Talon stood. “I’m going to find something to drink around here. Do you want anything?”
I wasn’t thirsty, but I did need to go to the bathroom. “No, but could you stay here a minute in case someone comes out with any news? I need to use the restroom.”
He sat back down. “Sure.”
I kissed the top of his head and headed out to find the bathroom. As I turned the corner into a different hallway, I stopped.
At the end of the hallway stood Nico, talking to— Was it Larry? I squinted. It was a long hallway, but damned if it didn’t look like my boss, Larry Wade. What the hell was he doing here?
The man who looked like Larry turned, met my gaze, and then pulled Nico around the corner. I walked swiftly and then began running, but by the time I reached the end of the hallway, the two men had vanished.
Had it been Larry? Had it even been Nico? My senses weren’t functioning all that well. My knees buckled. What was going on?
I leaned against the wall and breathed deeply. When I finally made sense of my environment, I turned and found a ladies’ room.
A few minutes later, I walked back to the waiting area. Talon still sat, leafing through a sports magazine.
“Any news?”
He shook his head.
I sat down next to him and fidgeted.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing. I just thought I saw…” What? My mom’s boyfriend talking to my sleazy boss? So what?
“Saw what?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.” I couldn’t deal with what I’d seen and what the implications might be. Right now, I had to deal with my mother.
“Will you be okay for a few minutes? I’m going to go and find that drink. You want anything?”
I shook my head.
He returned a few minutes later with a bottle of Coke and sat down. He put his arm around me, and I snuggled into his shoulder.
And waited.
About an hour later, a woman in scrubs approached us. “Ms. Roberts?”
“Yes?”
“I’m Dr. Rosenblum, your mother’s orthopedic surgeon. Her trauma surgeon, Dr. Melvin, is still in surgery with her.”
“Is she all right?”
“She’s holding her own. She’s a strong lady.”
“What’s going on, then?”
“She has a shattered knee and a severely bruised pelvis. She’s lucky she didn’t break her pelvis. That’s a six month recovery. She also has several fractured ribs. I’ve repaired the knee as best I can, but she may require a knee replacement if my repairs don’t take. But right now, her bones are the least of our concerns. She had some internal bleeding. Dr. Melvin is finishing those repairs now. He’ll be out to see you when he’s done.”
“Was he able to stop the bleeding?”
“Yes, we think so. He’ll be able to tell you more when he comes out.”
“Then that’s good, right?”
She pursed her lips. Her head didn’t move. No nod. No shake. “Yes, for the internal bleeding, but Ms. Roberts, your mother is in a coma. She may have a brain injury.”
“What?”
“We’ll have a neurologist do a thorough evaluation once she’s stable.”
“Once she’s stable? Do it now, for God’s sake.”
Talon tugged at my hand. “Jade—”
I pulled my hand away. “No, Talon.” I regarded the doctor. “Do it now. Do everything you have to do.”
“Ms. Roberts, please believe me. We’re doing everything we can right now.” Her eyes spoke the truth.
“Does my mother have a chance?” I asked.
She smiled. “From what I’ve seen, I think she has a good chance. But Dr. Melvin— Oh, here he is now.”
A large man in scrubs walked up to us. He held out his hand to me. “Ms. Roberts?”
I nodded.
“Jim Melvin. Your mother is stable for now. She’s being transferred to the ICU for the rest of the night. We’ll reevaluate in the morning.”
I gulped. I should be asking questions, but none came to the surface.
“She’ll get the best care here,” Dr. Rosenblum said soothingly. “I can’t tell you not to worry, but at least get some sleep.”
“I want to see her.”
Dr. Melvin nodded. “All right. But only for a minute. And I have to warn you, she has a lot of contusions and lacerations. She won’t look normal to you.”
The doctors led me to the ICU and into my mother’s cubicle.
