Nova
I knew Crew wasn’t telling me something. He had a tale, his jaw tightened when he was holding in the world. And tonight, his whole damn body was locked up. He came outside and sat next to me on the swing, a bottle of water in his hand. But he didn’t drink any, just held it in his hand.
“What is it?” I asked softly.
He didn’t answer at first. Just watched Timberly inside the window, dancing with Tati to some TikTok remix.
“They’re movin’,” he said finally. “Kyle and someone sent in by the Valdez family.”
I nodded. “I figured.”
“And there’s a name floatin’ around.” His voice cracked. “Sabrina.”
My chest went still.
“She’s alive?” I asked. Surprised my past wasn’t the only one coming back to wreak havoc on our lives.
“Blue’s digging. Nothing's been confirmed, but it’s enough to make me question everything.”
I reached for his hand.
“I’m not here to stop you from finding the truth.” I whispered.
He didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to.
I tried to put myself in his shoes. How would I have felt if my lost love came back into my life after being dead for years.
I watched him stare at the wall like it owed him answers.
Crew hadn’t spoken since Blue met with him earlier.
Most likely giving him whatever intel he’d been holding.
His back was rigid, and his fists were clenched.
I moved closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Talk to me,” I said softly.
He was quiet for a few beats before he finally let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“She was working against them,” he said. “Until she wasn’t.”
I stayed quiet.
“She was gone, Nova. I thought she left me because my life had become too much for her. I thought she was killed by one of my enemies, but the truth was Kyle’s family helped stage her death. They helped cover it up and make it look like a local gang murdered her.”
I felt his pain like it was stitched into my own ribs.
“But she’s not dead?” I asked.
“No,” his voice was hollow. “She’s alive. And now she’s helping them.”
My stomach turned. “You think she’s coming for us?”
“I don’t know.” He turned to me, his face finally meeting mine. “But I can’t lie, Nova… I loved her once. And I have to find out what happened to her.”
I cupped his face. “I’m not mad at you for loving someone before me, Crew. I’m scared that maybe part of you still loves her now.”
“I don’t,” he said instantly. “Not like that.”
“But enough to chase the ghost of her,” I whispered. “Even while I’m standing right in front of you.”
That silence between us said more than his next words ever could.
“I can’t change what happened,” he whispered. “But I choose you. Every damn time.”
“Keep that in mind when you find your truth.” I told him.
It was the kind of evening we didn’t get often anymore.
Crew sat at the head of the big dining room table with Janelle going over some purchase orders for a few facilities.
I sat to his right, chin on my palm, watching them both.
Black was on the couch, reading a picture book out loud in his rumbling baritone while Tati snuggled at his side.
Blue sat nearby assembling a small pistol with Timberly, breaking it down and explaining each piece in patient, quiet words.
The fact that my seven-year-old was learning how to use, take apart and clean a gun was wild to me.
August and Anesia had come by earlier to drop off food like pregnancy had stolen my ability to cook.
And now the house smelled like roast chicken and peach cobbler.
He also had a colleague of his brother Archer stop by and check on me and the baby since Crew refused to let me go out for fear Kyle would ambush us again.
For a moment, it felt normal, and I felt good except for the dread twisting in my belly that it wouldn’t last. After lunch Crew left to workout in our home gym before he was supposed to train with Black and Blue later today.
I found him in the gym. Sweat dripping down his chest, his fists bare and bleeding as they slammed into the punching bag like it owed him a life.
His jaw was clenched, muscles flexing, and back heaved with every breath.
Raw rage poured out of him, silent but violent.
He was so focused on hitting the bag, he didn’t hear me come in. Or maybe he did and just didn’t care.
I stood in the doorway, arms folded, wearing one of his T-shirts that barely skimmed the tops of my thighs.
No panties. No bra. Just skin, cotton, and the ache of distance that had been killing us both.
I normally wouldn’t walk around like this with people in the house, but I knew everyone else was out back.
It had been three days since he found out about Sabrina.
And since then, he hadn’t touched me. Nothing but silence, one-word answers and quick pecks here and there.
Just Crew pacing through the house like a lion who’d lost his pride.
But nothing really sexual. But that ended right now.
I was done waiting.
I crossed the room and stopped just a few feet from him, but he still hadn’t looked at me.
“Crew.”
