UNBROKEN: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 2)

by Kiss, Tabatha

  “What about Charlie?”

  “Dad will be fine, Claire,” he smiles. “I’m sure he doesn’t want his son living at home forever anyway.”

  My panic shifts, illuminating a truth that had not occurred to me until now. “Tobias…” I shake my head. “This is my home, too.”

  “I know.”

  “I don’t want to leave,” I admit. “This is the first place I’ve ever felt truly wanted…”

  He pushes my hair back from my face. “We can always come back, but…” A smile strikes his lips, so real and true. “Claire, I believe in my instincts. Right now, they’re telling me to get you as far away from this place as I can and I have to listen to them.”

  I open my mouth to argue, but he silences me with a quick kiss, his lips as warm and comforting as they’ve ever been. “Tobias—”

  “Please, Claire,” he whispers, landing a second kiss. He pulls me even closer until his body presses against mine. I can feel his heart, racing wildly in his chest, beating just for me. “Please…” His fingers crawl up my arm and come to rest at the back of my head, holding me in place as his tongue tastes my own.

  He begs this of me. His voice, his body — all begging me to abandon this world in favor of us. I moan softly as his hands move along the curve of my body, passing by my breasts and hips, pushing beneath my shirt to feel the sensitive skin of my lower back. He knows the exact spot to caress, the one that sends shivers throughout my body. I can’t fight his seduction. I stand as much of a chance against him in his bed as I do against him in the ring.

  His lips fall to my neck and I swoon as he pushes my knees apart. Quick breaths fire passed my lips as he shifts me onto my back, his strength moving me exactly where he wants me to be. I feel his body in the darkness. He towers over me, watching me as my hands run over his perfect abs, traveling down to his rock hard manhood. I barely touch it, tenting out of his loose-fitting sweats, before he reaches down and grips my wrists to pin me against his bed.

  There’s a fire in his gaze, driven mad by lust and fear. He kisses me softly and I feel the trembling of his lips against mine. “Tobias…” I whisper, fighting my desire for him. “We shouldn’t do this here…”

  His grip tightens around my wrists. There’s a growl on his breath, low and desperate as an animal. He licks his lips. “I have to feel you…” he begs. “Let me be inside of you…” He releases one of my wrists and moves his hand down my body, grazing my hard nipple as he aims for my warm sex.

  “Tobias—” I sigh, unable to stop the intense pleasure throbbing through my body. He touches my slit, gently tapping my soaking lips. My head falls back, the teasing ecstasy overwhelming me, and he licks and bites at the skin of my exposed neck.

  I lie still, aching only for him, unable to resist him. He pushes himself up and quickly slides my panties down to my curling toes. He lowers his pants as well, letting them settle just below the curve of his rear, and his firm cock stands on end between us.

  He balances on his knees and takes hold of my hips to pull me closer until his thickness presses against my opening. My fingers grip the pillow beneath my head. I hold my breath to keep from screaming his name. He stares down at me like a warrior, his lips curling in delicious agony. His eyes lock on mine as he slowly slides his thick tip inside of me.

  I bite my bottom lip, twitching with the delicious pain it brings. “Oh, god—” I moan.

  “Shh,” he warns, completely in control of his passions. His strong fingers dig into my hips again and he pulls me closer, sheathing himself deeper inside of me. He inhales sharply, his nails poking at my skin, and he closes his eyes to focus and experience me.

  My body quivers, but he holds me steady with his hands. He lingers above me, firm as stone. His cock twitches inside, begging to thrust, but he denies it the satisfaction.

  After several moments of silent torment, he leans forward onto his hands and slowly lowers his lips to mine. “I love you, Claire…” he tells me, whispering softly in my ear. “Always.”

  I push my fingers through his jet black hair, stirring his scent to my nostrils. “Always,” I repeat.

  Tobias lays beside me and he embraces me until the sun rises.

