Chapter 23
SOREN
It was crazy how fast time can fly when you don’t even realize it.
It had only felt like I had been asleep for the night, and right before I opened my eyes I thought I’d wake up and be in my own bed, lying next to Kade with his arms around me.
That was until I heard the beeping of the heart monitor, and the smell of antiseptic, and realized I was all alone under the sheets.
But in reality, I wasn’t alone. Kade hadn’t left my side the entire time I’d been here, if the cot by my bed and facial hair that had grown was any indication. I woke up with my hand in Kade’s, and my chest lighter than it had been in a long time, all things considered.
I was lucky to be alive from what I could gather. The bullet had missed any major organs, but the blood loss was what almost took me out.
I remember not so long ago when I didn’t fear death at all. The Reaper could have been on my doorstep and I gladly would have taken his hand and let him lead me away from this life.
But now I have Kade. I had a future I was actually looking forward to, and one that I didn’t have to fear.
I felt absolutely no sadness that Lilah was dead. For everything she’d done to me and my father, that bitch should have met her end a long time ago. I’m just sorry I couldn’t see it.
Damn me for getting shot.
But I wouldn’t take my eyes off Jude’s as the life bled from his eyes.
I guess growing up around murder made me immune in a sick, twisted way.
Once you introduce someone to the darkness, it’s hard to keep them away from it. It’s even harder to keep it from seeping into their soul.
Now that Lilah was dead, there was nothing to hold me back anymore, and Jude’s end was finally coming. For the first time in a long time, I felt free. I’d soon be a widow, made by my own hand and the hand of the man I loved.
I took sick satisfaction in the way the universe was working out for the people who brought me the greatest amount of pain in my life.
“You’ll want to take it easy the next few weeks. No driving, no exercise, and no sexual activity,” the doctor instructed.
I could have blushed at the last order, my mind instantly traveling back to the last time Kade and I had sex. It lit my nerve endings on fire in anticipation for the next time, and just a glance in his direction proved he was thinking the same thing.
Three days after I’d woken up, I’d been cleared to leave, and I couldn’t be happier. I could only handle so many reruns on TV without itching to get my hand on a book. Hospital magazines did nothing to satisfy the need to read something.
Since Kade promised to stay with me, Vanessa had been the one to bring me a change of clothes to go home in. I hadn’t realized until it was too late to ask Kade for her to grab me a book or two.
Once he realized, he did offer to go grab me a few, but I hadn’t wanted him to leave my side. I felt like a clingy girlfriend.
I would have texted Vanessa myself if I had any idea where my phone was, or what had happened to it in the chaos.
Thinking of myself as a clingy girlfriend reminded me that I had no idea what Kade and I were.
We’d had sex, and I knew we both had an immense amount of love for one another. He’d even called me his for fuck sakes. But we’d never put a label on anything.
How does one bring that up to the man she loves without sounding desperate and worried she’d be rejected?
I knew he wouldn’t, and I could feel that he cared deeply for me, but the nagging bitch in the back of my mind wouldn’t leave me alone in peace. She just had to get her two cents in.
But what else was new? My brain was something that never left me alone, even on my best days.
But no matter what, I knew I’d survive. If I could survive a turf war between two of the strongest crime families on the East coast, I could survive something as simple as the bad thoughts that plagued my mind.
“Princess?” A deep voice that I’d come to know well said from beside me.
“I’m sorry, I understand the rules,” I nodded to the doctor, who gave me a skeptical look before handing me my discharge papers.
I groaned as a nurse pushed a wheelchair up to the side of the bed, hating that my body couldn’t handle a simple walk from my room to the car.
“It’s for the best, Soren,” Kade laughed, noticing the sour look on my face and planting a kiss on my forehead as I took my spot in the chair.
“Yeah yeah,” I waved him off. “You’re driving.”
All he did was laugh before pushing me out the door and into the hallway.
Asshole.
“This is it?” I asked, not bothering to hide the skepticism from my tone. Kade had brought me to a warehouse in the middle of literal nowhere, and I was beginning to question my judgment when it came to this man.
“This is it,” he repeated, putting the SUV in park. “Are you sure you feel up to this?”
“It’s been almost a week since they discharged me, Kade. I want to get this over with so I know without a shadow of a doubt that this asshole will never be able to come near me again.”
“Fair enough, baby,” he replied, grabbing the back of my neck and pulling me towards him, crashing his lips against mine.
