Chapter 21

They managed to make it to Alex’s compound in under an hour and, to the best of Shane’s knowledge, no one followed them. When the iron gates of his friend’s fortress locked behind them, he felt a shit ton safer, and for the first time since his fight with Luckston, he allowed himself to stop and breathe.

Madison, for her part, ran around the manor in awe, her mother at her heels as she took in the vast rooms and all the gadgetry in them. It wasn’t until she stopped to ask one of the many guards in the place why they had toy guns that Holly whisked her away and asked Alex for a room where she could get her ready for bed.

“Of course,” The dark-haired man nodded, gesturing down one of numerous halls. “I’ll have one of the guys show you. And he’ll be outside your door for as long as you need him to be.”

Holly nodded, clutching her daughter tightly to her as her eyes glazed over in a mixture of gratitude and weariness. “Mr. Paine, I can’t thank you enough for this. Really.”

Alex, however, just waved her off, his voice gruff. “. I fucking owe it to you, Holly. Whatever the Luckstons think about Shane, I caused all this shit. And instead of coming after me like men, they went for Shane…and Tommy...and you. I’m so goddamned sorry.”

“Just keep my little girl safe,” Holly returned, wiping the tears from her eyes, “And we’ll call it even.”

With a curt nod, Alex gestured to one of the men standing nearby and he led Holly and Madison away down the hall to one of the bedrooms. It was only once they were gone that Alex turned to Shane, his expression livid. “Those fucking rat bastards. They’re going to pay, Shane. I fucking swear to you.”

Shane leaned against a nearby couch, the fatigue of the day catching up with him. “We’re going to go up against Rob Luckston and all his thugs? I thought you liked to play things quiet.”

“I liked it before they fucked with a family. Before they hurt Kelly. Now I like the idea of putting them all ten feet under…while you stay and guard the fort.”

Shane immediately straightened, his eyes blazing. “Hell no. You’re not leaving me behind this time.”

Groaning, Alex swiped his drink from the nearest table to take a long sip. “Don’t be stupid, Shane. You’re already in this deep enough.”

“Exactly why I’m coming with you. This shit is personal, Alex. Kirk was all fucking over Holly for a goddamned year! If you’re going after the Lucksons, I’m with you. You don’t have an option.”

Alex stared at him, long and hard, before finally tossing back the rest of his drink. “You could get killed man. Leave Holly and Madison alone again. That what you want?”

Shane took a deep, steadying breath, and when he spoke, his voice was hard. “I want to end this. Once and for all.”

Though Alex’s answering scowl was deep, after a moment, he nodded once in assent.

And Shane felt a hard lump of anticipation form in his gut.

He’d sworn to protect Holly once and failed. He wouldn’t fail again.

**

She tried not to think about it.

As Holly gave Madison her bath, sang to her and played with her, she tried not to think about Kirk Luckston. But, eventually, after she gave her daughter her dinner and put her to bed, she was alone next to the slumbering girl with only her thoughts to keep her company, and it all came rushing back.

She shot him.

She shot and killed a man.

Holly remembered when Tommy bought the gun. She’d been totally against the weapon within ten feet of her, but he insisted that it was just for protection. In case the restaurant was being robbed or attacked. Then, he’d locked the pistol away and never pulled it out again.

But Holly never forgot it was there. Every time Kirk Luckton had his wicked way with her, she longed to reach for it. To press the barrel against his head and blow his fucking brains out – but she had known she couldn’t. Known the hell it would bring down on her family.

But when Kirk levelled a gun at Shane, she had barely hesitated.

She saw him fall in her mind, over and over. Saw him crumple to the ground in a pool of his own blood

And she regretted it not one iota. She was glad Kirk Luckston was dead. He would never torture anyone else the way he’d tortured her – and if it wasn’t for the chain reaction of events she might have started, Holly would be sobbing in relief.

But instead, she was cowering in fear – hoping they made it through the night. She had finally stood up for what she held dear, and now she was in even more danger. The thought was almost laughable – in a hysterical, hopeless kind of way. If she’d been smarter, she wouldn’t have pulled the trigger that brought Rob Luckston down on her head.

