by N. K. Love
“Jax, kiss me.” She whispers, almost pleading.
Stopping in my tracks, our lips find each other’s. We close our eyes and quickly submerge ourselves into our bubble, where absolutely nothing else matters—or even exists. Pulling back I try to express myself between her loving, lingering kisses.
“Do you realise how much you mean to me, Beth? … Seriously… You’re not an option to me, I don’t think you ever have been… You are essential to me, Angel.”
Jack catches us up and slaps my back on his way past. I notice him looking in all directions for any signs of movement. We need to get back to the car and out of here.
I start walking closely behind, but we don’t say anymore, for now. As I search around constantly, looking for something out of the ordinary, I feel Beth mirroring me. Glancing down through the corner of my eye, I still see fear etched across her beautiful face. A ball of anger rages inside of me. I will get to the bottom of what happened here tonight and somebody will pay.
After retracing our steps, we reach a secret clearing in the hedge. The route we’ve taken is the only way to avoid the floodlights from exposing us. Over the phone, I wouldn’t have been able to navigate Beth to run this way. It was too risky. She would’ve been lit up for an easy target—that was their intention; to shoot her, to kill her, here—on my property.
For what though? After Beth went to that apartment, Samara knew I was still on to him. He soon got his connections in the UK to do his dirty work. But, for him to go to this much trouble, tells me he has a lot more to hide from than a hit and run conviction. Unluckily for him, I have his address and I’m not going to stop until he is found.
Priority number one, get Beth to safety.
With Beth curled up in a ball beside me in the backseat of the car, Jack heads straight out of Birmingham. When we reached the car, I put Beth down and she nearly fainted, feeling weak. Jack said she was in shock and needed to get warm and rested as soon as possible. The heating’s on and she has my jacket wrapped around her, but I can still feel her shivering.
Jack gives me my new burner from the glovebox. Carmel gave me one for Jack too, but I didn’t bother giving it him, thinking we’d sort them when we landed in Albania. Thank God I didn’t. If he had’ve ditched his old number, Beth would never have gotten in contact with us tonight and she’d be dead right now. Turning it on, I go to the only preprogrammed number in there. She picks up immediately.
“Shouldn’t you be crossing the North Sea, sweetie?”
“The shit’s hits the fan, C. I need your help.”
“Of course. What’s happened?”
“It’s Beth—look, first of all, my place could do with a spring-clean.”
“Christ, Jax. Jesus… How did they…? God, I am so very sorry. Of course, I will get straight on it.”
“No, no, it’s okay. We got to her in time.”
“Oh thank goodness.” She breathes a sigh of relief that has me kissing my girl on top of her head. I’m so fucking thankful. “Is she hurt?”
“No. C, can you sort that for me, urgently please?”
“Right away. One?”
“Two—I’ll go over the spec when I see you.”
“See me?”
“Yes, where can we find you? I need to take you up on that offer.”
After exchanging a few more details with Carmel, Jack is certain we weren’t followed, so eases up slightly on the pedal. We’re ten miles clear of Birmingham now, heading down the M40 towards one of Carmel’s properties. She’s going to meet us there.
The atmosphere in the car feels a lot less tense and Beth’s finally stopped shaking. With at least another one and a half hours left of the journey, I swing her legs over and across my lap in the hope that she’ll drift off to sleep.
“Jax, if this is Samara, it means all this is my fault, for going to see his girlfriend. I shouldn’t have interfered. I brought trouble to your doorstep—”
“Don’t, Beth. This is in no way your fault. You can’t blame yourself for any of this.” I nudge her head up to look at me and want to extinguish the seriousness residing there. “I wish you wouldn’t.” I offer her a gentle smile.
“I won’t, if you won’t.”
She sounds so somber, knowing I have long since claimed the title of sole blame for all of this mess. Studying me, she touches my face, pressing away the furrow in my brow with her thumb. She strokes my beard, losing herself in thought. But, when I turn my face and kiss the palm of her hand, she blesses me with that beautiful smile of hers, wriggling in my lap to snuggle into me tighter.
Even at the most inappropriate of moments, that move alone is enough to encourage my inconsiderate dick to nudge me on the sly, letting me know we’re good to go. I suspect it’s my body’s way of reinforcing that everything’s okay. A way to reconnect, by rejoining us as one. Whenever I’ve made love to Beth and we reach that inexplicable, out of body, intensity—that’s where it happens. That immense magic that can’t be feigned—that’s what I crave from her. She has no idea how much strength I selfishly draw from her, which plays its part amongst the enchantment.
We pull up outside of the bungalow and I’m grateful to see Carmel is already here, standing in the doorway with concern etched all over her face. The area looks neighbourly; the complete opposite to Carmel’s actual home. Jack gets out and carries on, whilst I get out and lean back inside to scoop Beth up into my arms. She was exhausted and thankfully fell into a deep sleep about half an hour ago.