I gasped. She was hooked up to myriad machines, and her skin was gray and pasty. Her lips were cut, both eyes were blackened, and one was so swollen that the eyelid had turned inside out.
“She may require some facial reconstruction eventually,” Dr. Rosenblum said. “But obviously we’re more focused on keeping her alive right now.”
Her heart monitor blipped slowly. “Why is her pulse so slow?” I asked.
“It’s the anesthesia,” the doctor said. “It’s fine. As the drugs wear off, it will go back up to normal. She’s on a lot of pain meds right now—”
A buzzing soared into my brain.
“Shit,” Dr. Rosenblum said. “Crash cart!”
The buzzing turned to beeping—from my mother’s machines. My heart beat in tandem with the equipment. My skin turned to ice.
“You’re going to have to leave,” the doctor said, ushering me out.
“But my mother!”
“We’ll do all we can for her.” She pushed me out the door.
Chapter Four
Talon
In a daze, Jade stumbled back into the waiting room. I stood and rushed to her.
“What’s wrong?”
“My mom is crashing. Or something. They wouldn’t tell me. Her monitors started blaring. I don’t know.”
I crushed her to me. I wanted to hold her and protect her from all that was wrong in this cruel world. I hadn’t been able to protect myself, but goddamnit, I would protect her from the evil and cruelty that surrounded all of us.
But I couldn’t. I had no control over what happened to her mother. I hadn’t been able to save my own mother, and I couldn’t save hers either.
She wilted against me, and I helped her sit down. All we could do now was wait.
A half hour later, the female doctor came out.
Jade stood. “My mother?”
“She’s stable,” the doctor said. “For now.”
“Thank God.” Jade wilted back into her chair.
“You need to get some sleep, Ms. Roberts. You’re no good to your mother like this. Go home. I promise we’ll call you if there are any changes.”
“She’s right,” I said.
“No.” Jade shook her head. “I don’t want to go.”
“Then let’s at least get a room nearby for the night.”
She sniffed. “All right. But I don’t want to be more than a couple blocks away.”
“We can handle that, blue eyes.” I turned to the doctor. “Thank you for your help. Do you have our contact information?”
“Just leave it at the front desk when you go.”
I nodded and walked Jade to the elevator.
It was going to be a long night.
* * *
“Two rooms,” I said to the guy at the front desk of the Carlton.
Jade held on to my arm, her eyes glazed over. I handed the guy my credit card, signed, and took the key cards.
Both on the fifth floor. Good. “Okay, come on, blue eyes.” I led her to the elevator and pushed five. When we stepped out, I turned right to the first room. I slid the key in the slot and opened the door.
“Here you go. This is your room,” I said.
She turned. “What do you mean, my room?”
I knew what was coming. “Your room. Mine is down the hall.”
“Oh, no. You’re staying with me. I need you tonight, Talon.”
“Baby, you know I can’t do that. Remember what happened the last time I slept with you?” I’d never forg
et, waking up and finding my hands around Jade’s neck. I couldn’t risk that happening again. Even though I’d worked through it with my therapist, I still wasn’t ready to sleep with her.
I couldn’t take the chance of hurting her.
She shook her head vehemently. “No. Please. No.”
“I’ll be right down the hall. I promise. If you need me, just call me.”
“Talon, please. This is my mom. I didn’t think she meant as much to me as she does. This is surprising me how much I’m freaking out. But all of a sudden, I want my mother so much. My dad is on his way. He’ll be in sometime tomorrow.” She looked down at her watch. “Okay, sometime today, but it won’t be until later. He’s driving in from Denver. Please.”
“I can’t, blue eyes. I can’t take the chance.”
She yanked on my arm, pulling me inside. The hotel door closed, and she grabbed my cheeks and pulled me down into a kiss.
The kiss was violent. We’d had kisses like this before, yes, but this one was different. Jade was so…needy.
Usually, I was the needy one.
