Bittersweet (Redemption Book 3)

by Jessica Prince

  Jensen and Stone were in the middle of a stand-off in my living room, standing toe-to-toe with only inches of space between them.

  “Stone, what the hell?” I clipped, breaking their stare-down. “What are you doing here?”

  “What the hell are you doin’?” he fired back. “I came to check on my little sister, make sure you’re good, and I find this fucker standin’ in the middle of your kitchen, half naked!”

  “What I do or who I have in my own house is no one’s business but mine. And I’ve told you a million times, that key is for emergencies. I want it back right now.” I held my hand out, but he didn’t move to take the key off his key ring.

  “Jesus Christ, Shane. What the hell are you thinkin’ hookin’ up with this asshole?” he continued, each word pissing me off more than the last. “How fuckin’ thick is your skull?”

  “Watch it,” Jensen growled, coming to stand partly in front of me. “You’re standing in the middle of her house. You don’t disrespect her like that ever, but especially not when you’re standing in her goddamn house.”

  Stone’s lips curled up in a sneer. “Oh yeah? And what’re you gonna do about it, soldier boy?”

  A shiver worked its way down my back, and I got a sick feeling my brother was intentionally goading Jensen into a fight. “Stone, stop it,” I clipped, but it was like he didn’t hear me. Or maybe he did, he just didn’t care.

  My fears were confirmed when he said, “I heard all about you, asshole. You got a thing for using your fists, so how about you see if you got it in you to take me down?”

  Before either of them could say another word, I was in between them, placing my palms on my brother’s chest and shoving him back with all my might, knowing it would only rock him back a step or two. “That’s enough!” I shouted. “You are unbelievable, Stone! What the fuck did you think was going to happen, huh? You think you’d come in here, insult me, try to pick a fight with my boyfriend, and I’d just let you?”

  “This prick’s got no right bein’ here!”

  “He has every right!” I yelled, throwing my arms wide. “I’m in love with him, you stupid jerk! He’s the love of my life. He’s the father of my child, your nephew. Not only does he have a right to be here, I actually want him here. Which is more than I can say for you at the moment.”

  “Have you forgotten what this fucker did, what he put you through? Christ, Shane, he broke your heart.”

  “Well, he’s in good company, because you broke it first!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud. I just snapped. My brother pushed me too far, and I didn’t have it in me to take those words back.

  The air in the room grew heavy with static. “Shaney, I—”

  “No.” I lifted my hand to stop my brother from saying anything else. “Eight years, Stone. For eight years you were the only one I had. The only person I felt like I could count on. I loved you more than anything, and you just left me.” My voice broke on those last few words, but I forced myself to continue. “It was your right to start a life wherever you wanted, I got that then and I get it now. But you left, and you hardly ever came back. It was like you just forgot about me. That’s what killed me. My brother, the person I loved more than anything in the whole world left me behind and didn’t come back. I got to see you once, maybe twice a year when you’d come for the holidays, but you’d only stay for a day or two, always running back to your new life that I wasn’t a part of. You made me feel like I didn’t matter.”

  My brother’s expression was ravaged as he whispered, “Shaney, that’s not true. You always mattered to me.”

  “That might be the case, but you haven’t made me feel that way since I was eight years old. So don’t you come in here and tell me how I should be living my life or who I should allow in it, because you lost that right a long time ago.”

  “Shane.” He gave his head a shake, looking at me like I’d just ripped the world out from beneath his feet. I knew the feeling all too well. “I-I didn’t know. Sweetheart, I didn’t know you felt like that.”

  “Because I never felt like I could tell you,” I snapped, looking up at my big brother through watery eyes. “I lost my mom and dad before I was old enough to have any real memories of them. But you . . . I had you, then I didn’t. Sure, you’d call sometimes, but those conversations never lasted long. And when I called you, you were always too busy. You made it feel like talking to me was an inconvenience you didn’t have time for.

  “I accepted that that was how our relationship was going to be a long time ago, and I let you live your life. As long as you were happy, I was happy. But this is my life, Stone, and Jensen’s going to be a part of it whether you like it or not. You can either accept that, or—” I had to stop and regroup because the words I needed to say next were going to hurt something fierce. “Or you can go back to San Francisco. I don’t want you to. Having you here these past months has meant everything to me,” I confessed quietly, placing my hands over my heart. “I lost you once, and having you back has made me happier than you can imagine. I don’t want to lose you again.”

  On that statement, I lost the battle against my tears and just let them fall. “But Jensen and Brantley are my family, and if you can’t accept that, it’s time for you to leave.”

  I hated hurting my brother, it felt like shoving a hot poker into my chest, but when I told Jensen it was just me, him, and our son, that nothing else mattered, I meant it.

  “Shaney,” Stone whispered, looking and sounding wrecked.

  “I think you should go. I need time to cool off because right now, I’m so mad at you I can’t see straight. I need you to give me that, Stone. And I need you to take some time and really think about whether or not this is something you can get on board with. But just for the record, I hope like hell you can, because I’ve really loved having my big bro back.”

