Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
GHOST
The morning sun streams through the windows, and I listen to the waves lap against the cliffs as I trail my fingers through Brett’s delicate hair, counting the seconds between her breaths until she wakes. It’s been a week since I’ve been discharged from the hospital, yet it feels like it’s only been an hour. The time with Brett passes faster than should be possible, and with every blink, I swear another day has slipped me by. We spend most of our days in my lair by the sea. Happy, full of laughter, and—to my horror—boxes and boxes of microwave dinners and Chinese take-out.
Brett has made it abundantly clear she has no plans to go back to work for the FBI. After what she learned about their corruption, I can’t blame her. And it’s not as if I’m disappointed—not when she’s been so useful in helping me track down the remaining members of the Sanctum.
The organization remains fractured to this day, and I hope it stays that way for a while. There are a few groups of masks operating in the city, holding on to the hope that their lost Madam will return and restore the Sanctum to its former glory. However, these groups are small and unorganized. Like the motorcycle clubs, they mostly operate in drug trafficking, and hold none of the political sway they once did. As long as they remain without a queen, they will never hold the power over this city they once did.
Which is why the thought of the girl Brett saw troubles me. I’m positive she was supposed to be the next Madam. Trained from infancy to be the great leader they need. Irreplaceable, unless they want to wait eighteen years for a new girl to be ready. If the remaining members of the Sanctum are able to acquire her, they could rebuild instantly.
I’ve sent Orion out several times to try to find her—-which you think would be easy, considering she’s traveling with two snowy tiger cubs—but he’s never come back with any useful information to her whereabouts. It’s almost as if she’s a shadow, a whisper on the wind. No one knows exactly who she is, where she came from, or where she’s gone. But I do know that if the Sanctum gets to her before any of us, we’ll be doomed. She’ll be doomed.
Brett mumbles something unintelligible in her sleep, breaking me from my line of thought. She throws her arm over my chest and buries her face deep into my side as I slide my hand over her naked body, marveling at the delicious way her waist flows effortlessly into the perky curve of her ass.
All my earlier worries are forgotten at the sight of her bared for me. My fingertips trail over her core, slick and ready even in her sleep. I dip my index finger inside her, groaning at the way her pussy grips me, pulls at me.
My cock throbs at the challenge, and I roll on top of her, slowly thrusting my cock inside her with the movement. Her mouth pops open with a gasp as I fill her, her already sleepy eyes rolling to the back of her head as her pussy clenches, soaking me with her arousal.
“Good morning, darling,” I growl, my pupils blowing as her pussy grips me. “Fuck.” I groan, slamming my hips flush with hers as her legs hook around my waist, trying to pull me deeper. “Your body is always so ready for me, pretty darling. So. Fucking. Needy,” I growl, punctuating each word with a thrust. Brett tips her head back, her lips slightly parted as moans pour from her chest, growing louder as I slam the head of my cock again and again on that favorite spot of hers.
Her walls collapse around me as she comes, her cries filling the room, reverberating off the glass windows and shaking me down to my core. A few pumps later, I join her, black spots lining my vision as I release my seed deep inside her.
I fall on top of her as my cock throbs weakly, peppering her face with small kisses as I soften inside her, desperate to draw out the euphoria being inside her brings. When I slip out, I pull her into my arms, placing more kisses along her jaw and brow, gently brushing strands of her tangled hair from her face.
Brett smiles drunkenly as she traces her fingertips along my chest, leaving a tiny trail of sparks wherever her skin touches mine. My soul hums appreciatively at the sensation, and I pull her impossibly tighter against me, still unable to believe this little light is all mine.
Mine. All mine.
“I love you, Brett,” I whisper, placing a lingering kiss against her throbbing pink lips. “I’ll never love anything as much as I love you right now. Well, except for how much I will tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.”
Brett giggles, nipping my bottom lip playfully. “What about Rupert? And Venom?”
I roll my eyes, tapping the tip of her nose with an index finger. “Nope. Sorry, but they don’t even come close.”
Brett gasps. “I’m going to tell them you said that.”
“Go ahead. You’re already their favorite,” I remind her, reaching up to give her nipple a tug. She squeals, wriggling against me as she gazes up from her lashes, and my heart falls out of my chest.
I don’t know how I got so fucking lucky—why someone like her would pick someone like me. Except now that I know her—really know her—I think I do.
Because I know her type. She's all dark eyes and wicked smiles—an unnatural disaster, like black ice on a warm summer's night. She takes the blood from my body, the bones from my limbs, my spine, and she does it all with an innocent smile. We’re so much more alike than I thought, and it just makes me that much more obsessed with her .
To haunt her for the rest of my days would be an honor. One I’ll be taking very, very seriously.
“Guess what, darling?” I murmur, leaning down and brushing my lips lightly against the shell of her ear.
She giggles, pulling back to peek those beautiful ocean eyes up at me. “What?”
“ Boo. ”
“I love you too, Ghost,” she murmurs, an adorable smile tugging at her lips. “It’s fucked up, but I do. And I don’t have any plans to stop.”
As I press my lips to hers, I can’t help but replay her words over and over in my mind. I know it in my soul, and I know it to be true—that no sweeter ones have ever been spoken, nor heard. The moment stretches for an eternity, and I know the universe must have finally granted me my prayers. For the first time in my life, I am well and truly whole. And it’s all because of Her.
Brett. Motherfucking. Evangeline.