Chapter Twenty-Four
Eliana
He was back. He was safe. He was in one piece.
Seeing Sledge stride through the clubhouse door, I finally let out the breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. He looked like he’d been in a war, his shirt was covered in blood, but I didn’t see that. I just saw the look of relief on his face.
It was over.
“You’re safe!” I exclaimed.
“Told you I’d be back,” he gritted out.
I gestured towards his sleeping daughter and said, “You might want to change before she sees.”
He nodded and headed towards the room we’d been staying in.
Feeling Zoya shift in my lap, I watched his long legs carry him away from us. To wash blood, and very probably death, from his body. While I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around him, I didn’t want Zoya to see him like that.
“Daddy?” Zoya’s question came out as a soft and hesitant whisper.
I nodded. “Yeah, sweet girl, he’s back and he’s safe. But he’s dirty and he needed to take a shower.” I wrinkled my nose and she giggled, a soft breathy sound that I felt more than heard.
Her arms gently uncurled from around my waist. “Want to play with Chopper while I go check on him?”
She hesitated, watching my face closely as if she was afraid I wouldn’t come back.
Chopper barked, stealing her attention and before she’d actually made up her mind, she slid from my hold and fell to the floor beside the dog, who rewarded her affection with sloppy kisses.
Zoya’s laughter filled the space, bright and warm as it mingled with the other kids, as well as the palpable relief that permeated the clubhouse.
Watching her run towards the door to the backyard with Chopper at her heels I got to my feet, shaking out my legs, numb from sitting so long. I let out one shaky breath after another, slowly allowing hope and relief to settle in my chest.
She’s okay.
He’s okay.
We survived another day.
It was something I knew not to take for granted, but today I felt it keenly as I walked on unsteady legs down the hallway to the room where Sledge would be. The moment the door clicked behind me, relief hit me so hard my knees nearly buckled.
I wanted to run to him. I needed to see him.
I wanted to touch every inch of skin just to reassure myself that he was really here.
But I didn’t. Instead, I sat on the edge of the bed and waited, my hands gripping the bedding tight, breathing through the storm that whirled inside of me. If I went to him feeling the way I did, I would fall apart and I couldn’t do that because I had a feeling today, I needed to be the strong one.
I waited with as much patience as I could muster. With my eyes closed and my breathing slow and deep, I heard the shower turn off. Movements on the other side of the door. And then the door opened and Sledge was there, gorgeous, ripped and still dripping with water.
The towel hung low on his hips and I licked my lips. There were no bruises, no cuts, no bullet holes. No visible damage.
He was safe but he didn’t look okay.
His jaw was clenched so hard the muscles twitched. His eyes were dark, haunted, and filled with shadows. His shoulders were tight, as if the only thing keeping him upright was his own damn stubbornness.
I surged to my feet and closed the distance between us, wrapping my arms tight around his waist, burying my face in his bare chest. “I was so worried,” I sighed. “I’m glad you’re back.”
His arms went around me instantly, strong and secure, pulling me against the solid heat of his body. His hand slid up my spine and cupped the back of my head, holding me like he’d gone through hell to get back to me. “I’m here, I’m fine,” he promised.
He didn’t sound fine, nowhere near close to fine actually, but I didn’t push. Not yet. “Is it over?” The question left my lips on a whisper.
He nodded, face still buried in my hair.
I pulled back and stared into those hazel eyes I loved so much.
“I’m sure you need a beat to process everything that just happened and I promise I’ll give you that mental space, but I need to be right here,” I said, dragging my hands around his waist before I tucked my fingertips into the towel.
“I need to be here for you, however I can. However you’ll let me. ”
His gaze seared into mine, electric and hungry, and he gripped my wrist, pulling my fingers from his towel, letting it drop to the floor between us. He was breathtaking in front of me, naked and hard. Everywhere. “Stay. I want you to. I need you to.”
My heart galloped inside my chest and I pushed up on my toes, attacking his mouth, kissing him hard and fast, filled with all the desperation I felt for the past few hours.
He devoured me in return like a man who wasn’t sure he’d ever hold me again. Sledge tore at my clothes until I was naked and panting, desperate for him. “Eliana.” My name came out on a low growl that sounded as if it hurt.
“I’m here,” I said, dropping to my knees in front of him, stroking his long, thick cock while I watched him carefully.
