Chapter 21
“Are you sure they are going to like me?”
It had been a week since I’d come out of the closet regarding my feelings for Rose. So far, nothing but good had come from being vocal about our union. Even clients had reached out who had dealt with Rose on job setups, sending positive memos of congratulations and a huge bouquet for Rose from Jared that said. “Good luck” with a pair of Loki horns drawn on the card. As much as the good luck had pissed me off, it was, after all, a total Loki thing to do and Rose found it hilarious.
“What’s not to like?”
Rose rolled her eyes.
“You’re my woman, so they are going to love you.”
Rose giggled. “Because the big bad scary dominant Heimdall said so?”
“Exactly.” I kissed her on the nose just as the elevator opened up into Thor’s penthouse palace. Rose looked around in wonder. She was no stranger to the finer things or the unusual, but Thor’s place was like a castle in the sky, which is why we liked to meet here, for our get-togethers, well that and his amazing housekeeper, Mrs. Goodwin, who was more like family than an employee.
“It’s a little ostentatious isn’t it?” I said, knowing she didn’t feel that way at all about the place.
Her jaw dropped. “Are you kidding? This really does feel like a world apart. I can see why he hosts your get-togethers.”
We were the first to arrive, and I introduced her to Erik and Raia whom she had already met when Mari gave her a tour of Club Valhalla. Raia offered to give Rose a tour and I couldn’t help but feel joy at their easy conversation, which faded out when they disappeared down the long hallway.
Erik turned to me. “I see they are going to become fast friends.”
I smirked. “Yeah, Rose is hard to resist, she’s all happy sunshine.”
Erik laughed. “It’s good for Sif. She can often be standoffish not because she still suffers from being shy, mind you, as she’s grown a lot since taking over at Valhalla, but she tends to keep her intimate circle small.”
I had to agree. Raia had been such an introvert when we’d first met. Erik had done wonders with her. My mind traveled back to when her ex broke into the club and assaulted her. Lincoln, Colin and I showed up to enforce security. “Since that night in the club, she has come so far.”
A shadow passed through Erik’s hard blue eyes. He didn’t like remembering what happened because, to him, anyone getting to his woman showed weakness on his part, and I understood the guilt and fear associated with that all too well.
“It’s in the past, my friend, and believe me, I completely understand how you feel about it.”
Erik nodded his head. “That you do. And how are things now?”
“Better than I believed possible.”
He gave me a genuine smile. “Right! I almost feel guilty being this happy.”
I was about to comment when the elevator opened up and in walked Noah, Shelby, and Mari.
“I picked these two up outside where they were making out.” Mari pointed at Noah and Shelby. “So I said get a room, and here we are.”
Shelby laughed. Then asked where Raia was. I pointed down the hall and off she went, with a slap to her ass from Noah. She gave him a saucy look over her shoulder and hurried away with a shriek when he pretended to go after her. From down the hallway, we heard a peal of giggles as she rounded the corner.
Noah wore a goofy indulgent Daddy face, and Mari shook her head in disgust, and I couldn”t help but laugh. We were all misfits, but together we made one hell of an eclectic family.
Mari turned to me. “Where is Rose? You haven’t done anything stupid have you?”
Feeling playful, I answered, “No, Mom, she’s on a tour with Raia.”
“Men,” she grumbled, just as Declan, and Colin stepped off the elevator. Mari and Declan exchanged a look, before she went hustling over to talk to Mrs. Goodwin. I wondered what that meant but didn’t have the time to examine what was going on between those two.
Erik, Noah, Declan, Colin, and I moved over to the bar and took a seat. Erik poured us each a generous amount of Lagavulin into crystal tumblers and handed them out. No one drank until Erik poured himself one and then we held our tumblers aloft.
“Skal!” he said.
“Skal!” we returned.
The women entered the foyer just as the elevator opened and out stepped the last two in our group, Jared and Lincoln. They joined us at the bar, and Raia continued the tour outside on Erik’s massive deck. He even grew his own produce out there. The way his place was set up if there was ever an extended blackout, he’d be fine. I guessed coming from poverty gave one a different perspective on life.
The rest of us had a silver spoon in our mouths since birth. Not to say that our life choices hadn’t hardened us and given us a host of experiences way outside the general norm of a silver-spoon upbringing.
I watched Rose with the women. Even though this was Raia’s home, Rose was definitely guiding the discussion and the others happily joined in. I wasn’t the only one watching Rose, so was Mari with a small, but very happy smile on her face.
“She’s happy,” she said, as I sidled up beside her.
“As am I.”
She turned and gave me a critical evaluating look. “I’m glad and you can tell, you even look younger. Must be all the good sex.” She glanced again at Declan and I wondered what was going on, but then she redirected her vision back to outside. “I think I’ll join them.”
That was a first. Mari always preferred to hang with the men. But with her and Rose being so close, maybe she felt more comfortable spending time with her besties’ women? I honestly had no idea, but Rose being here had somehow added to the dynamic and clearly Mari felt it.
Mrs. Goodwin hustled out of the kitchen with a big platter of appetizers, which Erik quickly took away, lovingly scolding her for carrying something so heavy. I’d asked him once why he didn’t just retire her, and he’d said because when she no longer had purpose, old age would settle in and she would perish that much faster. It reminded me now of what Mari had just said about looking younger. I also felt younger. Rose had been an injection of life I’d needed badly.
We watched Erik carry the tray outside, offering the women first dibs of the appetizers. Good thinking as he knew we’d devour it entirely if they didn’t get some first. The guys sat at the table and finished off the remainder. We were all tall, muscular men, who needed lots of food to keep us satisfied, but that wasn’t all we needed. My gaze floated outside once again to Rose, who was laughing at something Shelby had said.
