by E. C. Land
“Okay, sweetheart, now listen to me, you may not have wanted anyone else to take the gift you were saving for him and I’m one lucky asshole that it would have been me; however, I still got the gift that is you and your innocence. Maybe not a virgin, whereas I break through the barrier, but, Alison, you are still virginal in other ways. Already you’ve given me more firsts than just the one thing, so don’t ever say you’re sorry for something you couldn’t give me,” I state, letting her know she has nothing to be ashamed of.
“You say that but I thought it was a part of the contracts that the wives must be virgins,” she murmurs.
“It is true, mo stór; however, there are strict circumstances that waiver that and from rumors and putting together things on my own, I know one of those circumstances is true,” I say cautiously, informing her of the fact I’d heard of what happened.
“I . . . I didn’t want him to. H—He was too strong and took what wasn’t his to take. I can still remember his breath on my body when he took me. It was in the bathroom of the vacation home Da would take us to. After that, I never went there again. He told me if . . . if I said anything, he’d kill my sister and take me against my will until he grew tired of me then, he’d kill me as well.”
Motherfucker is lucky to already be dead. I’d strip him of his dick and make him eat it as I gutted him to the point his entrails were hanging from his body.
“Alison, I fuckin’ hate that this shit happened to you. But I promise you this. From here on out you’re protected by my men and me. Not only because of the fact you’re my wife and the sister-in-law to my boss but because you’re one of us. And I refuse to allow anything to happen to you again,” I declare.
“Okay,” she murmurs on a shuddered breath.
“Good, now let’s go to the kitchen. I’ll make you breakfast, then we’re gonna go out on the beach, and after that, we’re going to come back in here where I intend to show you more of my love for your delectable body,” I announce, causing her to give me a small smile.
“I like the sound of that,” she whispers.
Grinning, I remove my hands from her waist and cup both sides of her face to pull her in for a kiss. I started it out to be a chaste kiss; however, the instant her lips part in invitation, I take her up on it. Parting her lips further, I slide in, twirling my tongue with hers, soaking in her moans and savoring the way her body moves against my own.
Consumed by the kiss we’re sharing, I barely register my phone ringing with the tune only used by three numbers for when it’s an emergency call. Groaning, I break my mouth away from my wife’s and reach out to grab my cell phone to find it’s Kenyon calling.
I swipe my finger across the screen and bring the phone to my ear while using my other hand to hold Alison in place. “This better be really fuckin’ important,” I growl.
“You know I wouldn’t call from this number unless it were,” Kenyon mutters.
“Right, so what the fuck is it?” I demand, lifting my gaze to my wife’s to find her watching me thru hooded lids.
“Marc and Ian spotted someone last night going through video feeds of Sinner’s Cove. Cocky fucker he is for getting this close but not just that but the fact of who was with him,” Kenyon mutters.
Fuck.
He’s got to be talking about Kean and it’s probably Jewel with him, but I wait for Kenyon to confirm this.
“Suggest you get back here, don’t need you two out there alone and vulnerable when these two psychos are on the loose. We know what Kean is capable of, but when it comes to Jewel, it’s only anyone’s guess as to what she might do. Being in that prison cell for two years could have made her even more insane than she already is,” Kenyon says, advising me as only he knows how.
“Yeah, call a meeting for tonight. Inform Dean of this information that you’ve just shared me, and I’ll see you then,” I mutter, pissed to have to change plans on Alison.
“Got it,” he grumbles before hanging up.
Pulling the phone from my ear, I sigh, closing my eyes. I take a deep breath, toss the phone on the bed, and grasp hold of Alison’s waist as I meet her gaze once again. “Time for us to go home. Pack up so we can be ready in an hour,” I order, lifting her off my lap and climb out of bed myself.
If I weren’t watching her closely, I might have missed it, but she flinches at the harsh tone in my voice when I told her to pack. She also doesn’t say anything, and I know this is her way of not only going about doing what she’s told but also this is her shutting down.
