by Sophia Gray
Vance’s stomach shrank with guilt. The things he had said to convince her had been motivated by his great big lie... and she had opened her heart to him because of them. He knew he should be happy; he was one step closer to his goal. Vance knew that getting her to marry him would be way more difficult than getting her to date him, but at least now he had a shot. And thinking about it, instead of making him feel accomplished, it only made him feel worse.
“I... Thanks for giving me a chance,” he said. He did not know what else to say, so he remained quiet, until he noticed Teresa’s slow breaths – she had fallen asleep.
Staring at the ceiling, he thought about everything he had discovered about the woman that was sleeping in his arms, unaware of his deceit. She had surprised him and overwhelmed him in every sense. He had come to this place thinking Teresa was his shot to a better life, taking for granted that the job would be easy and enjoyable. He had not anticipated that his mission would turn his world upside down.
She looked at life in a way he had never seen. Instead of darkness, where he only saw the bad side of people, Teresa saw an opportunity to help others. She’d even opened his eyes to other lifestyles that included motorcycles but were void of the violence and evil he had always been surrounded by. Was that life possible for him? A life where he could ride his bike around the world, helping people... with her by his side?
It wouldn’t be possible if he carried on with the mission, he knew that for sure. But what could he do about it? Jimmy Love would kill him if he backed out now.
Suddenly, his phone rang, and he quietly got up, leaving Teresa asleep. Quickly, he picked it up and went to the living room. Luckily, the sound and the sudden movement had not woken her up.
“This is Vance,” he muttered. He had answered the call so quickly that he had been unable to see the caller ID.
“Vance? Haven’t heard from ye in a while, lad.” His boss’ voice was loud and gruff on the other end of the line, and Vance’s heart dropped. It was as if he had invoked him with his thoughts.
“Boss, what a surprise. Need anything?” he asked nonchalantly. He heard his boss snort, and Vance knew he was not pleased.
“Don’t play games with me, ya damn kid,” he threatened. “It’s been weeks since ye left town and went to fetch me daughter. Where are ye, goddammit?” he yelled.
“Sorry, boss, but your daughter is... more complicated than I thought,” Vance said. For some reason, he did not want to reveal his advances to his boss. He had not decided what to do next, and for him to make up his mind, he needed his boss out of his business.
“Well, if she were easy I wouldn’t have needed ya!” he spat back. Vance closed his eyes, frowning. His boss yelling at him in the early hours of the morning was giving him a headache.
“I know, boss, that’s why I’m slowly working my way into getting her to trust me,” he tried to explain, lowering his voice. He did not want to wake Teresa while on the phone with her father.
“Ye do not need to win her heart! Ye only have to marry her, goddammit!” Jimmy swore again. God, if he could, Vance would have hung up immediately.
“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t think a proposal will entice Teresa. She’s too independent and reserved,” he confessed. “It’s still too early – there’s no way she’d agree to marry me yet.”
And this time his words were completely true. Even if he won her heart, Vance did not think Teresa would be very much inclined to marry him anytime soon.
“I DON’T CARE! Bring her home... or yer done!” Jimmy threatened before hanging him up.
Vance looked at the blank screen of his phone for a while, his boss’ threat pounding in his ears. When he went back to Teresa’s bedroom, she was still sound asleep on her bed. Trying to get back in unnoticed, he carefully slipped in next to her. Unconsciously, Teresa closed the space between them and hugged Vance with one arm.
The guilty feeling of deceiving her was almost unbearable when he saw her peacefully sleeping, reaching out to him. He hugged Teresa back and fell asleep, tired with the excessive emotions from the day.
Chapter Nine
Teresa
Teresa heard a loud noise and open her eyes, confused. She was still lying on Vance’s chest, and his arm was around her waist, pulling her towards him in a possessive embrace in his sleep. For a moment she stayed there, watching him, completely forgetting about the noise that had woken her up.
Suddenly, she heard it again and could identify where it came from – loud bangs in her hallway. Someone was knocking furiously at her door, and Teresa was afraid that whoever was on the other side of it would knock it down to get in. Teresa jumped out of bed and heard Vance moving and mumbling something. He was waking up.
Quickly, she grabbed Vance’s shirt and threw it over her naked body before going to the door. The sun illuminated the hall: it was still early, judging by the clock on the wall. Who the hell could it be?
“TERESA! Open the damn door, or I’ll knock it down!” a powerful male voice yelled on the other side of the door. Her stomach sank, and cold shivers ran down her spine. She recognized that voice: it was her father, Jimmy Love.
“GO AWAY!” she screamed, not opening the door. Teresa took a step backward when her father started knocking again.
“DAMN YE, TERESA. OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!” he yelled again. Teresa rushed into the bedroom, where Vance had just woken up.
“Vance, Vance, you need to hide!” she urged him. Vance looked at her in confusion.
“Who is that?” he asked, jumping to his feet. “Do you want me to kick him out?” He flexed his arms, ready to fight whoever it was.
“It’s my father, and I don’t want him to know you’re here!” she explained in haste. Teresa pushed him into the bathroom. “Please, don’t come out!” she pleaded with wild, frightened eyes and closed the door.
