CHAPTER 28 #2
Her hand begins to roam up, and without warning, it curls around my neck. A shiver of sensation rushes down my spine.
I’m all too aware of the distance from her mouth to mine. It seems like nothing. Infinitesimal. Like bridging that space and connecting my mouth to hers could be so simple.
I ask the only thing on my mind. “If I kissed you, would you welcome it? Or are you gonna keep running and giving every excuse in the book for not giving in to this thing going on between us?”
“I’m not running or mak—”
“Yeah, you are.”
“Is that what you think?”
“Yeah, it is. The why of it is what I don’t know.”
She huffs.
“Am I wrong?”
She says nothing, and that right there is my answer, isn’t it?
“If you don’t want me, or don’t want me to kiss you, please tell me and walk the fuck away. Right now. Walk and know that I won’t chase you down. I won’t try anything again. I let this lie, and we can go on being nothing to each other.”
I rub her cheekbone again and lean so I can say these next words against the shell of her ear. “If you want me, tell me, woman. Just say it. Say yes.” Arousal floods my body when her head kicks back and her body relaxes. Swear to God, a whimper escapes her lips.
I pull back and look at her. “You’re so fired up over the possibility I could have been with someone else, but you also keep treating this like it’s nothing.
It ain’t nothing to me. So, which is it?
Either walk away, or give us a chance, because God’s honest truth, Lil’, I can’t keep doin’ this back and forth with you. It’s drivin’ me fuckin’ crazy.”
She bites her bottom lip. Her other hand is now on my waist, under my cut. The hold she has on me is strong. But so is whatever hold she has over her emotions.
“Walk or say yes.”
Then finally, thank fuck, her grip tightens on me and she pulls me forward.
A breath away I pause for only a moment to prepare my heart to give in and fall fully, because yes, this is fucking happening.
Our mouths connect and my body lights right the fuck up.
It’s slow. Slow and filled with meaning, and tenderness.
A brushing of lips. Breathes shared. Soft licks.
Tongues that dance in concert. A groan from me that has her deepening the kiss and grasping me tighter.
She makes a husky noise in the back of her throat. The sound sends a shock wave through every part of me. Her fingers thread into my hair, and she grabs a handful. I do the same and devour her just as fiercely. I let my desperation leak through, and she responds in kind.
Pressing forward with my hips, I grind my body into hers. Her thighs part, and she welcomes me in, wastes no time, and begins to rock against me.
When she sucks on my bottom lip, the action goes straight to my dick.
I pick her up and wrap her legs around my waist. Her curves under my hands feel like heaven.
She tilts her head up and sucks in a quick breath.
I take full advantage, placing harsh kisses along her jaw and neck.
I savor her scent and the taste of her skin, wanting nothing more than to take as much of her in as I can, and at the same time leave my mark behind.
The ferocity of my need for this woman rivals anything I’ve ever known.
The heady and smoky way she gasps my name is music to my fucking ears. “Christ, I missed the way you kiss. Missed this,” she mumbles.
“What?”
“No-nothing. Shut up and keep kissing me.”
I do just that, and palm her breast as we both get worked up into a frenzy. She places her hand over mine and squeezes, so I give it to her harder. Do I despise the layers of fabric separating us? Yes, I curse their existence. If I could wish them away, I would in a heartbeat.
Fucking her in all the ways I’ve dreamed about is at the forefront of my mind.
The sounds she makes… the inhales, exhales, breathy pleas, gasps, and pants… they undo me. They egg me on and tell me everything I’ve been dying to know. That she aches for me just as much as I ache for her.
She may try to deny it later, but there’s no denying this. Her body language says it all.
“If I fucked you, Lil’, would you call out my fucking name? Let me hear it in full volume as you lost your mind for me?”
“Jesus!”
“Yeah, you would. Wouldn’t you? What else, Lil’? Would you tell me all of those little fantasies locked inside that gorgeous mind of yours? And give me a chance to play them out with you?”
Shouts are what break us apart. A flood of people run into the hallway. Lily slaps my cut until I set her down. Panic covers the faces of the people running toward us.
Someone shouts, “They have guns!”
I point at Lily and snap, “Stay here!” But I quickly change my mind and drag her by the arm to the back door.
After pushing it open, I funnel people out.
Lily stays by my side. Grabbing her harshly, I look her dead in the eye and tell her, “I don’t know what the fuck’s happening, but get somewhere safe and stay there.
