Charming: The Coast Book 9

by Hart, Eve R.

  “Wait, just let me try to get this all out.” I took in a deep breath before going on. “I know he’s not there. Dade is gone and it hurts so much. I guess it’s just hard to know that all of him is gone, you know? I get that he’s not coming back but in my head, thinking he was still whole while he was gone and then finding out he wasn’t… it did something to me. I can’t explain it and I don’t think I should try. Yes, Iron went against my wishes, but I don’t think that’s what it’s really about— why I left.”

  “Whatever you need, tell me. I’ll do it,” he said.

  “I think that’s the thing. I just need this place. I need these people,” I paused and turned to face him. The look on his face nearly broke me. He was so sad. So, so sad. I never wanted to see him look like that ever again. And it hurt me deep inside that I was the one to cause it. “I need you.”

  It took him a minute to process my words. And the moment what I’d meant really sunk into his brain, his face lit up so beautifully.

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you, big dummy,” I told him with a teasing smile. “This whole situation is… well, fucked up. There’s no other way to put it. But I’m kind of getting that sometimes things here are just that way. Dade died saving someone he really cared about. A man that took him in when he was at his lowest. Dade had people that cared about him more than he’d ever been cared about before in life. That meant something to him. And it means something to me.”

  I could see him wanting to open his mouth to say something, so I kissed him. It was short and a little sweet but it kept him quiet.

  “I don’t like it but I also see that there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s done. I know now. There are no more secrets between us, right?” I looked at him with hope in my eyes.

  “No, baby, there’s not. At least, not like that,” he said and I could still see a hint of sadness in his eyes.

  “No, I get it. Some things… okay, probably a lot of things, I can’t know. Honestly, I don’t want to,” I told him with a shrug. “But if it has something to do with me, I’d like to know. Deal?”

  He chuckled and there was a small smile on his face.

  “Deal,” he told me with a firm nod.

  “Cool,” I said reaching for the hem of my shirt. “Can you ravage me now?”

  “Fuck,” he breathed out once I pulled my shirt and bra off at the same time. Skills, am I right? “I fucking missed you so much. I wanted to come after you—”

  “Shhhh,” I told him as I reached for the hem of his shirt and dragged it up. “I know. I’m here now.”

  His throat worked with a visible swallow and then he nodded.

  Once his shirt was free, I plastered myself to his warm, smooth body.

  I might have gone a little crazy and licked up his stubble. Yep, I was really digging that.

  “So hot,” I breathed out, not even realizing that I’d said that out loud.

  “Yeah?” he asked. “You like that?”

  “I’d like it even more if it was rubbing against my thighs.”

  Oh, crap! Yep, by the look on his face, I’d spoken my thoughts.

  He lifted me up, tossed me on the bed, then yanked my pants off in pretty much one smooth move.

  “Going to make that happen, baby,” he said as his face dipped down between my legs. My underwear tore and I felt the cool air drift across my wetness.

  The first flick of his tongue had me gasping. My hand slammed down on his head and I gripped his hair like there was no tomorrow.

  Holy eggs and toast!

  He licked and sucked and nibbled my clit until I was bucking wildly. Oh, how wonderful his stubble felt against my thighs. I might have clenched them together to the point that it started to burn, but in the best way ever. I came, panting out his name over and over again.

  I could barely make him out through my heavy lids. I didn’t want to be done, I needed more. So I forced my eyes open and reached for him. He stood, dropped his pants, and then crawled up the bed. My fingers ran up his back as he settled his weight over me.

  “Please,” I moaned out.

  He reached for a condom. Thank goodness there was one sitting on top of the nightstand because I couldn’t wait a second longer. Like a madwoman, I snatched the package out of his hand. Then I tore it open with my teeth before rolling it down his shaft the exact same way I’d seen him do so many times before.

  “Fuck,” he grunted out as he watched me do it. “I might not last long.”

