“I would’ve followed you anywhere. Done anything for you. All you had to do was tell me what to do. I would’ve waited. I would’ve been able to live my life knowing you’d be coming back to me…if you were able,” she cried.
I closed my eyes. The pain and terror that had grown for the past year all compounded to that final moment. The exact instant in time that I knew I had to get out.
“I almost died over there,” I grated. “The only thing that kept me alive was knowing you were here for me to come back to you. Whether you thought that you were mine or not, I was always yours. And I always will be.”
Her quiet crying turned to a giant sob, and I gathered her into my arms, burying my face into her neck.
“What will it take for you to give me a chance?” I asked.
My heart froze in my chest, and then started to pound double time.
“I’ll give you anything. Everything. You want me to quit, I’ll do it. You want me to leave the MC, I’ll do it. It’ll hurt, but I’ll do it. Just give me a chance. You don’t have to decide anything right now. But just let me spend some time with you. I’ll prove to you I’ve changed. I won’t freak out, I promise,” I pleaded.
She listened to my explanation, and I could tell it wasn’t enough by the dead in her eyes.
“I can’t. I just can’t,” she said and stepped away. “You can hang with me tonight, but after that, I want you to leave me alone.”
“But you’ll give me tonight?” I asked.
She nodded. “I’ll give you tonight.”
***
“I don’t think I want any kids,” Rue said softly as she practically fell back onto the couch with me.
I leaned forward for a piece of pizza and handed it to her before taking one of my own. “Not if they’re all like that. She’s cute as hell and all, but when she starts crying and doesn’t stop, I can’t see the desire of having one of my own
“Me neither,” she shuddered. “I’m glad she’s only staying the night. I felt like I was going to break her when I put that sleeper on her. But you’re right. She’s cute.”
I snorted. “You won’t be saying that tonight when she wakes you up in the middle of the night.”
She giggled, making something inside my chest loosen.
She’d been doing that all night.
A comment here, a touch there.
When I’d left work, I rode.
I don’t think I consciously decided to drive to Rue’s place. It was just one second I was on the back road leaving the station, and the next thing I knew, I was pulling up in front of Rue’s place.
I’d found her nearly the minute I’d gotten home from overseas, and I’d spent many nights driving past her place.
I supposed it was just instinct that’d driven me to her house tonight.
“How’s the new job? Why’d you move?” I asked her when the silence continued too long.
She shrugged. “It’s nice. I like working in this ER since it’s so much bigger. However, the staff members are all bitches. You’ve also met the doc that loves to torture me while I’m there.”
I lifted my lip up at that thought. “That man was a pompous ass. He knew who I was. I came in and met him during one of our transfers last week. Just let me know if he gives you any problems, and I’ll have a word.”
She glanced over at me.
Her curly brown hair fell forward, partially obscuring her face from me for long moments before I reached forward out of habit and tucked it behind her ear.
She hissed and pulled away, and my hand dropped to rest on the cushion between us.
She stood and clapped her hands.
“Well, I’m off to bed. Thank you for the pizza, but I foresee a long night ahead of me and I suppose I should be heading that way.”
I stood up with her, and reached forward to touch the tip of her nose with my index finger.
“Thanks for keeping me company. Today was a hard day,” I said as I started walking to the front door.
She followed a good distance behind me so she could make sure there was no possible chance for us to accidentally touch.
“You’re welcome,” she said graciously, shifting from foot to foot.
I opened the door, and stepped out into the cold night air.
It was colder than normal, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t think fifty degrees was that cold. Not after growing up in North Dakota. Fifty degrees was spring weather up there.
What did get me was the humid, hot summers.
Leaning forward slowly so she knew my intentions, I kissed her cheek softly.
Her eyes widened as I pulled away, and then she shuddered.
Her smell was exquisite.
Like the rain after a summer shower.
That same smell had haunted me over the last year. A thunderstorm would strike, and the smell of her would be in the wind.
As if she wasn’t always on my mind already.
“Thanks for being with me tonight. I needed it,” I said softly. “Sleep well, Rue La La.”
She cracked a grin, which blossomed into a full-blown smile. “You too, Cleo-Leo.”
The nicknames that we’d made for each other were one of a kind, and we’d used them often during our time together.
She’d used mine, and I knew that it was a sign.
I winked at her and headed to my bike, feeling her gaze on my back the entire way.
She didn’t know it yet, but she was mine. She thought she was winning this war, but I had a Trojan Horse, and she’d just accepted the package.
Chapter 5
I could use a foot massage, an hour in a sauna, a half of a chocolate sheet cake, and an orgasm.
-Tru on what she wants for dinner
Rue
“I’m going to kill you, Cody,” I whined as I exited the doctor’s office where I’d just been told that I had strep throat.
“I’m sorry, Rue. I didn’t mean to pass it off to you,” Cody said remorsefully.
“It’s okay, this just sucks. I used to have this all the time as a kid, and I don’t remember it ever bringing me down like it’s done today. I feel awful,” I said nasally into the phone.