  ***

  I stare across the kitchen table at Tobias and wish that I could reach out and push his hair back. It’s fallen down in front of his eyes. I’ve barely seen those round irises of forest green in days. He’s kept them from me since he begged me to leave with him. He’s waiting for me to give in and say that I’ll run away with him, but I can’t bring myself to submit to the idea yet. I want to so badly, I can feel it in the very marrow of my bones, but I don’t want to run away from the life I’ve built here.

  “So…” My eyes jolt away from Tobias as Charlie’s voice breaks the long, deafening silence. He sits to my left with his fork balanced between two fingers. His eyes shift back and forth between us. “Do I need to ask what’s going on?”

  “No,” Tobias says quickly.

  Charlie looks at me. “Everything okay?”

  I force a smile. “Yes,” I answer. “Everything is fine.” I finally meet Tobias’ eyes and he sits up a little taller in his chair. He opens his mouth to speak, but a knock on the front door interrupts him. “I’ll get it,” I say. “It’s probably Amy…”

  “Do you two have plans tonight?” Charlie asks.

  “No,” I say, glancing over my shoulder as I enter the living room. “But who else would it be?”

  “Good point.”

  I open the front door and pause as every muscle in my body turns to broken glass. Lillian stands on the porch, her red hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. I open my mouth to speak, but I don’t know where to begin. Charlie is within earshot and I’m not that great at improvisation.

  “Hello, Claire,” she says. Her hands hang in front of her with her fingers clasped around a black leather clutch.

  I hear the sudden scratch of a chair against the kitchen floor and I turn to see Tobias striding into the living room. “What are you doing here?” he asks quickly, his voice a fierce whisper above my shoulder.

  “My apologies,” she says, glancing between the two of us. “But I’m not here to see either of you.”

  We both turn around as Charlie’s boot taps into the entryway. He pauses with his teeth clenched against his inner cheek. “Lily,” he says.

  “Charles,” Lillian replies. “May I have a moment of your time?”

  He nods slowly. “Come on in.”

  I look at Tobias. “Lily?” I mouth silently. He shrugs his shoulders in response, looking just as confused as I am.

  “Will you two excuse us, please?” Charlie asks as Lillian crosses the threshold into the living room.

  Tobias places his hand on my back and gives me a light push towards the door. “No problem,” he says, trying to act as casually as possible. I keep my mouth shut, still too stunned to form words. I step outside onto the porch and Tobias follows closely, closing the door behind him.

  “Lily?” I ask again in the driveway. “Charles? Tobias, what’s going on?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Did you know they knew each other?”

  “No.”

  “Why is she here?”

  “Claire, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that we’re both on the exact same page here.”

  I bite my lip, but I don’t want to stop talking. “If Charlie knows Lillian, then he probably knows about the Alphas.”

  Tobias exhales and nudges me closer to the barn. “Keep your voice down…”

  “It’s true, isn’t it?” I ask.

  “Maybe.”

  “Tobias—”

  “Claire, stay calm.” He guides me into the barn and quickly slides the door closed behind us. “We don’t know anything yet. They could be talking about anything.”

  “Let’s just say he knows about the Alphas,” I continue, unable to stop the spew of words from tumbling off my lips. “Now he knows that we know Lillian. He’s going
to put it all together.”

  “No, he’s not.”

  “The late nights out. You coming home covered in bruises — getting stabbed. Charlie’s too smart not to figure it out, Tobias!”

  He spins around and grabs my shoulders. “Claire… calm down.” His eyes — bright and green as summer leaves — hold my attentions with ease. “Everything is going to be fine.”

  Every lie. They all force their way to the surface all at once. Every time I told Charlie I was going to movies with Amy when she was really teaching me how to be an Alpha Dame. Every time we blamed Tobias’ bruises on factory equipment or his motorbike.

  Every single lie.

  “I can’t lose this place, Tobias…” I whisper.

  He smirks. “What are you talking about?”

  “This is my home.” My lips tremble. “He’s going to kick me out—”

  “Hey—” Tobias cups my face, his lips curling into a smile. “He’s not going to kick you out.”

  “I have nowhere else to go.”

  He wipes a tear off my cheek with his thumb. “You have nothing to be worried about,” he chuckles.