  I smiled because I knew what that meant.

  “Then you better give it to me hard, my Prince Charming.”

  That first thrust had me bowing my back and clawing at his skin. It was fast and hard and desperate.

  It didn’t take long for me to feel like I was teetering on the edge. As if he sensed it, he threw my legs over his shoulders and pounded into me even harder. His fingers went to my clit and I came with the loudest moan. I swear. I bet everyone in the compound heard it.

  His balls were smashed against my butt as he planted himself deep inside of me and came with my name on his lips like a happy whisper.

  His body collapsed onto mine and I didn’t mind being surrounded by him. Nope, not at all. My fingers ran lazy lines up and down his back until he had the strength to move again. He kissed me slowly for what felt like forever before he rolled away from me. Once he dealt with the condom, he pulled me into his side.

  “This is where you belong,” he said so low I almost didn’t hear it. My ears were kind of still pounding from that intense orgasm he’d just given me.

  I couldn’t disagree with him, so I placed a light kiss on his chest over his heart.

  It didn’t take long for both of us to drift off. I think he was out before me. Which was unusual but it made me happy.

  I woke with a jolt. I didn’t feel like I’d been asleep that long, and when I checked the clock beside the bed, I saw that I really hadn’t.

  Charming was still asleep. It seemed like I’d worn him out. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought. Sure, the long ride was probably part of that too.

  I slid out of bed as stealthily as I could manage. I didn’t fall and bust my bottom, so there was that. My eyes were on him while I redressed.

  The plan was there in my head.

  Sort of.

  Enough to where I knew I needed to do it now or I’d chicken out.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Charming

  My phone was ringing. What the hell? My hand slapped against the side table in hopes that I could cut the noise before it woke Abigail. I knew she had to be tired. Hell, I was dragging too. I couldn’t even get my eyes to open right now.

  The ringing stopped before I even found my phone and I breathed out a silent sigh of relief.

  But then it started right up again.

  Fuck.

  I sat up and noticed as my arm dragged across the mattress, that I was alone in bed.

  “What the hell?” I mumbled.

  Right, my phone.

  It wasn’t beside the bed. I followed the sound and dug it out of my pants that were in a crumpled heap on the floor.

  It was Blade.

  “Yeah?” I answered in a panic. Abigail wasn’t in bed with me. She wasn’t in the bathroom, or so I assumed because the light wasn’t on. She wasn’t fucking here with me in the room.

  “She gave you the slip. I saw her. Followed her. She’s at the police station.” There was a pause and whatever he had to tell me next, I knew it wouldn’t be good. “She’s talking to Detective Mullins.”

  “What the hell?” I roared. “You have eyes on her?”

  “No, he took her to the back. Into one of the interrogation rooms.”

  “And you’re telling me she went there willingly? What the fuck is going on? And why at this time of night?”

  I was already out of bed and dragging my dirty pants up my legs. I slid my eyes over to glance at the clock beside the bed to see exactly what time it was. Four in the damn morning. What the
hell?

  “She’s up to something,” I said without really thinking.

  I didn’t want to say that she’d been almost too sweet last night, but she kind of had. There was something different but I figured it was simply because she was happy to be back in my arms. That was how I was feeling. She’d come back. Even though I hadn’t been here right away she had fucking come back to me. And the moment she was in my arms, the world felt right again.

  “I would guess so,” he said flatly. “Can’t imagine she just came down here for the coffee and a conversation about birdwatching.”

  “Fuck you,” I grumbled. “What’s the plan?”

  I looked around for my keys. Not seeing them on the top of the dresser where they usually were, I patted the front pockets of my jeans. Man, I was a damn mess right now. I quickly yanked them out of my pocket as I turned for the door.

  “You know damn well there isn’t a thing we can do. Get your ass here. I’ll call Iron while you ride.”

  “Got it. Leaving now.”