  He looked like he was about to say something but thought better of it. Then, with a resolute nod, he turned on the heel of his motorcycle boot and walked out the door. I stared at it in silence for several seconds before pulling in a stuttered inhale. Jensen was there a moment later, turning me around and pulling me to him so I could faceplant in his chest and let everything I was feeling just then wash over me.

  His arms wrapped around me instantly, the hold so strong and comforting, so familiar, it was like I’d never lost it. “You okay?”

  “No,” I answered honestly. “But I will be. Just might take me a little while to get there.”

  He gave me a squeeze, bending his neck and pressing his lips to the top of my head. “He’ll get there, honey. Just give him a little time. He loves you something fierce, so he’ll get there.”

  I pulled my arms from between our bodies and wrapped them around his waist. “Thanks, baby.”

  “What do you need from me?”

  God. How did I think I could ever stop loving this man?

  “Just this,” I answered honestly. “What you’re doing right now, just holding me, it’s all I need. But as much as it pains me to say this, I’m beat. That took too much out of me. I think we may need to take a raincheck on the late-night ride.”

  Jensen pulled back just enough to place his fingers beneath my chin and tip my head back so he could see my eyes. He searched them for a second, and when he saw for himself that I was well and truly okay, he said, “Bike’s not going anywhere, sunshine. We got all the time in the world.”

  At that, I smiled huge, because he was right. We had all the time in the world.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Jensen

  The phone on my desk buzzed right before Willow’s nervous voice came through the intercom. “Mr. Rose, you have a Mr. Hendrix here to see you.”

  I paused with my hand halfway to the button. It had been three days since I got Shane back, since my family became whole, and while those three days had been incredible, I knew my woman was still stressing over the fight she’d had with her brother. She put on a brave face, acting like e
verything was perfect, but I could see the worry that lingered deep in her expressive honey-brown eyes.

  “You can send him back, Willow. And for the millionth time, will you please call me Jensen?”

  “Yes, Mr. Rose,” she replied, then the line went dead and I let out a beleaguered sigh.

  Stone rapped his knuckles on my open door a few seconds later. “Am I interruptin’?”

  “Depends,” I answered, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest. “If you’re here looking for a fight or to tell me to stay away from Shane, I’m busy. You’re here for another reason, my schedule’s open.”

  The corner of his mouth trembled as he fought back a smirk. “Not lookin’ for a fight,” he answered. “I’m here to make shit right.”

  “Then, like I said, my schedule’s open. Have a seat.”

  He moved into the office and took a seat across from my desk, kicking his long legs out and crossing his booted feet at the ankle. “So, your receptionist’s brutally shy, huh?”

  I let out a short chuckle. “To the point it’s almost painful to witness.”

  “Figured that much. Girl took one look at me and turned so white I thought she was gonna keel over outta fright.”

  “We take her as she is ’cause she’s smart as hell and damn good at her job.” Done with the small talk, I shifted my position, leaning forward in my chair and bracing my forearms on the desk. “So, you said you wanted to make shit right. Why’re you here instead of talking to your sister?”

  “I’m here ’cause the only way I know to show Shane I’m serious is by fixin’ shit with you. I came here because I wanted to apologize.”

  I could have dragged this whole thing out longer, held his behavior over his head just for the hell of it, but that wouldn’t have helped our situation, and I wanted Shane happy. Truly and completely happy. “We’re good man. I get why you were being protective, but you gotta know, I’m not gonna fuck this up again. I love your sister. She and Brantley are the most important things in my world. They’re all that matters, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure they know that. You have my word.”

  He pulled in a deep breath and let it out while nodding his head. “Guess that’s all I can ask for. I’m gonna hold you to that.”

  The corners of my mouth lifted up slightly. “Wouldn’t expect anything less. So, we’re good?”

  “All good, man.” With that settled he looked around my office for the first time. “Sweet setup you got here.”

  “Thanks. The crew actually found a box full of moonshine hidden in the floorboards when they were demoing. Probably tastes like battery acid and’ll burn away our stomach lining, but if you want, we can crack open one of the jars to commemorate the moment.”

  “Never been one to turn down free booze and I’m not about to start now.”

  I grabbed one of the jars and poured us each a shot. Sure enough, it tasted like what I imagined the fiery pits of hell would taste like, but Stone and I were good, so as soon as I stopped hallucinating that the walls were melting, I was going to consider that a win.

  Shane

  “Oh God,” I moaned, throwing my head back against Jensen’s shoulder and closing my eyes as he plowed into me, driving his thick cock deep with every thrust.

  “Eyes open,” Jensen grunted, slamming into me harder and making me cry out. “Want you to watch as you take my cock. Christ, sunshine, look how wet you are.”

  I peeled my eyes open as far as they would go and looked into the mirror in front of us. Sure enough, Jensen’s thick length was slick and shiny with my arousal, and the sight of him pumping in and out of me drove me insane.

  I’d been surprised when Brantley and I had pulled up in front of Jensen’s house earlier for our first family overnight. The place was newish and big. Most of the rooms were still lacking furniture, but what he did have was really nice.

  In spite of having a huge, state-of-the-art kitchen, my man couldn’t cook to save his life, so he’d ordered takeout from my favorite Mexican restaurant, and we’d eaten together at the island bar—since one of the things he was still lacking was a dining table.