Her heart was beating faster than ever when she walked to the front door. It had been at least a year since she last saw her father. He was still yelling and thumping on the door, and she took a deep breath before grabbing the handle and opening it.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” she spat, her voice cold as ice. She looked at her father with utter despise: he was the same man she remembered, but he looked as if he was ten years older than he should be.
His hair, usually pitch-black and meticulously styled backward was now gray and out of place. He had lost weight, and his eyes were wide-open and bloodshot. He looked like a complete mess. She would have felt sorry for him if she did not remember that the man in front of her had made her life a living hell.
“Teresa,” he muttered, stumbling forward. He stank of alcohol, and she took a step backward.
“Don’t move. What are you doing here?” she repeated.
“I’ve come for you, my love, to take you back to your rightful place!” His voice sounded desperate, and he made another move towards her. This time, Teresa stood her ground. She was determined not to let him enter her home.
“I’m not going anywhere!” Teresa spat back. “And how the hell did you know where I lived?” Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Her father looked away, and suddenly she knew: he had been following her. He had sent some of his men to follow her every day since she left. She had never been free! Thinking that her dad had actually been aware of her every move made her feel sick, violated, and dirty.
Suddenly she was too aware that she was wearing nothing but a shirt – a man’s shirt. Did her father know about Vance too? What if he targeted Vance instead of her?
Cold, visceral fear took hold of her, and she pushed her father away.
“GET AWAY FROM ME!” she screamed. Anger boiled in her father’s face, and she could sense the danger before he said anything else. It was always like this with her father: every time they argued, things would get nasty. They threw dishes, glasses, and even chairs at each other. Furniture would get broken. Bones would get broken – she braced herself, remembering the last time th
ey had fought like that.
It had been their last fight before she ran away. He had insisted that she marry one of his boys. She had refused, and they started screaming at each other, throwing things until her father broke her arm. That’s when she knew she had to leave.
“I AM YER GODDAMM FATHER AND YE GONNA LISTEN TO ME!” His voice echoed in the hallway. “I’ve found ye a good husband, and I want ye to come home and marry ‘im. I’m sick of yer games, it’s time ye do what yer told, ye ungrateful little girl!”
Again, the same fight, over the same things that he wanted. That she got married to one of his men, the man he chose for her and inherited the club. Teresa felt like puking and crying. She had left home, cutting ties with every piece of her past. She had moved twice before getting to this city. She was finally beginning to think she could be happy, yet her father had found her and insisted on the very same things as before. Could she never be free? Didn’t she deserve just a little bit of peace and happiness? To do as she pleased with her life, as everybody else did?
“I am not going with you, ever!” she cried, losing it. She tried to push him again, and her father grabbed her by the wrist. He twisted it, the same arm he had already broken once, and Teresa bit her lip in pain. She would not scream in pain in front of him – she would not let him see her weakness. “You can drag me, tie me, break every bone – but the only way I’ll ever go back with you is if I’m dead,” she spat.
His grip tightened, and he looked at her with an expression of madness.
“Ye will do as yer told and marry the man I say,” he whispered dangerously, and she felt the threat in his words. But she was not a child anymore, and she would not cave. He would have to kill her first.
“She will not go with you and definitely will not marry any of your men,” a man’s voice came suddenly from behind Teresa, who was pulled away from her father. Vance had freed her arm and placed her behind him.
Teresa looked at him and then at her father, who looked at Vance in surprise and paused.
“And who the hell are ye?” he asked, outraged.
“From the conversation I just overheard, I really think it’s none of your business.” Vance confronted him, embracing Teresa even tighter. “But the name’s Vance, and I’m Teresa’s fiancée.”
Teresa jumped slightly in his arms but hid her surprise. His father’s jaw dropped.
“That’s right,” Teresa corroborated, jumping in. She moved a bit in his embrace and placed a light kiss on his lips to further prove her point. “We recently got engaged.”
She did not like it. She did not like the idea of using Vance to get rid of her father, and she despised that she actually needed his help for it. It was pathetic that her father would only stop pestering her if she already belonged to another, as if her wish alone was not enough. But she knew she was not in a position to refuse Vance’s help, and so she went on with the lie. And she was really grateful for it.
“Well... that changes everything, I s’ppose,” Jimmy muttered, running his fingers through his hair.
“And now, sir, I think you should leave,” Vance spoke calmly but firmly, leaving no room for argument. “Or I’ll call the police and place a restraining order on you for harassing my fiancée.”
Jimmy’s face twitched. Teresa knew he wanted to reply, but it seemed that Vance’s presence in the house and his threats were enough to dissuade him from starting another fight. He had enough trouble with the police, anyway.
Without saying anything else, her father turned around and headed for the front door. He was about to leave when they heard him say, “This will not be the last ye hear from me, Teresa.”
His words echoed in the hallway, threatening, and she felt a cold shiver run down her spine. When they made sure he had left, Vance and Teresa went back into her apartment and closed the door. An uncomfortable silence surrounded them, and Teresa did not know what to say.
Vance was the first one to speak. “Teresa, I’m sorry for—” he started, but Teresa stopped him with a kiss.
