Dex ARe (22 page)

I padded over to the door and tried to look out of the keyhole. My heart tripped at what I saw. I unlocked the four deadbolts and swung the heavy metal door open.

Dex stood before me. He was covered in sweat; blood caked the side of his face and splattered over the front of his white t-shirt under his cut. The dim light of the hallway cut shadows across his face, making him look deadly along with the gore.

How many more times could I do this? How many more times could I worry whether he was going to come back at all? And when he did, he looked like this. He looked like so many other men I’d seen and nursed. They were all tragic and heroic and beautiful and I wanted to save them all. But this one ... this one was mine. I knew I was damned for it.

“Will you let me in?” he said.

I nodded and held the door wide. He walked in and strode to the center of the room before he turned around. I quietly closed the door and locked it again before turning back to face him.

“I won’t live like this,” he said. His voice was cracked and raw, filled with the emotions of whatever happened today and the courage it may have taken for him to come back here.

“Dex ...”

“Let me get this out.” He cut me off. “Ava, I need to be with you. And I’m selfish for it, I know that. I’ve brought you nothing but tragedy and hurt and almost got you killed. I’m the worst thing in the world for you. You’ve made your choices, you have your life and I’ve crashed back into it. I know I’m not being fair to you. I know all these things but, God help me, I don’t care. I don’t fucking care.”

He reached me in two strides and my breath hitched when his arms came up and he placed them gently around me. I had to crane my neck to look up at his cruel, beautiful face. My emotions swirled within me. I loved this man. Couldn’t live with this man. Was wrecked by this man. Would die without him.

“I won’t make you anymore promises except for this one. I’m not leaving you again. You belong to me, Ava. We belong to each other. I’ll do anything you ask of me except don’t tell me to go. I won’t. Never again. I’ve made my choice.”

“What do you mean?” I couldn’t breathe. A part of me wondered if any of this was real. Was I dreaming it all? But Dex McLain was real and strong and powerful and he was standing right in front of me telling me he loved me.

“Things happened tonight,” he said and his voice cracked. My Dex. I put a hand up to explore the wound near his temple. It was superficial, a grazing wound. It rent his hairline and my heart shuddered to think what might have happened if he had leaned just a fraction of an inch closer to whatever lethal force had caused it. A bullet, of course. I’d seen enough of these types of wounds and worse.

“I can’t tell you everything. Can never tell you everything. But because of it and a thousand other things I’m not worthy of you. I may be going to hell. I accept that. But what I did I did to keep you and everyone else I love safe now and forever. I can promise you that. But Ava, I’m not leaving. Do you hear me? You can call me the worst things you can think of and you’d be right about all of them. But you’re mine and I’m done being patient. I’m done trying to be a good man.”

He crushed his lips against mine and my body betrayed me as it always did. I was so well trained for him. My heart nearly beat out of my chest as his strong arms came around me, pulling me close. I sank into the kiss. He tasted of salt, sweat and tears. They were my tears and they joined the millions of others I’d cried for this man. Would keep crying for this man if he ever
did
stop kissing me. I was a liar and a hypocrite to think I could have ever let him stay away.

I pulled away first, and Dex’s expression nearly broke my heart again. It was filled with love and longing and some desperate torture that I knew still haunted his dreams.

“I’ll walk away from everything but you, Ava,” he said and his voice was barely more than a whisper. “And that’s the last promise I’ll make you. I’ll be sorry for the rest of my life that I didn’t make it thirteen years ago.”

It was in me to ask him what he meant. Would I make him say the words? He would turn his back on the club for me if that was my price for taking him back. I pushed past a lump in my throat and looked up at him, searching for the truth in his eyes. I found it just as I always did.

I snaked my arms around his shoulders and pulled him down to kiss me again. He whispered my name as his lips touched mine. As he lifted me into his arms and took me to bed, I knew my answer. There had only ever been one.

Dex. My Dex. Now and always, I was his.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Dex

Ava lay naked before me on the bed. The moonlight bathed her in a blue glow and her nipples rose and fell as I hovered over her. She brought her hands up over her head and spread her legs wide in invitation. My Ava. Her body belonged to me now and forever. I hadn’t even touched her but already I could see the glistening wetness as she spread her thighs. I leaned down and kissed her there, lapping at her juices as she twitched and groaned.

