9. Slate
9
SLATE
Pain tears through me with every breath, sawing at my lungs, splintering in my ribs, and the countless cuts and bruises that cover my body are slowly grinding me down. I’m gonna pass out soon if I don’t stop the bleeding.
I look down at Ivy, still sitting in the dirt, my hand out to her.
She hasn’t taken it. She still won’t. She won’t even meet my eyes.
Ivy.
The girl who walked into the lion’s den to find me, even when she thought I’d betrayed her. Of course she doesn’t know if she can trust me. I understand, but I fucking hate it.
I hate the sad, pained look on her face like she doesn’t know who I am anymore.
I can hear the sounds of the fight wrapping up inside the clubhouse, the Bastards cleaning up the Skulls and ransacking the place. We won, and we’ll never have to deal with those sons of bitches ever again.
“I told you I would fix this,” I tell Ivy. “Why did you come here? Why?”
Finally, she meets my eyes, which are glistening with the threat of tears.
“Why do you think, Slate?!” she snaps. “Are you really that stupid?”
Saxon steps up behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “You hardly left us any work in there, champ.” He smiles. “We should start calling you Achilles from now on.”
I try to laugh, but what’s no doubt a broken rib holds me back.
“You all right?” he asks. “Get you to a hospital?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m fine. Just need to get home.”
“I’ll get one of the boys to take you–”
“No. I can ride.” I look down at Ivy. She hasn’t moved, but I need her with me. I need to fix this . So I reach down and grab her by the wrist and lift her to her feet. “Let’s go.”
She makes one half-hearted attempt to yank her arm away from me but says nothing as I lead her to my bike and force her to get on. My whole body aches as I slide into the saddle and kick the engine on.
It’s a struggle just to drive, but Ivy’s on the back, so I force myself to hold it together. Even her arms wrapped around my waist hurt, but the feelings it gives me overwhelms any physical pain.
When we pull into my driveway, I manage to park and get off, but my left leg gives out, and I fall to one knee.
“Slate!” Ivy cries out, unmistakable concern in her voice.
I look down and realize there’s a shard of wood embedded in my thigh, probably from one of the tables I smashed as I was tearing those guys apart.
“Shit,” I mutter as I struggle to stand. Ivy slides under my right arm and supports me as we walk to the door and I let us inside.
“Sit here,” she tells me, helping me onto the couch. “Do you have bandages? Alcohol?”
“Bathroom.” I point. “Kitchen.”
I hear her adorable, light footsteps as she races through the house before returning with every box of gauze I have and a bottle of vodka. She hands it to me. “Drink. This is gonna hurt.”
I take a sour shot and ask her, “What’s gonna hurt–?”
Without hesitation, she yanks the shard of wood from my thigh. I groan, and she grabs the bottle from me, douses the wound, presses, and begins wrapping it with gauze. The pain is killing me, but the look on her face hurts more than any wound ever could.
“So do you want to tell me what happened?” she asks as she goes over my body like a nurse, tending to me with precision and care. “Why were you there, Slate? And don’t dare fucking lie to me.”
Here it is. The moment I was hoping would never come.
“I was trying to fix my mistake, Ivy,” I tell her.
“What mistake?” Her hands are trembling.
I sigh, trying to meet her eye, but she keeps them fixed on her work. “Your dad’s shop…that was my fault, Ivy. I led the Smoke and Skulls right to you.”
She freezes for a second, goes tense, blinks, then looks at me. “What do you mean you led them to us? You did this on purpose, Slate? And then, what? You had a change of conscience and decided to go risk your life–?”
“No!” I growl, her words biting into me. Shit, I have to get this under control. I take her hand in mine, squeezing tightly. “As you must know by now, I was a member of the Skulls back when I was a teenager. Before I met Saxon. I had no idea about you or your mom back then.”
Her lip trembles as she looks at me with those vulnerable eyes. “And…?”
And here comes the part that could end things between us. Make her hate me.
“And they weren’t after your father,” I sigh. “They were after me. Your dad’s shop was just collateral damage.”
Ivy pauses. “You?”
I nod. “When you join Smoke and Skulls, you join for life. There’s no leaving like with The Heartless Bastards. So when I did leave, they put out a contract on me. I thought I was safe with a new gang, but one of them must have seen me hanging around at your dad’s shop and figured we were working together. That’s why they left the note and trashed the place.”
Her jaw clenches as self-hatred curls like acrid smoke in my stomach.
“I never meant for any of this to happen,” I tell her. “I thought if I went to see Viper and told him I’d come back, that they’d leave you alone. Instead…they used me to set a trap for you.”
“You should have told me–”
“I didn’t want to put you in danger, Ivy,” I say, clutching her hand tighter. “I really thought I could fix this…”
I barely even notice the pain in my body now. It’s masked beneath the emotional pain that lies heavily on me like an iron blanket.
