by Soraya Naomi
But while I’m busy planning our life, Mary drops a bomb that sends me into a tailspin.
CHAPTER 48
Mary
“Why don’t you ever go to any classes? I thought you were missing them because I was recuperating, but you’re with me twenty-four seven,” Henry inquires after we’ve returned from the hospital for his check-up a week later.
Since it’s a cold early-December day, I crank up the heat as I wander into my living room, taking off my scarf and tossing it and my coat onto the L-shaped sofa that’s facing the TV screen. Turning around slowly, I bite my nail, knowing I need to tell him the decision I made when we were broken up. Yet I’m anxious because I’m afraid of his reaction and the consequences for our relationship.
“I dropped out.”
Henry’s brows hit his hairline. “When?”
“I stopped going to classes a couple of weeks ago. You know I wasn’t enjoying the program, and I flunked so many classes. It all seemed so futile.”
He frowns, walking steadily to the fridge. His wounds have healed flawlessly; he just still can’t work out yet. “And what are you going to do now?”
“Um...” I fidget. “I-I...”
“Say it, Mary. You must have a plan, or else you wouldn’t have made the futile comment,” he points out, seeing straight through me.
Secretly, I adore how close we’ve become, so I confess, being honest, “I’ve actually been looking into Veterinary Clinical Medicine.”
The crease in his forehead deepens as he grabs a bottle of water but doesn’t screw open the top. “That’s completely different from what you were studying. So you want to be a vet?”
“Yes, I want to work with dogs or companion animals.”
He sets the bottle on the kitchen counter, advancing toward me as I perch on the arm of the couch. “Which college?”
“University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,” I answer, preparing for an outburst.
“What? That’s three hours from here.”
“Not really, It’s more like two hours and fifteen minutes by car,” I correct him and meet his cool silver-grey gaze as he towers over me. “But yes, it is a good distance from here, so that would mean I’d move to Champaign.”
He rears back in shock. “I don’t want you to fucking move so far away.”
“I don’t want that either, but I also want to major in something I can be passionate about. I’m turning twenty-one, Henry, and I have to stop running around and start working toward my future.”
His eyes narrow as he mumbles, “A future away from me.”
“No, but I need a good degree if I want to live here.”
With a grunt, he scalds me with a glare. “Since when have you had this plan?”
“Since we broke up,” I admit softly, and he sighs in disappointment.
Then he scrubs his hand over his mouth, his voice becoming flat and hard. “So you were planning to go all along – after first promising me that we’d be together now.”
Standing up, I want to touch him, but the tension emanating from his coiled body prevents me. “No. Because of the differences in the programs, I don’t even know if I can transfer my credits anyway. I’m still waiting to hear back from them. And one doesn’t exclude the other for me. We could do long distance?”
He waves a hand as if to dismiss that suggestion. “I don’t believe in long distance; that’s much more difficult than people realize, Mary.”
“But—”
“No buts!” he goes off and turns away from me, hurling the bottle off the counter and gripping the edge as he leans forward in defeat. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?!”
“I’m sorry.” I inch forward, resting my palm on his muscled back. “Calm down, Henry. Why are you so mad?”
“Because you should’ve told me in the hospital, or at least sooner, Mary.” Lifting his head, he peers sideways with the gloomiest expression as I lower my arm because my touch seems to make him more angry. “Because you put me through hell for two weeks due to my dishonesty, and now you’re going to cause us to break up.”
Astonished, I demand, “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I fucking love you enough to not hold you back, and I currently hate that– that’s why I’m pissed, Mary.” He takes a deep breath and straightens as my lips start to tremble since I foresee where this is going. “If you get in and move there, we’ll eventually break up. I’ll make you miserable in a long distance relationship.”
His resolute statement reopens the fractures in my heart that just got mended, yet I refuse to let this discussion ruin us. I’ll cross that bridge when I know I’ve been accepted, so I sneak my arms around his middle.
He returns my embrace instantly as I murmur, “I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight about this now because it might not even be an issue.”
Henry kisses the top of my head before I look up with water pooling in my eyes. In reaction, he cups my cheek.
“Don’t cry, baby. I’m sorry too.” And he presses his lips against mine while we cling to one another, making time and future problems melt away.
So for a while, we manage to live in our bubble again until it’s invaded by the real world. And there’s still a voice from deep within that tells me my second passion in life might be in Urbana-Champaign.
CHAPTER 49
Henry
As Christmas comes closer after four weeks of recovery, I can finally drive and move around for greater lengths of time, and Marc has wiped my hospitalization records, so the only proof of my gunshot wounds are the scars next to my navel.
Nevertheless, I’m still staying with Mary. My entire existence seems to revolve around her, and I’ve pushed the possibility of her relocating out of my mind since we’re always together, without any arguments and lies – it’s goddamn refreshing. It’s exactly what I need to forget those depressing weeks we were apart. And of course, she gives me what I want, no questions asked. Her sweet, undivided attention as my nurse has sealed my attachment to her. In truth, I don’t need the assistance, yet I take it anyway.
