“Because I’m a woman?” I ask defensively as I lean back to meet his gaze.
“No, Vi,” he growls, lifting his hand from my stomach to cup the side of my face. “Last night you said you never wanted to be this person again. From what Chains told me, you hadn’t been since we started this between us. Let me protect you from this.”
My heart stills in my chest at his words. He wants to protect me from having to be Silent Night.
“I know you are more than capable of doing so much more than you’ve ever let on. Nerd showed me some of the stuff he’d found on Silent Night. You, Sweetness, are one scary woman when you want to be. For that reason alone, I’ll never hold you back, but at the same time, I’ll always make sure you know who owns that heart of yours. Same as your body. I will always and I mean always put what I think is best for your safety as well as protecting your mind first and foremost,” he rasps.
“But . . .”
“No buts, Vi. We do this together, my way,” he declares.
Holding his gaze, I realize he’s not going to back down. Sighing I nod my head. He’s right I don’t want to be this person and as long as I have him with me, I won’t be unless I have no other choice. “Okay Tracker. I won’t fight you on this and let you all do the rest of it. Besides, I’m exhausted and feel like I could sleep for a month,” I mutter.
“That’s something else we need to talk about. Why the hell weren’t you sleeping?” he grumbles.
Lifting myself up, I brace my body up with my arm. “I’ve never been able to sleep more than an hour or so at most when I’m taking care of something. And before you, unless I was next to my brother, I never slept more than four hours at a time.”
“Well, then why don’t we lay here and sleep some more,” he suggests as my stomach growls and he furrows his brow. “Have you been eating?” Tracker asks.
“Chains makes sure I eat something,” I say, diverting my gaze.
“Look at me, Victoria,” he orders.
Turning my head, I meet his annoyed eyes.
“When was the last time you ate something? And I’m not talking about a puny sandwich or something. I mean an actual meal,” he demands.
“Umm, I haven't had an actual meal since before everything happened,” I admit, embarrassed by the truth. It feels as if I were failing to take care of my son at acknowledging this little fact.
“Sweetness, you need to eat,” he says softly.
“I know I do and I try to put something in my stomach, but . . .”
“No buts, Vi. Come on, let’s go get something to eat,” he states as he releases me.
Nodding, I stand from the bed and realize I am still in my clothes from last night.
Shit.
“Umm, give me a few minutes to shower,” I say as I rush to my bathroom.
Stripping out of my clothes, I jump in the shower and turn it on. I shiver as the cold water hits my body. By the time it warms up, I’m almost done washing my body. Leaning back into the heated water, I wet my hair before shampooing and conditioning it.
As soon as I rinse, I turn the water off and grab a towel. Drying off, I wrap the towel around my body as I walk back into my room to find it empty.
What the hell? Where did he go? Quickly getting dressed, I head out to find him.
Finding him in the kitchen, my vision blurs with anger at the sight in front of me. Stupid fuckin’ stray can’t seem to keep her hands to herself. This time, however, she’s crossed the fuckin’ line.
Storming the rest of the way to Tracker, he lifts a brow but stays silent as I step directly behind the stray who doesn’t listen. Granted, I’m sure she doesn’t know Tracker’s my ol’ man.
Reaching for the bitch, I snatch her by her hair and yank her away from Tracker. “Don’t you know when you’re not wanted,” I sneer.
“What the fuck is your problem, bitch?” she screams, straightening.
“One, I told you to learn your place. That means watch what you say to me, and second, keep your fuckin’ hands off my ol’ man,” I snap as I cross my arms over my chest.
“He’s with you? I highly doubt that,” she says, giving Tracker a ‘come fuck me’ look.
Turning to him, I wait for him to answer.
Smiling at me, he leans down, capturing my mouth in a mind-boggling kiss. Damn, I’ve missed his kisses.
Lifting his mouth from mine, he straightens. “That should tell the cunt who I want,” he grins.
Well then, I’ll take that answer every time.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Tracker
Fuckin’ hell. Watching Victoria snatch the grabby cunt off me has me fuckin’ turned on and it sucks balls that I can’t sink my dick into her pussy right now.
I ended up settling for taking her mouth, showing her just how much she’s the only woman I want, that I’ll ever want, in my life.
“Fuckin’ hell, this is not something I want to see first thing in the damn morning,” Chains grumbles as he steps into the kitchen.
“Yeah, well, at least I’m not going down on him in front of you.” My eyes widen as I glance down at my woman. She’s truly in her comfort zone here and isn’t shy to speak her mind. Or stick up for what’s hers.
“Baby girl, I do not ever want that vision in my head, so shut the hell up about it. Is the coffee ready yet?” he mutters, nodding toward the coffee maker.
“Should be soon. I’d just started it when one of your strays came in here and started pawing at me like a damn bitch in heat,” I say.
“Fuck me, is that why Tar stormed past me in a fit,” he chuckles.
“Guess so,” I shrug.
“Dee can be a persistent thing when it comes to what she wants. Only reason we keep her around here is because of her being able to suck like a champ,” Chains laughs.
“Eww, gross. I do not want to hear about that skanky stray sucking anyone’s dick or otherwise,” Vi shudders.
“Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it, baby girl,” he says, giving his sister the stink eye.
“Whatever, jerk-face,” Vi mutters, turning her attention to me, concern furrowing her brow. “You okay?”
“Yeah, Sweetness, I’m good,” I say, lifting a hand to stroke her cheek.
“You sure? Do you need your bandages changed?” she asks.
“I’m sure, Vi, and I’ll get Alverez to change them when he checks it,” I reassure her. “Now, enough worrying about me. Let’s get you and little man fed.”
“How about you all get out of the kitchen and I’ll whip up some breakfast for everyone?” Raven orders from the entrance.
“No fuckin’ way. You might poison the food,” Blaze says from behind her.
What the hell?
Glancing between the two of them, I notice the freshly fucked look Raven is sporting and the fact they both have wet hair. How the hell did I miss this shit?
“Kiss my ass, Conan. Eat my food or not, I don’t give a damn, but all these men love when I cook. Isn’t that right, Chains?” she asks sweetly, batting her eyes in his direction.
In my peripheral, I notice him taking in the two of them as well as he lifts his coffee cup to his mouth. “I’m not getting in the middle of this shit, but I will say this— no one makes jambalaya as good as Ray here. And her beignets are the fuckin’ best in Louisiana, so I ain’t complaining if she wants to cook. Her momma taught her right,” Chains grins before losing it as he turns toward Victoria. “Sorry, baby girl,” he murmurs.