by Lilly Atlas
“Oh.” Not her smoothest, but she was truly stunned speechless. “No. You didn’t. I—”
“Saved my fucking ass, baby.”
She had nothing to say to that. It was such a one eighty from the man who’d glared at her like she’d snuffed out the sun.
“I kept seeing you. The way I found you in the motel.”
She tensed and his hand landed on her thigh.
“I shouldn’t bring it up.”
“No.” She scooted a little closer. “It’s okay. Continue. Please.”
“I kept seeing you that way and I didn’t try to push it away. I let it come. Let it fuel the raging fire of hatred I had for the man. And then he was there. In front of me. After hurting you again,” he said as he stroked a gentle finger over the two butterfly bandages on her cheek. “God, Esposito had to fuck with me one last time.” Rocket’s head thunked against the headboard. His eyes fell closed and he breathed in and out as though trying to get a handle on his emotions. Then he opened his eyes and those blue orbs met her gaze. “I felt so guilty I didn’t check your house that I lost control when I saw that he hit you. Then this afternoon, I had my second shot at him. I did the same thing. Pictured you hurt and helpless. But this time, the image faded away. It was replaced by a new one. One of you as you are now. Strong, resilient, so sexy my dick aches every time I so much as breathe the same air as you.”
As though to demonstrate his point, his gaze drifted down between his legs. Chloe couldn’t help but follow. Sure enough, there was a bulge in his jeans. She chuckled softly.
“I realized something today. We need to live for the current image of you, not the past one. Today is what’s important. And today I have you. And you’re whole, and healing, and strong enough to protect yourself. My guilt doesn’t move us forward or show you the respect you deserve. I’ll always try to protect you, Chloe, maybe even too much, but I see you for the strong, kickass woman you’ve become. I trust you to take care of yourself when I can’t. What I’m trying to say, Chloe, is that I fucking love you.”
“Logan,” she breathed.
He grabbed her and hauled her into his lap. A tiny bit of wiggling later and she was straddling him with her arms tightly wound around his chest, head buried in his neck.
“Please, tell me you can forgive me for being an asshole. You saved me from losing my family, and I cast you aside. If you can’t forgive me today, tell me there’s a chance it can happen in the future. I’ll work my fucking ass off to get back to where we were, baby.” His words were interspersed with soft kisses to her cheek, the side of her head, her neck.
Though they may have been meant to comfort, Chloe’s body reacted with a swift and fierce need. “There isn’t anything to forgive, Logan,” she whispered against his ear. One tug on her hair had their foreheads resting against one another. “I love you too. So much. You’ve given me my life back. Actually, you’ve given me an even better life than I had before you. So much better. Not only do I get you, I get your whole crazy family.”
“Fuck, I love you,” he said as he tightened his hold in her hair. “Kiss me, gorgeous.”
Chloe’s smile was so big her cheeks cramped. “You got it, Rocket.” Their mouths met in a kiss of two people starved for each other. As though desperate to feel her skin, Logan released her hair and shoved his hands under her shirt without much finesse. She moaned as his rough fingertips scraped across the soft skin of her belly, igniting a trail of sparks. When his hands closed over her lace covered breasts, she whimpered and ground down on his rampant erection.
It was at that moment that the door flew open. “You’re goddamned right you get all of us,” Izzy announced as she burst into the room, completely at ease with the scene before her.
“Christ,” Jig muttered behind her. He held a hand across his eyes as he blindly reached for his woman. “Sorry folks. I’ll just grab her. You two go about your business.”
“What?” Izzy said with a shrug. “I’m just checking to make sure he’s not getting out of line in here.”
“Aww, Iz, you trying to protect me?” Chloe asked with a giggle as she tried to wriggle away from Logan’s greedy hands.
“Good looking out, Izzy, but Chloe can protect herself. Pretty sure she could take any one of us now,” Rocket said as he winked at her.
Though it was said with the lightness of jest, Chloe’s heart soared. He really did see the strength in her.
Jig’s hand finally captured Izzy’s arm. “We’re going now, kids,” he said. “Feel free to resume whatever it was we rudely interrupted. Let’s go, babe.” He tugged her out of the room.
“It’s not rude if it’s our house,” Izzy said, then laughed when Jig’s palm cracked across her ass.
“Lock that fucker on your way out,” Rocket called. “And pay no attention to whatever noises you may hear over the next few hours.”
Jig reached inside and flicked the lock before shutting the door.
“Few hours,” Izzy said. “You wish!”
Chloe broke out in a fit of giggles that only increased when Logan grumbled.
“Now,” he said, returning his hands to her breasts. He gave them a squeeze. “Where were we?”
Chloe leaned down. “I think you were about to tell me you love me again,” she whispered against his lips.