However, due to boredom, I’ve worked a few times on Mary’s laptop to hack transport data that Adriano needs for setting up new drug routes to import cocaine into Illinois. Although if I’m going to continue to ease back into doing things for the Syndicate, I’ll need my own computers because they’re much faster and safer to use than Mary’s civilian laptop.
So on a quiet Tuesday evening when Mary and I visit Club 7, I decide to broach the topic. As I sit at my own table after playing a game of Heads-Up with Logan, Mary brings me a beer and I scoot back, inviting her to perch down on my knee, her body-hugging ivory dress riding up her thigh.
Bending her head to the side, she accidentally tips my Fedora, so I take it off and place it on top of her head while fondling her ass, and I start, “I think maybe I should go home tonight.”
Her face falls. “Why?”
“I need my own computers, baby.” My hand rubs over her rear while her upturned eyes thin slightly.
“That’s it?”
“Yeah,” I state. “Why?”
She opens her mouth, then closes it.
“Say what you want to say, Mary,” I prompt, urging her to speak her mind, as I do often – she won’t push me away with her words.
“I got mail from Urbana-Champaign today – I didn’t get in,” she begins in a cheery tone, though I can clearly see the disappointment in her features, which she fails to hide.
Regardless, I’m selfish enough to want her to stay in Chicago with me and can’t help but let a small smile escape as that last burden falls off my shoulders.
She’s mine and will always stay mine.
She bites her lip. “I don’t want to be in that huge apartment alone with nothing to do while I search for a major that’s offered at a college near the Loop. And since I like living with you...”
“You want me to move in indefinitely?” I ask her to confirm, and she nods.
“I’ll b
ring four computers,” I warn her.
“So?” Of course, the easygoing response, especially now that there are no obstacles in our way anymore. “There’s plenty of room. You can have your own office in the second bedroom. Then we still have a third left.”
“We?” I repeat, smirking, and she shoulders me, then lazes back against me.
As I mull over the offer, it doesn’t scare me at all. Quite the opposite, I need her trust, and she’s given it back to me with her suggestion. Also, deep down, I wasn’t pleased about the idea of going home, and I have to move out of my own apartment anyway. But that’s not the reason I don’t hesitate to accept. I simply want to live with her and protect her however I see fit – always.
Feeling the need to tease her before I give my answer, I whisper into her ear, “We could play a game for it?”
She sends me a mock glare. “Poker? No way. I’ll lose.”
Laughing, I slide the deck of cards across the table toward me, surrounding Mary with my arms as I begin shuffling.
“Highest card wins.” Placing the deck in front of us, I take a swig of my beer.
“If I win, you move in. And if you win, you won’t?” she asks with a puckered brow.
“Yeah,” I say.
She takes the top card and I grab the second one. Both are facedown on the table with our hands covering them.
“I’m not happy I have to play a card game to get you to move in,” Mary mumbles, flipping over her card. “Queen of spades!” She flicks the spade tattoo on my neck. “This is a sign! Show me yours.”
I turn my card over, grinning in reaction to her scowl. “King of hearts.” I bite her lower lip and let it graze through my teeth, teasing, “It is a sign.”
“Yeah, that you’re the king who’s going to break my heart...” She tries to shift off me, but I lock my arm around her waist, pulling her back down as she grumbles, “I’m getting a dog then.”
“If you get a dog, I’m not moving in...”
“So you will?”
Palming her cheek, I reveal, “Yes. I want to protect you always, baby. The world can be dark and cruel, but the important thing is that we face it together.”
Her smile is my reward. “I agree.”
“Good. But since I still won, I want to cash in on a prize.”
“What prize?” she probes.
“A moving-in gift,” I reply because I’m about to burst since sex has been out of the fucking question with a healing stomach wound and my cock is constantly hard.
“You already live there,” she points out, assessing me with amusement.
“But...you promised me a slutty nurse, and I couldn’t even fuck you at the time.”
Reminding me of my previous statement, she utters, “Say what you want to say, Henry.”
“We’re going home,” I emphasize, stifling a smirk when the corner of her mouth tilts up. “And I’m going to fuck you.”
Then I smack her behind, so she rises enthusiastically and we head to the back entrance. As I open the door, Carmine storms past us to the end of the hall, tugging a girl behind him.
“Wow, he seems mad,” Mary comments. “Who is she?”
I cough. “Um, do you really want to know?”
“Um, yeah.”
“She’s a girl from downstairs.”
Her mouth drops open. “From the sex club? An escort? I thought you guys never go down there?”
“We don’t. At least, Adriano, Luca, and I don’t. Apparently, your other brother does.” She makes a face, but I finish, “Forget them. Come with me.”
Entwining our hands, we leave for home.
***
The second we step through the front door of the apartment, I kick it shut behind me, gripping Mary by her waist and slamming her against the wall in the entryway.
“I don’t think we have time for that now,” she remarks, the corner of her lip tilting up.
