TWENTY-ONE #2
He suddenly announced, cupping the side of her face.
“I can take it as slow as you want, sweetheart. But let’s not hold back too much.
My feelings are genuine, and they’re strong.
So, don’t be afraid to overdo it, yeah? You want to get possessive as fuck over me?
Go right ahead; I’m here for it. You wanna fawn and fuss and be so greedy over me?
I’m gonna be on cloud fucking nine about that.
You can’t go too far, you understand? I want it all from you.
And only you, because, as you said, you’ve been the blueprint all along, and no one was ever you, so I couldn’t do with them what I wanna do with you.
And that’s commit myself for a lifetime. ”
Lisa’s air was stolen from her lungs as if Ryan had reached into her chest and scooped it out with a spoon.
She was stunned by his honesty. And swooning in her underwear.
“I’ve got the time and the determination to pursue you for that long.
So, you wanna start slow by dating? I got you.
But know that’s my endgame. Keep it in mind that my every action will be to work us to a place where you’re so fucking in love and obsessed with me.
” Something dark and luscious crossed his face, and once more, Lisa held her breath, eager to hear the words from his tongue.
“And Lisa? I’m gonna make that happen. I won’t give you up this time, yeah?
If you get spooked by my intensity now, you’ve given me the green light.
I’m gonna dog your every step. Does that scare you to hear? ”
All that dazed Lisa could do was shake her head and croak through her thick emotions.
“No. No, I’m not scared. I... I like the way you are, Ryan.
It’s overwhelming in a good, peaceful way.
To know you’re this certain about us? Yeah, it’s a nice feeling that I won’t have to second-guess what you’re thinking about our relationship. ”
“I’m an open book for you,” he declared earnestly, his eyes sincere and his voice steady without a hint of deceit. “I saw you again, and it wasn’t even a mindful decision. I felt it all fucking over, Lisa, that you had to be mine. That I was always waiting to be yours.”
This man could not be real.
But she knew more than most he was.
As Ryan had stated a moment ago, she didn’t want to hear details of any other woman he might have treated in the same way. It didn’t matter. What mattered was the here and now. Being together finally.
She didn’t speak for a moment, letting all the feelings settle in and become familiar with the new status quo.
But there was still a lot of conversation to have.
This had been the easier part. If he learned the truth and deemed her a coward, no longer worthy of being his partner, that would be terrible.
It was Ryan who broke their comfortable silence, planting a gentle kiss on her temple.
“Why do your eyes look sad when you just landed yourself the best man that ever boyfriended?” He grinned, and Lisa, losing some of the swirling dread in her belly, laughed.
“God save me from a cocky Gen Z. I might have to rethink dating you.”
“Too late. I heard it with my own ears. You can’t back out now. I can revisit the basement plan.”
“You and basements.” She shook her head, amused. “Is this a secret kink?”
Then the wicked monster flashed her a dirty smile and said, “You know all my kinks. And I know yours. Unless you’ve grown some new ones, then I look forward to getting to know them.”
There was no heart quiver this time, because there was a hot ache between Lisa’s thighs, and she had to swallow really slowly to calm herself down before she climbed onto his lap in the open air, where anyone could see them being frisky.
She was so sexually attracted to the man at her side that she would combust the first time they were together again. He was a walking orgasm. The man must have been dipped thrice in lust when it was being handed out and then sneaked in a fourth time because he was greedy for more.
“I’d love to know what just went through your mind to make you inhale like that?” he husked, and Lisa flushed to the tips of her ears.
She swatted his arm. “Don’t be nosy. A lady has to have secrets.”
He laughed and tapped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “What’s next on this talk? I wanna kiss my woman, but I figured you had a mental list to work through first.”
“You would be right.”
“Look at me earning boyfriend points right out of the gate.” He smirked smugly.
Her heart twanged in anticipation. “Right. I guess I’ll say this next part.”
“Don’t look so worried,” he soothed her, stroking the back of her head. “There’s nothing you can say that would make me change my mind, yeah? Remember, it’s not a deal breaker for you to be a mad murderer.”
He was so freaking sweet.
If Lisa wasn’t careful, she was going to fall fast and deep in love with a biker with the charming smile.
You’re already there, a voice whispered, and she mentally swatted it away; there was no time to argue with her logical conscience right now.
“It’s the reason I ended things between us.
” Lisa stalled as she watched Ryan’s eyes become serious and unwavering.
“It wasn’t because I lost feelings for you, Ryan.
But... there was a circumstance out of my control.
” Then uttered the words. “I was threatened to break up with you and to leave town.”
It was logically impossible for Ryan to have caused a swift icy wind around them, but Lisa would swear his darkening eyes and tightened face were causing the sudden shift in the atmosphere.
And when he spoke, oh yeah, she shivered from how rough he sounded.
Like he was speaking around grit and spikes.
“What the fuck? Explain, Lisa. Right fucking now.”
* * *
Unknown
It was irritation that lingered in the back of his throat when he took a long toke on the fat Cuban cigar between his lips. The smoke was thick and rich, and it usually relaxed him, but it went nowhere in that direction today. It tied his guts into knots of annoyance.
His time was best served elsewhere, but here the fuck he was, busy with an irritant. Again.
That bitch was back.
He spotted her by chance and knew her face instantly.
It had taken very little surveillance on the bitch to see she was tangled up with Splice again.
He’d gotten rid of her once. Easily. Like a scared little girl, she’d run so fast.
He knew this because he paid to have surveillance on her for more than a year, waiting for the moment to strike if she contacted anyone from Utah, if she opened her big fat mouth about what she’d overheard that day.
It was only when she married a wealthy broker that he finally thought this shit was put to bed.
His secrets would remain with the dead.
He lived his life, forgetting her and the destruction he’d orchestrated.
Kill or be killed, the motto his old man had taught him at six.
His old man had laughed on the day he threw his five-year-old brother into the lake, watching him cry and struggle to swim.
His brother, the runt of the family, weak and unwilling to fight, even to breathe.
Nothing in this world came for free; that much he knew.
He’d existed beyond the radar for a long time, mixing with the likes of the Diablos without them knowing who he truly was.
And it was being threatened to come to light by a skinny-assed bitch who had intel in her memories of the crime he’d committed.
Why hadn’t she confessed already? Before long, she’d realize what she knew and spill her guts. He’d spill her damn guts on the floor before she splintered his world in half.
Family was at the heart of his decisions.
Greed, too.
He was no saint, and he’d already tried to scare the woman off, but now she had Splice involved—the MC, too.
He stubbed out the cigar and watched them from afar. They were sitting close on a park bench, and she was smiling at something Splice was saying.
He could leave her alone, let her live her life.
But that wasn’t his way. No loose ends left behind.
There were bigger things at stake here than just money, just his reputation, or connections. He could easily remake himself from the ground up if he lost those.
But this concerned his son and he wouldn’t lose him.
His fucking son.
Not that. Never.
She knew too much, even if she didn’t know what she knew or who it affected; that info was with that bitch with the innocent face.
He thought scaring her would do the trick again. If only she’d taken the warnings he’d sent already—to leave for good. He would have let her remain alive.
He slid back into his car and headed out of town.
By the end of the week, this problem would be permanently solved. Then his life could go back to the successful deception he had carefully crafted.
He wasn’t an island.
He was a burning rock. An asteroid within a calm atmosphere.
He lived alongside those he’d wronged the most, and he did it smiling, without guilt in his heart. Only lies on his tongue.
Every. Single. Day.
And he would let no one take that from him.