I wasn’t used to anyone needing me. Sure, my brothers and Marj said they needed me, but they didn’t. Not really. No one had ever needed me the way Jade did now.
She clung to me as though her life depended on it, and then she broke the kiss with a gasp. “Please, Talon, don’t leave me. I’ll never ask you for another thing. I promise.”
Something in her eyes made me stay. She was scared, genuinely afraid of losing her mother, whom I’d never heard her say a kind word about. But sometimes emotion ran so deep a person didn’t even know it was there. I, of all people, understood that.
I nodded slightly. I’d stay, at least until she fell asleep. The room had two beds. I could sleep in the other, or I could go to my own room. Yes, I’d have to go to my own room. But later.
“Please”—she started sobbing—“I can’t be alone tonight. I just can’t.”
“Shh,” I said against her hair. “I won’t leave you, baby. I’m here for you. Whatever you need.”
Truer words had never crossed my lips. I was here for her, and I would do whatever she needed me to do. All she had to do was ask, and I would be there. I knew this in the depths of my soul.
She pulled back a bit, her steely blue gaze meeting mine. “I need you to make love to me, Talon. Love me. Show me what’s really important in life.”
We hadn’t been together since I’d taken her anal virginity and freaked myself out in the process. But now was not the time to think of myself. I needed to think of Jade, put her needs above mine.
I wanted to put her needs above mine.
This was a new feeling for me. I’d spent so much of my life balled up in a spiral of self-pity that I never considered what others around me might need. Sure, I put in my work at the ranch, I did my duty overseas. I’d always done what was expected of me, but I never worried about benefiting anyone other than myself.
Jade had pierced my veil of self-pity, had crawled right under my wall.
But had she really crawled under? Had she cracked it open?
Or had I let her in?
No one had been able to tackle the wall until Jade—not my brothers, not my sister, not anyone. But Jade had gotten in.
I wanted her in. Would she still love me when she knew everything? She’d said as much. And she’d shown me, the last time we were together, just how much she trusted me. No one had ever offered me that level of trust before, not even my men overseas. They’d had to trust me. Their lives had depended on it. But they didn’t know me from Adam. They were forced to trust me because I had been their commanding officer.
But Jade… No one was forcing her to trust me. She had given me her trust of her own free will.
What a gift that was.
I would not let her regret it.
I tightened my arms around her, squeezing her to me, cocooning her in a hug that I hoped was powerful and comforting. Just having her this close made my dick hard, as it always was when I was around Jade.
I loosened my hold on her and tipped her chin up so her blue gaze met mine. “Are you sure, baby? It’s okay if you just want to go to bed and cry. I’ll hold you. You can cry all night if you want to.”
She shook her head. “I imagine I’ll do my share of crying. But right now I want to make love. Please, Talon, show me what’s beautiful in the world.”
Pure love filled my heart. “You are what’s beautiful in the world, Jade.”
A tear streamed down her cheek. “I wish I could believe that. So much is going on.”
“What do you mean? What’s going on besides this?”
She shook her head again. “I don’t want to talk about any of it now, Talon. Please, just take me to bed.”
I wanted to know what was bothering her other than her mother, but my dick twitched in my jeans, and I also wanted to thrust inside her wet heat.
I led her to the bed, where I undressed her slowly. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She must’ve changed after work. I unclasped her bra and let it fall to the floor. Her beautiful full breasts fell gently against her chest. Her nipples were already pert and hard for me. I had to resist the urge to reach forward and pinch them the way that she loved.
I whisked her lacy underwear over her narrow hips and down her long and shapely legs. She stepped out of them and stood before me naked. Vulnerable. She reached forward and began to unbutton my shirt. When she got to my waistline, she pulled the shirt out of my jeans and then brushed it over my shoulders to the floor. She unbuckled my jeans and then unzipped them, pushing them down over my ass and hips. My cock sprang out, as hard as I’d ever been for her. She knelt and licked the tip, sucking off a drop of pre-cum. I had to stop myself from exploding right there. Then she stood and pushed me down on the bed, where she removed my boots, socks, jeans, and underwear. Then she sat down on my lap.