Walking carefully up a cobbled winding pathway, Carmel gives me a half smile and leads us into the bungalow. It’s quaint and inconspicuous. Carmel gestures for me to carry Beth down the hallway and I hear Jack start to fill her in. I find a small bedroom and lay Beth on the double bed, carefully removing her trainers and drawing the curtains. Covering her with a colourful patchwork quilt that was folded up at the end of the bed, I perch myself on the edge of the mattress beside her.
Stroking away the loose hair from her face, I choose to marvel at just how precious she is to me, instead of dwelling on what could’ve happened tonight. In a few day’s time all of this will hopefully be over and right now, I’d love nothing more than to book us one-way tickets to our own inconspicuous destination—preferably somewhere hot and un-fucking-eventful, away from all of this.
I kiss her softly on the lips, hoping that she’ll sleep all night. Regardless, I know that whatever happens, when she wakes up, the events of tonight will come crashing down on her like a ton of bricks.
“Psst.” Carmel whispers from the doorway. “We need to talk.”
She drops Beth’s handbag just inside the room. I pull the blanket up to Beth’s shoulders and kiss her forehead. Then turn to follow Carmel back down the hallway and into the kitchen.
She tells me that the cleaning crew have arrived in a van at my place and hands me her phone to give Bear a walk-through of what needs doing. Bear and two other men are associates of mine too. Carmel’s father introduced them to me early on. I used to spar with them in his basement gym and quickly learned that they could all pack a powerful punch, which is why they made a mint in the illegal fighting ring. They weren’t part of the Unit, but they handled certain jobs that required reliable ‘ask-me-no-questions’, type of muscle.
After ending the call, I make a mental note of his number, to put in my phone later, just in case. Then I sit down at the kitchen table with Jack and Carmel and a cafetière of strong coffee.
“So are you two cancelling your trip then?”
“The fuck I am! This is the perfect time to strike. By the time he’s figured out his men are six feet under, I’ll be pounding my fists into his face.”
“Jax is right. He won’t be expecting us now and we need to get to him before he jumps ship again.”
“What about Beth? She is going to need you now.”
“It has to be now, C!”
“Okay, if you are sure. I will see when the next available flight to Tirana is.” Carmel starts tapping a
way on her phone. “I keep a closet of clothes here, so I’ll sort some things out for Bethany once I’m done with this.”
“Thank you. You know I appreciate it.”
“Sweetie, it’s nothing. Plus, I know the first thing she’ll want to do when she wakes up is to get out of those clothes and have a hot shower. She must have been absolutely terrified in that hole.”
Jack refills our cups.
“Jack, thank you too, for everything you did tonight. You really came through for me, brother. Driving like a man possessed and then looking after Beth for me—”
“Hey, c’mon—”
“No. I mean it.” I shake his hand and hoist him up at the same time so that we both end up half standing, leaning over the wooden table. Gripping him in a bear hug, we slap each other’s backs. “I fucking owe you big time.”
“Let’s not forget this journey isn’t over just yet boys… Maybe we should save the brotherly love and appreciation until you get back home safely, bringing good news!”
We smirk at each other and Jack rolls his eyes at me. Carmel has always been the type of person to switch off her emotions until the job’s done. Her motto is ‘do what you need to do, so that you can do what you want to do’.
“Any luck?” I point at her phone.
“Not from Birmingham or Manchester tonight, I’m afraid. Looks like you two will be staying here for the night. Earliest flight available is a one-stop flight from Birmingham to Tirana tomorrow morning.”
I look over to Jack, who nods without hesitation.
“Okay, book it.”
“Alright then… Right, as you’ll be here tonight, I’ll head home to square things out with Dean.”
“He’ll be okay with you coming to stay here until we’re back though, right?”
“Yes, of course. It’s a relationship, poppet, not a dictatorship.” She adds, as though I’ve offended her. “Do I look like the kind of woman who’s told what to do?” Jack and I shake our heads, smirking. “Just make sure Bethany doesn’t mind.”
“She’s got no choice in the matter, C. Don’t leave her alone—Take this.” I hand her one of the guns we took from the hitters. “Failing that, we’re in your favourite room.”
I may joke, but it’s actually a pretty good point!
“That’s very true, Jax. Knives are my weapon of choice.” Jack rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Aww. What’s the matter Jacky? Do alpha females still intimidate you?”
I stand and take my cup to the sink, tuning in and out of their banter, whilst considering my next steps.
“Jax… Jax…?”
“Sorry. What’s up?”
I turn to find Carmel standing in the kitchen doorway.
“I was just saying, I’ll go and fetch those clothes for Bethany and then I’ll be off.”
“Okay, thanks, C.”
She disappears and Jack comes over to join me, looking out of the window and into the darkness.
“Tell me I’m doing the right thing here, Jack.”
“Why are you doubting yourself?”
“It’s Beth. Having her involved… I need to be sure that it’s not clouding my judgment.”
“You mean, with women, you’re not used to making decisions with anything other than your penis?”
I look at him straight-faced, but he just glances at me and laughs.
