Chapter 18
KEVLAR
Pulling away from Rosemary’s body, I grimace at the loss of her.
Fucking her is the best damn thing ever.
Nobody has ever felt as good as she does.
Going into the bathroom, I grab a washcloth, wet it, and take it back to where she passed out.
Cleaning her of sweat and between her legs, I take my time, making sure to get her all clean.
I don’t want her to feel any discomfort while she sleeps.
Tossing the cloth to the side, I pull the covers up and over us, making sure she’s securely in my arms, her head moving to rest on my chest.
My chest tightens at the little sigh she lets out.
Fuck me.
Rosemary’s the most important thing to me, and I know leaving her the way I did earlier hurt her.
But I couldn’t let her see me pissed that way.
I didn’t want her to think I didn’t want her because I fucking well do.
I just needed to calm down. With facing off with Dominic, then finding out what the bastard has on her, I read between the lines.
I know what she wasn’t saying yet didn’t need to in order for me to understand.
She’d been raped, and no one knew about it other than Jade. The fact Dominic knew about that could only mean one thing. He was her rapist. I don’t need her to confirm it for me. I know it in my gut that he’s who did it. And now he’s threatening the child she gave up because of him.
The whole thing is fucked up. She and I are going to have to talk. She’s going to have to tell me who the parents to Joshua are. Rosemary is going to have to trust me with this. There’s no way around it. To protect the kid, she’s going to have to give me something.
I close my eyes, not sleeping, but I hold her. My mind going over everything that I know about Rosemary. All that I’ve learned. The life she lived. The pain she endured. It’s more than she should have ever had to deal with.
In my life, I’ve never dealt with something as horrendous as she has, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had my dark moments.
There’s a reason my dad moved off grid with my mom.
The same as my brother decided to become a cop while I went in another direction.
We’ve all had our moments, but when shit goes down and bad shit happens, there’s a difference.
Years ago, it wasn’t just my parents, brother, and me.
No, we had another sibling. A big brother.
He was killed while deployed, and that shit affected my family.
It broke my parents’ hearts. They don’t talk about it.
None of us do. He’d been on a mission, from what I remember, and that mission got him dead.
After my dad got the news about his death and the fact there wasn’t even a body left to bury, he moved my mom off-grid.
The two of them wanting to escape it all.
That didn’t mean they stopped loving us.
They’re still awesome parents. Always there for us when we need them.
I wonder what they’ll think when I tell them about Rosemary.
Hell, I’m sure Mom will have Dad’s ass in the truck and on the way here the moment she finds out.
I shake the thought away and check the time on the nightstand.
I need to get some rest, but that won’t be happening.
Not until I know how I’m going to keep her safe.
The shit that’s happened before with the other clubs, I’m not about to let happen with my woman.
Fuck that. I get those women, and even mine are strong-willed.
They take charge and handle shit themselves, that isn’t about to happen.
Rosemary isn’t about to go off and face hell.
I’ll stand in front of her before I let her get burned further.
My phone rings, getting my attention, and I slowly peel myself away from Rosemary in order to get it from the pocket of my jeans I’d shed hours ago. Looking at the screen, I’m surprised to find Zain calling.
“What’s going on?” I demand, answering the phone.
“Hello to you too, Kev,” Zain grunts.
“It’s late, and you never call unless it’s when Mom wants to talk to both of us at the same time.
” It’s all but true. Granted, we talk, but it’s normally through text.
Mom’s the only one who can get us both on the phone, and that’s when she says it’s family time and she wants to catch up with both of us and not separately.
The woman might be off-grid, but that doesn’t mean she’s not social or keeps in contact.
At least once every other week, she does this. Sometimes it’s every week.
“Heard some news through some of my contacts and thought you might be interested in hearing.” Zain being a cop, he’s damn good at it and takes pride in what he does.
He’s not dirty in any way and never goes against his badge, not for anyone.
That doesn’t mean when he hears something, he won’t let me know if it’s relevant to me.
“And what’s that?” I ask.
For a moment, there’s silence, and I almost think I’d lost the call if not for the sounds in the background. Finally, when he does, his voice sounds off. “I know you were looking for Viper’s woman’s friend, Rosemary—”
“Found her, and she’s not just Jade’s friend, Zain, she’s my woman,” I mutter, interrupting him.
“Yeah, I put that piece to the puzzle together already, Kev,” he grumbles, “What I’m getting at is a friend of mine who knows Rosemary and is invested in what’s going on with her, has a message he wants to get to her and says she’ll know what he’s talking about.
Says he’s got a package that came from somewhere else he’s intending to keep safe. ”
Fuck me, he’s talking in code now.
“That package for a boy?”
“You could say that. Kids gonna love it. Looks just like the replica of what I’ve seen in the photos. Just more masculine in features.”
“How does your friend know you’d get the message to me and that I was who it was to go to?”
“Friends are friends for a reason, brother, you know that. I have mine. You have yours. All in the right places. The package is his and his wife’s.
They don’t play well with others. They have a mutual one they share with you all and want her to know that the package will be kept that way.
As he said, they’re going on a vacation. ”
“Well, fuckin’ hell,” I grumble, glancing down at the woman sleeping peacefully in my bed.
“You trust this friend, Zain?” I need to know the truth.
If my brother can trust this person, I can at least breathe a little easier.
It still won’t stop me from having my conversation with my woman and finding out who has Joshua.
“Considering what I know about my friend, yeah, I trust him with my life,” Zain remarks, and I can all but see him through the phone smirking. “Now, you want to tell me what the fuck is going on and why my friend would come to me with vague messages?”
“Can’t really talk about it over the phone,” I caution. He knows me and knows I won’t tell him shit unless he’s in front of me.
“Right, you realize I’m a cop, Kevlar, I’m not an idiot.
I can put the pieces together, and I figure shit out on my own.
You might be states away now, but you’re still my brother and I’ll do what I have to do protect you.
And the woman you claim as yours. With her being yours means she’s my family, and I protect family. ”
Fucking hell. He’s right.
Letting out a heavy breath, I close my eyes while reaching up to pinch the bridge of my nose and finally speak again. “You able to take vacation?”
“Well, considering when you decided to move, I put in a request to be moved as well. I’m heading your way. Start at the new department in two weeks,” he states, shocking the hell out of me.
“You’re moving?” I didn’t see that happening.
“You know Mom and Dad would kick our asses if we weren’t close enough to back each other.”
“Ain’t that the fuckin’ truth.” We were raised always to have each other’s backs no matter what. “What’s your ETA?”
“Sometime in the evening, considering I’m getting on the road now, and it’s two in the morning,” he answers.
“Then I’ll see you when you get here.”
I don’t wait for him to speak further. I disconnect, toss the phone to the table next to my bed, and climb back in next to my woman.
Needing to feel her close, I pull her back in my arms and hold her tight.
Everything feels like it is building, and I don’t know what to do with it.
I need to talk to my brothers and tell them Zain’s coming.
I also need to know what else Rosemary is keeping to herself.
I should have already talked to her about it.
Instead, when I got back and found out she’d gone to the room where all her shit was instead of mine, I’d lost it.
I needed to get it through to her that she’s mine.
Hell, I still need to make sure she gets it.
But being inside her the way I was, fucking her the way I did, it was all-consuming.
We both got swept up in the storm, and it felt good.
Damn good, and I can’t wait to feel the flames burning us alive again.