Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Hellhound
One Week Later . . .
“Everything in place?” I ask Sutton and Ivy as they turn toward me in the kitchen when I enter.
Ivy smiles and nods while rocking Paxton in her arms. I grin, knowing my Prez has his little girl with him.
Both kids have both their parents wrapped around their fingers though Sage is Reaper’s little princess, and he’s not one for letting her out of his sight.
Same with his ol’ lady. Though he’s good as long as his woman is in the clubhouse, but she steps foot outside, he’s on her ass.
“Everything’s ready. You just got to get her out there,” Sutton says reassuringly. “And just for the record, she’s gonna love it.”
I hope she loves it. Shit, I never thought I’d be going out and doing what I did, but I did.
After my parents died years ago, they left the insurance policy to Stella and me.
I kept all of it except what was needed to pay off bills and whatnot.
I offered to use it to pay for my sister’s schooling, but our uncle took care of it.
So now I’ve made an investment with a portion of my share and bought a house not far from here.
I’ve also booked a trip for just Isabelle and me to take.
I’m taking her to Ireland to meet my family.
I want them to know who she is and what she means to me.
“Go get her, tiger.” Ivy snickers, nodding to the door. Sutton joins in with giggling.
I sigh and shake my head at both women. I don’t know when it happened, but those two, along with Isabelle, have ingrained themselves within this club. Each of them always has someone there to take their back if need be and not just because they’re ordered. No, it’s because of who they are.
Leaving both women to do their thing, I head in search of Isabelle and find her right away hanging with Angel. If I didn’t know the relationship with them was strictly platonic, I might get pissed with how Angel flirts with her. But that’s just who the fuck he is.
I close the distance between Isabelle and me and lean down to kiss the side of her neck. “Got somewhere we gotta go,” I murmur softly in her ear, not missing the way she shivers in my arms.
“Where’s that?” she asks, shifting so she can look over her shoulder at me.
“You’ll see.” I grin, releasing her to take her hand.
She doesn’t respond as I tug her closer and guide her out of the clubhouse and to my bike. I grab her helmet off the handlebars and hand it to her. With ease, she slips it over her head and straps it under her chin while I put my own on.
I straddle my bike and lift the stand after she climbs on behind me and wraps her arms tightly around my waist. I’ll never get tired of having her holding on while she’s on the back of my bike.
Isabelle was made to ride behind me and to keep her there, I’ll do whatever the fuck it takes.
We still have shit to deal with regarding Claws and other shit, but today’s about Isabelle, and that shit’s for another day.
The club voted to keep Claws around for one reason only, and that’s information.
We need to get that out of her, and we’re not killing her until we know she’s told us everything.
For the time being, she’s stuck in a cell that we keep in the basement of the hunting cabin. Out there, no one can hear her screams.
I take the long way to get to our destination, savoring the feel of her behind me. But still, it’s way too short of a ride as we pull into the driveway. Shutting the bike down and putting the kickstand down, I unstrap my helmet and tap Isabelle’s hands, letting her know to get off.
“Where are we?” she asks as soon as she gets her own helmet off.
I give her a grin and climb off the bike. I take the helmet from her hand and place it on the handlebars.
Turning my full attention to Isabelle, I hook an arm around her waist and drag her flush against my chest, reach down and cup her ass in both my palms. Like she’s done so many times before, my woman slides her arms up to wrap them around my neck, knowing what I’m gonna do.
I lift her up, so she has no choice but to fold her legs around my waist. I love the feel of her pressing against me like this.
With ease, I carry her up to the house and through the unlocked door.
“Asher?” Isabelle whispers, using my name as she’s started doing more often than not. She doesn’t care if we’re in front of my brothers or not. She claims I’m no longer Hellhound to her. Only Asher. The man who carries both men within him.
If she weren’t cute as fuck, I might have a problem with it. Unfortunately, she gets away with a lot of shit, but nothing drastic.
I set her on her feet, keeping a hand around her waist. “Welcome home, Bells,” I whisper, stretching an arm out, indicating the inside of the house.
Isabelle’s mouth drops, and her eyes widen as she glances from me to look around the house. I think I did pretty good picking a place she’d like. I bought it keeping everything that is Isabelle in mind.
It’s a simple ranch-style house, but it’s got a bay window in the kitchen, a sunroom off the back where I can see her spending a good about of time. After closing, my brothers and I took out all the windows, replacing them with bulletproof ones, and put in a top-of-the-line security system.
“Y-you . . . you bought a h-house,” she stutters, bringing her wide eyes to me. “For me?”
“Yeah, Críona, I bought us a house,” I answer, reaching up to stroke her cheek with my thumb.
“But . . .”
I lean in and kiss her to keep her from talking since I’m not finished.
I press my forehead to hers and hold her close.
“I’m not perfect by any means, Críona, but no one is.
I’m gonna fuck up along the way. That’s just the way I am.
However, I can say I’ll never fuckin’ hurt you.
You mean the world to me, and I’m not going to go without you in my life.
We’ve both had a shit time of things, and I’ve sacrificed a lot over the years.
This time though, I’m asking you to make a sacrifice by agreeing to not just be with me but to marry me and be mine in every way.
I told you a while back that I intended to do that. Now I’m asking.”
Isabelle’s eyes widen, and her lips part as tears well in her eyes. She nods her head slowly as she answers. “That’s not a sacrifice, Asher Ryan, but yes, I’ll marry you.”
I barely let her finish speaking before capturing her mouth in mine. Holding her in my arms, I drop us to the floor right there in the entrance of our home, where I show her how pleased I am at her agreeing to be mine.
I strip her of her jeans and shirt, rip her panties out of the way, and slide inside her. Isabelle cries out, and I thrust harder, giving her everything she wants. There’s nothing more beautiful than watching as she comes unraveled for me.
Within no time, we come together, panting, kissing, and holding on to each other.
Never in my life did I think I’d have something or someone to make my life worth anything, but Isabelle gives that to me, and I’ll sacrifice my own life to keep her where she is. At my side. On the back of my bike. Always near me, giving me everything I need to survive to keep going.