“Why?” I push my front against hers, kissing a path up her throat while I stiffen rapidly.
“I’m sorry. I forgot that we have to meet Cam for dinner upstairs. We’ll have to do this later.”
Disregarding her protest since I only have one goal in mind, I kiss the swell of her breasts that are tantalizing me in the plunging neckline of her ivory dress and press my cock against her, creating delicious friction.
“We’re doing it now. A quick and hard fuck,” I growl, capturing her mouth, hungrily nipping her while I grope her soft breasts that fit perfectly in my hands.
“Ah, Henry.”
“Baby, I need to be inside you,” I say, yanking her dress up to her hips.
My palms wander over her ass before I nudge her underwear off and hunch down to force her legs apart, slicing my tongue over her pussy without preamble.
“Oh, yes.” Mary circles her hips, grinding against my mouth while I taste and suck as she pants my name.
I can’t hold back anymore and crave to release inside her alluring body. Unbuttoning my slacks, I free my cock while licking her up and down. She whimpers before I stand up, my erection hard as steel.
“Wet my cock, baby,” I order and swivel us around to change positions.
She goes to her knees, taking my dick in her mouth and tugging the base of it. After only a few pumps, I guide her up to face the wall.
Standing behind her, I rub the head of my cock against her and snag both of her wrists, securing them in one of my hands behind her back and murmuring against her ear, “Hard and fast, baby.” And I gradually sink inside, feeling her flesh give.
“Hmmm...” Mary moans.
Her noises incite me, and I revel in her tight heat as she curves her back while I plunge inside, still holding her wrists. My other hand comes down to circle her clit, and I hammer into her brutally while she groans and my dick swells even more. Greedily, I reclaim her once and for all, slamming in deep.
Mary climaxes first, bucking and moaning my name, and she plants her hands against the wall when I release her wrists. I pull her hips back against my cock, pleasure building until it crests into a magnificent explosion. Then I come with a gratified growl, leisurely relaxing my pace, my heart rate decreasing as I wind an arm around Mary’s waist.
That familiar pull between us rears up, and I whisper, “Later, when we get back home, I’m going to fuck you slow and easy. Then hard and fast again.”
Mary turns her head to the side and shows me a stunning, spirited smile. A smile that brightens a place in my heart where there’s only room for her.
As I slide out of her, I decide on a few surprises. I need to make some modifications to her apartment anyway. Or I mean, our apartment.
CHAPTER 50
Mary
They say that life isn’t about the destination; it’s about the journey. But the journey is made much more enjoyable with a partner in crime, with the one. You can fight feelings and destiny all you want, but then you’ll only manage to disrupt your own journey. Henry and I needed to learn to journey together. Something we were both bad at when we first met, when insecurities afflicted me and Tara plagued Henry.
Maybe some people need years to determine if they’re with the one. I’m not one of those people. Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve wished to experience being hopelessly in love. To find a man who looks at me with absolute adoration. The look Adriano gives Cam and Luca shares with Fallon.
For a while, I tried to force that bond with other guys, but when Henry and I became friends, I felt there was more to him than meets the eye. And now that I’ve broken through all his barriers, he’s become the man I always saw in him. When he loves, he loves hard and at all costs, which can be frightening. As a consequence, I became stuck in my distrust toward Henry. But now I trust him unequivocally and never dwell on the past anymore.
The reality is that life can end at any time. Even more so for us, being attached to the Syndicate. For as long as I can, I’m choosing to be happy with Henry. Perhaps without the shooting and his moving in, it would’ve taken far longer for
us to get to this blissful point?
On the surface, I have everything I could wish for, yet I also want to be a vet. Nonetheless, that’s the one thing I’ll forgo to be with Henry in the Loop, where we’re building our home. Within two days, his stuff was here, and he’s already bought the apartment from Adriano and Carmine, putting it in both of our names.
He’s also making changes, which has led to some construction, but when I come home on Friday afternoon after doing my Christmas shopping, I’m glad that, for the first time in days, I don’t hear any hammering, drilling, or workers. With four bags in one hand, I enter our apartment, strolling to the living room where I dump them onto the couch.
“Henry?” I call when I don’t see him in the kitchen.
“I’m in the bedroom.” His voice booms from down the hall.
Walking back, I move into the master suite where I notice alterations to the built-in closet that spans the entire wall. The shelves have been sawed shorter to create steps so that I can step on the bottom two in order to reach the top ones. And all my clothes are neatly folded.
Henry’s in front of the closet, motioning toward it. “For my petite woman. There wasn’t any room for a ladder, so I told them to make steps from the shelves for you.”
I eat the distance between us, loving how at home he is here, tracing the shelves with my fingers and stepping onto the first one. “This is great! I didn’t know you were doing anything in the bedroom.”
“My surprise for you.” Henry shifts behind me, so I spin around, standing on the bottom shelf which sets me face-to-face with him. “Thank you so much.” I loop my arms around his neck as he brackets my sides.