  I was half ready to go banging on Iron’s door. Blade said he’d call the Prez and I really didn’t need to waste time when he had it handled.

  Yeah, I was going out of my mind the entire ride to the station that Detective Mullins worked out of. Did I think she’d tell him everything and betray us? For a second it might have crossed my mind. Maybe. It was more like a feeling of sadness that washed over me, only I couldn’t explain why. But I knew better. She wouldn’t have gone to the detective to give him information that could hurt us. No, she had gone there to try and shut this whole thing down. And I knew without a shadow of a doubt, that she’d sacrifice herself to save the club.

  What the fuck!

  “Why, baby?” I muttered to the wind.

  Blade was waiting for me out front. There was worry in his eyes and if he was letting me see it, then I knew it was bad.

  “I should have seen that something was up,” I said right away. My head hung and I felt like the biggest idiot ever. All I wanted to do was keep her safe and I’d fucking failed at that.

  Blade didn’t say anything but his hand was heavy and reassuring on my shoulder.

  “I’m trying to think of something, but I have to be honest, I got nothing, brother. How the fuck are we going to get her out of there?” I let the words fall out of my mouth not caring that I sounded panicked and terrified.

  I was fucking scared out of my mind. I just got her back. I couldn’t fucking lose her again.

  “I trust her. You do too. Just try to remember that right now,” he said.

  “What if he pisses her off?” I asked with a raised brow.

  It was no secret that she could get hot and heated in the blink of an eye. And when that happened, damn, she went off. I could just see her in there yelling at the asshole detective. That would only make things worse.

  The sound of Iron’s bike hit my ears and I turned to watch him pull up. Petra was on his bike, her posture stiff as she held onto his waist. Maybe it was a good thing that she was here too.

  I started to say something but Petra pushed past me and marched up the stairs with a cool grace that held a deadly edge to it. Like a damn panther coming out of the shadows.

  “We’ll get her,” Iron said, then he patted me on the back before following his woman inside.

  With a raised brow, Blade fell in line and so did I.

  Petra was already giving the cop at the front desk hell. You know, in her own icy way.

  He held his ground, though he did look like he was about to piss himself. But that didn’t stop her. With a cold, deadly glare, she sidestepped the desk and walked on. Of course, we all followed behind her. Desk cop didn’t bother to get up.

  “Detective Mullins,” Petra stated. No, it wasn’t a question. It was a demand and one that needed to be met like right the fuck now.

  The tired looking cop that was standing in the middle of the room froze for a long second.

  “Down that hall, second door on the left,” he directed with a pointing finger.

  She clicked her way down the hall. The three of us were less graceful, our boots stomping on the cheap tile and sounding like a mini herd of elephants.

  “What the hell?” I heard the fucking detective roar once Petra pushed the door open without even knocking. “Petra Novak.”

  So he knew who she was. The shock was clear in his voice, I bet he didn’t know that she was connected to this and if he was smart, he wouldn’t try to figure out exactly how she was.

  “Is there something you need, Miss Novak? As you can see, I’m in the middle of an interview,” he said not all that nicely and I could see that he’d gotten to his feet.

  I leaned to the side to try and get eyes on Abigail. Damn, Petra was tall. I guessed I’d never really paid attention to that before.

  Abigail looked up and met my eyes briefly before looking back at the detective.

  “I need her. Now,” Petra said in her usual flat tone.

  The detective sighed and looked back at Abigail.

  “No,” Abigail said as she got to her feet.

  I tried to push forward, but Blade’s big, dumb hand was on my shoulder keeping me from moving. Maybe it was a good thing. I didn’t need to do anything stupid and get myself arrested, that was for sure.

  “As I was saying, Detective,” Abigail went on with a kind of calmness that I hadn’t expected right now. “There is nothing for you to find. You can waste the departments time and resources and keep digging, but it won’t get you any different answers from the ones you already have.”

  Detective Mullins shifted on his feet as he looked from Abigail to Petra, then back again.

