by Sophia Gray
My fingers flew over the tiny keyboard as I quickly texted Marie that I was leaving. “I hope you’ll come see me off,” I finished the text with. I tossed my phone onto the bed beside me. “I just don’t want us to be fighting anymore,” I said, staring up at the ceiling as I flopped back.
“Maybe the situation between you two needs more time.” Pax came over and patted my knee. “I don’t want to come between you two.”
“She doesn’t know the whole story, just some vague hints about the bad stuff. Of course she hates you.”
“Hard to see why.” Pax held out his hands in an ‘I’m-always-innocent’ kind of way. “I’m perfect.”
If there had been a pillow on the bed, I would’ve flung it at him. “Sure you are.”
“Hey.” He frowned, pretending to pout, but then he pounced on me, tickling me, and it was glorious and fun, and it completely took my mind off my worries.
Two hours passed, and we were all packed up and ready to hit the road. There wasn’t a whole lot we could take with his. Pax had fixed up an old motorcycle for me, and he gave it to me last night. I had gotten my license to drive one back when we had first started dating, but since we had always gone everywhere together, there hadn’t been a point in my having one of my own. “Don’t think of it as a present,” he had said. “It’s an investment in our future.”
My heart warmed at his words, and I ran my fingers across the smooth seat.
A car honked, and I glanced up to see a taxi. Marie climbed out. She didn’t exactly rush over, but she was here.
Pax nodded at her. She ignored him. I wasn’t at all surprised when he headed back toward the clubhouse to give us some privacy.
I rushed over to her and nearly plowed into her as I hugged her hard. “You came.”
“You’re leaving.” Her gaze shifted to Pax, who had just reached the front door. “With him.”
“Yes.” I stared at her, willing her to hear me out. “I never once told you anything good about Pax. All of the great times we’ve had together. I only ever used you as a sounding board when things got tough. That wasn’t right. It painted an awful picture of him.”
She raised her eyebrows but didn’t interrupt.
“Yes, he was a bad man, and he did horrible things. His past, his upbringing… It was hell. Seriously hellish. That’s no excuse for what he’s done. I know that. He knows that. But, Marie, he’s a changed man. I swear he is.”
“How can you be so sure?” There wasn’t a hint of disbelief in her voice this time. She was just asking a question, reserving judgment.
“We’re leaving,” I said simply. “Leaving the MC. Leaving behind the shit from his past. That bad stuff I hinted to you about before the car accident? He’s done with all of that. He’s a changed man,” I repeated. “If you would give him a chance, I think you might like him. He’s not perfect, but then again, neither are you, and I love you anyway.” I grinned at her then held my breath, waiting for a reaction.
Marie tilted her head, considering. Then she nodded. “I don’t like Pax. I don’t know if I ever will. But that he wants to leave his… what did you call it? His shitty past? That he wants to leave that behind and he’s not involved in whatever mess he had been… that he wants to get out of here and live a better life with you, that I can respect. And that’s as good as you’re going to get.”
I hugged her again.
She laughed. “I can’t breathe!”
I had my sister back. I had Pax minus the darkness.
I had the world at my fingertips.
I felt invincible.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Pax
The women were talking and laughing and hugging. As much as Marie and I have been at odds, for basically forever, I wanted the two of them to be happy. Jasmine needed her sister and I didn’t want to come between them. Family, true and honest family, wasn’t easy to come by.
It was starting to get late though, and we should hit the road. I walked away from the window, exited the clubhouse, and strolled over to them, thumbs hooked through the loops in the front of my jeans. “Everything all good now?” I asked, eyes only for Jasmine.
She nodded and wiped tears away. The good kind of tears, I could tell. “Yes.”
Marie one-armed hugged Jasmine protectively. “You aren’t going to run off with her and never let her see her family again, are you?” she asked accusingly.
“Still distrusting.” I frowned. “Of course I won’t keep her from her family. I wish I had family too.”
“Your father,” Jasmine pointed out.
“Yeah. I guess he’s not so bad.” Even my resentment toward my father was starting to go away. I really did feel like a free man.
“Well…” Marie shrugged. “Good luck, you two.” She hugged Jasmine then stared at me. After a moment, she held out her hand.
I shook it. “Thank you.”
“I just realized I forgot something. Be right back. Don’t leave yet, Marie!” Jasmine darted to the clubhouse, leaving me alone with her sister.
Wow, talk about awkward. I cleared my throat. “I swear I’ll do right by her.”
“Do you even know right from wrong?” she asked quietly.
“She can be my conscious.”
Marie pursed her lips.
“Why do you hate me so much?” I asked.
