Christian let out the breath he’d been holding at the sound of the text message. It was a weak excuse, but he was grateful for any to get away for a minute from arguing with Melody. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but she flat out refused to even consider keeping the cash or even a portion of it.
He rushed up the stairs, but he didn’t immediately go to get his phone. In all honesty, he didn’t care. The only person that he truly cared about at the moment was sitting downstairs, intent on arguing with him no matter how much sense his words made.
Christian went to the bedroom window and looked outside. For a long several minutes, he just stared up at the night sky as it bled into dawn.
It must still be early, only five or six in the morning, and he hadn’t slept a wink. He was tired, though. Afraid. Trepidation. Concerned for Mel and their baby. Yes, he was all of those things. But mostly he felt wired, as if he was balanced on a set of scales and just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It was a feeling that had haunted him since the day before. Since he’d walked inside his home after seeing his best friend with a bullet hole in his arm and Melody standing, looking so alone in the world that his heart broke into a million pieces that he was still trying to put back together.
He’d never been so afraid in his life, and he’d done some dangerous shit for the Devil’s over the past couple of years.
The sky outside the window was starting to lighten towards the horizon, a barely-there blue, so soft like it was made of downy feathers. He looked, but he didn’t really see. His thoughts were far away. On his own past, and Melody’s.
He couldn’t help but wonder at how far each of them had come, and just how much farther they could go. Especially with all the money on that table downstairs.
“Damn it!” Christian bit off the softly spoke curse as frustration flashed through him once more.
They needed that money. How could she not see that?
It made perfect sense to him, but no matter how he’d laid it out to her, she had flat out refused, saying over and over again that they had to give it back. That they couldn’t keep it. That it was too dangerous.
But with that amount of money, they could disappear.
As Christian stood there, the sun continuing its slow and steady ascent outside, he racked his brain to try and come up with an alternative plan. But if he gave the money back, it had all been for nothing.
Hub getting hurt, Craig getting shot. Giving up the location to his house to Enrique. Christian knew he could never go back there. Not until all this was settled. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to put Melody in danger like that again.
But, in the back of his mind, and in the pit of his stomach, was the niggling worry that Melody was right. What if they kept the money, and Enrique came after them? What if they kept it, and he had the Devil’s Martyrs gunning for him and his family?
Just the thought of that sent him into a cold sweat. He knew exactly what sort of violence and retributions Bones, the crew’s president, and the Devil’s Martyrs were capable of. Deadly and quick. Without mercy. No second chance.
Christian let out a growl of frustration as his thoughts circled around and around each other, not getting him anywhere at all.
What the hell was he going to do?
He was so conflicted, full of frustration. But there was no easy answer. There never was. Not when it mattered. Not when it was important. And Melody and their baby were the most important thing in the world to him.
Christian was still standing there, staring sightlessly out of the window when suddenly Melody’s arms wrapped around him from behind.
He let himself sink into her embrace, trying to just stay in the moment and keep the rest of the world at bay.
“I’m sorry about arguing with you,” Melody whispered against his back, holding him even tighter. “It just scares me so much. The idea of you getting hurt, or our baby. I know what Enrique will do to you, and that scares me even more.”
Christian shuddered at the utter sweetness in her words.
“Don’t worry, baby. I’m not going to let anything happen to you or the baby.”
“But what about you? Who’s going to keep you safe?”
The simple question struck a chord in him. No one had ever worried about him. No one had ever cared if he was safe, and that fact that this little slip of a woman wanted to protect him made him feel warm and cold all over.
“I don’t know the right answer,” he finally said after he could speak again. “But whatever it is, we’ll decide on it together, alright? We’ll make the decision together.”
He felt her nod behind him.
“I would like that. Maybe we can wait and talk to your father before deciding anything.”
“Hub?”
“He’s the vice president of the gang, Christian. If anyone knows what we should do or how they would react, it’s him.”
“Alright. I can agree to that,” he said, pulling her around until he could hold her properly in his arms, feel her softness pressed against him. “On one condition.”
She glanced up at him through a thick fringe of lashes, suspicion glowing in her dark gaze.
“What condition?”
“Just a kiss.”
Slowly, the suspicion melted into a beautiful smile.
“I think I can do that.”
Christian lowered his mouth to hers before the words even all the way out of her mouth, and he reveled in the taste of her. He didn’t think he would ever get enough.
He was growing breathless, and his body was tightening painfully, by the time he pulled back enough to look down into her face.
“You know, we could always just go back to bed and never leave again,” Christian suggested, more than a little serious.
Melody let out a tinkling laugh, like windchimes.
“Now, that sounds like a fantastic plan.”
She was still laughing when he kissed her again, their tongues tangling together as he drew another small gasp from her.
His hands moved to the hem of his t-shirt, which looked a hell of a lot better on her than it did on him, when his phone rang again. Another text message.
“Just ignore it,” he whispered, pleading with Melody.
But she was already pulling back, even though the heat in her eyes told him she didn’t want to.
“What if it’s about your dad? Or Craig?”
Christian rolled his eyes, his body already painfully hard for her all over again. The only thing he was interested in doing was stripping her naked and getting back into bed with her, and not leaving until neither of them could walk straight.
But he could hear the worry in her voice, and he knew she wouldn’t be satisfied until he checked.
With a very put-upon sigh that made Melody’s kiss-swollen mouth kick-up in a smile, Christian moved to find his cell phone. It was still in the back pocket of his jeans that had been discarded carelessly on the floor.
He pulled it out, rushing to get it over with so he could get back to more important matters, but the number that showed where the text message had come from made him freeze.
“It’s from you,” he muttered, and Melody’s brow furrowed in confusion as she walked over to peer over his shoulder.
“What are you talking about?”
“The text messages. They came from your phone?”
“But that’s impossible. I lost my phone after Enrique’s men…”
She trailed off in horror as Christian opened the messages.
The first one was all text. It read simply: Want her back alive?
The second message was a picture, obviously taken with the camera on the phone, and it made his blood boil and fear flood his system all at the same time, until he was shaking so badly he could barely make out the image. It didn’t matter. It was burned into his mind.
Bianca, with a black eye and bruised face, tied up by her wrists and staring tearfully into the camera. There was fear in her eyes, and he’d never seen her afraid.
Melody turned to him, covering her mouth with one hand as shock filled her eyes.
“Oh my god. Enrique has Bianca.”