Chapter 21
Ripper
Fuck, but my cock was raging hard at her words from the shed.
Fucking Storm.
I growled as I stepped into my room and started stripping off my clothes.
I was sitting on the edge of my bed, getting ready to remove my prosthesis when I heard it.
“Ripper?” I heard my name called softly through my open door.
I knew that tone.
I hated that I had told her to ever call me that.
“Alexander, Star Shine,” I said, then looked up at her.
Her eyes were on the top of my thigh.
Seeing the end of my thigh.
She swallowed, then slowly she stepped forward, “What happened?”
“Tell you in a minute. You okay?”
She looked at me, and then she nodded.
Then I watched as she bit that bottom lip I’d fantasized about all these years, then she asked, “Anything I can do to help?”
I lifted my brows in surprise, “Really?”
She nodded.
I lifted my chin to the bottle of lotion on the bedside table. “Put some of that in your palms and rub it on the end of my thigh.”
She moved through my room and reached the bottle, then I watched as she swallowed and looked at the picture frame I had sitting there.
It was of us at Christmas when she was sixteen and I was nineteen.
She smiled, then got some lotion, rubbed her hands together, and then knelt in front of me. Slowly, she brought her hands up and halted for a beat as she asked, “I won’t hurt you, right?”
I shook my head, “No.”
She nodded, then, tentatively, she rubbed the lotion on my stump, “How’d this happen?”
“Anyone asked that besides you, they’d get the answer that it happened overseas, and I can’t talk about it.”
She looked up at me as she kept rubbing the lotion into my skin, “And me?”
“We were on a mission. My team and I were sent to infiltrate a jihadist group, take them out, and capture the leader. We did it. Unfortunately, we missed the bastard smirking as we left, ‘cause we walked right into an IED land mine.”
She winced, “I’m so sorry.”
I shook my head, “Took a while, but I’m getting better.”
She nodded, “And your team?”
I shook my head.
She winced, “I’m so sorry.”
I winked.
“How did I not notice this?” she asked as she stared down at my prosthesis.
“It was dark,” I said simply.
Her face was saddened.
That cut.
Deep.
I lifted her face, so she was looking into my eyes, “Star Shine. Don’t. If I were being honest, I didn’t want you to know.”
Her head jerked back in a front, “Why not?”
“‘Cause you saw me a certain way. I never wanted you to see me as anything different.”
She shook her head, “That’s bullshit.”
I nodded, “I know. I’m getting that from what you said.”
She opened her mouth and then... she closed it.
I looked where she was staring, and then I looked back at her.
Slowly, she brought her hand up and lightly touched the word on my left ring finger.
“Ripper? What’s this?” She asked.
I clenched my jaw.
I knew that I fucked up when I snapped at her for using my old name, but fuck, I quit being that innocent boy that night all those years ago.
But... hearing her call me Ripper... just doesn’t sit right with me.
I know the saying goes, you can’t have your cake and eat it too, but fucking hell, whoever came up with that saying didn’t know a woman like Creedence Nichols existed.
I shook my head.
Now wasn’t the time for my little pity party.
She had asked me a question.
I looked down at the spot her eyes had zeroed in on and felt every muscle in my body lock up tight.
Fuck. Me.
“What does it look like?” I asked with a rasp.
Not even recognizing the tone I had used.
Her eyes flared.
“It looks like my name.”
I nodded.
“Why do you have that?”
“The same reason you have on the necklace I got you,” I said as I reached a hand out and touched the two bullet casings with our birthstones on them.
She swallowed, “When?”
“I would have done it before I deployed, but I talked to someone—not good to have any identifying marks on your skin. So, the moment I got out, I came up here. Sat outside your apartment to make sure you stayed safe, then went to a buddy and had him do it.”
“And when you got out... it was after five years in. Wasn’t it?”
I nodded, “Yeah.”
I looked down at my finger that held her name wrapped around it.
Then I looked at her, “Been yours all along. Hope you know that.”
At the knock on the door frame, I looked away from Creedence’s eyes and growled at Red.
He winced, “Sorry, brother. Shower. Hurry.”
I lifted my chin, and then he walked away.
I looked down at Creedence and sighed, “Gotta get in the shower, baby.”
She nodded, “Do you need any help?”
“Hand me that crutch?” I asked as I pointed to the far wall.
She smiled, then grabbed it and handed it to me.
I stood up with the crutch under my left arm, and then I watched as she walked to the door frame. She stopped, turned her head, looked down at my thigh, then back up at me, “I wish you had told me. And I’ll try to understand why you didn’t. But I meant what I said. I still love you. I just...”
