Love Ties (32 page)

He clenched his jaw, feeling a muscle flutter in the crease.

Ace made a noise in his throat, and Jamison leaned close to look at his cell screen. Ever’s dot was on the move.

Lungs burning with the air he couldn’t seem to expel, he watched her move across the Raiders’ club grounds. Was it possible she could just leave without anyone seeing?

The dot stopped. Two minutes passed. Three.

“Something’s wrong,” Ace said.

“I’m going after her.”

“No, wait.”

“Wait for her to die? She’s not moving, Ace!” He twisted to break into a run, but Ace called him back.

“She’s moving.”

Jamison ripped the phone from Ace’s hand. Sure enough, the dot was travelling quickly. She was running, running to him.

He watched her. When she seemed to cross the road, Jamison’s heart lodged in his throat. “She’s in the pipe.”

They took off sprinting for the drain pipe with Copilot at their heels. Jamison jumped down over an embankment. Litter and mud were thick on the ground, but he had eyes only for the mouth of that pipe.

Between the whir of passing cars on the road above, footsteps echoed.

His first glimpse of her red hair tore a groan from his throat. He ducked into the pipe that was barely big enough for a small woman to traverse bent over. She took two more steps.

He put his hands on her and pulled her out the other side, safely into his arms.

She was covered in blood.

•●•

“Fucking hell, what happened to you?” Ace cried.

Ever was shaking so bad, her teeth rattled. But Jamison was warm and solid, and she wanted him very badly.

He ran his hands down her arms, staring hard at her face. The sticky splatter of blood was drying. “Ever, are you hurt?”

She shook her head, the horror of what she’d done dawning on her. “Not me. I…”

Breaking off, she retched. She would forever feel her knife sinking into that guard, again and again. Too many times to count, but she’d had to make sure he wouldn’t follow.

“Oh God.” Jamison wrapped an arm around her middle and held her while she expelled the contents of her stomach. Then he gently brushed her hair off her face. “Let’s get you out of here.”

“She can’t ride on the back of your bike like that, Jamison. We’ll have the cops following us in no time.”

“He’s dead,” she whimpered. “I-I had no choice. He tried to stop me, and he’d kicked me before. I—”

Jamison swiped the big, rough pad of his thumb over her lips. Then he yanked off his cut and T-shirt. He used the cotton to wipe her face and arms. Her hands were stained with dried blood.

“Here. There’s a little water in the bottom of the pipe.” Ace pointed at her feet, which were wet from that very water.

She scrubbed her hands then wiped them on her jeans. Her skin crawled with the memory of the guard’s hot blood between her fingers.

“She’s going to fall over, Jamison. Grab her.”

He did, throwing her over his shoulder. She felt helpless and sick yet simultaneously filled with relief. Her mind fogged until she found herself on the back of his bike.

Jamison settled his helmet on her, and when he climbed on in front of her, she wound her arms around his waist. The broad expanse of his back was sweet heaven. For weeks all she’d wanted was this—Jamison and his bike.

Ace fell in behind them as they zoomed away from the Raiders, from Stone, Blacky, and the guy she’d killed.

Ever pressed her nose between Jamison’s shoulder blades and closed her eyes. She’d done nothing but evade the truth, and it was time to come clean with him. She’d tell him every single detail about her life and death. With any luck, he’d forgive her.

When he bundled her into the club, she ignored the shouts of surprise. As she passed Strother, she caught his smirk and wanted to feel the blood between her fingers for another reason.

“You son of a bitch!” She swung at him, but Jamison caught her fist and lowered it.

“I’ll take care of him, baby.”

He and Strother glared at each other before Jamison led Ever to his room.

It was the same as she’d left it. All of her belongings were here, and she could swear the pillow was in the exact spot. Hadn’t he been sleeping here? If not, who was he sleeping with?

Pain rattled through her like an old train car, swaying back and forth over her nerves.

“Shower,” Jamison said. He took her into the bathroom and stripped her. Then he guided her under the hot spray.

When she could only stand there and let it hit her, he stripped his clothes off and got in too.

As soon as his scorching body touched hers, she slammed back to reality. She was with him, and he’d keep her safe.

She threw her arms around him and pulled him close. “I’m so sorry, Jamie. I had to stay with Stone. I needed more information, and I’ve got it now. I found it. And I’m so sorry.”

He pushed out a breath and hitched her tight against his wet, muscled body. “It’s okay, we’ll work it out.”

Desperation took hold. She had to make him understand. She cupped his face, her thumbs at the corners of his full lips, his beard a light rasp under her fingers. Shivers of need ran down her spine and turned into a pulsation between her legs.

His eyes were dark with desire, and his cock stirred against her belly.

“It’s only you, Jamie. Stone didn’t lay a hand on me. I think he knew if he tried, I’d kill him.” Now that the words were out, she recognized the truth. She’d oozed a “fuck off” vibe for weeks, and Stone had respected it enough to steer clear.

“I don’t want Stone. Please let me back in.”

Jamison closed his eyes slowly. When he opened them, they shone with all the emotion she’d longed for.

In one deft motion he plucked her off her feet and shoved her against the tile wall. Water rained over his delicious body, zigzagging through the spattering of pale hair. His mouth crashed over hers.