“Kiss my nipples, Talon.” She held out her breasts.
Her nipples were brownish-pink, already tightened into hard knobs. I flicked my tongue over one. She sighed—that breathy whisper that drove me mad. I was hard beneath her, and I longed to thrust my cock up into her. Instead, I rained tiny kisses over one areola and lightly trailed my fingers over her other nipple. She sighed again, moving her hips, sliding her wet pussy over my cock.
“You tell me what you want, baby,” I said against her soft flesh. “Anything, blue eyes. Just tell me what you need.”
She moved her hips upward and then sank down on my hard cock. “I need you, Talon. Just you.”
I let out a groan, my mouth still against the softness of her breast.
“That’s it, baby,” I said. “Just take what you need.”
I resisted the urge to thrust upward. I let her go at her own pace, her own rhythm. She closed her eyes, sighing again. I looked up. My God, she was so beautiful. Her dark lashes lay like a soft curtain against her opulent skin. Her cheeks were a beautiful raspberry color all her own. Her golden-brown hair was in disarray, falling in tousled strands around her creamy shoulders. Her breasts were swollen and flushed, the nipples still taut, still begging for my touch. I leaned forward and caught one in my mouth, sucking as she continued to undulate.
“Talon, show me. Show me what’s beautiful.”
I repeated what I’d said earlier. “You’re what’s beautiful, baby. Only you.”
One of her hands drifted down, and she began fingering her clit. I clenched my teeth, willing myself not to come prematurely. Watching her touch herself drove me crazy. She was so beautiful, so sensual.
She began moving faster. As much as I wanted to plunge up into her and explode, releasing, I held off. I wanted to give her what she needed, and I wanted her to take what she needed from me.
She had said those words to me the very first time we made love. And looking back, though I didn’t know it at the time, it had been making love. She had offered herself to me without condition, telling me to take what I needed from her.
Now I was
offering the same to her. I wanted her to take what she needed from me.
She increased her tempo a bit, riding me, losing herself within me. Her pussy was so sweet over my cock, gloving me as perfectly as it always had. I slid my hands over her thighs, up her sides, and then back down and grabbed the cheeks of her ass. I couldn’t help myself. I began moving her up and down faster, faster, faster…
“Oh, yes,” she said. “Just like that. Just like that.”
I tensed, determined not to come until she’d had her release. She rubbed her clit furiously, moaning, writhing, until—
“Yes! Yes, Talon, I’m coming!”
I thrust upward into her. “Yeah, baby, come for me. Come all over me.”
She continued riding me, pushing her pussy down upon me, and I felt every convulsion on my ultra-sensitive cock.
Her climax went on and on, until I could no longer hold out. I thrust up into her, aching to touch the most secret part of her, to possess her, and I released into the woman I loved.
She fell against my chest, her skin warm and covered with a sheen of perspiration. We clung together, both still releasing, warming within each other, joined, as we should be.
We both breathed rapidly, the scent of sex thick in the air. She made no move to get off me, so after a few minutes I leaned down, pulling her onto the bed so we were both lying down, still joined.
“I love you,” I whispered against her forehead.
I didn’t know if she’d heard me. Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t say anything. She needed sleep. I held her, basking in her, for about a half an hour more before I moved myself away from her. Gently, I lifted her and covered her with the sheet and blanket. I brushed my lips softly over hers. “Good night, my love,” I said. Then I went to the other side of the room.
I got into bed. I missed Jade’s warm body next to mine, but I was not going to sleep with her until I knew there was no chance I would have a dream and try to hurt her again. I was a little apprehensive about even sleeping in the same room with her, but I couldn’t allow her to wake up and find me gone. Not tonight.
Possession: Steel Brothers Saga: Book Three Page 3