“Jasmine told me—”
“She told me she only ever told you the bad stuff. And there’s a lot of that, yes, but no more. That’s not me. But I was wondering why you have hated me from the second you met me, before Jasmine even knew about the other stuff.” Right from the start, Marie had always had a beef with me.
She picked at her nails, not looking at me.
“Hey, I’m not asking for your dark secrets. I…” I couldn’t. “I’m not willing to share mine with you either. I just want to know why you hated me. I get why you hate me now—”
“I don’t hate you. Well, if you do anything to endanger Jasmine, I will not only hate you, I’ll kill you.”
I blinked at her ferocity.
“I know you got shot at, that you’re involved in some deep shit.”
“Not anymore. I swear it. Walking away from all of that. Riding away.” I pointed to our bikes. “Leaving it all behind. I swear. Jasmine deserves better than that. She’ll never be in danger. She’ll want for nothing. We’re going to work, Marie. We’re going into this for—”
“The long haul.”
“No. For forever.”
She squinted at me.
I dug into my pocket and removed a ring box. A different ring box. Jasmine deserved a different ring than the one I hadn’t even asked to give to Allie.
Marie’s eyes widened. “You’re going to…”
“When the moment is right.” I tucked it away. “Once we’re settled. Once she’s back on her feet with a job and paying back her bills. Once I get a new job—”
“Which will be?”
“I want to be a police officer. Work my way up to detective.”
“You? A cop?” She snorted.
The only way it was a possibility was because Eyebrow had hacked into the local police station’s computer system and located and deleted my DNA from the blood they had found in the apartment from their system. Otherwise, when they would have tested me for the academy, they would’ve matched my blood to that at the murder scene. But now I could put the skills I had honed for years to good use. Jasmine had asked me multiple times why I couldn’t just let the police handle the pedophiles. Well, if I was the police, I could.
“It’s what I want,” I said simply, not caring if Marie understood.
She glanced at the clubhouse, so I did too, but there was no sign of Jasmine. She sighed deeply, and when I looked back at her, her face was troubled.
“What is it?” I asked. “I swear I—”
“It’s not you. Well, some of it was. Her telling me that you’re a bad guy and all of that… but even before… you’re right. I have always hated you. Li
sten, don’t tell any of this to Jasmine, ok? I might one day. I might not.” She took a deep breath.
I nodded and crossed my arms.
“My first serious boyfriend was a biker. Big, tough, hot, amazing in bed…” She flushed. “But he was also an asshole. He would use me as a punching bag. Beat me up. I don’t mean a slap here and there. He almost broke my arm once, and one night, he threw me into the coffee table, and I had to get stitches.”
Guys who hit women were as bad as pedos. It twisted my stomach to realize why she was telling me this. “I reminded you of him,” I said slowly.
“Yes.” She stared me down. “Leaving him wasn’t easy. He stalked me. It didn’t matter to him that I had a restraining order against him. He wouldn’t give me a moment of peace.”
“What a fucking asshole.”
“You got that right. One night…” She glanced at the clubhouse again. “He came after me at a bar. He was so drunk. Swung a punch at me. Missed and hit another guy. They got into it. Security tried to separate them. They ended up calling the cops. Here it turns out my ex-boyfriend had been wanted in another state for assault and battery. As far as I know, he’s still rotting in jail, where he belongs.”
“Good.” I winced. “I mean, good that he’s in jail, not that you went through all of that. And Jasmine has no idea?”
“She doesn’t tell me everything, so why should I tell her everything? But life’s been much kinder to me ever since.” Her face transformed as she smiled, and I could tell she was thinking about her husband. “I just want Jasmine to be happy, bottom line.”
“Me too. If I don’t make her happy, I’ll set her free.” Not that that would happen.
“That’s why you’re not asking her right away. You know she would say yes if you did.”
I nodded, a lump forming in my throat. We needed some peace, some time for ourselves away from the whole mess that had been our lives. We needed to just be Pax and Jasmine. Then we could get our lives in order and work everything out. And then we could be together forever, but only after we had our legs firmly planted in the real world. For so long, I had felt adrift, like I was in an endless nightmare, only seeing the Paxs and darkness of the world. Now my eyes were opened, and I could rejoin society. I needed purpose and a goal. So did Jasmine. Once we were settled, we could take the next step with our relationship. There was no need to rush.
“No more bad stuff? No more being a bad guy?” Marie asked suddenly.
“Not at all. I don’t know if you believe me or not, but I swear I want to do right by her.”
“Well, leaving here for a new life is the best way to get started.” Marie nodded and held out her hand again. We shook. “You do make her happy. I can tell. I thought she was just blinded by your looks and your bedroom prowess. I thought she didn’t see any of your flaws or that she made excuses for them. Or that she wanted to change you, and we all know that never works out.”