“You’re goddammed right I do.” He kissed her and Chloe felt like she could fly. Nothing had ever felt so right. She’d been through hell, but then she found a man who could handle hell with his hands tied behind his back.
EPILOGUE
2 WEEKS LATER
Rocket sat in the dark, his silenced pistol laying across his lap as he stared at the man just beginning to wake up.
With a yawn, the man opened his eyes and locked on Rocket. All vestiges of sleep disappeared in a snap as the man shot up.
“Didn’t think you’d be so surprised to see me, old man,” Rocket said as he lifted the gun and pointed it toward Esposito. He hadn’t wanted it to come to this, but Esposito left him no choice. He couldn’t be allowed to run around accepting unapproved kill contracts.
“My security?”
“Needs to be fired,” Rocket said with a shrug. “Though I suppose it doesn’t matter since they’ll all be out of a job in a few minutes anyway.”
Esposito’s eyes flicked to his night stand. Rocket chuckled. “Don’t bother. Your gun is empty now. Been out of the field too long, old man. It’s made you soft. I’ve been in here for a good twenty minutes while you slept like a baby.”
Esposito reached into the nightstand anyway and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. “Mind if I light up?”
“Knock yourself out,” Rocket said. “Those things’ll kill ya though.”
A snort was the only response he got. “What do you want?”
“You broke your own rule.
“And what rule would that be?” the old man asked as he flicked the lighter and sparked up the cigarette. Rocket had the urge to rip it from his fingers and jam it down his throat.
“Don’t get greedy. You used to preach that to us. All the time. Easiest way to save our own asses. Don’t get greedy. And here you are, taking on unsanctioned hits for mega cash.”
“Yeah, well I found something out along the way,” Esposito fired back. He sucked in a drag then blew out a cloud of smoke.
Rocket lifted an eyebrow.
“I like being fucking rich. This is about Chloe isn’t it? Has nothing to do with the jobs I take. You’re pissed because I let Lefty loose in her house.” He shrugged. “Heard it all worked out in the end.”
Rocket didn’t say anything. Let the old man think what he liked. He found himself on Rocket’s hit list the moment Rocket discovered one of the targets was a child. If those were the jobs Esposito was taking, the man couldn’t be allowed to walk the planet.
“I’ve known all along.” Esposito straightened, seeming to gain some confidence. Did he think he’d be getting out of this alive?
Laughable.
“I knew you didn’t kill the targets. I know you got ’em stashed away somewhere. And I don’t give a fuck. Cartel thinks they’re dead and I got my money. All’s well that ends well.”
“And?” Rocket couldn’t wait to hear the next words out of Esposito’s mouth.
“And DarkOps is done with you. I gave you my word and you know I’ll stick to it. I won’t so much as glance at you, your woman, or your club again. So why not just part as past friends and be done with this shit?”
“That’s an easy one.” Rocket pulled the trigger twice. The muted whoosh of each bullet leaving the chamber was followed by two grunts as the slugs plunged into Esposito’s jerking body. “Because you’ll continue murdering innocent people as long as someone is willing to foot the bill.”
Wide-eyed and slack jawed, Esposito sagged back against his pillows. He pressed a hand over the wound on his stomach as though he could somehow stem the flow of blood. Not possible. It was pouring out of two holes in the center of his body. He’d bleed out in five minutes, tops.
The other hand still held the smoldering cigarette between limp fingers. Rocket stood and strode toward the bed. He plucked the cigarette from between the old man’s fingers and stood watching the man gasp and struggle to remain conscious. Just as he began to drift in and out, Rocket moved to the end of the bed.
“Told you these things would kill you,” he said as he dropped the cigarette on the bed. Within seconds a small fire blazed on the blankets. Rocket shifted his gaze back to Esposito. The old man lay, eyes open, unblinking, staring at nothing.
It was done. Time to get out before the entire residence was engulfed in flames. And time to get back to his woman.
Despite having just taken a life, a sense of peace washed over Rocket. He’d finally put his past to bed. And now he was lighting the fucking thing on fire.
“YOUR MAN THROWS one hell of a party,” Copper said as he took a seat next to Chloe.
She giggled. “Think he had a little bit of help.” Or the ol’ ladies took pity on him and did ninety-nine percent of the work.
Rubbing his chin, Copper looked around the clubhouse. “Maybe, but he put in his time.”
Chloe studied him. He was looking much healthier than he did the first time she laid eyes on him. Still wearing the boot cast, but moving easier. “LJ sure seems to be enjoying himself,” she said pointing toward the newly patched man with three Honeys hanging off him.
Copper huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, don’t think he’s hating that. Never got the chance to properly thank you.”
Her forehead scrunched. “Thank me? For what?”