Fuck me.
I’m going to have to explain this shit to her. Explain this is the type of man I am. I don’t do soft and gentle when it comes time to focus on keeping her safe. However, I’ll be doing that later. Much later. First things first, get her home, put one of the men on the house, and go meet with Dean and the rest of our men. There’s shit to do and people to kill. One man especially because I’ll be damned if I let him come near my wife.
Chapter Twelve
Alison
Leaving the beach isn’t something I wanted to do. If anything, I wanted to stay in the little bubble that seemed to have been wrapped around Mitch and me. That is until his phone rang, and a pin had struck through the invisible barrier, tearing us from our blissful time together.
After the phone call, Mitch’s mood seemed to change and with it, his demeanor. I’m sure he didn’t even notice it when it happened, but his eyes turned cold as his body went completely tense.
The ride to Mitch’s house, well, our house, doesn’t take us long to get there. This being due to Mitch flying down the road going nearly ninety miles an hour, scaring the daylights out of me. Also making me want to vomit with the way he took some of the curves. It was as if I’d been on a roller coaster and I’ve never been on one of those before.
Neither of us speaks the entire way home. I, for one, didn’t know what to say with him in this mood. Mitch seems to have reverted back to the man I remember now from two years ago when he’d been cold and calculating at my sister’s wedding. I get this with him being Dean’s right-hand man and all but the way he can shut his emotions down and turn to nearly ice scares me more than I like to admit.
Especially when I’m already vulnerable because I’d been foolish enough to tell him about the man who worked for my da and what he did to me.
Yes, what he said had been soothing, but directly after that he’d received the call telling him whatever it had been to cause the drastic change in him.
Pulling into the driveway, I take in the house that is now where I’ll be living. It’s beautiful with its Cape Cod appearance. The front porch leading into the house even has a swing off to the side. Mitch parks the car but doesn’t turn the car off. Instead, he gets out and starts to round the front to come to my door. I already have it open and start to get out before he gets there, having taken a cue from him.
Mitch takes my hand and nearly drags me up the porch. He keeps a hold of me as he pulls a set of keys from his pocket and unlocks the door. He then proceeds to pull me into the house with me behind him.
Without a word, he shuts the beeping security system off. Then to my surprise, he finally pulls me into his embrace, entwining himself around me.
“I’d give you a tour around the house, but you’ll have to make do without me. I’ve got to get to Sinner’s Cove and speak with Dean and the rest of the men. Ian is pulling in now as we speak to watch over you. You do as he says when it comes to your safety. Otherwise, get comfortable, explore but don’t give Ian a hard time,” Mitch states coldly, making a contradiction of himself with the way he’s holding me.
I don’t respond with words but rather a nod. For one, I want to ask him how he knows Ian is pulling into the driveway, and two, what exactly is Sinner’s Cove. But I’m guessing it’s not my place to know. Though I’ve heard my sister say the name on several occasions, so I know she knows what this place is.
Mitch leans in, presses his lips to mine placing a firm yet despairingly diminished
of the passion kiss unlike the other ones I’d been gifted by him before he received that phone call. Releasing me, he steps away as the front door opens to who I’m assuming is Ian. I assume this is correct since he’s not introduced to me.
“I’ll be back later,” Mitch announces and looks to Ian. “Keep her safe,” he orders, earning a chin lift.
“Will do. Watch out for Sasha, she’s been saying some shit to the others about how she’s determined to get you to take her,” Ian mutters quietly to Mitch but loud enough I still hear him.
From the way Mitch’s body stiffens even more and his eyes come to me, he knows I’ve heard. This is another thing that I want to question but know better than to do.
“Thanks, Ian. I’ll have Bridget and Kit-Kat have words with her. If this continues, I’ll demand she’s removed from employment,” Mitch grinds out. He turns to the door only to storm out of the house, leaving me alone with a man I don’t know. One that literally in this moment as he tilts his head in my direction gives me scary vibes.
