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I lean forward, intent on capturing his lips with mine. In deepening the moment I feel like I’ve been waiting for my entire life, but the soft buzzing of a phone drags us both away from the moment.
Ace curses as he reaches into his pocket. He rolls his eyes and plants one hand on my thigh, holding me in place while he answers the phone. “This better be good, Tommy,” he all but growls, and I can’t help but smile at the annoyance in his tone.
The faint sound of our foster brother’s voice carries between us, but I can’t quite make out what he’s saying.
Ace’s eyebrows rise, and he blinks a few times. “Today?”
Tommy replies something, and Ace runs an irritated hand through his hair. “You’re getting married today?”
The unmistakable sound of Tommy’s laugh fills the line, and the corners of my mouth tip up of their own accord. I’ve missed that sound, just like I’ve missed so much about the only two people I could ever rely on.
Ace’s gaze catches mine, worry filling the green pools. “I’ll text you and let you know.”
He ends the call without another word and blows out a breath. “So, Tommy and Clara are getting married this afternoon.”
“I got that much.” I giggle.
“They want us to go.”
I nod slowly. I don’t want to miss their wedding, not when I’ve already missed so much of his and Ace’s lives, but the thought of stepping foot outside of this penthouse has a cold sweat breaking out across my brow. The safety of this apartment has given me the chance to adjust to freedom, even if I am still locked up, I’m as free as I’ve been in years, and leaving risks that.
“We don’t have to if you don’t want to, Mia.” His palm cups my cheek, cradling my face in his calloused hand.
I open my mouth to respond but drop it closed again a second later. I don’t know if I can leave the only place I’ve felt safe in the better part of a decade. It’s not even a question whether I want to at this point, because I do want to.
Clara gave me the strength to be brave. She’s the reason I escaped an endless cycle of men using me and brought me back to the family I fell into all those years ago. And Tommy was always right there with Ace, protecting the both of us, keeping us safe, making sure none of the older boys touched me, and beating up the kids at school that would pick on me for being an orphan.
The two of them have given me more than I can ever put into words, and I won’t let them down by missing their big day.
“I want to go.” I whisper the shaky words.
CHAPTER TWENTY
ACE
This is a bad fucking idea.
In fact, it’s not just a bad idea. It’s the worst fucking idea I think I’ve ever allowed to go ahead.
But Mia was confident in her decision, and I couldn’t fault her for it. I didn’t want to miss Tommy’s big day either.
After Mia was taken, we grew apart, more because of me than him. He tried to keep in touch, but I felt like I didn’t deserve to have anyone to lean on while I went through the hardest time in my life. I was destined to be alone because I let the only girl I’d ever loved down. I allowed her to be taken from me. I allowed her to be sold into trafficking, and not only that, I couldn’t fucking find her. Every rock I turned over was another failure, and I didn’t deserve to have anyone in my life if all I was going to do was fail them.
I tap my desk impatiently, waiting for Mia to get ready. I had to get a suit couriered over, seeing as it’s not something I would ordinarily wear in my hermit lifestyle, but Mia said she found something in the shit Snow bought her, so I’ve left her to her own devices for the last hour.
It took everything in me to not try to talk her out of the decision she made, but I’m all too aware of the fact that if I don’t let her make her own choices, if I insist on keeping her here, I’m no better than the men that kept her caged for all those years.
The door upstairs cracks open, and my attention is dragged to the stairs immediately. I don’t know when I’ll be able to breathe when she’s out of my sight again, but I have a feeling it won’t be anytime soon. Especially with Kyle lurking in the shadows, waiting for his chance to take her away again.
After I realized his pattern, it became easier to track his next moves based on what we could find on what he’s done before. He’s never had to cover his tracks before because the women he forced to marry him had no one. An unfortunate reality for most who are sold into trafficking.
Mia appears in a mid-length green satin dress with a slight split up one leg. The spaghetti straps over her slender shoulders force me to follow the neckline that gives me the slightest view of her perky tits. The shiny black pumps she’s paired with it have filthy thoughts flicking through my mind.
The urge to bend her over the nearest surface, shove the soft fabric up her thighs and slam home is almost too much for me to push down. But that’s not a fantasy I can live out, nor is it one we may ever be able to.
But that’s okay.
If it means I can have Mia by my side, I can live with stolen touches and kisses that set my body alight. It’s not like I went out of my way to fuck before, only when I couldn’t stand another shower with my own hand did I find a willing body to sink myself into, and never could I look them in the eye. It always felt like I was betraying Mia somehow, and now that I have her back, I’ll never even think of touching another woman.
