“What’s that one for?” he asked.
I opened one eye briefly. “It’s to help you feel joy in a difficult situation.”
“I’m gonna fill the tub while you fondle your rocks,” he said, then I heard him mutter under his breath as he left, “Should be fondlin’ my rocks with all the fuckin’ work I’ve been doin’ around here, but sure, let the shiny stones get all the attention.”
I tried not to laugh as he walked away.
I took time to unpack, forcing down the warm fuzzies the renovated room was giving me. I couldn’t believe Wrath had spent all this time making this room exactly how he knew I’d like it.
Wrath was not that sweet. I’d seen him wrap his hand around a man’s throat and squeeze because he’d ogled me a little too long at some club party. He’d nearly crushed his windpipe and it was over nothing in my opinion.
I didn’t belong to Wrath. I was a free woman. Even if he and I were married, another man still had the right to look my way without the threat of being harmed.
“Bath’s ready,” Wrath called, interrupting my musing.
“Okay.”
“Why are you white knucklin’ that rock, Moonbeam?”
I sighed. “I just can’t figure you out.”
“What can I help clarify?”
“You take all this time to make my room perfect.” I met his eyes. “Thank you for that, by the way.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You’re running a bath for me right now, you’re gonna feed me, and make sure I have wine. You found wine, right?”
He smiled slowly. “I did.”
“Okay, good, thank you,” I breathed out. “But all of that sweetness can change in a split second, and you can kill a man with your bare hands.” I raised my hand and made a clamping motion. “Just squeeze the life out of him.”
He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “You talkin’ about the shithead a couple years ago?”
“He didn’t seem like a shithead.”
“Well, how about I enlighten you, Moonbeam?”
Here comes the feral cat voice again.
I wrinkled my nose.
“Shithead had come in with a couple of his buddies thinkin’ he was gonna prospect with the club.”
“Yeah, he told me.”
“You weren’t supposed to be there,” he growled.
“I know,” I snapped back. “It was either be at the club or have to listen to Raquel and Orion go at it at home.”
“You should have chosen the townhouse.”
“Can we move off the subject of you telling me where I’m supposed to be, please? You’re not my keeper.”
He took a deep breath and studied me. “Shithead had been caught with his pants down, literally, when he tried to assault one of the waitresses at Nocturn.”
I gasped, my stomach suddenly roiling. “What?”
“Come to find out, he’d done it more than once and he wasn’t here to join the recruits, he was here for a lesson.”
“What kind of lesson?”
He shook his head. “Not important. Let’s just say, he won’t be able to do it to anyone else in the future. But that night, when he looked at you like you were up next on his list of victims, I educated him otherwise,” he said, closing the distance between us. “I know your head’s been fucked with your whole life, and people in your past have betrayed you, but I’ve got your back.” He cupped my face. “I’ve always had your back, even when it didn’t look like I did.”
“But why?”
He frowned. “You seriously askin’ me that question?”
“Yes,” I hissed out in frustration.
His thumb whispered over my cheek. “Baby girl, you’re gonna need to figure that out for yourself.”
I scoffed. “What?”
With a grin, he leaned down and kissed me gently, but far too quickly. “Come get in the tub.”
I let out a huff before grabbing a change of clothes and following him into his bathroom.
* * *
Wrath
I was standing with Rocky in the 719 Kings’ safehouse, guarding Dagger, their OG, and waiting for Jekyll and Leo to find these little girls that had been kidnapped. Without warning, I heard a god-awful cry come out of Jekyll’s mouth and knew somethin’ was very, very wrong. I headed out the front door and went racing around the corner of the house to find Jekyll covered in blood and my best friend, Scrappy, lying butchered on the ground.
“He’s dead, Wrath. You and Rocky need to get the girls out of here. More Kings are gonna show up looking for them. I’ll take care of Scrappy.”
I said nothing as I forced bile back down my throat.
“Wrath? Did you fucking hear me? You need to go get the van and get the girls out of here, now!”
I turned and walked in the opposite direction, toward the back of the house. All I saw was red. I knew Jekyll was at my heels, but so was the devil.
And right now, the devil was faster.
I pulled out my snub-nosed 38 revolver, pointed it directly at Dagger’s head, and pulled the trigger.
“Wrath!” Sierra rasped, shaking me. “Jesus, honey, wake up. It’s just a dream.”
I felt her warm body wrap itself around me and the panic eased. I buried my face in her neck and breathed her in, pulling her close. She smelled like oranges and sandalwood, and all Sierra.
“Hey,” she whispered, stroking my hair. “You okay?”
“I am now,” I admitted.
“Do you want to tell me?”
“No. I just want to forget about it.”
“Okay.” She continued to stroke my hair, and I couldn’t stop myself from sliding my hands between her legs.
“Wrath,” she whispered, as if she was sharing in my pain.
“If you want me to stop, say it now, baby.”
“I don’t want you to stop.”
Since she always slept naked, I rolled her onto her back and buried my face between her legs. Sierra was unlike anyone I’d ever fucked. Her pussy was all natural. No porn star waxing was ever gonna be her go-to and I loved it. She wrapped her legs around my shoulders, and I licked, sucked, and ate her, sliding two fingers in and diving deep until her hands gripped my scalp and she cried out quietly, her pussy contracting around my digits.
Sliding my hand out, I sucked her juices from my fingers, grinning as she rolled her eyes. “That is weird.”
“Don’t knock it ’til you try it, baby,” I said. “You taste delicious.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
I grabbed a condom and rolled it on before leaning over her and drawing one nipple into my mouth, then the other.
She reached up and cupped my face. “I was totally gonna resist you, you know?”
I slid the tip of my cock inside of her. “Were you?”
“Yep. Had a whole plan.”
I slid deeper. “And now?”
“That plan’s obviously gone to shit.”
“Glad to hear it.” I buried myself to the root, her wet heat giving me nothing but sweet relief. Fuckin’ finally.
“Booth?”
“Yeah, baby?”