Her cry was silenced by his kiss. His tongue hot and slippery and utterly devouring. He ran it over hers while gliding his erection over her slick pussy. Her channel clamped down on the emptiness, wanting him so badly inside her.

“God, Ever. Fuck.” He tugged on her hair as he held her in place to accept his kisses. The waves of emotion made her wild. She raked her nails over his shoulders and back, lightly carving the pink marks of her love.

When he spattered kisses down her neck to her breasts, she lost herself in sensation.

He locked her nipple between his lips and sucked. Juices oozed from her folds. She needed him. Now.

He seemed to sense this because he thrust two fingers deep. She ground into his touch, primed after so many daydreams about this very reunion. The fierce expression in his eyes bound her to him as she rode his fingers.

“I missed you so damn much, baby.”

She caught his lower lip in her teeth and slid her tongue over the flesh. “I’ve needed you every minute I was away.”

“Hell, yeah.” He gathered her close and stepped out of the shower. Without bothering to turn off the water or dry them, he stormed into his room with her in his arms.

Drops of water glistened on his chest, and rivulets traced paths from his hair down his shoulders. She covered one with her mouth and slurped.

Her back hit the mattress, and hot muscle enveloped her. She sank beneath him, never wanting to be anyplace else. With his arms braced on either side of her head, he stared into her eyes.

“Truth or dare, baby.”

“Truth.”

“How do you feel about me?”

A chasm broke open inside her, weeping with all the love she felt. He was her family, and she belonged here.

“I’d kill for you, Jamie.”

His growl vibrated through her chest. Leaning away, he pinned her with only his gaze as he fitted a condom over the turgid head of his cock. Then very slowly he pressed her thighs upward and fed his erection into her pussy.

Passion made her snap her hips up to accept all of him. She held his face and stole more of his kisses. Their lovemaking turned carnal. She bit at his lips and tongue, and he pounded her into the mattress, claiming her with each thrust.

The heat in her lower belly coiled as his cock stretched her to burning pleasure.

“Look at me when you come apart around my cock,” he rasped, pupils blown wide.

She fell headlong into his absorbed stare. Her pussy clutched at him, and she held him tight. For dizzying minutes she lost herself. Suddenly he tensed.

With a roar, he came. Even with a barrier, the heat of his release sent her rocketing over the edge. Juices spilled over him, and her body seemed to swell around him until they were locked together.

She clung to him, riding the waves of release. Her nipples were two tight buds against his hard chest, and he rubbed his jaw over her skin, marking her.

Their breathing was music she never wanted to switch off. When he raised his head and met her gaze once again, a smile cut a path over his rugged face. A bracket etched itself around his lips. Ever couldn’t look away from him.

“Wildflower.”

“Anchor.”

His chest shook with his chuckle that turned into a laugh of complete joy.

•●•

The telling was hard on her.

Ever started with her childhood, relating stories about her family. How her grandfather had started the Raiders and her father had taken over before she’d been born. The meeting of her parents, and how her mom had been knocked up within six months.

Her mom had cherished her, while her father had seemed indifferent most times. On very rare occasions he let Ever get close, but he was a hard man who’d died trying to bring tainted money into the club.

After that, Ever’s mom had been killed. Though Ever had never been told how, she suspected it was foul play.

Hearing her stories of Stone’s protection and tenderness was hard, but Jamison needed to know. A newfound respect for the man he despised surfaced. Before, he’d thought he could shoot the guy in cold blood. Hell, he still deserved it for beating her. But now…

She twisted her fingers together when she told stories of the Raiders’ advances on her—from older men to their teenage sons. Stone kept her safe through it all, and he’d taken her virginity himself.

She talked of Eden Parkes, Emma Palen, and Ever Peerson, intermingling the three lives into one broader one that made Jamison see her for what she really was—a complex flower with layer upon layer of petals. At the center was the true Ever, the sweetest fragrance one could ever draw into himself.

Then she crawled onto his lap and shook when she relayed her decision to come back to Alabama and try to find information on her mother’s death. She pointed at her clothes that were crumpled on the bathroom floor.

“The truth is in my pocket. A name on a card. It says: Ended—Satkowsky.”

“You think he killed her?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know him?”

“No. I’ve never heard the name.”

“We’ll find him.”

She nodded and tipped her forehead against his. “I know.”

When she talked of things that had gone down since he’d met her—Sarah’s plea for help and an old friend named Crash’s assistance—Jamison grew tense. They were getting to a part he didn’t like but had to hear.

Finally, she told Jamison about Strother and Ace, and Paxton inking her.

“Did you only get this to cover the chip?” He ran his fingers along the blue-black lines up to the tiny rectangle under her skin.

She shook her head, red locks soft on his bare chest. “I would have gotten it, anyway, Jamie. It was time.”

Yes, time for her to bind herself to him. As soon as they finished this shit with the warehouse raid and the Satkowsky guy, Jamison was going to marry her.

Finally she dragged in a deep breath and climbed off his lap. She went into the bathroom and pulled something from her jeans pocket. Before she dropped the garment on the floor again, he spotted the bloodstain from the man she’d killed.

She walked back to him, hips twitching, breasts jiggling. When he pulled her back onto his lap, he nuzzled her throat while she unfolded the paper.

She placed it under his nose, and he looked down at a birth certificate.

He read the words, but they didn’t register for several seconds. His eyes widened.