  “My brother is dead,” she said with her tone still relatively calm. “It was an accident. It was tragic and I still haven’t gotten over it. Neither have the people that loved him.” Her eyes shifted over to us as she gave a quick nod of her head. “I don’t want to seem like a bitch here, but if you continue to harass me and my family, I will take this to people that you don’t want me to. I’m sure there are some big names with deep pockets that love to donate money to the police department. It would be a shame if they were clued in on the fact that one of the detectives put a poor innocent girl that had lost her brother through all of this.”

  She looked up at him with an expression that I’d never seen, at least not when she’d done it purposely.

  Wide-eyed and looking so sad she could be broken, she blinked at the detective as if she was about to cry.

  “It just hurts me so much, you know,” she went on and there was something in her voice that I almost didn’t recognize. “And Detective Mullins dug up my poor brother. And then, when he found out my brother’s body had been cremated, he made me think that my brother was still alive. It was so horrible.”

  “Christ,” the good detective cursed under his breath. “Fine, you fucking win!” He turned to Petra. “Does this have anything to do with you?”

  She didn’t answer but she did pin him with a firm, terrifying look.

  My eyes went back over to Abigail. I mean, that was one hell of a performance. It kind of made me think that she might be a little bit crazy. But when I saw that the look hadn’t completely fallen from herself face, I knew she was hurting. I knew that she hated what she’d done. But she felt trapped and like she had to in order to save us all.

  “Get her out of here,” Mullins said tightly.

  Abigail blinked a few times, then skittered around Petra to get out of the room. She came to me, nearly tripping into my body. I wrapped her up in my arms.

  Petra stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

  Iron looked taken off guard by this move. He stared a hole through the door until it opened again. It was only a few minutes, but it felt like hours.

  Petra stepped out but Detective Mullins didn’t move. His eyes went to Abigail’s. There was some sort of silent apology in his gaze. I didn’t take my eyes off of him but I felt her nod against me.

 
Petra was already walking away. Clearly, she was done here.

  “What the hell, Pet?” Iron asked once we were back on the street again.

  “I took care of it,” she said bluntly. “I suppose I could have done that before but I’m never sure how to read him. I don’t trust him and I wanted to stay out of it as much as possible, but I didn’t see a way out of it this time. It’s done now. I can assure you that he will drop it.”

  “Petra,” Iron sighed but nothing followed.

  “It’s handled. We can go now.”

  She was already walking over to his bike.

  “Abigail,” Iron said softly. “Next time, please talk to me first, okay?”

  “I hope there won’t be a next time,” she said, and then swallowed hard.

  “Me too, sweetheart. Me too. Go back to the compound and get some sleep.” He gave Blade and me a firm nod, then he was off.

  “Are you mad?” she asked me.

  Blade clapped me on the back and then leaned over to place a kiss on Abigail’s forehead. Then he walked off without even a look back.

  I saw the realization wash over her slowly.

  “Oh, my…” she breathed out and doubled over. “I can’t believe I did that. I threatened a member of law enforcement. Or was that like blackmail? I guess blackmail is a threat. But… Oh, crap.”

  She walked over and sat down on the curb behind my bike. I followed suit and rubbed her back in hopes of calming her down. I should have been worried but for some reason, the fact that she was freaking out made me feel a little better. It showed me that she was still my Abs. She wasn’t crazy. She hadn’t changed overnight or let some hidden part of her free. I had to say, it was a little strange to watch her talk to Mullins like that. I was proud, sure. But still, it wasn’t like her. Clearly, she was only half aware of what she was doing because she felt cornered.

  “Why would I do that? Why did you let me do that?” I was just going to let her get it all out. “Oh, right, because I didn’t tell you that I was coming here. You all must think I’m friggin’ bananas. Like I have a screw loose. Maybe I’m just completely screw-less. It worked though, right? Right?!”