“Please,” she begged me. I wanted to hear her do that for the rest of my life. Beg for me. Let me possess her. Wring every drop of pleasure from her until she fell asleep sated and purring in my arms. Then I would let her sleep for a time and do it to her all over again.

I peeled off my clothes; my cock was stiff and hard and she licked her lips at the sight of it. God. She was beautiful and sexy and every inch of her was mine. She brought her knees up as I came to her, plunging myself deep, all the way to the root as she wrapped her strong legs around my hips.

“Say it,” I whispered at her temple. I held myself still so I could feel her squirm in anticipation like she always did.

“Dex,” she gasped and that’s not what I meant.

“Say it.” I nipped her ear.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Always. Yes. I want you. Forever. Yes. I’m yours, Dex. I swear. I ... I love you.”

Then I fucked her. We had all night for slow and gentle. Now I meant to claim her, drive myself into her over and over as she screamed my name and begged me not to stop. Because I wouldn’t. Not now. Not ever.

I knew what I was. My soul may be damned for everything I’d done and maybe more to come. But that night, and every night, it was Ava who would bring me back from hell. And I would do the same for her.

She moaned and writhed and I flipped her so she straddled me. Her blonde hair fell over her eye and she shot me a bashful smile that nearly made me spill my seed right there just to see it. Then she seated herself on my cock and started that slow rhythm I loved so much. She threw her head back. I reached up to take her breasts. These were mine too. I held my palms flat, letting her pebbled nipples brush up against my rough skin. She ran her hands through her hair and arched her back, her body no longer able to go slow. I rolled her nipples gently between my thumb and forefinger, bringing each one to a long peak. The sensation drove her even madder as she pumped and thrust on top of me.

And then my Ava found her release. I felt her sweet pussy clench as she ground out her orgasm. She gushed for me when she came and that’s what undid me right along with her. I grabbed her hips to keep her steady as I thrust up into her, filling her with my seed and hoping it might take root. Maybe not tonight, but there would be time for that now too.

We had nothing but time. Because I meant every word of what I’d said. I would walk away from everything but Ava ... for the rest of my life.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Two weeks later

“Let me do it.” Ava smiled. She held the needle and thread in her hands. I leaned down and kissed her.

“Agh,” Charlie bellowed from his bar stool next to us. “You two are worse than a couple of teenagers.”

I swatted Ava on the ass and she squealed. “Careful,” she said. “I’m trained to use anything as a weapon!” She brandished her needle and shot a withering look to Charlie.

I slid my cut and patch over to her. She took the seat next to Charlie and started to sew. I wanted to kiss the spot at the center of her furrowed blonde brow as she concentrated on her work. Her skilled fingers flew around the fabric. Then she leaned down and bit the last frayed ends of the thread and held the jacket up.

Sly came next to me and patted me on the back. “Put it on,” he said. “We’ve all been waiting.”

Ava slipped off her bar stool. She came behind me. She went up on her tiptoes to slide my jacket over my shoulders then she swatted me on the ass for good measure. My cock stirred at the plan I had to give her the same treatment as soon as we were alone again.

I smoothed two fingers over my new Vice President patch. Charlie growled again and the next thing I knew, I was doused with a shower of whatever we had on tap. Ava’s bright laughter filled my soul as she got drenched as well. Sly picked her up and twirled her. She leaned down and kissed the top of Tiny’s head. He sat beside her, already half in the bag. Ava adjusted the sling around his shoulder where it began to sag.

We drank and ate and told a dozen war stories. Well, at least the ones safe for mixed company ... hell, we told a few that weren’t. But it was good and right and I was home. Later, I leaned back in my chair in the corner of the bar and watched as my girl wiped the floor with Colt and Sawyer at darts. Her eyes traveled to mine now and again and I knew she was happy.