It was easy to resist Kade when I was confined to my hospital bed and hopped up on painkillers. But now that I was discharged and no longer in pain, the whole no sexual activity rule was proving to be difficult, especially when he kissed me like he was right now.
“Kade,” I warned, pulling away.
“Soren,” he growled, resting his forehead against my own. “Once you’re able, be prepared to be ruined all over again when I fuck you.”
For fuck sakes.
“You, sir, are going to be the death of me,” I teased.
He gently wrapped a hand around my throat, looking me dead in the eyes.
“Be careful calling me sir when my dick is hard, princess. My control is already slipping as it is.”
I’d be damned if this man didn’t make a wetness pool in my panties with just his words. I could see the need for me burning in his eyes, and I desperately wanted to give in.
But it would be my luck that we’d have sex, something would go wrong, and we’d have to wait even longer. But what’s life without a little risk?
“He only advised against any sexual activity. He didn’t say anything about other things,” I teased, loving the effect I had on him.
“I am warning you Soren, do not tempt me,” he rasped.
I took my hand and ran it over his erection, painfully straining against his jeans, and he threw his head back and groaned in response.
“Baby,” he breathed, as if begging for me to touch him.
I undid his belt, unzipped his pants, and pulled his cock out of his pants. I wasted no time fisting it, and marveling again in its size, as if I could forget.
“Yes?” I asked sweetly, before putting my tongue on his tip, causing his hips to buck.
“If you keep this up, I’ll bust before you even get started,” he said.
I smiled wickedly before taking his full length in my mouth, taking him so far he hit the back of my throat, causing him to buck his hips again.
“Soren,” he moaned, before fisting my hair and fucking my mouth, choking me.
He pulled me up by my hair and crashed his lips into mine, palming my breasts in his free hand.
“Are you hurting?” He asked gently.
“I’m fine, Kade, now fuck me,” I demanded.
“With pleasure,” he replied, pulling me into his lap, before bending me over the center console and pulling down my pants and underwear in one tug. I gasped as his hot breath hit my thighs, already dying for his mouth on me.
“Already so wet, Soren,” he said. “So desperate for me, are we?”
“Yes,” I moaned back, pushing my hips back towards him, growing impatient.
He wasted no time burying his face into me in response, his tongue already working its magic as he licked my center up and down, using one of his hands to circle my clit.
It was pathetic how quickly an orgasm was already building, and he had barely begun.
“Kade,” I squeaked, the buildup almost too much to bear.
“Come for me, baby,” he said, before diving back in and not missing a beat.
He inserted two fingers inside me, hitting the spot he knew I liked and sending me as far over the cliff as I’d ever been.
Stars floated in my vision and I rode my orgasm for a moment, panting as he kept going, taking in every last drop of my release.
He pulled his face back, and I peered over my shoulder and saw him lick his lips, which made a heat build again in my core, ready for more.
“Good girl,” he praised. “Now get over here and ride my dick like I know you want to.”
“Yes sir,” I said, straddling him and positioning his cock at my entrance. Before I had time to blink, he was thrusting inside of me. I yelped in shock, already feeling so full.
“What did I say about calling me sir?” He growled, thrusting hard into me again.
“What should I call you?” I challenged. “And you better not say daddy.”
“The only thing I want to hear falling from your lips is my name. I want to hear you moan it when I’m inside you and scream it when you come.”
“Okay, Kade,” I teased again, knowing I was asking for punishment from him.
His response was pounding into me relentlessly, hitting the spot I craved so desperately and already causing another orgasm to build.
“Fuck, Soren, you’re tighter than I remember,” he groaned, and I could tell he wasn’t far behind with his own release.
“Come on my dick Soren,” he demanded, using his hand to rub circles over my clit again, causing me to go almost cross-eyed with pleasure, sending me over the edge.
“Kade!” I screamed his name, wondering if I’d ever be able to come down from this orgasm.
“Atta girl, Soren,” he replied, before roaring my name and finishing inside me, his movements slowing down.
I leaned my head on his shoulder, both of us panting and sweating.
I looked around, laughing at the fogged windows of the SUV.
Kade grabbed my chin and gently turned my face towards his again, searching my eyes.
“I love you,” he whispered, and I felt like my heart stopped working.
I was unsure if I had even heard him right. I had basically told him I loved him, but I’d never directly said those three words to him.
Every fear I’d ever had that he might not love me back disappeared, and a sense of calm fell over me. It was something I hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
“I love you too,” I replied, before gently pressing my lips to his and sealing our words.