  “This isn’t funny—”

  “Yes, it is.” He shakes his head. “Claire, you are his family.”

  Family. It’s a shaky concept for me. I have my mother, but even she hasn’t always there when I needed her. My real father abandoned us so early on in my life, I barely remember his face. My stepfather rejected me the moment he laid eyes on me. As far as I’m concerned, unconditional love is a myth told to children to give them false hope. There’s always something — an unspoken criteria — that will bring the entire concept of love crashing down.

  “He’ll hate me…” I mutter.

  “That’s impossible,” Tobias argues. “Claire, he loves you as much as I do.”

  I blink, overwhelmed with aching doubt. “We might just have to leave this place after all…”

  Tobias slides a finger beneath my chin. “Claire, if we leave,” he says, “it won’t be because of him.”

  The sound of a car starting breaks the silence and Tobias moves to the barn door to check. “It’s Lillian,” he says, glancing through the small crack in the door.

  “She’s leaving?” I ask, stepping forward to peak over his shoulder.

  “Looks like.”

  “That was fast…” I say as I slowly move away from the door. I tap my a fingernail between my teeth as they chatter nervously together. “What did she want?” I ask, but I don’t expect an answer from him.

  Tobias turns towards me. “We should go back inside and find out.”

  I stand there, paralyzed by the unknown, shaking my head back and forth. “I can’t…” I whisper.

  Tobias strides back to me. “Claire, trust me.”

  “No, I mean… I can’t lie to him anymore, Tobias.”

  He pauses. “Let’s just find out what he knows first, okay?”

  It’s not what I want, but it’s the best I’ll get right now. “Okay,” I answer.

  “Come on,” he says again, this time interlocking his fingers with mine to keep me close to him. He leads me out of the barn, my cheeks burning more and more with each step we take into the house.

  I hear Charlie in the kitchen, his feet pacing around the white linoleum floor.

  “Tobias. Claire.”

  My palms instantly turn sweaty and Tobias squeezes my hand a little tighter before pulling me into the kitchen with him. I can barely lift my eyes to look at Charlie. I already feel his piercing gaze, just as green as his son’s, staring at me with pained disappointment. It’s oddly familiar, bringing back memories of the first few days living beneath his tutelage.

  “Tobias, I’d like to speak with Claire alone for a minute,” Charlie says. The crushing weight slides a little farther down on my shoulders, but Tobias refuses to drop my trembling hand.

  “Actually, Dad, I’d rather stay here,” he replies. I look up at him and he gives me a quick, subtle nod before looking across the kitchen at his father again.

  “Fine,” Charlie says. “Sit down then. Both of you.”

  Tobias keeps his hold on my hand until he pulls out my chair for me and sits down in the one next to it. I lower myself slowly, feeling my knees buckle on the way down. It’s over; I can feel it already. I’m doomed, once again tossed out from a world I know into one I don’t belong in, forced to carve out a fresh life for myself with no means to do so. As optimistic as Tobias is about leaving, I’m not sure it will be as easy as he thinks it will be and I’m not the least bit excited to find out the answer to that.

  Charlie takes the seat across from us and silently stares at the two of us for a long moment before speaking. “How do you know Lily Tombs?” he asks us both.

  “How do you know Lillian Tombs?” Tobias asks.

  “I’ve known her for twenty years,” Charlie answers. “There are plenty of legitimate reasons for that, but from what I can deduce, there’s only one reason why you would know her, but I’m having a hard time believing it’s possible because that would mean my son has been hiding it from me for Lord knows how long—”

  “It’s true,” I mutter. I feel Tobias’ eyes dart in my direction, but I ignore their urge for my silence. “I know Lillian through the Midwest Alphas. Amy recruited me in.”

  Charlie looks at me and sighs. “I was afraid of that.” He looks at Tobias. “How about you?”

  I chose my words carefully, incriminating only myself. Tobias can still keep his secret and I’ll keep my word to not tell Charlie to the day I die, if that’s what he wants. At this point, Charlie holds mere speculation, unless Lillian told him otherwise. I glance at Tobias and I watch as he stares back at his father, unblinking.