“Do you want me to get your prescription for you?” Cody asked.
I opened my car door and practically fell inside.
Luckily, I’d found my car in the driveway this morning like Cleo had promised the night he came over after work, or I’d have been screwed. “No, I need to go for some meds anyway. The doctor said it might be the flu on top of strep since I feel so bad. Therefore, I have to run in for some liquids to tide me over. What you can do is tell your mom I won’t be there for a week or so.”
Cody snorted. “Oh, she’s going to love that. We’re already three short due to strep, and now you too. This week is going to be the bomb.”
Was that a hint of smartass I heard in my best friend’s voice?
“Sorry-Charlie,” I said as I started driving to the pharmacy. “I’ll talk to you later. It’s taking too much concentration to talk to you, drive, and not sneeze at the same time.”
“Okay, be careful. Call me if you need anything,” Cody insisted.
We hung up, and I drove to the pharmacy closest to my house where the doctor had called in my prescriptions.
I parked next to two bikes, and got out.
I’d just closed my car door when I sneezed all over the bike that was parked next to me.
“Nice,” a deep voice said from in front of me.
I didn’t react, but only because I followed up my first sneeze with fifty more. Okay, more like three, but still.
“I’m so sorry,” I coughed.
Then I opened my back door and lifted out the disinfectant wipes I kept in the car at all times.
“Here,” I said as I plucked out two wipes. “You’ll probably want to wipe that off. I have strep throat.”
It was when I was handing over the wipes that I realized it was a massive man wearing blue jeans, motorcycle boots, a black
shirt, and none other than a Dixie Wardens MC leather vest.
Oh, and a scar on his neck that scared the absolute tar out of me.
That kind of wound wasn’t for the timid. This man had to have been a fighter to escape death with that kind of trauma.
I blinked at the man, and then extended the towels to him again.
He shook his head, leaned forward, grabbed them from my hand, and then went to his bike and started wiping off his bike.
“Sorry,” I said as I walked away.
“It’s okay,” he said behind me, but I didn’t turn around.
I couldn’t tell you why my heart was speeding a mile a minute.
I didn’t know that man, but just looking at his ‘cut,’ as Cleo liked to call it, made my stomach flutter with butterflies.
Cleo had come in two days ago and turned my world upside down again.
He’d made it feel like old times.
Times where I hadn’t forced him to have sex with me and ruined our relationship.
He’d been nice. He’d bought pizza. Drinks. Even a movie. One that I’d had to return, but he’d brought it nonetheless.
I’d been thinking about him non-stop since he’d left, and it was driving me bat-shit crazy.
Sighing, I went about getting the things I needed. Slowly. Mainly because it hurt to move too fast.
After picking up my prescriptions, soup, and juice, I walked out into the sunshine, stopping dead in the middle of the parking lot.
That was because Cleo was standing beside my car with his arm around a very beautiful blonde woman.
Her auburn hair was in soft waves down her back, and she was wearing some insanely tight jeans that made her ass look perfect.
I couldn’t see the rest of her since she was facing away from me, but I could clearly see the annoyed look on the face of the man whose bike I’d sneezed on.
And it was none too happy.
“Get your arm off my woman, Cleo,” the man said through clenched teeth.
I blinked, waiting to see what would happen.
“What if she prefers my body to yours? Would you let her sample this bounty if she wanted to?” Cleo asked as he let the woman go to gesture to his body.
His body was a bounty.
He had on dark washed jeans with a black t-shirt and his leather vest.
Something so simple made him look downright glorious.
The woman giggled and I wanted to smack her.
Stomping forward, I pushed behind Cleo, making him take an alarmed step forward before I unlocked my car with the key and opened the door.
“Don’t worry, Cleo. Your bounty spoils after one night. That woman looks like she wants stability, not a fuck that leaves the woman all worked up with no relief in sight. Oh, and that man looks like he could fuck better than you, anyway,” I said just before dropping down into my car and taking off.
I didn’t miss the woman’s laughter, as well as the deep-throated bellow from the other man.
Nor Cleo’s scowling face as I pulled out of the lot.
I wasn’t surprised when a deep rumble came up on my bumper and stayed there.
However, I couldn’t muster up the courage to care because my head was pounding.
By the time I pulled into my driveway, I was thanking sweet baby Jesus that I’d made it that far.
Probably shouldn’t have popped those Benadryl’s at the doctor’s office. What I should’ve done was waited until I was at home to do it.
I leaned forward and rested my head on the steering wheel, barely able to keep my eyes open.
Maybe I could just sleep in my car all night.
It was blissfully warm.
Or maybe that was my fever.
If only that horrible pounding would stop.
***
I woke up in my bed, unaware of how I’d gotten there.
I was beyond cold, and looked down to find only a sheet wrapped around my body.
I moved experimentally, blindly searching for the blanket that was usually there, but unable to find it.
Rolling over, I came up to a barrier that was blissfully warm.
