Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Spade
The streetlights flickered on as we pulled into the dilapidated parking lot. Weeds poked out from beneath the pavement, buckling it in places like nature was trying to reclaim this place.
“Your parents could’ve at least cleaned up the place a bit before handing over the metaphorical keys.” I pulled my arm from around my sugar’s shoulders as I put my Challenger into park.
“I think the parking lot is the least of our worries.” She chuckled, rolling her eyes as we stopped in front of the charred diner.
She was right, of course, but still. My sugar deserved the world, and cleaning up her parents’ mess was not something I was going to let them get away with.
Hmm. Should I find them and trash their new house as payback or show up to their new workplace and start smashing things? Decisions, decisions.
She leaned her head against my shoulder, sending my thoughts scattering to the wind. She was the only person who could pull me out of my violent fantasies like that. “I know we were here once, but I wanted to show you the place without all the blood and dead guys on the pavement.”
I chuckled and wrapped my arm back around her shoulders, shifting her closer to me. “I’d much rather see something else.” I winked, loving the way pink spread across her cheeks. She was radiant whether she was blushing or stained in red.
“I’m serious.” Her lip jutted out slightly as she frowned, and my eyes narrowed in on the plush flesh ready for my teeth to dig into.
So I did. My teeth dragged over her lower lip, and I drank in her expression as her eyelids fluttered closed.
I pictured her rosy lips wrapped around my cock.
I never really had great impulse control, and it went completely out the window when I was with my sugar.
“Spade.” She mocked in a chastising tone, a crease forming between her brows that disappeared the moment I grinned.
“Okay, I’m listening now.” I played with her hair, the soft strands slipping through my fingers.
“When I was a kid, I always told myself that it would be different if we didn’t live in this town—that they would be different…” she trailed off, getting lost in her thoughts for a second.
It took everything in me to hold myself back when Greg and Pam strode into the bar like they fucking owned the place.
I was about to rip her mother’s eyes out when she narrowed them on Giana with disapproval, but I wouldn’t hurt anyone close to her unless she asked me.
Besides, it would’ve taken time out of our precious day with our girl to clean the blood off the floor.
Especially since Kellan stole her most of yesterday and then again today.
I practically raced out the door when Giana asked if I wanted to take a drive, but I didn’t think this was where we’d end up. I definitely thought our night would include more bloodshed and then her wrapped around my cock while our enemy’s blood dried on our skin.
“But I’ve realized that we can’t just wish upon a star for a different path. We need to be the difference we want to see in the world.”
I blew out a long breath, my chest deflating a bit at that. “And what change do you want to make?”
She sat up, pinning me with her amber gaze; it blazed even in the darkness—a beacon always lighting my way home.
“I need you to see a reason to live past me, a reason to keep fighting every day for that better world.” Her words cut deeper than a knife.
“You’re not going anywhere, sugar. I won’t let you.” I’d battle the fucking gods themselves if death tried to ever pry her from me.
“I’m not planning on it.” She grinned and pressed her lips to mine.
The kiss was over far too quick. I chased her as she backed away, but she placed a hand on my chest, stopping me.
The warmth of her skin radiated through my shirt and straight to my heart, easing some of the turmoil that had raged against the idea of her ever being wiped from this earth.
“But I still want to know that you have more in your life than just me, and death. I need you to have a meaningful purpose to help you find light in the darkness.”
I frowned, but didn’t argue. We both knew that no matter what I had outside of her, it would be us until the bitter end. “Hypothetically, what would this purpose be then?”
“We talked about teaching self-defense to those in vulnerable positions before.” The silence hung in the air as I recalled the last time we spoke about this. Giana mentioned helping people who were like Anne and me, who couldn’t stand up for themselves, like that woman in the alley.
Rage boiled through my veins as the memory resurfaced.
She was outnumbered and defenseless, and despite ridding the world of her attackers, there were so many more like them out there.
The raging inferno only grew hotter as I remembered Giana using herself as bait to lure the scumbags out.