“I am changed,” I protested.
“Not just because of her, though. I can tell you’ve changed. There is something different about you. I’m not sure what exactly it is, but it’s because you wanted to change.”
“I’m not changing for her,” I said slowly.
Marie snapped her fingers. “You’re changing for you. And that’s why I think it might last. That it will work for you two. I’m sure you changed a little for her, but you can’t make a lasting change if it’s only for another person.”
“So you give me your blessing to propose to her one day?”
“Make her happy and keep her happy first and we’ll see.” But Marie was grinning. At me. It was a miracle.
Silence fell then, but it wasn’t awkward.
A minute later, Jasmine came back out. I couldn’t help noticing she didn’t bring anything with her.
Marie obviously noticed too because she put her hands on her hips. “You just wanted us to talk!”
“Maybe.” Jasmine giggled. “And you two did so…” She glanced from her sister to me and back again. “Well? Are you two on better terms now?”
“I guess.” Marie huffed and rolled her eyes.
We all laughed.
The sisters hugged, and then Marie surprised me by hugging me too. “I know you’ll treat her right,” she murmured in my ear.
“I will,” I vowed.
The taxi had been waiting this entire time, and Marie climbed in and took off.
Now it was just Jasmine and me. Just how I liked it.
I pulled Jasmine close to me. Her hair smelled of strawberries, and her body felt so right against mine. “I promise that I will always take care of you.” The lump in my throat grew bigger. My heart felt like it was too full. So much of my life had been darkness, but this woman in my arms was my sun, my light.
I had wanted her to be my salvation. Instead, she had helped me to find it myself.
“I will always look out for your best interests. I know that leaving all of this…” I nodded toward the clubhouse. “It’s not going to be easy. We’re going to miss them. Not everything here was all bad.”
“No, it wasn’t.” She nuzzled against me.
“You’re putting your trust in me, and I take that very seriously. Jasmine, you mean the world to me. I don’t ever want to lose you.”
“You won’t,” she whispered.
We kissed. I wasn’t sure who initiated it, but it didn’t matter. It was all passion and heat, and power and love. Fire. Brightness. A spark.
A new beginning.
I was gasping for air when we pulled apart. I hugged her tight and nibbled on her earlobe. “I can’t wait until we get to the hotel.”
We had booked a room for the night at a place several hours away. In my pack, I had a map, and we would decide what city, hell what state, in the morning. It was exciting, living on the edge like this, with just the small saddlebags on our bikes and nothing else.
“Why can’t you wait?” Her heavy breathing told me she knew exactly where I was going with this.
Just thinking about what I wanted to do to her had me rock hard already. “I’m going to help you undress and—”
“Not rip my clothes off?”
“No. I’m going to take my time with you. It’s going to be slow…” I nuzzled my nose against her neck. “It’s going to be tender…” I kissed just below her ear, and she shivered. “It’s going to be passionate…” I pulled back and stared into her eyes, wondering at the love I saw reflected there.
“I think I like the sound of that.” Her grin was naughty.
“And that’s just for the first time we make love tonight,” I continued. “The second time can be as rough and wild and as crazy as you like.”
“I do like rough and wild and crazy. And I like tender and passionate too.” Jasmine was practically purring. I loved how my dirty talk could turn her on so easily.
“I’m going to eat out your pussy and let you suck my cock—”
“At the same time?”
I grinned wickedly. “Yes. In the shower, if you want. Anywhere. Any position. I want it all with you.”
“Mmm. I can get onboard with that.”
“There’s a new position I want to try.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” I grabbed one of her legs and wrapped it around me, pressing my erection against her. “Just imagine all of the things we haven’t tried yet. It might be any one of them or it might be something you never thought of before.”
“I can think of a lot of things I want to try with you, want to do with you, to you.” She smiled suggestively and bit her lower lip. “I’m willing to try any new position.”
“Or two or three.” I squeezed her tits through her shirt.
“You gonna have the stamina for all of this in one night?”
“Don’t you worry about me. If you can handle it, I can.”
“Oh, I’ll be able to handle it.” She kissed the corner of my mouth. Damn tease. “I can handle you.”
“Is that a promise?” I as
ked hoarsely.
“Oh, yes,” she murmured, looking up at me through lowered lashes.
After a few more kisses—all right, a lot more than a few—we finally made it onto our bikes and drove off. I felt like a new man, one who could take the world by storm. I was free and with the only woman I would ever love. The future might be uncertain, but I was a survivor, and so was she. With her by my side, I could do anything.