She slips her hand from my grip, and silence hangs in the air as she continues to tend to my body with the vodka and gauze. Why won’t she speak? Is she trying not to cry?
Her beauty, even when she’s upset, is sublime. I reach for her, but she moves away. I wait, then try again, and this time she lets me. I brush my fingers over the soft skin of her cheek, not yet wet with tears. “I thought I could fix it, Ivy.”
The corners of her lips twist up so slightly it’s almost indiscernible. “Well…you kind of did. That was a pretty fierce fight you put up back there. And if what Saxon says is true, you basically took them all on yourself.”
A laugh forces its way from my lips, and I groan as it’s accompanied by a stabbing pain in my ribs.
“It was all for you, baby,” I say, throat tight as I stare into her eyes. “I put my life on the line for you, and I’d do it again and again.”
I cup her cheek, gently caressing her jaw as she looks back at me. Her eyebrows are knitted together in concentration, and she’s biting her lower lip. I can practically see her processing as a gleam appears in her eyes, the slight hint of tears.
Finally, she nods. “I believe you…”
A pause.
“And?” I ask, my body tense.
“And…” she says slowly. “And I forgive you.”
And then we’re kissing. I pull her down on top of me, ignoring the aches and pains it causes in my body. My hunger for her overpowers everything. I need her, need to be one with her, show her my love for her is still as strong as ever.
“No more hiding things from each other,” she whispers as I slide my hands beneath her shirt. “No more hiding from my father either.”
“No more hiding.” I smile. “And I’ll pay your father back. I don’t care how long it takes.”
Ivy smiles fully, lighting my heart on fire. “I believe you.”
I grab the nape of her neck and pull her down, crushing her lips with mine. I kiss her hungrily as my cock swells, throbbing with an uncontainable desire to be inside her. I almost lost her, ruined everything. Now I need to have every inch of her again.
“I would never hurt you, baby. All I need is you,” I say as I slide my hand between her legs and apply pressure. She moans. “You and this little gorgeous pussy.”
She clings to me, nodding as her eyelids flutter. “It’s yours, Daddy,” she moans, helping me get her pants off. Daddy? She’s never called me that before, but I like it. “Take it. Use it. It belongs to you. I belong to you.”
I’m so desperate to be inside her that I don’t even bother stripping her all the way. I need her now . I ignore the pain in my stomach as I lift my hips and tug my pants down to my knees. My cock is already rock hard, and I press the crown against Ivy’s panties, which are soaked with moisture.
With a growl, I pull them aside and press my cock into her wet and ready entrance. She gasps as I grab her hips and pull her down onto my length, impaling her on my hard-on that stands up perfectly straight like a flag pole.
“Slate…” Hearing her moan my name just inflames me more. She’s so fucking tight and wet, and although I may be on my back, I’m the one in control here. I use my grip on her to guide her up and down, showing her how to ride me.
She moves her hips in perfect rhythm, just like she should, while at the same time sitting up and pulling off her shirt to expose her perfect tits. My cock pulses. No, not yet. I bite the inside of my cheek and run a hand up her back, pulling her down so her breasts are in my face.
My tongue traces her areola, and I gently close my lips around her nipple, drawing a soft gasp from her plump lips. Built to perfection. That’s what Ivy is.
Her hips buck faster on my thickness, and I feel her juices dripping down onto my thighs and lower abs. She’s loving this, just like she should be.
“You like that?” I whisper, letting my lips graze against her ear.
She nods, eyes closed as she clings to me, lost in the moment. “Yes, Daddy…”
Her pussy is pulsing, so wet and so tight. We’re rocking faster now, my cock nearly bottomed out inside her as my hips piston, driving my strokes into her with a torrential lust.
“You liked watching me fight, didn’t you?” I ask.
“Yes,” she gasps, clutching my neck as she grinds faster. “You’re so fucking tough, Slate. You almost died saving me. You make me feel so incredible.”
I feel her heartbeat against mine, her breath on my skin, a tiny film of sweat from her breasts against my chest as she grinds faster and faster, taking my dick all the way down to the base.
I’m so fucking in love with this woman.
I nearly lost her, but nothing like that will ever happen again.
Ivy mewls, shakes, and quivers as she orgasms, and her pussy contractions are all I need to send me soaring over the edge. I spray my seed inside her, drilling my cock as deep as possible, pulling her hips down on me as I unload.
I snatch a fistful of her hair and tug as she shrieks and convulses as she’s wracked with bliss. Waves of heat pass through me as we bond–me and my soul mate, expressing our undying, unyielding love as we lock together in mutual euphoria.
I don’t know where things will go from here. How her dad will take it, or if I can patch things up with Saxon. But what I do know is that Ivy will be right there with me the whole way.
And I’ll never let her leave my side.