“I, um, I’m, I’ll just go find something to do. You, um, I guess do what you do,” I say, stumbling over my words nervously. Ian gives me a jerk of his chin, not speaking to me and I take that as my cue to leave him alone.
Turning away from him, I let out a shuddered breath and start to explore the house. It’s not as big as the home I grew up in with my father, but it’s still large with four bedrooms, a living room, and what I’ll assume is a great room for entertaining those that don’t need the formality. This room also held a wet bar off to one side.
Going over there, I find that he has several different choices, most I don’t know of but I do spot a thing of red wine. Hmm, wine right now does sound divine. I need it to settle my nerves. Grabbing a stemmed wineglass, I pour myself a small measure of the liquid and put the bottle down on top of the shelf behind the bar.
With wine in hand, I continue my exploration, finding the room I’ll share with Mitch. Unless he wants me to sleep in another room. Going to the bed, I sit on the edge next to the nightstand and open it out of curiosity. Scanning through the contents, I spot something that catches my eye. Reaching in, I pull it out to find it’s a frame with a picture of a woman standing there with Mitch.
My eyes fill with tears at the love shining in Mitch’s as he looks down at the beautiful blonde woman. His hands holding her close in an intimate embrace. I wonder who the woman is and where she is.
A tear slides down my cheek as I put the framed picture back in the drawer, closing it. I’ll have to wait for him to tell me about who she is, if he even does.
Standing from the bed, I leave the room. No longer wanting to be in a room that most likely Mitch shared with another woman. A woman I know without a doubt meant something to my husband.
I suck in a timid breath and go back to looking through the house, making my way to the backyard to find a hot tub and in-ground pool. Kicking my shoes off, I step over to the edge of the pool, sit down, and put my feet in to find the water warm.
I take a hefty amount of the wine in my glass while looking up to the sky, contemplating what I’m going to do.
This is to be my new life.
A life where I’m married to a gorgeous man that I have no doubt plenty of women would kill to have, but more than that, he’s the man from that photo who looked in love with the woman. I don’t want to be the one who is second best, and I’m betting that, if anything, that’s exactly what I’ll be to Mitch.
My da told Bridget and me about the love he had with my mamma. So did Abigail when she spoke of her to me. There isn’t another woman alive who could replace my mamma in Da’s eyes, so this would be the same for me. I’ll simply be what Abigail is to Da.
A replacement.
Which is something I’ve never wanted. This thought is why my heart hurts so badly right now because I’ve already invested my heart and opened up to a man who can shut his emotions down way too easily.
Maybe I can find a job with one of the schools, or at least find somewhere to volunteer. I’d love to be able to work with children and help assist those who teach them rather than doing the teaching myself.
Yeah, I think that’s exactly what I will do. See if I can find a school to work at. By doing this it will help with several things. One of them being keeping me from being alone all the time and second giving me something to occupy my thoughts of other things, such as the picture of Mitch and that woman.
If I think of it too long, I’ll go insane with questions roaming around in my head. I need answers but I know I don’t have a right to ask him. In our world, we’re not to speak against our husbands but support them as they do what they want.
Chapter Thirteen
Mitch
I felt like shit for leaving Alison at the house the way I did. I should have taken more time with her, or even brought her with me to Sinner’s Cove, but I couldn’t bring myself to bring her somewhere that could tarnish the innocence that surrounds her beauty.
Especially when I know there are women here who would try to push her away from me. Alison doesn’t need the headache of it and I refuse to allow this to happen to her.
Sitting at the conference table next to Dean, we listen to what Kenyon and Marc have to say about this reporting of Kean and Jewel both being spotted.
This is their ploy, they want to be seen. For us to put our guard up, I know this and I’m sure Kean has something he’s gonna try to pull.
