Sometimes she would wake up screaming, covered in sweat, scratching, tearing at the sheets, refusing to let anyone touch her. Eventually, the only one who could calm her was Onyx. He would sleep on the floor next to her bed and would tell her stories. Once she was calm and asleep, he would quietly rage, going somewhere on his own, returning later to sit outside her door, lost in his own thoughts.
Ivory’s anxiety was so bad that when she started smoking marijuana a year after the attack, I didn’t stop her. I let her. Scoring her weed was easy. Back then, we all got high, especially at the club. After doing the club’s dirty work, smoking outside in the quiet of the forest behind the clubhouse was a given; a way to relax after Onyx and I carved up and disposed of whatever bodies we were commanded to get rid of.
So when I caught Ivory smoking, I didn’t argue, and we didn’t exactly have insurance to send her to therapy. Our life with Legion also wasn’t conducive to treatment. Not that she would go. She wouldn’t talk to me, and when I tried to get her to tell me about what he’d done to her, she shut down and walked away. So, I let her self-medicate. When she started getting into meth, I forced her to quit cold turkey. At that point, she was so out of control, and the only person she would listen to was Onyx. We were both in the Marines, and it was hard to keep her on the straight and narrow. Onyx was able to convince her to go into rehab. She stuck it out, making him a promise. After she got clean, they fell in love, and he married her when she turned 21. A few years later, she got pregnant with Angel. She had her life together. She was happy, at least happier than I’d seen her in a long time. Four years later, she and my niece were dead, brutally taken away because of who I am, who the Legion is. Her and my sweet Angel, murdered, disposed of like trash.
So, when Jace invited me over for poker a few days ago, I said yes. It felt like a test. A test involving his sister.
He had no idea that I followed Camryn from where she was staying with her blonde friend, discovering that she, too, was headed to the same building where her brother’s penthouse was located.
The whole night I stayed, playing easy poker with Jace, Silas, their other friends, Tatum, and Sloane, knowing she was upstairs.
Now, I have my chance because we shuffle Silas out the door and into the elevator with Jace, talking him off the ledge.
When we walk through the door behind them, my eyes find her immediately. Today, she is wearing shorts with fishnet stockings underneath. On her feet are bright red sneakers. It’s how she looks when I’m tracking her, stalking her. It’s very different from the polished, elegant style she wore at the wedding.
This is how I like her best. Her loose T-shirt hangs off her shoulder, and I can see a blue bra strap peeking out. A red baseball hat completes the outfit, and her black ponytail hangs through the back opening. It all makes her look youthful, innocent. I fold my arms and try not to think about ripping those fishnets to shreds to get to her pussy. She turns and freezes when she spots me. Her eyes never leave mine, and her face looks hopeful. It takes all my control not to drag her outside and find a dark corner to devour her. It’s been weeks since I left her outside her friend’s building. Left her alone after inviting me to fuck her.
But seconds later, that hope changes, and her expression becomes closed. She looks away from me, dismissing me, like I’m a ghost. Hating it, I step in closer, getting near enough to smell her. That sweet, fruity scent that I can’t place. The floral melds with turpentine and paint. It’s her signature scent, one I’d know anywhere.
Jace starts arguing with his fiancée in the hallway, while Silas wipes his pregnant wife’s tears on his face as she cuddles her. Sloane helps the curvy redhead clean up. Everyone starts talking at once, but my attention is focused on her. She moves to the kitchen, but I can’t follow her.
When she remerges, I shift subtly, blocking her path. “Do you need a ride to the hospital?” I grumble, not liking that she won’t look at me.
“Why would I ride with you?”
This time, she does look directly at me. Her eyes are liquid green pools. Her expression is mutinous, bratty. My dick responds in kind, perky right up. My eyes are transfixed on her shiny lips coated in something pink and glossy. Something I want to taste.
“So when it’s time to drop me off you treat me like I have communicable disease? Or no wait, what was it you said? I’m a little girl? Sorry not in the mood to deal with your hot and cold today.”
With that, she shoulder bumps me, causing me to stagger slightly. She picks up a tray and takes it back to the kitchen. I follow, my gaze locked on her ass in those shorts. Maybe being this close to her wasn’t the best idea because my body is reacting to her bratty tone. The worst thing she could have done is walk away from me. My need to chase, to corner, and to capture rears its head, tipping my control over the edge, an edge I’m barely holding on to. I want to correct her snarky attitude, first with my hand on her ass and then my cock deep in her throat. The insatiable need to show her how I feel about her bitchy tone pumps through me. I shouldn’t interact with her. My efforts to remain objective and be content with watching from afar are failing.
I follow her slowly, wishing we were alone. The flat surface of the island would be a perfect workspace to use my knife on her pretty skin. She’s at the sink rinsing dishes. “Do you want a ride or not?” I bark, trying to hold myself rigid, so I don’t grab her.
“Not.” She faces me, crossing her arms. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing?—”
I want to tell her it’s not a game, that the way I feel around her makes me feel more out of control than I’ve ever been, but I keep my mouth shut.
“—but stay the fuck away from me. You’ve rejected me for the last time.” She turns back to the sink, acting like I’m not there.
That haughty dismissal makes me close my eyes and grind my molars. It eats at me not to take her, but every time I visit my mother, I’m reminded of what Jace Park has done for me. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“Whatever you say,” she sing-songs before leaving the kitchen, walking through the open doorway to the living room, her ass twitching. Those damn fishnets.
I stalk after her, and Sloane catches my eye, raising an eyebrow. He looks ahead of me at Camryn as she walks through the door. The pity on his face pisses me off further. I don’t need his goddamn pity. I follow her out the door and watch as she gets into the elevator, smiling at me before raising her hand and putting up her middle finger as the door closes.
“Fuck!” I snarl, pressing the button to bring the elevator back up. Once the doors open, I step inside, pacing as the metal box descends. Then I laugh, leaning against the wall. Goddamn it, I’m harder than a rock. Her little stunt was sexy as hell, but little does she know that her gesture doesn’t bother me. If anything, it just makes me want to hunt her down more, bend her to my will.
Once I’m outside, I spot her at the curb, and I head her way. She taps away on her phone, scrolling through it, ignoring me. A car pulls up, and she doesn’t say another word before walking over and slipping inside.
The rage in me wants to drag her ass right out and put her on the back of my bike where she belongs, but reality reminds me that if I claim her for real, I’m sentencing her to death.
Chapter 24
May
“Oww. Fuck!” Staring down at the bleeding wound on my thumb, I stick it into my mouth to stem the blood. Moaning at the searing pain, I frown at the art on my canvas. Damn, I fucked it up, taking off too much with the blade. I want to throw the razor against the wall, but then I might gouge the wall.
The cut feels like another link in a long chain of bad luck. My latest piece isn’t going right, and my daydreaming about Stone hasn’t helped me. Wondering what he’s doing, or where he is on that sexy ass bike. The worst wonderings are the times when I think about whether he’s had sex with other women. Stupid me, that I care, because he’s an asshole.
