks, as she tries to reach me, but Big gets to her first. Scooping her into his arms, he wraps her legs around his waist as she sobs into his neck. Without her saying anything, I know this is about Jade. Something happened.
“Where is she?” I demand, as I finish setting another chair up for our wedding.
Bink peeks at me over Big’s shoulder. “At Kit’s,” she blubbers.
Nodding my thanks to her, I race through the clubhouse halls and out the back door.
I make it through the grass into our attached estate and up Gunz’s steps in record time, to find my woman cowering on the couch, lost in her own nightmare, as the sisters and my mom stand back, watching in horror with tear-filled eyes.
Gunz barrels into the house a moment later, and we damn near crash into each other. Pixie points my brother to the bathroom down the hall, where Kit must be, as I drop to my knees and crawl across the floor to my beautifully broken woman.
“Babe. I’m here,” I whisper, so she knows where I am.
Snot rolls down Jade’s face as she stares off into the distance. Sweat dots her brow as she trembles uncontrollably.
Reaching the edge of the sofa, I sit back on my knees and reach for her—slowly. I rest my hand on the top of her thigh and leave it there. “It’s me. I’m here.”
“I…I feel like I’m dying,” she whimpers, teeth chattering.
“I know, babe. I know. But those men can’t hurt you anymore.”
“I…I love you, Josh. I don’t like this. I’m scared. My chest hurts.” Jade clutches her heart and rubs there, and my own breaks, watching her live through this nightmare again.
Emotions clog my throat, and I swallow that shit down along with my urge to cry as I rub her leg and hope like hell I can fix this.
“I love you too, so much. So. So. Much. We’ve got this.
Together. Okay. Just listen to my voice.
They aren’t here. This isn’t real. You’re having a panic attack.
You’re not dying. I need you to breathe with me.
” In through my nose, I inhale and instruct Jade to do the same.
I hold it, then blow out. She follows my lead, listening to my voice, gentle and sure.
Which is fucking miracle, when I’m dying inside, right alongside her.
When Jade finally quits trembling, she blinks out of her fog, looks down at me, and launches herself into my arms. We fall onto the floor in a mess of limbs, with her on top. A surprised laugh tumbles free as I crush her against my chest.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobs.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” I reassure her and slide my fingers through her soft, silky hair.
“I don’t understand what happened.”
The front door swings open, and Bink returns with Big right on her tail. He stops just inside the entrance as she approaches us. “Is she okay?” she asks me, still distraught by what happened, which I understand. The sisters haven’t been around Jade much since the warehouse. A lot has changed.
I kiss my woman’s head. “Yep. We’ve done this before.”
Tucking her hands into her front jean pockets, Bink rocks back on her boot heels. “I didn’t mean to overwhelm her.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Maybe get your old man.” I flick my eyes to Big. “Hunter, and the sisters to the clubhouse, so I can marry the love of my life?” I suggest, liking the sound of that far more than I should, given our current floor situation.
On a watery laugh, Jade nips my shoulder and slaps me in the pec. “Josh.”
I pat the back of her head. “Shhh. Don’t fight it. We’re getting married today.” She’s not getting out of this. No way. No fucking how.
“No. Josh. I can’t,” Jade grumbles against my chest. Her hot breath bleeds through the cotton of my shirt.
“Oh. We’re doin’ this.”
The sexy heathen bites me harder, and my cock goes from a “oh-my-woman’s-sad-so-I-can’t-get-hard,” to a “holy-hell-do-that-again,” rock solid.
I reach down and spank her sweet ass, and she yips. “That’s what you get for turning me on.”
“Josh,” she drones in true Jade form. “Stop it.”
I spank that ass again, harder this time. “No. You stop it. You keep biting me.”
On a haughty sniff, she argues, “They’re love bites.”
This curvy vixen is up to no good.
I chuckle. “Oh. Are they?”
Knowing where this is gonna lead and fast, I meet Big’s gaze and notch my chin at the door.
He reads me loud and fucking clear when he ushers the sisters from Gunz’s home, and just as the door shuts, I slip my hand down the back of my woman’s oversized sweats and find my way to that slick spot right between her thighs, which is, as I suspected, soaking.
She groans, all hot and needy at my throat.
Moans carry from the bathroom as someone else seems to have the exact same idea I do.
Knowing we shouldn’t be bothered anytime soon, unless Gunz’s sex game is weak, I roll Jade onto her back, shuck those sweats down her thighs, and as she kicks them the rest of the way off, I undo my jeans.
Her sweet gasp when she sees how hard I am for her is goddamn poetic.
Shoving the denim down my thighs, I snap my fingers for her to give me her hand and wrap it around my erection, that’s just for her, only her.
Her puffy gaze goes soft around the edges as she bites her bottom lip and strokes me, nice and slow, root to tip.
I rut into her hand, helping her along, using my precum to lube the way.
Gritting my teeth to keep from getting off too soon, I play with her soft pussy. Rubbing around her nub as she jacks me is so fucking hot. When she moans and spreads her legs for more, I give her just that.
Notching myself between my future wife’s thighs, I make love to her right on my brother’s living room floor because we need this. To wash away the bad and replace it with the good. It’s slow. The connection. The heat. The build.
Wrapping her arms around my neck, Jade pulls me in for a kiss, and when my mouth brushes hers, her back arches off the floor. Tits pressing against my chest, she comes, strangling my cock. In a Pavlovian response to his master, I come, too, right alongside her.
To catch my breath, I drop my face into the crook of Jade’s neck. “Damn, babe.”
Her responding chuckle and pat to my ass as I pull out makes me smile. I sit back with my dick out, covered in cum, and feast down upon the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Her cheeks pinken when she notices me looking… everywhere. Appreciating every inch. Every curve and dimple. Every stretchmark and freckle.
I can’t believe this is mine.
All of it.
Her heart.
Her soul.
Her body.
This pussy and ass.
That sassy mouth.
“Josh.” Jade swats at me and looks away when she grows uncomfortable. I lean down and kiss the roundness of her stomach, right where my son grew. My lips linger there as I breathe her in—flowery soap and sex, the best combination.
Jade’s fingers sift through my hair. “I love you,” she whispers.
The organ in my chest fills with so much joy, I’m worried it might explode as I nuzzle her belly and try to keep my emotions in check. “And I love you.” With every part of me.
“No. Josh. I mean… I… I… I…” Jade trails off, and I get it. This is new for her. It’s a big fucking adjustment. But I’m not going anywhere. The heart wants what the heart wants, and she’s always been mine. Now it’s time to make that shit official.