Page 161 of I Will Revel in Glory (Death by Daybreak MC 3)
“Cade,” I whisper, feeling my eyes prick with hot tears. “If you keep talking like that, I’m going to cry, and I don’t want to do that right now. Come here.”
He takes off the rest of his clothes and joins me, pulling me into his arms and kissing me like we’re teenagers or something. We make out as he slips his hand between my legs, driving three fingers into me right off the bat and making me gasp. I bite his neck for luck, leaving a hickey there that’ll last all day tomorrow. It’s a charm, for safety and good health. That’s how I think about it.
“Why do you pretend you’re such an asshole when you’re really a sweetheart?” I whisper, and he laughs at me. There’s that dangerous, cocky tint to it, like he’s the old Cade, the one I despised with every beat of my heart. I like that, though, the way he can stir me up and twist my emotions around.
“Listen to me,” he commands, grabbing my chin and making me look at him. “Sweetheart? You’re the only sweetheart in here, mama.” He squeezes my ass and pulls me close to him. “I fucked you in the clubhouse bathroom when you were sixteen; I let you snort coke with me. I took your virginity even though I knew better. Don’t act like I’m a saint; it’ll only get you into trouble.”
“Sure thing, cowboy,” I whisper back, and then he’s rolling me over and mounting me yet again. Our fingers are intertwined against the mattress, our mouths brushing with heat and steam and affection.
Yep. Cade and I are making love. Finally. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
He takes me over the edge more than once. Even when we hear the other guys return, their footsteps loud in the house, the sound of the front door echoing down the hallway.
Grainger even digs out some of those sex toys—the dildo and the vibrator specifically—that I put in his nightstand drawer. He uses them on me until I’m climaxing around the toy, and then he tosses it aside and mounts me again.
By the time we’re finished, I’m shaking and boneless, exhaustion sweeping over me in a wave. He curves his body around me, enveloping me completely, and tucks me against him.
“Do not die tomorrow,” he growls into my ear, and I smile.
I’d love to promise him that.
But I don’t know.
Someone—probably a lot of someones—are going to die tomorrow.
We both know that we have no control over the outcome, much as we might like to.
Our fate … is in the hands of the universe.
Don’t do me wrong, you crazy bitch. Don’t you dare. Don’t you goddamn dare.
Much as I want to believe that I’m prepared for the inevitable heartbreak that’s about to come, I’m not.
I’m really, really not.
Gidget, the unbreakable? Guess we’ll see about that.
Outside, the winds pick up, a tempestuous howling swirl that rattles the windows and snaps smaller trees like twigs. In here, wrapped in my lover’s arms, it feels safe.
But it won’t be, not for long.
Grainger and I doze off for a few, precious hours before Crown is opening the door and light is bleeding across our tangled legs. Oh yeah, Cade is a cuddler. He very quickly pushes away from me and sits up, unwilling to present vulnerability of any kind to anyone but me.
I’m okay with that.
Actually, I like it.
His tender side, it’s mine and mine alone. Nobody else’s.
“I need the two of you up and dressed. We’re meeting Cat at the clubhouse.” Crown gives me such a long, searching look that I feel it in my bones. This is it, I think, swallowing hard. It’s time. “Even you, Gidge.” He curses slightly and lets out a heavy breath. “Though I wish I could send you away from all of this. It’s not going to end well.”
I know that. I do. But I’m not leaving.
I’m a part of this just as much as anyone else, and I refuse to live my life inside a cage.
Cade curses and rubs at his forehead, flinging his legs out of bed and moving over to dig through his mess of clothes piled on the surface of the dresser. As for me, I slip out and head down the hall, ignoring the low murmur of Sin, Beast, and Crown in the kitchen.
I lock myself in the upstairs bathroom and make one, last call to Grey Wolfe.
He answers right away, fully dressed in black jeans and a pullover sweater. He’s armed to the teeth, too.
“Good morning, Gidge,” he says, his voice this strange, detached thing. I can see it in his face, that heavy resolve. He knows what he has to do, and so do I.
“My father wants to know your location,” I say, tapping my fingers against my thigh. I’m wearing one of Grainger’s t-shirts and that’s it, but Grey and I are past that now. At least, I am. Whether he is or not doesn’t matter at this point. “I agreed to find out in exchange for him letting Reba leave safely.”