  “I joined the Alphas last year,” he finally says.

  Charlie’s eyes jump back and forth between us with a mix of disappointment and fear that I can’t quite pin down. He rests against his hands, fingers interlocked in front of his chin. “Do you have any idea how much danger you’ve put yourselves in?” he asks.

  “Yes,” Tobias answers.

  “No.” Charlie shakes his head with amusement. “No, I highly doubt you’re aware of even half the danger you’re exposed to right now.”

  “What did Lillian come here for?” I ask, my voice squeaking through my throat.

  Charlie’s eyes fall on me. “Many years ago,” he begins, “I got Lily out of a bad situation. I told her to leave this place and not come back unless… unless he ever tried to find her again. In that case, I told her to come straight here to me.”

  “If who ever tried to find her again?” I ask.

  He reaches up and scratches his cheek. “My brother, Thomas.”

  My stepfather. I look at Tobias, but he seems just as confused as I am.

  “Lillian formed her little fighting league about fifteen years ago,” Charlie continues. “You, Tobias — you were about seven years old. Mary was only two. And your mother,” he pauses, swallowing hard, “well, she and Lily were best friends, along with Marcie Jones.”

  “Amy’s mother?” I ask.

  “I don’t remember that,” Tobias says.

  “You wouldn’t,” Charlie explains, his lips curling slightly. “She was very good at hiding things, especially from me.”

  “They formed the Alphas?” I ask.

  “When I found out, I was furious,” he says. “I was a cop. What would the department do if they found out my wife was involved in something like that right under my nose?”

  “Mom was an Alpha Dame?”

  I look at Tobias again. His jaw hangs open slightly, disbelief dripping off every syllable of his voice.

  “One of the first,” Charlie nods and a chuckle strikes his lips. “Hell, it was her idea to hang that damn punching bag up in the barn — told you to practice every day, grow up big and strong.”

  Tobias looks down, his eyes falling closed.

  “She quit shortly after, because I asked her to. In exchange, I kept my mouth shut abo
ut the whole thing. Turned out to be pretty good timing, as she started to get pretty sick after that…” He pauses as he forces a lump back down his throat.

  “What about Thomas?” I ask, shifting the focus away from what has to be a sore topic for both of them.

  “Thomas…” Charlie shakes his head. “My brother was madly in love with Lily Tombs, even broke up his marriage for her. They dated for a long while, but she always had a pinkie out the door. Straying eyes and what have you. One night, she showed up on our porch with two black eyes and a broken arm, asking me for help.”

  I flinch and Tobias shifts in his seat. His fingers reach for mine, slowly wrapping around my wrist beneath the table.

  “I helped Lily relocate to St. Louis,” he continues. “Got a decent job lined up for her, too, but of course, she quit that in favor of expanding her enterprise.” A small chuckle flutters his chest. “It was after that young women started showing up here, broken or abused. Lily sent me, they’d say. She told me you could help me. It wasn’t long until word got around that this was the place to go and it stuck.”

  “What did Thomas do?” I ask, fighting the rush of tears slowly building on my lashes.

  “He tracked her down a few months later,” he says. “By then, Lily had amassed quite the loyal army of fighters for herself.”

  “They drove him out,” I say, smiling at the idea of a happy ending.

  Charlie nods. “He couldn’t get near her, so he packed up and fled south. Took young Rick along with him. They went everywhere: Texas, Mississippi, Alabama. Moved around every few months. It wasn’t until a few years later I found out why.”

  “The Double Ex Kings,” Tobias mutters the realization aloud.

  My jaw drops. “No…” I whisper.

  “It was all his idea,” Charlie confirms. “Bigger, better fighters. Better than Lily’s Alphas.” His eyes fall on Tobias. “A league out of reach to women that needed to learn their place.”

  My eyes bounce between them. “What does this mean?” I ask.

  “It means…” Tobias sighs. “That he’s been taking over Alpha territory to start a war with Lillian.”