I’ll find you.” I push her in the direction of the door.
She stands there holding on to the door for a moment and tries to resist. “No, I’m not—”
“Go, Lil’. I’ll be fine. I promise.” I don’t back down. The concern filling her features means everything to me. But neither of us has time to indulge in these feelings.
The fear doesn’t leave her eyes, but her hand drops from the door, and it closes with her on the other side of it.
A rush of relief floods over me at knowing she’s safe. Spinning around, I yell for the rest of the people coming down the hall to get out using the back door. Then I quickly stride toward where the chaos and shouts are coming from.
What I find waiting for me in the bar stops me cold. The Thirteen Devils, firearms in hand, with barrels pointed at my brothers. One motherfucker has his aimed at Hodge’s face. Hodge isn’t empty-handed. He has a shotgun leveled at him from behind the bar.
Rage has my blood pounding in my ears. Veno.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know this isn’t my house.
But it’s as if these fuckers are doing exactly that, busting into my fucking home, invading something sacred that triggers all my protective instincts, and firing the first shot in an act of war.
By the look on my brothers’ faces, they feel the same, and they’re ready for shit to go down here and now.
Some of the smarter people, the ones not involved, flee.
Veno is at the bar, shots lined up in front of him.
He’s wearing a royal blue plaid shirt and dark jeans with white sneakers.
Teardrop tattoos trail down the side of his face.
He’s eyeing Bethany as he throws back a shot.
The Devil behind the bar has his golden Glock at Bethany’s temple, and she’s visibly shaking.
Veno throws back two more shots in quick succession, gives a haughty laugh, and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
“What, ese? You gringos don’t know how to show a little fuckin’ hospitality?
” he says, spreading his arms. “Figured if I came down in person to deliver this warning, you’d at least pretend to be happy to see me.
” He lets out a low laugh, all teeth and no warmth.
“No?” He shrugs and scans the room in a slow once-over.
When he sees me, he stops cold. His grin flatlines.
His happy mask slips. His smugness is replaced by a sharper, cold calculation.
Not a second later, his gaze cuts past me to the right, and his expression shifts again. One brow arches, and he mutters under his breath, “ La puta madre…”
I turn. My fucking heart shoots up into my throat. Lily’s standing just off to my side, stone still, eyes locked on Veno.
Fuck.
Her eyes lift to mine.
I expect to see fear, guilt, maybe even regret.
But what I get instead is pure fire—fierce determination written across every inch of her face .
“I told you to get out.”
“I know. I couldn’t walk away.”
Veno says, “Well, look who it is… bienvenida a casa, ángel.”
I step in front of Lily and push her behind me, while cutting Veno off with a snarl, “What the fuck do you think you’re doin’ here?”
Cap’s already front and center, Dozer flanking his right, Griz on the left.
My brothers form a wall in front of the civvies behind them.
Taz is all twitchy violence—knife in one hand, pistol in the other—taunting the devil he’s staring down.
Mav’s got a gun barrel pressed into his forehead, and he’s still glaring like he’s daring the fucker to pull the trigger.
We’re not outnumbered, but one wrong move and this will get ugly, because we were un-fucking-prepared. In this tight space, it’ll be a bloodbath if someone starts shooting.
Veno reaches behind him and takes a gun from behind his waist, casual but deliberate, and proceeds to wave it in the air like it’s punctuation. “Quería dejarlo bien claro, cabrón.”
I wanted to make it perfectly clear, asshole.
He lifts his chin. “You fuck with my business, fuck with me , I fuck with you and yours.”
“If you’re gonna—”
Veno glares Cap down. “Not speakin’ to you.
Speakin’ to this motherfucker right here.
” He raises his gun sideways and levels it on me.
“No hay línea que no cruce pa’ devolver el favor.
Eye for an eye, hijo de tu puta madre.” There’s no line I won’t cross to return the favor. Eye for an eye, son of a bitch.
I clock it, the gun. The theatrics. The posturing. The men. Their positions. How many firearms they have, and who Veno brought with him.
This ain’t about bullets. It’s about the message .
“Message delivered. Now get the fuck out.”
“Nah, Cabrón.”
I stride forward to keep him focused on me. “You gonna shoot, shoot.”
The force he brought… the bullshit conversation… it’s not a bloodbath he wants. So I call him on it. I know what he wants, but it’s not something I’m prepared to back down on. “You gonna shoot. Shoot.”