I felt a magnetic pull and stepped outside and joined them, arriving to hear the end of Shelby’s story. When she saw me, her face turned red and she skipped inside the house, launching herself at Noah’s back, as he was now standing and talking intently in response to something Jared said. I think she was trying to tackle him, but he was swift and turned right at the last second to capture her in his arms.
Shelby was a tiny woman with no hips to speak of, and as Noah said ,the finest ass he’d ever seen. At first they’d been such an unlikely pair but now, their relationship seemed so effortless, so organic and I couldn’t help feeling impressed by them.
Jared had the rest captivated by whatever he was saying. I’d thought more than once that he should go into politics. He was hard enough to not be bought, and rich enough to fund his own campaign, but where he really shone was in his ability to command attention. He and Declan were very similar that way, but where Declan had a quiet command, Jared was more of a showman, and it came through in the way he dressed, and his body language. His looks were really a lot like the actor who played Lucifer in the Netflix show. Dark hair and dark eyes, so intense in his pale British complexion, and when he played at the clubs, those dark orbs looked like they were pieces of obsidian, shiny black surfaces hiding dark intentions.
Rose wrapped her arm around my waist. I lift her up and she instinctively wrapped her legs around my hips. I captured her lips and pierced them with my tongue. She moaned softly as I pillaged her the way my cock wanted to invade her pussy.
I pulled my head back, enjoying the look of her swollen lips. “We have an audience.”
“Uhuh. Perfect,” she replied and tilted her head back, offering me her neck. She loved it when I slid my tongue down her pulse and sucked on it.
When I came up for air, Erik called us for dinner. I took my seat with Rose on one side and Colin on the other. Something was off with him. I’d noticed the moment he stepped off the elevator and now he was moving his food around on his plate, completely lost in thought. I wasn’t the only one who noticed. His big bro, Declan was watching him as well. Our eyes met and I got what he wanted.
“Hey. What’s going on?” I nudged my friend and partner. “You’ve been off since you arrived.”
He reached into his jean pocket and pulled out a card. “This is my problem.”
I looked at the card and saw it had a woman’s name on it, under the PR title for a communications company we’d done an installation and security sweep for.
“I met her at my last job, just before I packed up to come home.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I think she’s in trouble, but when she tried to talk to me, she was hustled out of the room by their in-house security. Anyway, I gave her my card before she was removed, but I didn’t hear from her before I left. I can’t help feeling that something is seriously wrong, Gabe, and I’m not sure what to do about it.”
Colin was ex-military and if his gut was telling him something, it was probably correct. “I think you should go, but not alone. Let’s talk about this more after dinner and we can make a plan.”
It turned out that we didn’t need to have a private discussion because all the guys followed us outside, even Mari.
“What’s going on?” Declan asked.
“It’s work related, no need to worry.”
“If something has my brother this down, then it isn’t just work related.”
All eyes turned to Colin. “Is that true?” I asked. “Do you have a personal stake in this?”
“I don’t know yet. I told you it’s my gut talking not my head. Something is wrong with that woman, and I feel bad I couldn’t find out, but I know somehow that she is in trouble.”
“I’m going with you.” Lincoln looked resolute.
“I’m going to,” added Jared.
We all looked at him with surprise.
“Jared, you”re not even in the company. There are no civilians on this trip. What makes you think you should go?”
“Because, these two need someone with a cool head in case they run into any trouble and because I’m not part of the company, I’m free to gather intel, or worm my way in somewhere. I wouldn’t be recognized.”
He had a point. Colin, however, didn’t look too pleased. He and Jared had a difficult friendship at best.
“Then it should be me,” came the quiet, commanding voice of Declan. “I will spearhead this rescue team and stay in direct communication with Gabriel to make sure you knuckleheads don’t get out of control.”
It was funny as hell that either man thought they could hold back Linc or Colin from doing what they thought was necessary.
“Listen, I love you both for offering, but unless an issue arises that for the first time since the inception of GH, we can’t handle with our own staff, I will call on either or both of you to fill in, but for now, we don’t know what is going on or if anything even is. Lincoln and Colin will go, with four more and set up a reconnaissance mission until we know more. Rose will set up the mission parameters and I will be the one in charge of this mission making sure they have what they need.”
Declan smiled and nodded his head in approval. Colin let out a sigh of relief, and Lincoln just grinned and said, “Let’s get the show on the road.”
“They can use my private jet,” Jared offered. “It’s registered to a shell company that is connected with some of the top businesses in the country. If anyone looks into who owns it, they’ll never find out the answer.”
That was a surprise, and not just to me.
“That would take away added time,” Rose said gently, pressing her hand onto my forearm.
She was trying to get me to allow Jared’s help although as to why I had no idea.
It ended up being the strangest dinner I’d ever experienced with my friends. We said our goodbyes and I told the guys to come in the morning to get equipment before they headed out on Jared’s private jet.
With that settled, it was time to go home and ravage my woman. In the elevator on the way up from the parking garage, I pushed her against the wall and lifted up her top, rolling her nipples through the thin lace of her bra. I leaned down and took one in my mouth, biting down.
Rose tangled her fingers in my hair while I feasted on her breasts, and when the elevator opened, I turned us and she backed out with me still attached to her nipple. Her ass eventually hit the back of the couch and she leaned backward at an almost impossible angle, jutting her tits into my mouth.
I lifted her skirt, ripped her panties off, and shoved a finger between her slick folds.
“So wet for me, aren’t you, Amora?”
“Mmm. Yes, Master.”
“You’re such a good girl. Go to the bedroom, strip and present yourself on your knees at the foot of the bed.”
Rose hustled off and I went to the kitchen to retrieve ice cubes. Time to try out a different type of sensation play, which I hoped would drive my Amora crazy with lust.