She tosses her head back and laughs. “Oh, that was smooth. Really? A ginger joke?”
“No joking. You’re a carrot goddess in my eyes.”
“No sweet-talking. That’s cheating and doesn’t qualify as a truth.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Mama.”
Her entire face softens as she stares at me with adoration. “It’s not like you make it easy, Bear.”
“Come on, Mama. Give me a kiss.”
“I don’t think so. Not till you earn it.”
I huff and pout, maybe even stomp my foot. “Fine.” I cock my head to the left and lick my lip when she hikes her skirt up, teasing me with her long legs.
Legs that I’ve had wrapped around my hips a hundred times while being so far deep inside that I’ve lost myself a time or two.
The memory shoots down my dick and makes it twitch. God damn. She’s really keeping me on edge.
“The longer you wait, the more I stay clothed,” Alicia teases. She gives me a slow spin and her throat bobs when she sucks down the scotch.
“I really hate wasps. Like… I’m deathly afraid of them. I hate all bugs that buzz. I will run in the other direction as fast as I can.”
“Is that what happened the one time when we were at the park and you ran away from us? You said it’s because you had to go to the restroom!”
“I lied.” I take a long gulp of the amber liquid. It leaves a good burn down my throat. “I had something buzzing around my fucking head and it freaked me out.”
She can’t stop laughing as she takes off her other heel.
“Seriously!” I protest. “That was humiliating, and you take off a shoe? A shoe!”
Alicia hikes her skirt up again and rolls down a stocking. “Is that better?”
“A little,” I say, a bit disgruntled since I can hardly focus. I rub my palm over my cock. “You’re my sexy Mama, aren’t you? So fucking hot.”
A blush spreads over her cheeks. “I said no sweet-talking,” she twists her body back and forth, the scotch drifting over her glass and onto her hands. “And no touching yourself. That’s also cheating.”
“I don’t like these rules you’re making.”
She pouts her bottom lip. “Aw, does that make you sad?”
“A little bit.”
“If you tell a truth, you might feel better.”
I shuck off my belt and drop it on the floor to catch up with her. “The moment I met you and Kimmy, I was terrified. I loved you both because you were so quick to accept me and my… eye. Kimmy especially. She changed my view of the world in less than a second with her kindness.” Thinking about it almost gets me choked up.
Almost.
Alicia takes off her other stocking. “Kids do that to people.”
“No, just our kid. Everyone else’s kids suck.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
“And let’s see… what else do you want to know…” I brainstorm as I unbutton my pants. “I bounced around foster homes a lot as a kid. I lived on the streets and my old Prez found me and took me in.”
“I remember him,” she says disapprovingly, and immediately I’m afraid she won’t give me a chance to explain.
I jump in and take a step forward. “I was just a kid. I had no one. He offered me a home, food, clothes, a bed. I could be warm. He promised family. It was everything, but… uh—” I close my eye and clear my throat, glancing away as I gather the nerve I need. She could walk out the door now. “Everything came at a price.”
I down my drink and snag the scotch off the minibar and pour it to the rim, then set fire to my throat with as much liquor I can fit in my mouth before swallowing. “He made me fuck a whore when I was underage to become a man, but to become a Ruthless King… I had to do something… so bad. I didn’t know what I was doing, but it haunts me, Mama. And I’m afraid when I tell you, you’ll be afraid of me. You’ll leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Nothing you say will make me afraid of you.”
“Yeah?” I laugh bitterly, turning away. I don’t know if I can look her in the eye when I say it. “I shot a man that supposedly wronged the club. Killed him with my own hands.”
“Okay, it’s club business.”
“But he didn’t wrong the club, Mama. Venom snagged some poor guy off the street and made me pull the trigger. I never got over that. I didn’t want to follow him anymore, but I had nowhere else to go. So when Kansas stood up for himself and said he didn’t agree with Prez, I followed him. I got strung up in that barn… tortured, and that’s what happened to my eye. He burned and cut it out. Boomer got revenge,” I say darkly. “He blew them all up. Every last one of those bastards. So that’s what I didn’t want to tell you. I told you, I’ve done terrible things and I’ll continue to do them, especially when it comes to you and Kimmy. There is nothing I won’t do. There isn’t a line I won’t cross. I would—”
“—Burn the world. I know.” The cold tips of her fingers press against my lower back as she lifts my shirt over my head. “You don’t have to burn the world. We aren’t going anywhere. You have us.”
“Until I find Vince,” I state. “And then you might.”
She presses her hand against my shoulder to spin me back around and I almost drop my glass with what I see.
Alicia is naked.
There isn’t a shred of clothing left on her.
“Quin, I’m not going anywhere. What you do doesn’t bother me. I love who you are, and I don’t want to be without you. My fears have been put to rest because of you. I’m ready to set fire to the world with you, Quin. Are you ready to do the same?” she asks.
I pick her up by her ass and lie her down on the bed.
Is she kidding?
I’m tired of living in ice when it’s her heat that sets my own world aflame.
He hovers over me, and I lift my hand to brush the tear off his cheek. I’m so proud of him for telling the truth. I know it wasn’t easy. He’s been keeping it from me for so long, I honestly didn’t think he’d ever get around to finally saying it.
But I could not be more grateful. I feel like I’ve finally been allowed to see the real Quin, the one he hides under that eye patch.
“Thank you,” I say to him, combing my fingers through his brown hair, so soft and wild.
“Anything for you,” he replies. “I just hope you can learn to live with it.”
“It’s you that doesn’t know how to live with it, but I’ll help you. I’m here.” I cup his chiseled cheeks and the scruff under my palms tickles my skin.
I do love this man. So much. I’ve never wanted anyone else.
He saved me and Kimmy when I couldn’t save myself. And then he put his life on the line and saved us all over again when the Ferris wheel collapsed.
I would have died if anything happened to either of them. “I thought the scariest moment of my life was being married to my ex,” I begin to say, stroking his cheeks and neck lovingly, being soft and gentle so he can feel how much I care. “But it was when I saw you hanging from that wheel with Kimmy. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so much fear.”