I nodded, “I know. I’ll make it up to you, alright?”
Creedence
“You know, I didn’t get it before. You're all sunshine and rainbows and cute as fuck,” Raine said.
I snickered, “You didn’t know me then.”
She snorted, “I definitely didn’t. Did you know he does that?”
I nodded, “Yeah. I’ve known since I overheard a conversation years ago that I shouldn’t have.”
“In that case, I think I am doing remarkably well, considering I just found out about this.”
I snorted, “Yeah, you are.”
A pair of hands landed on my shoulders, and then I felt a kiss being pressed to the top of my head, “Church, Star Shine.”
I tilted my head back and puckered my lips for a kiss.
My man didn’t hesitate to bend at the waist and kiss me softly.
But just like everything this man does when it comes to me, it was full of passion.
I moaned.
He chuckled.
He kissed me once more and then stood up straight and headed to the room they used for church.
And then... one by one, each brother walked by and tapped their knuckles on the table in front of me.
My heart damn near burst.
“And that’s something I’ve never seen. One day, and you have their respect,” Lena said.
Clip was last, and he chuckled, “You didn’t take in how she handled it all.”
Once the door was closed to the room they used for church, I got to know Lena and Raine.
It was about an hour after they headed into the room that the door opened, and one by one, the men walked out.
And at the sight of him... my mouth watered.
His height. His muscles. His physique. Those eyes.
I stared.
And then, I felt something in my chest squeeze at a mark on his left hand.
But before I could ask him about it, his eyes heated as they took me in, and when he reached me, he asked, “I’m done. Ready to go home?”
I nodded, then looked at the women and said, “It was nice meeting you both.”
They both winked, “Same, girl. Same.”
I took the offered hand and stood up.
Then, hand in hand, we headed to my new Tahoe.
“It really is pretty,” I said.
He chuckled. “I know. Can you run me here when you go to work in the morning?”
I nodded, “Yeah. Why?”
He winked, “‘Cause I’m yours the rest of the day and tonight. I’ll be unavailable until then.”
I smiled.
We climbed into my new SUV, with him at the steering wheel, and we headed to the store.
It was nice being able to have him with me to do this.
And as we walked through the produce section, I looked up at him and whispered, “This is nice.”
He winked, “Then you want it, I’ll come to the store with you from now on.”
I nodded.
“Done.”
I grabbed peppers and strawberries.
Then, through the rest of the store, he pushed the cart and waited patiently.
And when something was on the top shelf, all I had to do was point, and he grabbed it.
Yeah, this was definitely nice.
It was also so nice not to load the car.
“Star Shine, get your ass loaded up.”
I loaded up.
Then we headed home.
I cooked us dinner, and then he looked at me and winked, “Queue it up.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He grinned, “Watched the first three movies. Know there are more. Refused to watch them until I was with you. So, queue it up.”
I grinned as I grabbed my remote and queued up the next movie in the Harry Potter series.
He demolished his plate of Cajun pasta and then loaded up a second helping.
After we watched the fourth movie, we both got ready for bed.
And as I watched him remove his prosthesis, I headed to the bathroom and grabbed my bottle of lotion.
Then I dropped to my knees and rubbed the lotion into his skin.
I glanced up when I saw something and then chuckled, “Really? This is turning you on?”
He chuckled. “It’s you. What can I say?”
I shook my head, then stood up, rounded the bed, pulled back the covers, and climbed in.
He settled on his back, then randomly, he asked, “What’s up next?”
I lifted a brow, “What do you mean?”
He smirked, reached across me, to my nightstand, and grabbed my Kindle.
Heat pulled between my legs.
And when I shifted to relieve some of the heat, his nostrils flared, “Yeah?”
I shrugged.
He grabbed me by the hips and pulled me on top of him, my hair fell in disarray around his face.
Those mossy-colored eyes of his stared up into mine, “I’m always up to be inside of you, Star Shine. Swear to Christ, if I could live there, I would.”
I bit my bottom lip in indecision. He caught it and winked. Then he lifted his head and pressed a kiss on my lips, “When I’ve earned you back, then I’ll make love to you.”
I nodded and then kissed him and crawled off of him.
Once I was settled into his side with my head on his chest, he whispered, “Missed this.”
“Me too,” I whispered.
“Night, Star Shine.”
I smiled, “Night, Alexander.”
He hummed, “Missed that too.”
I giggled.
And then... like it was planned, we both fell right to sleep.
***
We were woken up when my phone started ringing, which felt like minutes later.
He groaned as he reached for the nightstand, tagged my phone, and looked at the screen.
“Malinda,” he said.