Six Months Later
I moved soundlessly to where Jessica was stretched up on the balls of her feet, leaning over the vanity as she did her makeup. She was wearing one of my shirts, and from the glimpse she’d given me when she’d shifted, nothing underneath.
Exactly the way I preferred her.
She dropped her hands to the marble counter and pushed up, her ebony eyes finding me in the mirror, amusement dancing in them.
“Thought I felt you.”
My head tilted, the corner of my mouth stretching into a grin as I slipped up behind her. “Never have been able to sneak up on you.”
I ran my fingers over her arms, watching the chill that followed in my wake.
Bringing her arms behind her back, I gathered both wrists in one hand and pulled down so her arms were stretched tight and a gasp fled from her lips.
Her head immediately dropped to my shoulder, her mouth parting slightly as her eyes slid shut.
“I have to get ready,” she whispered halfheartedly then moaned when I trailed my hand over her breast and down her waist to her flat stomach, her nipples hardening in response.
I raked my teeth over her jaw and murmured, “We have time.”
We had all the time in the world for this.
When the lease on the apartments ended a couple months ago, we bought a house in Wake Forest. Jessica wanted to stay here once she and her brother started trying to repair their damaged relationship, and she’d found out she was going to be an aunt.
It had been slow-going at first. There were numerous failed attempts of Jessica trying to open up to Jentry. Numerous days where she left without ever uttering a word of what had really happened in her life.
But the truth eventually came out—why she’d stayed with their mom and chose her path and acted out against him. Every heart-wrenching detail.
Over time, she forgave her brother for years of abandonment, and Jentry and his wife now trusted and readily welcomed us. Not to say they appreciated the way we appeared inside their house instead of knocking when we had dinner with them every week—where we were supposed to be headed now. Our saving grace was Conor, since he came with us. He always waited at the door to be let inside and was clearly the baby’s favorite.
Probably because there wasn’t a speck of darkness in the guy.
He’d bought a house a few streets from Jentry’s. Together, the three of us had opened a private investigating firm, Arck Investigations. Named after the two empty chairs at our table.
Things weren’t always done legally, but some habits were hard to break when you’d lived the way we had for so long. But there wasn’t a person who could track better than I could, and no one could get in and out of places the way Jessica and I could.
Conor was the only one who ever met with the clients. He had a way of making them feel safe and comforted, despite his burly stature. And we quickly found out he was the only one of us who didn’t scare people off.
Then there was Einstein, Dare’s hacker from the Borello gang before they’d disbanded. She still worked for Dare, but she came to us when we opened—anything to be able to hack. She found any information we needed then made everything look legal when we were finished. If any clients came from situations they needed to be removed and hidden from, she took care of that too.
Jessica didn’t want the two hundred grand Beck had put away for her.
She said Beck kept the money to help her start a new life . . . a life she was living. So, we put it in a separate Arck Investigations account, and Jessica vowed to use every cent for our delicate clients. Einstein made new documents and IDs and gave them a small cut of the money, before Conor helped them disappear.
And every night I was in bed, worshipping the girl currently pressed against me.
I dipped my hand into my pocket and quickly moved it over to where I was holding her joined hands.
I stared at her face in the reflection, watching as her eyes popped open when I placed the ring in her hand.
“My mom died giving birth to me,” I began softly. “My dad loved her, and talking about her was the only time he ever stopped my lessons and training. But, somehow, remembering her would lead to a different training. Because he told me I had to love a girl exactly like her and I had to give this ring to that girl. And he told me who that girl had to be every night of my life until he died.”
Her fingers slowly curled around the ring, her eyes shining brightly.
“I need you to know that I did try to give that girl this ring once,” I said. “Because I was supposed to. Because I was told to. And when I did, I handed it to her in a box and walked away.”
I released her wrists and slowly brought her arms in front of her, twisting her hand so her palm was up when she opened her hand.
A tear fell down her cheek and her lips stretched into a shaky smile.
“I think my mom would’ve wanted her ring to go to someone who calmed my darkness. I think she would’ve wanted it to go to someone who was made for me. And I want you to have it because I love you.”
Using my free hand, I tilted her head back so I could search her obsidian eyes.
“Marry me, Jessica.”
She turned in my arms and pushed up on her toes, pressing her mouth to mine. A soft laugh tumbled from her lips when she pulled away only enough to say, “What if I said yes?”
A growl built in my chest, and her beautiful, clear laugh rang free when I grabbed her in my arms and turned to walk us from the bathroom.
She wrapped her arms around my neck when I laid her on the bed and pressed her mouth to mine. “Yes. Yes. I’d marry you a thousand times.”
I sat back on my knees and grabbed for the hand clutched tightly around the ring, my body trembling when I took it from her to slip it on her finger.
Nothing had ever felt as right as this moment.
My heart had never felt more out of control.
And my darkness had never been more distant.
Fucking chaos.
Look for more novels from Molly McAdams
Blackbird
Firefly
Watch for more novels, coming soon from Molly McAdams
The Brewed Series