Chapter 9
Alexander
Over the past year, things had changed.
I was now a full brother of the Wrath MC, Mountain of Clearwater Chapter.
But something was missing.
And it was why I talked to Cotton about waiting to get the patch tattooed on my back.
Back to that something missing... I didn’t know what it was, even though Creedence and I were more connected than ever. On some days, I couldn’t tell you where I ended and she began.
But was that enough?
My mind brought me back to such a day in question.
It was just such a day when it happened again.
The sun was high in the sky, and the humidity was scorching.
And the A/C in the clubhouse went down.
Everyone was talking about ways we could cool down when Cotton’s ol’ lady, Novalie, said, “Let’s go to the lake.”
And like the queen she was, everyone listened.
Garret, Valerie, Creedence, and Connor headed to their house to get changed.
Connor happened to be Creedence’s half-brother.
But none of them saw it that way.
Nope, he was her brother and their son.
And even though they had the same mom but different dads, they acted so much alike that it was uncanny.
I had just pulled up my swim trunks when my text pinged.
Star Shine – Want to swing by and pick me up?
Me – Be there in fifteen.
Star Shine – Be careful.
Me – Always.
I pulled into their driveway not even ten minutes later.
Garret had his arm around Valerie, helping her walk, seeing that she was seven months pregnant.
Connor was trailing after them, laughing at something Creedence had said.
And at the sight of her, damn but I was glad as fuck that she wanted to be around me.
I chuckled as she kissed Connor’s cheek, then her dad’s, and then Valerie’s. Then she skipped her way down the driveway and to my side.
I tagged the black helmet that was solely hers and handed it to her.
She still had on her navy tee and blue-jean shorts, but I could see black straps tied around her neck.
She took the elastic out of her hair and handed it to me. I wrapped it around my wrist, and then she put the helmet on.
After she climbed on, I lifted my chin at Garret and then started up my bike.
Creedence wrapped her arms around my waist and leaned into my back.
“Ready!” she called out to be heard over the growl of the motor.
Then we were off.
And on the way to the lake, we met up with the rest of the club and the families.
Novalie was with Cotton.
Dale, Lucy, and Shiloh were in the SUV following them with Jasper and Cassidee.
Marley was with York.
Caristiona was driving with Kiera and Maddox.
Cooper had Miriam on the back of his bike.
Phoebe was with Xavier.
Sydney was with Walker.
And Fiona was with Knox.
The prospects trailed behind us.
After we made it to the lake, we all dismounted, and then I handed Creedence back her elastic so she could throw her dark hair up—strands that looked dark brown when the sun hit them, but in the shade, shifted to a softer shade of black.
Then side by side we headed to where the boats were docked.
I held in a chuckle as Creedence’s head barely came up to my collarbone as we walked.
We were all loaded up on the three boats the brothers owned and headed to the little alcove that was more like the beach.
Other boats full of people were passing us by, going this way and that way.
Creedence was laughing with Marley about a book they both had read.
Connor bumped my shoulder with his, “Telling you, man, the girls at school love me.”
I shrugged him off and shook my head.
The moment we reached the little alcove, I jumped down, then helped Creedence.
Two girls walked by eyeing all the men, but none of us paid them any attention.
Valerie handed Creedence a bag, which she took and headed for a spot, opened the bag, and laid out blankets.
I took a beer that Xavier handed me.
Then I took a pull from it right as Creedence took off her tee, followed by her shorts.
I lowered the bottle and stared.
Fuck.
Me.
I knew she was gorgeous.
But seeing her like this?
She was a fucking vision.
I wanted to grab one of those towels and cover her back up from head to toe.
Even more so when two guys looked over at her and whistled.
I growled.
Knox chuckled.
Creedence rolled her eyes, just as Valerie called out, “Move along, boy. You're not man enough.”
“Oh yeah. Bet for that I can be.” The boy even tried to flex his muscles.
She chuckled, then she called out, “Love?”
Garret called back, “Yeah, baby?”
“Remove them,” she said.
And like a unit, we all moved in the boys’ direction.
They scampered away to the other side of the alcove.
I had just looked back at Creedence, who was walking with the women to the water, and didn’t realize that my body was reacting.
“Slide that beer bottle down, son, before Garret removes it from your body,” Dale teased.
I looked down at my hard cock and did as he suggested.
The girls were all in the water trying to cool off when the same two girls from earlier walked over. One was a redhead, and the other was a blonde, but that was all I took in.
They zeroed in on Connor and me.
I shook my head when the one with red hair moved closer, “I’m taken.”
Connor chuckled, “But I’m not.”
Then he moved closer to the blonde and started talking to her, then he pulled the redhead in.
And if I had been paying her any attention, I would have seen her pouting.
“Hey, Alexander?” Creedence called out closer than she should be.
I looked over my shoulder at her and lifted a brow when I saw her standing on the edge of the water, “Why’d you tell them you were taken?”
Eyes in your skull, Lawrence.
Eyes in your skull, and please cock, get under control.
I inhaled a breath and thought of my father.
Yep. That did it.
I smirked, “‘Cause I am.”
Her cheeks went pink, her eyes narrowed, and her little hands were clenched into fists. She snapped, “By who?”
I winked, “By you.”
She unclenched her fists and then said, “Oh.”
She seemed to take a beat, then asked, “How can you be mine if you haven’t kissed me yet?”
I lifted a brow, “It’s like that?”
She bit her lip and nodded.
