Chapter 15 #3
She shrugs, though she seems to do so nervously, fearful I might blow up on her.
“It’s been three years. He hasn’t done anything with the footage.
Maybe he really doesn’t intend to? He knows you all hate him…
I don’t think trust comes easily to a man like Legion.
He probably expected you to want to kill him the moment you crossed paths… Devil’s advocate …”
“Funny choice of words…”
“Can you honestly blame him?”
I fucking hate to concede this point. The rational side of myself understands his move, but…
“Fucking Axel , doll…” I let out another stress-ridden sigh, turning from her to make my way over to the workout bench.
I take a seat, squeezing my eyes shut, and run both hands through my hair until I’m gripping the back of my neck.
I hear her drape my jacket over the dumbbell rack, then I feel her body against my back as she straddles the bench behind me.
I let my arms drop when Vanna wraps her arms around my abdomen, the way we ride together, and she rests her head against my cut.
“I won’t let Legion hurt us, or anyone we care about,” she says softly, giving my body a slight squeeze.
I don’t find her words reassuring. If anything, they make me feel more ashamed. I unclench my jaw and scoff, “You shouldn’t be the one protecting us .”
“Why not? Because I’m a woman?” she sounds humorous, “I’m not as fragile as you think.”
“Well, you also don’t think he’s dangerous. That’s a huge chink in your armor, doll.” And her judgement.
“I never said that… I know what Legion is capable of, but I don’t think he has any ill intent this time. He’s not going to turn Axel in. He would have done so already. This is just his way, albeit misguided , of getting you to give him a chance.”
“It’s extortion , doll.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t even know, yet…but, you can’t tell Axel about any of this…and you can’t tell Cherry, either.” Her body tenses. “I hate it as much as you do, Vanna, but we can’t.”
“The MC knows? Everyone but them?”
“Yes, we’re all in agreement. The call has been made.”
She releases me to stand up, and I watch her walk over to the boxing ring.
She turns to face me, leaning back against the ledge.
Her brows are furrowed, lips pressed together.
“They’re going to be hurt by this, even more so than what Legion has on Axel.
Are you really sure this is what’s best?
” She wraps her arms around her middle, another tell-tale sign of her distress.
“There’s no guarantee Axel won’t react.” I close the distance between us and place my hands on her shoulders.
“I’m afraid of what he’d do. Turn himself in to free us of Legion…
Fucking kill him and make the situation worse, especially for himself.
” I shake my head as those nightmare scenarios play out in my mind.
“Either way, Axel ends up in Club Fed , doll.”
“But, Cherry…”
“There’s a good chance she’d tell Axel… This is for the best. I’m sorry to put this on you.”
“Why did you?”
I take a breath, letting it out on a sigh, and try for a humorous response, “Nobody keeps a secret like you do, babe.”
“That’s not funny.” She frowns, but her expression quickly morphs back to distress. “Cherry is one of my closest friends…” She shakes her head, and I swear if she tears up over this, I’m gonna lose my shit.
“We went into this with a promise I wouldn’t keep things from you. You tell an Old Lady everything, or you tell her nothing. Remember?”
She nods.
“This is on me as president. I’m the bad guy who made the call.”
“You’re not the bad guy, Dean… You’ve never been the bad guy.”
“You’re right. Legion is .”
She only stares up at me. At least she’s not trying to argue the point. I’m caught off guard when she suddenly turns from me and slams her fist down on the ledge of the boxing ring, letting out a frustrated little grunt.
“Damn him!”
“Vanna?”
She whirls back around to face me, a soul-shredding sadness in her eyes. “I had hopes for him that maybe he did change.”
I practically choke on my pride in an attempt to swallow it. She had hopes for him… Believed in him… For how long? Has she been waiting for him to come back this whole time? Looking forward to his return? And what then?
The knife twisting in my gut makes me want to keel over and fuckin’ puke. The emotional turmoil must be written all over my face.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, her distraught expression shifts to concern.