  It had been one of the best nights of my life, hands down. He’d given us a quick tour of the house, and the more I saw the more I loved the place. After an incredible meal, we all curled up on his gigantic, squishy sectional and watched a movie on what had to have been the biggest TV I’d ever seen.

  Brantley crashed out before the end, so I trailed behind Jensen as he carried him to bed. One of the rooms that had been completed was Brantley’s, and when I got my first look at it, I nearly swooned and melted into a puddle on his polished hardwood floors.

  My boy had been in heaven. He had his own bunk beds, set up so that the top bunk was perpendicular to the bottom one, creating a cool little fort area where Jensen had set up an Avengers themed tent. The room was completely furnished and decorated with all of Brantley’s favorite things.

  Once we were sure he was down for the night, Jensen had taken my hand and led me to his room at the other end of the house. One of the big bonuses for me was that he had his own en suite. I’d never actually lived anywhere where my bedroom and bathroom were connected, so I was really looking forward to taking advantage of that convenience on the nights we stayed here. There was a big walk-in shower and separate clawfoot tub that looked big enough for two people: two things I’d always fantasized about having when I was younger.

  His bathroom was officially my favorite room in the house. I was in love with it, and when I told him so, he’d taken my hand and led me inside, stripping me so slowly that, by the time I was finally naked, I was about to come out of my skin. He’d braced my hands on the marble vanity between the two vessel sinks and proceeded to fuck me right in front of the mirror so we could—in his words—have the best view.

  His arms were snaked around my front, one large hand toying with my nipple while the other was between my legs, toying with my clit.

  “You love my cock, sunshine?” he groaned, burying his face in my neck so he could suck and nip at the sensitive skin below my ear.

  “Yeah, Jens,” I panted, the pressure growing deep in my belly, making it hard to focus. “I love it. Missed it so much.”

  He tweaked my nipple at the same time he pinched my clit and ground into me. “It missed you too, baby.”

  “Shit, Jensen,” I gasped, “I’m close, honey. So close.”

  “I can feel it,” he growled into my ear. “Christ, your pussy feels incredible. Give it to me, sunshine. Let me hear it.”

  I went off like a grenade, crying out and shouting his name as every inch of my skin broke out in goosebumps, the pleasure so intense, so mind-altering that it felt like pins and needles all over my body.

  Four thrusts later, Jensen buried himself deep and groaned into my hair as he came, his hot spurts coating my sensitive walls.

  “Fuck,” he grunted several seconds later. “I love you so goddamn much, sunshine.”

  I smiled languidly at my reflection. “I love you too.”

  Once we were able to move again, we cleaned up, threw on some pajamas, shut the lights off, and climbed into Jensen’s big, cozy bed.

  “I like your place,” I said quietly once we were situated in bed, with me on my side, his chest to my back, one strong arm banded around my waist and our legs tangled together. “It’s nice, bunny. You just need to get more furniture.”

  “Been waiting on doing that.”

  “You’ve been here a while now. What have you been waiting on?”

  “You,” he answered simply, and at that declaration, all the air whooshed from my lungs.

  “W-what?”

  “I’ve been waiting on you. I bought this house for you and Brant, hopin’ that one day you’d give me another chance. Didn’t want to fill it up with a bunch of stuff that might not be your style, so I waited.

  Holy shit. I wiggled in his hold, giving him no choice but to loosen his grip so I could flip around to face
him. “You—I—that’s . . . you bought a house for us?”

  He gave me a squeeze, pulling me closer so there was no space between our bodies. “We might have been apart for years, Shane, but every decision I’ve made in that time was made with thought to the possibility I’d hopefully win you back one day.”

  “That’s—I—” My eyes began to sting. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard,” I said with a sniffle. “And I love it. I love that you did this for us. There’s just one problem.”

  “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “All my stuff is crap, and I can’t really afford to buy a bunch of new furniture.”

  “You might not have gotten this yet, but when you took me back and told me you loved me, that was it. Lived five years without you Shane. Doing that again isn’t a possibility. There is no me without you. One day in the very near future, you’re gonna have my ring on your finger, then—after however long it takes for you to plan the wedding you want—you’ll have my last name. What’s mine is yours, baby, and what’s yours is mine. I want you to go wild. Fill this place up with anything and everything you like.”

  I placed my palm on his chest and pressed, soaking in his warmth. “I know your business is doing well, honey, but I’m not sure it’s doing well enough for me to ‘go wild’.”

  “I’ve only touched that trust my grandfather set up for two things. Even with what my father stole from you, there’s still more in there than I’d ever be able to spend in a lifetime.”

  “Wait . . . two things? I know you used it to make deposits in that account for me and Brantley, but what else did you use it for?”

  “Paid the medical bills of the guy I put in the hospital and covered all his physical therapy.”

  I leaned in deep and pressed my lips to his chest right above his heart. “You’re a good man, Jensen,” I whispered.

  “It was the right thing to do. What happened to him, that was on me. I wanted to make sure he had every chance at getting back to his normal life. I kept tabs a bit over the years. Last I checked, he was married with two kids, living in Kentucky.”