“For that.” Copper jerked his thumb in the direction of Logan, who was walking back from the bar with a drink in each hand. Shell walked along side of him and Logan was boisterously laughing at whatever she’d said. Probably a story about her daughter’s increasingly impish antics.
She cast Copper a look. “Where was he last night?”
Copper stared down at her, rubbing his chin. She didn’t know why she’d bothered asking. He wasn’t going to give her a straight answer, just as Logan hadn’t when she asked him at least a hundred times why he was going to be gone most of the night. She had her suspicions, strong suspicions, and she was good with it, but wanted confirmation.
“Let’s just say he was closing the door on his past and you’ll no longer need someone from the club tailing you all hours of the day.”
Just as she thought. He’d gone after Esposito. She supposed she should be more concerned with the fact that her man had murdered two people over the past few weeks, but she wasn’t. Both men deserved what they got and even more. The world was two sadists lighter today. “So go back to telling me why you want to thank me. Why I’m so wonderful.” She bumped Copper’s shoulder, making him laugh.
But then he grew serious once again. “You’re pulling him out of his shell. The man is happier than I’ve ever fucking seen him. No doubt that’s one hundred percent due to you.”
Warmth and genuine joy filled her as she watched her man close the distance between them. She was so mesmerized by the way he moved and the sexy smile he sent her, she barely noticed when Copper kissed her cheek before ambling off to meet his woman.
“Here, babe,” Logan said as he handed a gin and tonic to her.
“I love you,” she said in a rush, then her face grew hot. Smooth, blurting out mushy stuff in the middle of a raucous MC party.
Apparently, Logan approved. His smile grew even wider and he bent down to give her a deep, wet kiss. “Love you too, gorgeous.”
“Copper is impressed with your party planning skills,” she said before taking a sip of her drink to hide her smile.
Logan just snorted. “Last fucking time I’m doing that shit.”
“LJ appreciates it. And he seems like such a good guy.”
A grunt then a, “He is,” was the only reply.
“Copper also said you’re happier than he’s ever seen you.” Okay, maybe she was fishing a little bit, but it didn’t hurt to check in and make sure he really was satisfied with what they were building.
He stared down at her, a small smile curving his lips. Seeing him without the weight of his past and her attack was an impressive sight. All their demons had been exorcised and they were free to just enjoy what they’d found in each other.
“What?” she asked.
He leaned down until he was less than an inch from her mouth. The scent of whiskey tickled her nostrils.
“Babe, I’m happier with you than I’ve ever been in my fucking life.”
Thank you so much for reading Rocket. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads.
Other books by Lilly Atlas
No Prisoners MC
Hook: A No Prisoners Novella
Striker
Jester
Acer
Lucky
Snake
Trident Ink
Escapades
Hell’s Handlers MC
Zach
Maverick
Jigsaw
Copper
Rocket
Audiobooks
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Acknowledgments
Thank you for reading Rocket and Chloe’s story. I’ve been dying to tell you all about how they fell in love and overcame so many obstacles both external and internal. Thank you to everyone who purchased, borrowed, reviewed, shared on social media, and read this book. I look forward to bringing you more in the Hell’s Handlers series. LJ is next up!
There are quite a few people I want to thank, not only for the production of this book but for my entire writing career.
First and foremost, to my husband. Without your constant and unwavering support, I would never have published a single word. You didn’t so much as blink when I announced wanting to publish my first novel. Since then you’ve been my most tremendous supporter every step of the way no matter how many times I freak out!
Carli, my sister-in-law – You are not only my number one fan but constant support and encouragement for me. You’ve read every book and not only helped me market but proofread, attended signings, brainstormed with me and listened to me complain. You’re the best biscuit ever!
Leah Suttle – Thank you for your amazing and drool-worthy covers. I have no doubt they’ve helped get my books noticed.
Gel with Tempting Illustrations – Thank you for the amazing, teasers, banners, and graphics that make marking so much easier. You are truly talented.
Shirley Jump – Thank you for making me think deeper about every word I write. I’ve learned so much from you over the past few years. When I write, I hear you in my head.
Nancy Cassidy – Thank you to and all the editors I’ve worked with through the Red Pen Coach. The time spent perfecting my books has been in
valuable to me.
My ARC Team – Thank you all for taking the time to read and review my books. You all know just how critical reviews are to us authors and give of your time so freely to help us. Thank you!
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About the Author
Lilly Atlas is an award-winning contemporary romance author. She’s a proud Navy wife and mother of three spunky girls. Every time Lilly downloads a new eBook she expects her Kindle App to tell her it’s exhausted and overworked, and to beg for some rest. Thankfully that hasn’t happened yet so she can often be found absorbed in a good book.