His eyes fluttered shut but he willed them back open, watching me as I stroked him harder, flicking my tongue over the bead of precum that gathered at his head. “Fuck,” he groaned when I wrapped my lips around him.
The sounds he made turned me on and I felt moisture slide down my legs as I sucked him off, taking him deeper and deeper until he hit the back of my throat.
“Eliana,” he whispered, that one word was both a plea and a warning.
I cradled his balls and sucked him until his legs quivered beneath my hand, loving the way his grip tightened in my hair. I felt powerful and sexy and when my tongue scraped across his balls, he roared and yanked my hair.
“On the bed. Now.”
I shivered at the dark, commanding tone, accepting his hand to help me to my feet before I crawled onto the bed on my hands and knees. “Yes,” I hissed out when two of his thick fingers teased me.
“So fucking wet.”
I pushed back against his fingers, pulsing around them the instant they were buried deep. His touch was electric and I knew it wouldn’t take much to get me off.
He pulled his fingers back and when I looked back, those fingers were in his mouth. He smiled but his eyes were still haunted.
“Come here.” I crooked a finger at him and in a flash, he was beside me on the bed, tugging me on top of him. My hips moved on their own, sliding my pussy back and forth across where he was thick and hard. “You feel so good.”
“Ride me, Eli. Show me how happy you are that I’m okay.”
I didn’t need to be asked twice, I gripped his cock in one hand before lining our bodies up. I wasn’t delicate as I slid down his length until he was buried so deep it knocked the breath out of me. “Fuck. Yes.”
I watched him, noting every tick of his jaw, every moment he struggled to keep his eyes open, every time he sank his teeth into his bottom lip. I memorized every move that drove him out of control and repeated it, over and over, until his cock grew thicker and harder. “This pussy was meant for me.”
His words caused another rush of moisture between us, easing the glide of his thick cock.
He felt good. Too good. So good I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold my orgasm at bay for much longer.
“So full,” I whispered, planting my feet on the bed and bouncing on his thick length until my legs shook and sweat slicked over my skin.
I bounced in short, shallow strokes that quickly pushed me over the edge. “Fuck, yes!”
He growled as his fingertips sank into my hips. “That tight grip is fucking perfect.”
I smiled and then shrieked when he flipped our positions, smiling down at me with that devilish glint in his eyes. “Hey,” I whispered.
“Hey babe.” He held my wrists above my head with one hand, the other pinched my nipples while he fucked me hard and fast, and so deep he hit places inside of me that I didn’t know existed.
My back arched into him. My legs tangled around his waist, feet digging into his firm ass cheeks to urge him on. “Give me everything, Sledge.”
His control snapped at that command and he turned into a man possessed, fucking me so hard with such a tender expression in his eyes that tears burned my own eyes as orgasm number two exploded out of me in sharp, painful convulsions.
“Oh fuck,” he groaned, letting my wrists go to grip my inner thighs.
“Fucking perfect,” he growled, pounded until his cock exploded, sending hot streams of pleasure deep into my body.
“That was… everything.” The words rushed out of me on a breathless whisper as he collapsed on top of me. His breath was hot against my neck as his cock continued pulsing inside of me while I squeezed him over and over. “You feel perfect just like this.”
He smacked a kiss against my neck before shifting off me to lay beside me. “Thank you for being here. For everything.”
“I love you.” I blurted out the words, voice trembling with emotion. “I am in love with you Sledge. I didn’t plan it or expect it, and maybe it’s crazy considering the roller coaster we’ve been on since we met, but… that’s how I feel.”
His eyes widened slightly but he didn’t speak.
I kept going because I needed to get it all out, I needed him to know no matter how he felt.
“You’re grumpy and impossible and so damn bossy,” I said on a soft laugh.
“But you’re also kind and protective, and patient.
You have an endless well of good in you and I don’t think you realize it.
I feel safe with you and seen. And so fucking loved that it takes my breath away.
” My thumb swept across his bottom lip. “I want a life with you, Sledge. With you and Zoya, and I want everything from the quiet nights to the chaos, from the school shows to the MC parties. I want it all.” My heart hammered so hard against my chest that it ached.
My breath shook. “Is that something you think you might want with me?”
Silence hung between us, thick and heavy. Deafening.