But then Shane would be dead. Shane, who had come to her rescue – who had fought Kirk with a ferocity she’d never seen before. He would be the victim, bleeding out on the floor of the restaurant – and nothing was worth that.

Nothing was worth losing the man she loved.

The realization was enough to steal her breath away.

She loved Shane. He had come into her life when she needed him most and given her the stability she had so desperately needed. He was strong when she couldn’t be, and he was soft when he needed to be. When he wasn’t with her, she thought of him every second of every day, and when he was with her…Holly hadn’t known such bliss could exist.

She had loved Tommy – wholly, totally, and deeply. But what she felt for Shane was different. Despite all her efforts to push him away, all her attempts to protect him…here he was.

What the hell had she done to deserve such a thing?

When a low, soft tapping came on the door to the bedroom, she straightened immediately. Slowly, carefully, she slid from Maddy’s grip to tiptoe to the bedroom door and open it a minute crack. Next to the armed man standing guard outside, Shane stared down at her, his expression tentative. “Can I come in?”

Holly glanced back at Maddy’s sleeping form before opening the door as quietly as she could to admit him. “Madison’s sleeping.”

At her statement, Shane turned to face the small, slumbering figure. Without a word, he lumbered over to her, kneeling at the side of the bed to watch her breathing for a long, drawn out moment. “I understand why you didn’t tell me.” He finally murmured lowly, his gaze fixed on Madison. “You wanted to protect her. Hell, I want to protect her, and I swear I will, Holly.” Touching Maddy’s head gently, the tattooed man stood, turning to face her once more. “But you’ve gotta let me in.”

Taking a shuddering breath, Holly did her best to swallow her grief. To keep it locked inside where it belonged – to be strong. She was strong.

“Don’t.” Stepping towards her, Shane took her shoulders in a gentle grip, he stared down at her, his gaze warm and forgiving. “Don’t shut me out, Holly. I need you. And you need me.”

When hot tears started pouring down her cheeks, she couldn’t stop them. Nor could she stop the soft, wounded sounds that tore from her throat. Drawing her into his arms, Shane hefted her bridal style to carry to the bathroom, where he turned the shower on.

“Shane, I am dangerous. I’m fucked up and everything I touch fucking disintegrates. I destroyed Tommy’s business. I got Kelly raped and now you and Maddy are mixed up in it. Why the hell would you want to be with me?”

Almost before she had finished speaking, Shane’s mouth was on hers – cutting of her tirade and effectively melting her resistance to nothing. Where Holly had only felt desolation there was suddenly a burning, all-encompassing hunger that tore through her and left her trembling in its wake. She kissed Shane back frantically, her tongue tangling with his as he tore at the tattered clothes she wore, scattering them to the floor.

At the sight of the new bruises welling on her back and shoulders, Shane cursed. “No one will ever fucking touch you again, I swear it.”

Reaching for the buttons on his shirt, Holly popped them in an effort to be skin to skin with him as quickly as possible. In a trice, the man’s inked chest was bared to her and her nipples hardened to aching peaks the moment she arched against him. Groaning, Shane yanked at his own belt buckle to remove his slacks and within moments, he was completely bare against her.

Hoisting Holly into the air, he carried her into the immense shower where hot water immediately sluiced over them, running in rivulets down their sore forms. Holly clung tightly to him as her back pressed against the shower wall, making her gasp at the temperature contrast. As their bodies slid against one another, she moaned softly, all her aches and pains forgotten in the stead of Shane’s rigid erection pressing into her belly.

“You want to know why I want to be with you?” He whispered against her mouth, his voice low and ragged. “Because I’ve loved you since the first goddamn moment I saw you. I loved you and I let you go, and for ten long fucking years I regretted it, Holly. I’m not wasting one moment more, you hear me? I fucking refuse.”