“I want this fucker and cunt found, now. This is the last thing we need right now. Not when Bridget is pregnant again,” Dean snarls, banging his fist against the table. I’m sure I know where his mind is right now. The man has told me many times about his fear of Kean getting to Bridget. It’s why we’ve not once stopped looking for him and why it’s been frustrating to Marc for not finding him.
“We’ll get him this time, boss,” I mutter reassuringly because I have no other choice but to believe we will. Two psychos out there trying to get to Dean’s wife, or even mine is more than I’d like to think of. We’ve got enough shit going on and don’t have the time to be dealing with this shit. Not when shit is going on around us.
There have been rumors that the cult Dean’s cousins, Dragon and Gadget with the Devil’s Riot MC, are dealing with have been popping up from the holes of hell they’d been hiding in for a while now. This isn’t good in the least. Because if that’s the case, they will be attempting to not only get to those women but possibly the children of those women. And one of those women is Connors’, Dragon and Gadget’s ol’ lady, sister. Meaning to Dean, she’s family. No one messes with his family, no one.
Not only because of the rumors, I fear something happening to Alison. I lost Michelle because I hadn’t protected her as I should have and now my heart is attached to Alison’s. This warrants my mood for earlier and not speaking to her. Yeah, it’s a shit way to be when it comes to leaving her at a home she doesn’t know to come here and meet everyone, but I needed the distance between us for the time being. If I didn’t, I might not have been able to leave her at the house. Or leave her period.
“Chance, I want you on Kean’s trail,” Dean announces, pulling me from my thoughts of Alison.
“You got it, boss,” Chance mutters.
“Beau, you’re on Bridget when she’s not with me.” Dean goes on to order after Chance agrees. Beau gives a chin lift in agreement. Out of all of us, he’s the one who speaks the least.
“I’ve got Ian at the house right now with Alison. We can keep him on her unless she’s with me or he’s needed for something else. If that happens, we can put someone else on her,” I grumble.
“I’m surprised you didn’t bring her here with you. You know my wife misses her sister and would have loved to have spent time with her while we met,” Dean says with a quirk of his brow.
“This isn’t a place for Alison to be in. Not until I’ve had the chance to explain some things to her, such as the fact our offices are in a strip club or that her sister is in charg
e of the strip club. She’s a pure innocent that doesn’t know hardly anything about the world besides her studies and books. Tomás MacDermott kept his girls protected as best he could, brother, but I’ll tell you now my wife protected herself so much she barely knows her own self. Only that she’d be a wife to someone in the Alliance and do her duty,” I inform him through clenched teeth as the conversation she and I had this morning pops into my head.
Fuck.
That shit sucked. What she dealt with, and worse she never told anyone what she went through. I’m sure if she’d told Tomás about it, he’d have found someone to explain that what happened to her hadn’t been her fault and she didn’t do anything wrong.
Whatever the fucker did to her went deeper than she let on and I can see it. I know I’ll have my hands full when it comes time for her to tell me all of it. I’ll shoulder it as she should have given that burden to her father to bear. Now it’ll be mine and I’ll make sure she doesn’t worry about her negative thoughts again about being a disappointment. I’m sure that’s exactly how she felt this morning during our talk. Then when I’d locked down on her in order to protect her.
“She tell you what happened?” Marc asks.
“Alison told me and I’m not gonna repeat it. What I will do is say the motherfucker is lucky to be dead already, ‘cause if he weren’t his ass would be in a cellar where I could enjoy playing with him before killing him,” I sneer.
“Do you think she’ll want to tell her sister?” Dean asks, his brows furrowing at the thought of his wife possibly feeling what Alison endured.
“No,” I mutter, truthfully. “Alison has kept this from her and everyone else for this long. She’s not gonna want to tell anyone about it now.”
Nodding, Dean lets out a breath. He knows his wife better than anyone; however, the woman wears her heart on her sleeve, not hiding her emotions from the world.