Two weeks ago, I’d offered to leave the club for her if I couldn’t have both of them. In the end, I didn’t think it was much of a choice. But Ava did. She told me she never wanted to mold me into something I wasn’t. She wanted me, all of me. And the club was part of me too. We were more alike than I realized all those years ago when we were in the blush of our twenties. We both lived on the edge of danger and thrived there. And we both knew what it was like to lose everything and survive it. Instead of making me choose her over the club, she chose
me
instead, and everything that I was.

The club was safe. Londo had kept his word and Pagano’s crew had moved out of their businesses in Green Bluff. If the club kept
its
word not to ever inform on them, we would go our separate ways. The Great Wolves were one hundred percent legitimate and we’d done it in less than a decade.

So here, with my brothers around me, my new patch on my chest, I knew the time was right. I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out the ring I’d picked just for her. Simple. Strong. Clean. A two karat round stone set on a wide, gold band.

A few of the guys gave me knowing glances as I walked up to Ava. I touched her arm lightly and she turned. She was a little drunk, we all were, but her eyes were clear and bright as they widened when I held the ring before her.

“Dex,” she whispered.

“Baby,” I said. “I love you. Be my wife. Finally.”

Ava smiled and tears formed at the corner of her eyes. I had more to say. A whole speech prepared. She stopped me with a kiss and closed her fingers around the ring.

“You said you’d walk away from everything but me,” she said, her voice clear and strong. Everyone in the club had grown quiet and they formed a circle around us. “That’s never what I wanted so I’ll make you a promise instead.”

“Aggh,” Charlie bellowed again. Sawyer and Colt slapped him in the shoulders to quiet him. Ava turned back to me.

“Dex, I promise that wherever you go, you’ll have me right beside you.”

Then I slipped the ring on her finger and pulled my Ava close. A cheer rose in the crowd as I picked her up and kissed her.

The End

###

Exclusive Sneak Peak of SLY by Jayne Blue

Sly

Dex and Ava said their vows under a bright harvest moon at the top of Green Bluff. She looked beautiful and strong wearing a simple white dress that had belonged to Dex’s mother. It was fitting that she did. Mary McLain would have loved Ava and I swear I felt her presence smiling down at us. Dex towered over her as he leaned down to kiss her and we gave them a Great Wolves howl to seal the deal.

I stood at Dex’s right shoulder, his best man. He turned and clasped my hand; I leaned forward and smacked him on the back.

“Take care of her,” I said, and I knew he would. So would I. Things were quiet now. Peaceful. I knew someday things might flare up again, legitimate businesses or no. We were who we were. If it wasn’t Pagano’s crew trying to lean on us, it would be someone else. Probably soon. I knew as long as I was club president, I’d always have to fight to keep what we had. That’s the way it had always been and always would be. So, I’d keep fighting. For now though, we’d earned our patch of peace.

Later, back at the Den, the tap flowed and somehow it was just Dex and me sitting in one corner of the bar watching all of our friends and brothers. Ava sat on the bar in the middle of them all, leading them in a chorus of
Proud Mary
.

“You better not let Mo give Ava any more shots of that homemade apple shit she’s carrying around. She’ll sleep through your wedding night.”

Dex laughed beside me. “I was just thinking the same thing. My girl’s kind of a lightweight.”

I took another swig of my beer and Dex and I clinked our mugs together. “I’m so happy for you guys. I think I’m happier than if this were my own wedding day.”

“You’re drunk,” Dex said as he downed the last of his beer. “And Ava says you need to start thinking about that. As soon as we get back I think she’s going to join forces with Mo to make a project out of finding you a woman.”

I cringed. “Hell, I’m not the marrying kind, Dex. You know that. Plus, I don’t need help finding women.” To prove my point, I winked across the bar at one of Ava’s bridesmaids. She was a pretty, ginger-haired nurse I’d seen around town a few times. She blushed and winked back. Oh yeah. Long legs. Nice tits. What kind of wedding reception would this be if the best man didn’t get a little lovin’ from a bridesmaid? Much as I liked hanging out with Dex, I was going to need to go over there and close the deal with her pretty soon. I wasn’t the marrying kind, but I also wasn’t in the mood to sleep alone tonight.

“How long do you think you’ll be gone?” I said, deftly veering the subject away from my love life.