“You got anything constructive to say? Oh, hold on, take a look at this.”
Handing him the card I pulled off the first body, I fold my arms across my chest and wait for him to read it; Another life to weigh heavy on your conscience. Arm your troops because you don’t know who you’re fucking with.
“Jax, if it was up to this piece of shit, Beth would be dead right now.” He throws the card on the side. “Look, I know how you feel about her and that you want to protect her—”
“And how the hell can I protect her when I’m in another country?”
“Then stay here. I’ll go and deal with this motherfucker.”
“No—it has to be me.”
“Well, then there’s your answer. Beth will be safe here. Especially with C and that knife rack over there. Don’t forget that Carmel learned from the best. She’s shrewd and fearless.” I nod in agreement. “We’ll be back here before you know it.”
“Okay.” Feeling more reassured, I brush my doubts away. Being away from Beth is a small price to pay if it means I can finally put an end to all of this. “I’m gonna go grab Beth some food and stuff from the shop we passed down the road.”
“No, you should stay. She’ll want you here if she wakes up. Just write me a list and I’ll go.” Carmel returns to the kitchen and hands me a pile of neatly folded clothes with tagged underwear on top. “C, you got the key to this place?”
“Yes, just use the one on the table. I’ll leave you boys to it, but I’ll be back in the morning before you leave.” Carmel leans up between us and kisses us both on our cheeks. “Oh and I’ve contacted my guy in Albania and told him you’ll give him a call if you need an extra pair of hands when you land tomorrow. I’ll give you his number.”
She takes a pad and pen off the counter and writes the number from her phone.
“Thanks, C.”
“That’s what friends are for. You’ve done more than enough to help me before so it’s about time I’m able to return the favours. Anyway, I’ll bid you pair goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” We say in unison.
Once Carmel has gone, I tear out another sheet of paper from the pad and write a list for Jack. He leaves shortly after and I head straight to the bedroom to check on Beth.
She’s sound asleep and hasn’t moved. I put the clothes on the chest of drawers and strip down to my briefs, climbing under the blanket behind her. I must have unsettled her because after a few minutes of silence, she starts mumbling in her sleep and twitching her limbs. She rolls onto her back and I shuffle away. She’s still mumbling incoherently.
“Shhh. It’s okay.” I stroke the back of my fingers down her face. I don’t think she’s having a nightmare. She just seems restless. Just then, she starts smiling and turns her face into my hand, rousing from her sleep. With a sudden deep inhale, her eyes fly open and her body tenses up. “It’s okay. It’s okay, B.”
“Oh my God.”
In a blink of an eye, she’s rolled onto her side and wrapped her body around me. Squeezing me hard, her breathing spikes as she comes to terms with everything again. I pull her body flush against me, trying to take away the fear and confusion she must be going through.
“I got you, Angel.”
Gradually our bodies fall in sync with one another. As I exhale, she inhales.
“You’re still going to go aren’t you?” I nod and my beard grazes over her hair. “Now?”
“In the morning… You’ll stay here with Carmel.” Beth nods. “Can I get you anything? A drink?”
“Can I take a shower, if that’s okay?”
“Of course. But, first of all, I’m not letting you go until you’ve kissed me. Come here.” I tilt her chin up and she’s smiling. The love in her eyes enraptures me. “You’re incredible, B.”
My lips find hers in the unlit room and I relish the feel of her smile against me. Her soft, vulnerable lips part for me, allowing my tongue to taste her with long, leisurely strokes. Her fragility starts to fall away as her tongue begins to meet mine at every turn. Digging her fingers into my back, she moans as our ragged exhales collide together. My beautiful Beth, never ceases to amaze me.
“Jax,” Her voice laced with a newfound urgency. “Tonight, I could’ve… After what happened… I’m scared. I’m worried, confused—”
“I know, B. I understand.”
“Do you? Because I don’t.” Beth swivels over me until she’s sitting on top of my eager dick. “Even with all of this madness flying around my head… All I wanna do is have this—” Rolling her hips forward, she grinds her pussy down over the length of my dick, dragging her teeth over her bottom lip. “�
��buried inside of me, fucking me until I can’t think straight. Is that normal?”
“I don’t know—”
“Can you do that, Jax? Can you fuck me until I forget?”
I spread my hands over her thighs and slide them up until my thumbs meet at her centre, rubbing over her pussy. Stroking my thumbs lower, I feel a layer of padding.
“Are you sure?”
“I don’t care, if you don’t.”
“I don’t.” Making sure my expression leaves her without any doubts, I hold her hips and swing my legs over the side of the bed. When I stand, she locks her ankles behind me and I walk us into the en-suite. Letting her feet fall to the ground, we look around, pleasantly surprised to find it’s a wet room. I walk over to the far wall and turn on the overhanging showerhead. “You’re a little overdressed.” I drop my briefs to the floor and step out of them. Absentmindedly stroking my erection, her gaze drops and she starts unzipping her hoody. “Keep going. I’ll be back in a minute.”