“Uh-uh, Rue. You’re running a high fever. You have to stay on your side and you can only use the sheet. You’re already at 103,” a deep voice rumbled.
I ignored Cleo and stayed where I was, shivering. “C-cold.”
“I know, baby,” Cleo said. “But if you get too hot, we’re going to have to take a cold shower, and you know how that’s going to go.”
Sighing, I rolled away from the beautiful warmth of Cleo’s body until I had a foot between us, and continued my shivering.
“You’re the devil,” I croaked.
“You may call me Diablo,” Cleo rasped.
“Oh, Mikhail. I do love you,” I whispered before falling back asleep.
I missed the, “I love you, too.”
***
Cleo was doing sit-ups in my living room.
Shirtless.
And pantless.
In the middle of the night.
“Where’re your pants?” I croaked.
Cleo stopped halfway into a sit up and twisted just his upper body to look at me.
My eyes roamed over the tanned expanse of his chest, cataloguing the multiple tattoos, ridges on top of ridges of hard, toned muscle, and finally the newest addition.
Scarring.
“What happened?” I gasped as I lurched forward.
He sat up fully, and then stood, giving me an unencumbered view of his entire body.
I started running my hands over the scarring on his lower hip that disappeared into the waistband of his underwear. A larger gash was evident on his right shoulder, as well as what seemed to be shrapnel scars dotting the rest of his chest.
“I told you, I had an accident,” he said evenly.
I looked up at his face seeing him staring at me in concern, and then back at his belly.
The scars were still fresh.
Deep purple, and prominently raised, it looked like it’d hurt when it happened.
It also looked like it might still hurt.
“You didn’t tell me what kind,” I said as I reached gently to trace the underside of the scar with the tip of my finger.
He closed his eyes and sighed.
“It was a bad last mission. The team was supposed to help two soldiers who were in a small village outside of their camp. They got separated from their company when a woman blew herself up beside them. It was supposed to be just a routine combat rescue. We knew the area wasn’t secure, but that’s just how it was. That’s what we did. There was a man waiting to show us where to go. A local. However, another woman was there, and she blew herself up right when we stepped foot into the building. My whole team died except two. Bones and I were the only survivors.”
He explained it in a monotone voice. A voice that lacked any emotion, making him sound deadly.
“I’m so sorry, Cleo,” I said softly.
Then I just couldn’t help myself.
It was ingrained in me to offer him support. All it took was for me to see the flash of pain in his eyes before they shuttered closed to get me moving. He’d been my best friend. Just because he’d left, didn’t mean I didn’t still love him. Nor hurt when he hurt.
Which was why I found myself throwing my body into his arms, and burying my face into his neck.
He clutched me close to him, holding on while he fought whatever demons he was remembering.
“And how’s Bones?” I asked as I backed away from him.
He shrugged. “About the same as me. We’re living, but not really breathing. Doc says I have PTSD. The doc’s gave me some medicine, but it only makes me like a zombie. Working out seems to help, though.”
Well, that explained the sit-ups.
“How long have I been asleep?” I asked, trying to get his mind off the past.
He looked at the black, mammoth watch on his wrist before answering, “Thirteen hours. Your fever broke. I looked in yo
ur purse and found your antibiotics, forced you to take them around eight.”
I nodded. “Thank you. You probably shouldn’t be here. I don’t want you to get sick.”
He gave me a droll look. “You do know what I do for a living, right? I’m around sick people all the time.”
That was true.
“Okay, well don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I shrugged.
He smiled. “You threw up on my pants, too. They’re in your washer, along with the clothes you were wearing.”
I looked down at the thin white camisole and white cotton panties I was wearing, and blushed.
I hadn’t even thought to look at the clothes I’d been wearing before I came out here.
“I’m sorry,” I said, embarrassed.
He shrugged. “Been there, done that.”
I’d had that happen, too.
That didn’t mean it was fun, however.
“I’m hungry,” I said as I turned towards the kitchen.
There was no point in me getting dressed now. He’d already seen me in what I was wearing. Then again, he’d dressed me in what I was wearing.
And neither the shirt, nor the panties, were what I’d put on the previous morning.
“I put the soup that was in your front seat in the kitchen by the sink. I had my sister bring some soup, though. That shit you got was disgusting looking,” he said.
I stopped short and turned to look at him.
“Which sister?” I asked.
All of his sister’s didn’t like me. However one of them, Molly, hated me with a passion.
She was the baby in the family, and was the most possessive of her brother. She didn’t feel like anyone was good enough for Cleo, and had told me so. The words she’d used hadn’t been as eloquent, but it was nearly the same.
“Mikayla,” he answered.
I relaxed instantly. There was no way I was going to eat anything that was made by Molly, but Mikayla I’d do. Mikayla was the oldest of the Caruso horde. Mikhail the second. Followed by Meredith, and finally Molly.
They were a very tight group, and it’d take a small miracle to become one of their group. Even the sister’s own husbands were barely tolerated.
Cleo probably didn’t even realize that his sisters were so protective of him, either.
Life to My Flight Page 5