“Thank you,” she whispered against his lips. “You didn’t need to do it. And you have nothing to apologize for. You’ve probably saved me from getting my arm broken again, you know?” She laughed bitterly, touching her bruised arm unconsciously.
“You asked me to stay hidden... but I just couldn’t stand the way he was treating you – how he talked to you as if you were part of his belongings, a mere object,” Vance went on, anger clouding his face. They were so close that she felt him tremble with rage, and her heart skipped a beat. Why did he care so much about her, when he barely knew her?
“You saved my life, Vance,” she whispered. “And I don’t know why.”
Instead of answering her, Vance pulled her into his arms again, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him. The skin of his bare chest felt hot against her face, and Vance was holding her so tight in his strong arms that Teresa had never felt safer. They were so close that she felt his heart beating, and hers started beating faster at the proximity.
All her feelings of fear and anger were fading away thanks to his presence and were replaced with a warm sensation in her body and heart that she couldn’t identify. Tired of thinking and analyzing every thought, Teresa closed her eyes, and on the tip of her toes, she kissed him. This time, she poured everything she was feeling into that kiss, and Vance hugged her so hard she thought they would melt together.
Blindly, still kissing each other, they made it to the bedroom again.
“Are you sure you want to go on with this?” he asked softly, making sure she did not feel pressured after what had happened in the hallway. The tenderness in his words reassured her that she was making the right choice: being with him again was what she wanted.
As a response, she let her hands wander down his chest and removed the sheet that covered his waist, leaving him completely naked. Vance groaned.
“I'll take that as a yes.” He grunted, his husky voice filled with desire. He was fired up by her actions, his mind completely lost. With a push he grabbed her, and she tangled her legs around his waist. He slid his hands through her legs, feeling her thighs while they kissed.
They advanced in fits and starts through the room until they landed in bed. Teresa could feel his hard body pressing against her, and the urge to have him again ran through her body.
Vance looked at her body, wearing only his shirt, and shivered with desire.
“You look better in that shirt than I do,” he joked.
Teresa chuckled. “I’ll have to wear your clothes more often then,” she whispered.
His hands were not idle, and soon all her clothes joined the sheet on the ground. He looked at her body, firm and beautiful despite all the suffering she had gone through, and his eyes got lost in her curves and in her breasts. She looked at him as he observed her, absorbing every detail of his body. He had a small scar on his abdomen, and she wondered where it had come from and how she had not noticed it before.
She trembled when he touched her breasts, as caring as the first time. He kissed her and started to spread kisses on her neck and her shoulders. His tongue reached her nipples, and he started licking them, playing with them, making them hard. She moaned with pleasure, wrapping her fingers in his hair. His hands started caressing her legs until his fingers encountered her underwear. He slipped a finger inside, touching her, and smiled when he felt how wet she was.
His mouth went further down, and he removed her underwear with one fast movement before kissing her there. Teresa cried in ecstasy. His tongue, toying with her, was driving her crazy. She could feel his mouth playing with her and suddenly a finger was inside, reaching for her sweet spot, making her lose her mind. She moved her hips, wanting to feel more of him, and he deepened his touch.
She did not know how long he was down there, but she was completely exhilarated. She wanted more of him, not just his fingers and his tongue. He was eating her as if she was the sweetest dessert he had ever tasted and she could o
nly grab handfuls of the bed sheets and bite her lip to refrain from screaming with pleasure.
She felt her body trembling under his command and soon her legs tensed. One of her hands grabbed his head and made him stay where he was, although Vance wasn’t going anywhere. He stayed with his head between her legs, licking and kissing and nibbling her while his fingers toyed with her inside, reaching her G-spot with ease.
Teresa arched her back and cried his name again and again when she felt the well-known feeling of the orgasm rippling through her body. She released his head, and he licked one last time the fruit between her legs, moist and ready, before he kissed her again.
“Vance, I want you, and I want you now.” Her order came out as a moan. Vance did not hesitate to obey, and when Teresa felt him inside of her, she screamed with pleasure. He felt huge, moving slowly at the beginning.
“Faster... Harder...” she managed to moan. Vance obeyed, and the thrusts and the rhythm soon became wild. Teresa felt her whole body burning. To the movement of his hips, Vance added one finger, playing with her while he was still inside, and Teresa cried ecstatically.
“For fuck’s sake, Vance!” she screamed and swore. “Holy fuck, yes, yes, yes!”
Vance never stopped moving inside of her, and his finger still caressed her clit while she screamed his name, over and over again, driving him to his limit. Soon she reached her climax again, and Vance followed a moment later.
They both lay down on the bed, breathing hard. She could still feel him inside of her.
Chapter Ten
Vance
They stayed in bed for a while, both enjoying the moment of peace, before Teresa finally got up.
“Want some breakfast?” she asked, smiling widely. “I have coffee and can make some toast before we both go to the charity. You have the morning shift today, right?”
“Yes, I do. Coffee and toast would be great. Do you want some help, or can I take another shower?” He was all sweaty again, and would rather go to the soup kitchen clean. He would have to stop by at home to get changed, but this way it would be faster.