Without breaking eye contact, I called out, “Hey, Garret?”
“Yo,” he called back.
“Better look away, I’m about to kiss your daughter for the first time,” I warned.
“Well fuck. Thought you already had. Get on it then, boy.”
Without further delay, I stalked forward to Creedence.
Her eyes ate my body up as I moved closer to her.
The moment I was right in front of her, I warned, “We do this, there’s no getting rid of me. You’ll be mine.”
She smirked, “Thought I already was.”
I looked down at her lips—lips I’d had dreams about over the years.
I brought my hand up, wrapped it around the side of her neck, and slid my other arm around her waist, pulling her closer to my body.
Then, and only then, did I lower my head while she rose on her tiptoes, placing her hands on my chest.
I tilted my head to the side as she moved to do the same, and then I kissed her.
Softly at first, learning the feel of her.
Then, I increased the pressure slightly.
She moaned low in her throat. I smiled, then teased her lips with my tongue.
She opened them not even seconds later, and the moment I fully tasted her perfect mouth, I was done for.
Our tongues teased and danced to a rhythm only the two of us could understand.
Our teeth nipped at each other’s lips.
It was perfect.
Her little hands fisted the hem of my tee, and then she pulled it up my body.
I broke my lips from hers, reached around, and with one hand removed it, then tossed it behind me.
“Better?” I teased.
She winked, “Much.”
Then she grabbed my hands and pulled me into the water.
Once we were waist-deep, she looked up at me and said, “I knew my first kiss needed to be special. I’m so glad I listened to myself.”
Hearing her say that caused a predatory growl to erupt out of my throat, “Fucking good.”
She giggled.
Then I shared, “Never wanted to kiss anyone before. Glad as fuck you were my first too.”
I bent my head and pressed another one to her lips.
And when I lifted my head, she rose on her tiptoes and kissed me.
I lifted a brow at her as she lowered back down. She giggled, “It ended too quickly.”
I chuckled.
We stayed in the water for an hour or so, hanging with the club.
And then once it was starting to get dark, I led Creedence to the towels.
She grabbed one and handed it to me, then wrapped a towel around her body and started drying off.
I located my tee, walked toward it, bent and picked it up, then put it on.
Garret was at my side by the time I was done drying off.
“If you ever hurt her, I’ll bury you,” he said, then smirked.
“Do me a solid then?” I asked.
He lifted his chin, then I locked my gaze with his so he could see the sincerity of my words, “Place her next to me when God calls her home, yeah?”
His smirk left his face. “It’s like that?”
I looked away from him so I could land eyes on Creedence to make sure she was good, and then I looked back at him, “Yeah.”
He nodded, “Well, alright then.”
That night, once it finally cooled off, I was at Creedence’s house watching another Harry Potter movie with her.
“You know something?” she whispered as her eyes started to close.
Damn, but I hated losing those soul-searching hazel eyes.
Eyes that saw down to my very core.
But I could see it.
She was tired.
“What do I know?” I asked.
She sighed, “I love my dad. Love him to death. Know he would never let anything hurt me. But... this... with you... at night... it feels right. You know.”
I nodded, then pressed a kiss on the top of her head, inhaling that floral fragrance of jasmine that was uniquely hers, “I get it.”
Because I really did.
Yeah, I loved my sister.
But I had never seen her as just mine.
This girl lying at my side... the only way I see her is as mine.
“Then you’ll always have me at night,” I vowed.
It was a moment later when I heard her whisper, “Promise?”
“Yeah, Star Shine. Promise.”
She hummed, then whispered, “Are you ever going to tell me what that means?”
I chuckled, “One day.”
She curled her body tighter to my side, and moments later, I felt her body go lax.
And then... the cutest fucking sound hit my ears... her little snores.
I closed my eyes and felt the corners of my mouth tip up into a smile.
What neither of us knew was that Valerie had come into the living room and witnessed our conversation.
And with what she had seen, she knew that her girl was going to be just fine.
***
Sadly, that next night, another nightmare lit up my dreams.
I told her that there was no going back, that she was mine.
I should have worded it differently.
***
Two Weeks Later
“Wake up, boy. Damn, wake up.” Someone was shaking my body.
My eyes flew open, and my knife was in my hand, pressed to someone’s throat.
I blinked rapidly to clear my vision, just in time to see Knox above me.
I sighed, then lowered the knife.
He moved away from me and jerked his chin, “Put on some clothes and follow me.”
I did as he said.
We sat on one of the picnic tables as I watched him roll a blunt.
Then, he took his lighter and lit the tip.
“Need to talk it out. Won’t be better till you do,” Knox said, taking a pull from the blunt.
I sighed, “How do you know?”
He lifted a brow, “My woman.”
He didn’t say anything more.
And neither did I.
Not for a long time.
I stared up at the stars in the sky. My star... was dull.
“It was that morning. Only I was bleeding out at his feet while he violated her,” I said.
“What else?” he asked.
“I held her hand as she gave birth to my nephew, who was also my little brother,” I said.
“What else?” he asked.
I closed my eyes, “It wasn’t my sister. It was Creedence.”
“Get it,” he said.
And then, over the next few days, when nothing was getting better—only getting worse—and I just blew Creedence off for no fucking reason at all, I knew something needed to change.
***
Therefore, I talked to Garret and Cotton.
***
And then... I proceeded to be a big fucking dumbass.
Because I couldn’t stay strong.
Not where she was concerned.