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“Don’t,” Ricardo warned him. “You are the closest thing I have to family anymore, Tango—you and Gabriel.” He glanced at me through the rearview mirror, and I smiled at him—just a tiny tilt of my lips—to let him know how much his words meant to me. They warmed me. It was nice to know that Tango and I had somewhere to go, somewhere we could belong, if something happened to the club. “You two came to me on the run. Needing a safe place to live for a while. I don’t trust that you two are a hundred percent safe, but I can at least make sure you’re safe on the way back to your home.”
Tango nodded once, letting the conversation drop. Ricardo glanced at me through the rearview mirror again as he slowed down to turn through the clubhouse gates.
“Keep Tango in line, you hear me?”
A blush stained my cheeks when Tango turned to look at me, arching a brow at me. I ducked my head, making Ricardo chuckle.
“Just take care of him,” Ricardo told Tango.
Tango nodded once. “Always.”
I felt his vow all the way into the marrow of my bones, down into the depths of my soul. And it made a shiver roll down my spine because I knew all the ways Tango could take care of me.
And he was good at all of them.
Sophia beamed when I walked into the clubhouse, Tango a massive shadow right behind me. Just because my father was dead didn’t mean that Tango was letting his guard down, which was perfectly fine with me. Being back here had me feeling like I was crawling out of my skin. I needed Tango close, at least until I got reacclimated to being back here again where threats were always lurking.
I didn’t mind it when Tango hovered; I preferred it honestly—needed him to. I was safest when Tango was right there—right where I could easily access him. Touch him. Breathe him in.
I never not needed Tango. He was a part of me, and being away from him, without him, was like trying to survive while trapped underwater.
No matter how desperately I held my breath, my need for oxygen would eventually weigh out, and I knew I would eventually open my mouth and breathe in nothing but water. Fill my lungs up with it, drowning myself.
That was how it felt to be without Tango. Like I was trying to breathe underwater. It was futile and might cost me my life.
“Gabriel!” Sophia exclaimed. She wrapped me in a quick hug and then held out a red basket. My cheeks warmed as I took it from her, holding it to my chest. “Jessica and I put together a welcome home basket for you. It’s got all your favorite things, and we even included some new books, but make sure you have Tango vet them first.”
I nodded. “Thank you,” I rasped. “This… this means more to me than you could ever know.”
Her smile softened. “We know you’ve had a rough time of it lately, and we also terribly missed you. Welcome home.”
Tango steered me toward the stairs before she or I could say anything else. I smiled up at him—just a small tilt of my lips. “Thank you,” I murmured.
He grunted. “I could tell that you were getting a little overwhelmed with her attention,” he told me.
My shoulders slumped a little. “I love her gift. I just… I’m just so tired,” I said quietly. We had been on the road for hours, and I was exhausted. I really just wanted to take a shower and then curl up in bed with Tango.
But I knew he had church, and it was something he couldn’t get out of. Despite his best efforts to always put me first, sometimes, the club still won out. And I was okay with that. I understood it.
“I know you are, baby,” Tango said quietly as he unlocked our apartment door. Everything had been fixed and looked exactly as it had before. I rapidly blinked to clear the tears that suddenly sprang into my eyes. I hadn’t realized how much I fucking missed this.
At least we had our space still. I could gather my wits and recenter myself here, surrounded by everything Tango.
Tango gently nudged our door shut behind him with his hip before taking my basket from me and setting it on top of the dresser. Then, he cupped my cheek in his big, rough hand and smoothed the pad of his thumb over my jaw and chin.
“Get a shower,” he told me. “By the time you get out, I should be done downstairs. Then, I’ll get a shower, and we can go to sleep. Sound good?”
I nodded, then leaned up on my toes to press a kiss to his lips. He tugged me a little closer, this time being the one to initiate our kiss. I sighed into his mouth, my fingers curling into his jacket. I didn’t want to let him go. I wasn’t ready.
“Shower,” he told me quietly. “I’ll be back soon. I promise. And you know where to find me if you need me.”
The bed dipped as Tango’s warm, naked body slid into bed behind me, his arm binding around my waist, his hard cock pressing against the crease of my ass. He smelled of sandalwood and sage, and I deeply inhaled to fill my lungs with the scent of him, not even ashamed of doing so.
It had been so long since Tango had smelled of his usual body wash and shampoo. I’d missed it—terribly.
I shuddered, a low moan crawling up my throat when Tango pressed two fingers into my greedy hole, a simple sound of pleasure sliding from deep within his chest when he realized that I’d taken the time to prep for him in anticipation of having him fill me up. I desperately needed to be with him like this after everything that’d happened and all the changes I was enduring yet again.
“You want to go to sleep with my cock stuffing you full, baby?” he rumbled in my ear.
