Page 24 of Raze
A callous laugh barks out of me before I can stop it. “Perfect? You must be mistaking me for someone else, Jack. I’m broken. Weak. The only thing left of me is my revenge on GE. I’m a vengeful spirit at best.”
“No.” He squeezes my hand and then pulls me against him. He flips us over so he’s on his hands and knees over me. His thumb traces somethingacross my cheek, and I realize I must have dirt from the garden all over my face. “You are Raegan and more. They may have broken you to pieces, and some of them may bathe in blood and darkness and pain, but they call to me just as strongly as the pieces you’ve guarded all this time. All of them still belong to you, make you who you are. Your jagged edges may not fit each other anymore, but they fit with mine.”
Jack leans in close, so his pretty lips feather over mine. “I wouldn’t change a single part of you, little one. You may have been beaten and broken, but you never gave in. You’re still here. And you couldn’t have done that without every part of you, even the parts you think are dirty or broken. So yes, you are perfect to me.”
I grab his face and pull it to mine. I don’t have any words to give him. I tell him with my kiss, opening my soul to his and surrendering completely to him. I give him everything. Even the parts I’ve hated or hidden away, I let him have it all. He doesn’t look at me and picture the Raegan he knew on the island. He doesn’t make me feel less than that innocent girl who didn’t yet realize how big and bad the world really was.
He’s been looking right at me. Seeing me exactly as I am and wanting all of it. The self-doubt, the self-loathing, the monster, and the villain.
I realize that it’s the same for me with him. I know he’s not perfect or “good” in the way the world defines a man. He’s dark and flawed and immoral compared to that image. But I want it all, anyway. I want his sweetness and calm confidence just as much as his violence. We’re both stained in darkness, and I’ve never felt more at peace withthat than I do when he’s with me.
I drop my hands to the button on his jeans. I can’t wait any longer to be with him. This isn’t a distraction anymore. It’s a base need that we join together. That we line up our broken souls and hold them together for a moment in time where we can feel whole; complete. I slip my hand into his pants and grip his hard shaft. My cunt pulses from that touch alone, and fuck foreplay. He needs to be inside of me right now.
Jack grabs my wrist and breaks the kiss. “Wait,” he whispers, his voice so husky and rough, I can almost feel it across my skin. I look up to see why we’ve stopped.
He’s looking around, but I don’t see or hear anything that could have broken his attention.
“What is it?” I ask breathlessly, eager to get back to it. My fingers flex around his dick, and he inhales, then closes his eyes.
“Fuck.”
My eyes widen. It’s rare to hear him swear, let alone with so much emotion behind it.
Jackson sweeps down to swallow me in another kiss that makes my heart race and relieves me of oxygen. It’s over far too soon. I’d willingly give him all the air in my lungs to hold on to that kiss. He presses his forehead against mine and pants above me. “Something’s not right. I smell fire in the air.”
“Just because we live in a firehouse now doesn’t mean we need to go put out fires,” I tease breathily.
He smirks and sits up to fix himself and re-button his pants.
I will not pout. I bite my lip to keep it from forming, but Iknow Jackson sees right through me by the look in his eyes and the continued smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He holds his hand out to help me up, which I remorsefully take.
“Jack!” Aiden calls out from the ground. Hearing his voice right now almost startles my soul from my body, and my back goes ramrod straight. Thankfully, Jackson is already put back together and standing, and I just look like I’ve been sitting on the roof with him.
Jackson turns his back to me and bends his knees. “Climb on.”
I hop on, wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my face in his hoodie. I take a deep breath and soak in the smell of fall leaves and crisp air. It smells like twilight. That time between the sun going down and full night taking over, where the cooler air moves in, but there’s still that lingering hint of warmth from the sun.
He jumps off the roof with me in tow. My heart leaps at the second of free fall, where I imagine us going splat on the ground, but his gift kicks in, and our descent slows so we’re carried down gently. Jackson makes no move to release me, but Aiden’s eyeing me over his shoulder, and I’d rather not give him more opportunity to slice me open with his cutting commentary.
I slide down and take a step away. Jackson looks at me for it, but doesn’t say anything.
“The fire alarm is going off at the safe house,” Aiden tells us. “It’s probably one of the squatters on the first floor again, but I want to make sure it doesn’t spread. We haven’t finished bringing everything here.”
Jack nods. “I’ll go with you.”
“Me too,” I volunteer. “I can help move whatever’s left.”
“Then we’ll all go to get it done faster,” Aiden agrees. “Let’s hurry.”
The entire safe house is on fire when we get there. Flames eat up the roof like kindling and reach further to the sky. Smoke is billowing out of the broken windows in huge black plumes.
I hate to be the one to say it, but, “I think the rest of your stuff is gone.”
Aiden’s frowning hard at the building. It’s hard to tell how upset he is about it. Was it something valuable? Or is what he lost just a mild inconvenience?
“Thorne,” Jackson says out of nowhere.
Kellan curses, and Aiden nods, his face solemn. “It’s a trap.”