If she hadn’t been able to defend herself, what would those subhuman wastes of air have done to her?
But teaching others to fight… “Wouldn’t that be more Merrick’s expertise?”
“Merrick is a great teacher,” she said. “But you have that ruthless edge to your fighting, like you’re battling for your life every time you face an opponent. That’s what I think people need. It doesn’t matter if they fight fair if they don’t make it home at the end of the night.”
I ran my teeth over my bottom lip. It felt right, like that was what I was meant to do, like there was no other option. How could I not help others escape their nightmares? How could I not help someone break free when they didn’t have the power to do it themselves?
“Why are we here?”
A brilliant smile stretched across her lips, making my breath catch.
Giana was the sunshine I’d been searching for after all those years in the dark.
The sweetness I’d always craved, like the finest wine or the most exquisite dessert.
She was so filled with light, love, and happiness that I sometimes forgot she could go as dark as me.
“I know it’s not much right now, but I want you to have the diner, or rather the land to build your own studio.
Hell, if you want to do something else, we can make that happen.
I just want you to find something you’re passionate about, something to make a difference, and show you how much you matter. ”
I cupped her jaw, my touch featherlight as if I were holding a porcelain doll.
I knew my sugar was tougher than that, that she had endured so much and kept her sanity throughout it all.
But she was precious—my fucking savior in so many ways.
Our mouths met in a tender kiss, a lightness bubbling in my chest that I’d found while with her.
She was the air I breathed, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
She moaned into my mouth as my hand drifted down to circle her throat, my thumb stroking up and down the slender column. I wanted to pull her onto my lap, and eat her out until she was screaming my name, but I had a feeling there was more she wanted to say.
“I love that idea, sugar, but are you sure you want to give me this space? I know you have a lot of conflicting emotions about this place.”
She melted into my touch as I continued to stroke her neck. “Yes,” she whispered, her breathy tone making my cock stir. “I want it to have a meaning, a purpose, for it to be used to take away pain rather than inflict it.”
Fuck it. I had to have her.
“Get your pants off, sugar,” I said, my fingers tightening only a fraction.
Her pupils dilated as she sucked in a shocked breath.
The request hung between us for a moment until she shucked off her jeans and panties.
I ran my tongue over my bottom lip as my gaze dragged up her legs to the apex of her thighs.
“You better be getting that seat wet. I want your sweet arousal soaked into this car forever.”
She moaned, and her hand jerked like she was going to touch herself. My fingers twitched, and she stopped, giving me her full attention. “You don’t get to touch yourself until I say so.”
Which would be never because I planned to have my tongue so deep in her pussy, she was seeing stars.
“On my lap, sugar.” I grinned, and she bolted from her seat, her knees immediately straddling either side of my waist. I pushed my seat as far back as it would go and slipped my arms under her thighs, bringing her center over my mouth. “Sit on my face, gorgeous.”
She didn’t hesitate, perching her pretty pussy right on my mouth, her back hitting the steering wheel.
I wasted no time devouring her. My tongue circled her clit, running my piercing over it repeatedly; her hips bucked as her core ground down on me.
I shoved my tongue into her channel, stroking her inner walls and bringing her closer and closer to her climax.
She ran her hands through my hair, gripping it tightly as I switched to lapping at her sensitive nub, devouring every drop of her sweet arousal.
“Spade.” My name was a needy whimper on her lips, which only made me push my tongue against her harder. I dug my fingers into the globes of her ass as she rode my face. Suffocating on this perfect pussy would be the sweetest death.
She reached behind her to undo my jeans, shoving them down my legs like she was ready to hop on my length at any moment. My cock twitched, hard as a rock—I was more than ready to sink into my woman’s tight heat. But there was no way I’d fuck her without tasting her sweet release on my tongue.
Her body shook at my touch, her breaths coming in ragged pants as I sent her hurtling into a climax.
“Fuck Spade, I swear that tongue of yours is magic.” She was breathless, her pupils still blown out as she came down from her high.
I chuckled as we readjusted, and she straddled me.