His heated, throbbing erection slid once against her already-slick lower lips before he was pressing into her – and all Holly felt was pure, unadulterated pleasure. She needed this like she needed to breathe, and Shane declaration sent pinpricks of icy hot shock through her, even as he pressed deeper and deeper inside her. “I’m not hiding it anymore.” Shane groaned against her shoulder, withdrawing before his neck thrust pressed her even flusher against the wall. “I love you.”

Holly cried out softly, her entire form shuddering against him as he plied her body with the delicious length of his cock again and again –until she was sobbing in sensation. She loved him too. With everything that she was, she loved him but could she bring herself to say the words. If she said them, she might lose him.

And losing Shane would kill her.

“Shane…” She gasped his name as each cleaving buck of his hips pressed her closer and closer to the precipice of her orgasm. Her fingers threaded through his hair, her mouth found his, and then, with a particularly brutal thrust, she was coming, hard, to the sensation of the man flooding her insides with hot, satiating seed.

Holly trembled, pinned between his body and the wall, as she came down from her high and, slowly, Shane lowered her to the tile floor, still supporting her with a strong arm. As she pressed close to him, he washed her in the silence, and she him, until they were both clean, the grime and stress of the day stripped away.

After, the slipped into the bed, on either side of Maddy’s still sleeping form, and Holly watched the little girl curl up against Shane’s side, her hair haloing over his chest and arm as he gazed down at her fondly. “I’d do anything for her, Holly…you know that. Anything for you.”

Holly nodded, raising her head to kiss him lingeringly over her daughter’s downy waves. When she drew back, he sighed, his expression sobering. “Which is why I have to finish this, Holly. I have to make sure the Luckstons never come for us again…and Alex is going to help me do it.”

She wanted to tell him not to – to forbid him to go. How could she lose him when they’d just found each other.

But…if he didn’t go…they wouldn’t be safe for as long as Rob Luckston was alive.

And so, despite her fear, Holly nodded slowly, apprehension knotting in her stomach. “Just…” She swallowed thickly, her eyes sliding shut as she found her composure. “Come back, ok? Please come back.”

“Hey.” Reaching across Maddy, Shane cupped her chin, drawing her close to peck her on the lips softly. “I’m coming back. I promise.”

Holly only nodded without a word, burying her face in his shoulder as she pressed against Maddy between them. She knew there was no way Shane could promise her such a thing. She couldn’t imagine a man as ruthless as Rob Luckston wanting anything less than blood for his brother’s death – and Shane would be directly in his path.

All she could do was pray.

**

Shane didn’t sleep. Alex told him they’d be leaving at first light and so he spent most of the night watching Holly and Maddy sleep. They were both exhausted, and the moment Holly actually let her eyes close, she was out like a light. In fact, she was sleeping so deeply that not even his text tone woke her when Alex sent for him around five thirty in the morning.

Carefully, Shane untangled himself from her and Maddy before slipping from the bed without a sound. When he left the room, he found that Alex had ordered two more men down the hall to guard it and took heart in the fact. If they couldn’t be here to ensure the manor was protected, at least they could leave a small army.

Alex was in the great room, dressed impeccably as always, but this time, he was strapped. Two pistols and an assault rifle, along with the guns the additional ten men accompanying them would carry. When Shane entered the room, he met his friend’s dual-colored gaze.

Alex’s expression was grave. “I got him to agree to meet us in the open to talk.” He switched the safety off on a gun before holstering it at his hip. “Meaning he’ll probably try to get the drop on us when we arrive.”

“Any chance he’ll actually talk?” Shane arched a brow, accepting the pistol that his friend handed him. He’d never been one for guns, but he certainly wasn’t about to refuse one now.

“Very little.” Alex returned with a frown. “I’ve had dealings with Luckston before. Unlike his brother, when he’s pissed, it doesn’t show on his face. He likes to get you when you aren’t looking – and he likes to make it hurt.”

Shane frowned. That much was evident in the way he’d treated Kelly. He’d be damned if he let that happen again. “So we make him hurt.”

Alex smirked. “That’s the plan.”