“ I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to kill Legion more than I do in this fucking moment .”
“Stop it .”
“ Why?” I nearly snarl the words, “My hands are tied! I can’t hurt your fucking?—”
She reaches up with both hands, grabbing me by the base of my skull, and hauls me down until our lips crash together. I’m fucking heated to begin with, but her demanding kiss, her fiery desire to take what we both know is hers, ignites my burning need to remind her who she belongs to as well.
“ You’re mine!” I growl against her lips, before plunging my tongue back inside her demanding mouth.
I grab her ass, pulling her body hard against mine. Her hands move to grip my shoulders, and the instant I feel her hop up, I reposition my hold on her to wrap her legs around my waist.
It’s been too long since we’ve kissed like this, rough and desperate. A wild abandon where nothing else exists but this all-consuming need for each other. I slam her back up against the ropes of the boxing ring, planting her ass on the ledge so I can fumble with my belt and get my fly open.
Her fingernails rake down the fabric of my shirt, moving quickly to my already throbbing cock.
Her hand wraps around my shaft, pulling me free while I shove her skirt up to grab the waistband of her panties and rip them down her thighs.
She releases my cock to lean back against the ropes again, bending one knee so I can get her underwear all the way down.
With one leg free, I leave the garment dangling from her other ankle, and she clamps her legs around me once more.
“You want this?” I growl against her neck, the head of my cock pressing against her hot center, so she can feel what she does to me, too. I drag my tongue up her throat, to that sweet spot behind her ear that always makes her melt.
She arches into me with a soft, needy whimper. “ Yes! Only you, Dean, always.”
I slide my hands up her skirt, calloused palms against soft thighs, gripping her flesh as I work my way up, inch by inch, memorizing the feel of her body all over again, branding her with my touch.
When I grip her ass and ram myself home in one deep, aching thrust, she lets out a cry that shatters every piece of me I’ve been trying to hold together. Every moan, every whimper that escapes her shoves the jealousy deeper into the shadows.
I swallow her gasps as her fingers dig into my shoulders before sliding up my neck to curl roughly into my hair while our tongues swirl and wrestle together.
Her intoxicating sounds and wet, gripping muscles send a shudder through my body, and I continue to thrust. The taut, padded ropes behind her keep her right where I want her. When I’m inside her, wrapped up and lost in my wife, nothing else exists.
“ I love you,” I murmur against her lips. “Even when I’m mad. Even when I’m jealous. Even when I hate myself for worrying.”
“I know,” she whispers, brushing her fingers along the stubble of my jaw, attempting to soothe the turmoil coursing through me. “You never have to doubt me. I’m yours, Dean. And you’re mine. Always.”
When she kisses me, it’s slow and deep. And when we unravel together, it isn’t just our bodies, but our walls and fears. She quivers around me, and I come hard, breathing her name like a prayer I’ve never deserved to have answered.
O n our way back to the bar, we make a quick pitstop to check on Ace again. Finding him still fast asleep, I escort Vanna to the bar.
“Oh, there’s something else I meant to mention,” she says.
“What’s that, doll?”
“I didn’t get the shot.”
I nearly trip over my damn boots. “ Jesus fuck Vanna, I thought we talked about this! I just fuckin’–”
She’s laughing at me. “Relax! I’m on the pill now. I took it this morning. We’re fine.”
“That wasn’t funny.”
“It was a little,” she says, though her words don’t hold any humor.
I shake my head as the spike in my heart rate begins to level out. We round the corridor near the end of the bar counter, where Cherry is slinging drinks.
“This song playing on the juke box,” Vanna turns to face me, a little smirk on her lips. “It’s a you song.” She playfully squeezes my ass before stepping behind the bar to help Cherry.
“ Simply the best , huh?” I grin back at my wife while Tina Turner’s smash hit blasts through the speakers, and Vanna grabs me a beer.
She places the bottle on the bar and blows me a little kiss. “ Better than all the rest.”