His knuckles slammed into the bag one last time before he froze, arms trembling. His chest rose and fell, breaths sharp and uneven.
“You shouldn’t be in here,” he muttered.
“I should be wherever you are.”
He finally looked at me. His eyes bloodshot and Jaw clenched. That darkness in his eyes was familiar and frightening and beautiful in its own brutal way.
“You need to rest.”
“I need you.”
His head dropped forward. “Don’t say that if you don’t mean it.”
I stepped closer and watched the sweat run down his body.
“I mean it. I need you like the air I breathe. I want you to own me,” I snapped, my voice low and shaking. “Like you used to. I want to feel your hands on my throat. Your voice in my ear. I want to cry from how good it feels when you finally take what’s already yours.”
He blinked, tucking his bottom lip between his teeth.
“You want pain?”
“I want power. All of it.”
He stepped forward slowly, like a man trying to keep himself from falling into the very thing he swore not to touch. His hands hovered near my waist but didn’t land.
“Say it,” he whispered. “Say the words, Nova.”
I looked him dead in the eyes.
“I want to submit.”
His hands curled into fists.
“I want to kneel for you again,” I said, softer now. “I want to be your good little slut. I want to cum when you say and only when you say. I want the rules back.”
Still, he didn’t touch me. But I saw his composure cracking. His nostrils flared and his hands opened and closed only grasping air.
“I’m not whole yet,” I whispered, stepping into his chest. “But I want to feel whole with you. If you’ll take me back.”
He cupped my face, his thumb brushing over my cheek like it was made of glass.
“I never let you go.”
He kissed me then. Hard and deep like he was swallowing all the time we lost. And when he pulled back, his voice had dropped down into that low growl I’d missed so much it hurt.
“Go upstairs and take off your clothes. I want you on the bed, on your knees, facing the door. Don’t move and don’t speak.” He said, dominance radiating off him.
My breath caught and I whispered, “Yes, Sir.”
He stepped back and wiped the sweat from his brow as I turned on my heels and left the gym.
I did exactly what he told me. I took my ass upstairs, removed my clothes and kneeled on the bed, facing the door.
My body was trembling, but not from fear.
From something I hadn’t felt in days, need.
The good kind that started in my chest and burned its way down between my thighs. I missed this, him and me.
The bedroom door creaked open, but I didn’t look up.
I heard the door click shut, slow and final.
My breath got trapped in my lungs when his footsteps moved closer, heavy on the carpeted floor.
I froze when Crew’s hand slid across my back, slow and careful.
His fingers brushed my spine like a match about to be lit.
“You remembered the position,” he said, voice low.
“Yes, Sir.”
He exhaled like he’d been holding it for days.
“You still sure?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You safe-word and I stop. Immediately.”
“Understood.”
“Say it, Princess. I need to hear it from you.”
“My safe word is Control . If I say it, you stop.”
“That’s right,” he said, leaning in, his lips grazing my shoulder. “Because even when you submit, you are in control.”
I let out a shaky breath. He walked around me and stood in front of the bed, arms folded, looking down at me. His bare chest still gleamed with sweat, and his dark sweatpants rode low on his hips. His abs flexed as he moved, and his eyes…fuck, his eyes.
God.
That look in his eyes, the one that saw me; stripped me, claimed me without even touching me, that was what I missed most.
“New rules,” he said firmly.
And I sat straighter.
“You don’t speak unless given permission.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You don’t touch me or yourself unless I tell you to.”
I nodded.
“Tonight, I remind you again who you belong to. Not with pain or force. But with patience, power and pleasure so deep you’ll forget anyone ever laid a hand on you but me.”
Tears hit my cheeks before I could stop them. He saw them, but he didn’t flinch.
“Color?”
“Green.”
He walked behind me again and I heard the sound of a drawer opening. Then a soft thump on the bed.
“Lie flat on your stomach.” he commanded.
I obeyed, spreading my arms out and parting my legs.
My heartbeat in my ears when he showed me a pair of leather cuffs, causing me to shiver.
The first cuff went on my right wrist, soft leather, padded, warm from his hand.
Then the left was secured before he kissed my fingers after securing both.
Once my hands were bound, he went into the drawer again and produced another pair of cuffs that he used to bind my ankles.
When he was done, he checked them to make sure they weren’t too tight.