I toss the phone down and smother her with my body. I cup her face, holding it still before I bend down and brush my lips against hers. I love the intake of breath she gives me. Who gives a s.h.i.t if she's younger than me and innocent? I'm going to have fun corrupting her.

I kiss her and suck her in.

I KNOCK ON the doorway and enter without waiting for Mearna to say anything. f.u.c.k, this woman has put me in a tailspin. It's as if she never left.

She lies on the bed, eyes closed. The slight rise and fall of her chest tells me she's asleep. I sit in the chair in the corner of the room and just watch her with my elbows on my knees as I wipe my face with my hands.

This woman was everything to me. Everything. I would have bent over backward for her. h.e.l.l, I did. She stuck with me through the prospect period. Then we went to a party one night, and she decided she was leaving. Boom! Just like that.

I tried talking to her, finding out what the f.u.c.k happened in that short amount of time, but she wouldn't have it. I was a young, dumb kid, getting his heart shattered for the first and only time. I remember that moment when she walked out the door. "I love you, Cameron. Always remember that." She kissed me, and then she was gone. Poof. It's a memory that has dug itself inside me so far there is no way I'll ever climb out. She's the one woman I loved, the one woman who changed the course of my life.

After Mearna disappeared, the old me disappeared. I didn't give a s.h.i.t and f.u.c.ked anything with a p.u.s.s.y. h.e.l.l, I still do. Even my arrangement with Flash just gives her a place to sleep. Neither one of us gives a s.h.i.t about the other. I know she f.u.c.ks everything with a d.i.c.k, and she knows about me. It's been working for years, and she's never asked for more, so I've kept her around.

Looking at Mearna, I feel so d.a.m.n old. I have ten years on Mearna, but she still looks as beautiful as she did back then. f.u.c.k.

I feel like I should grab a pad of paper and make some f.u.c.king Hallmark card greeting or something. I can't f.u.c.king help it when it comes to this woman. I've loved her all my d.a.m.n life and thought I was doing her right by not going after her when I wanted to. f.u.c.k, once I got a lock on where she went, I was going for her to bring her back, but it didn't end up the way I wanted it to.

And because I didn't go and get her, she ended up with an a.s.shole that beat the s.h.i.t out of her.

Mearna is the one woman I would give up all the random p.u.s.s.y for. I'd give up Flash in a heartbeat and be with Mearna whole-heartedly. f.u.c.king h.e.l.l.

Mearna's eyes flutter open, and she takes me in. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is handled," I tell her, not moving from the chair.

"Rhys said we needed to stay in town for a while."

"Yeah. It's best." I look down to the floor. What in the f.u.c.k am I doing?

"Cam-Dagger?" I close my eyes; my real name causes an ache that only she could give me. "Please look at me." I look up as she tries to move to sit up. Her face contorts in pain, and I move quickly to her side, lifting her up and moving her to sit up in the bed. "Thank you." She pats the bed. "Sit. I think we need to talk."

Talk. f.u.c.king h.e.l.l.

"Yeah, guess we do."

d.a.m.n those eyes. They are exactly the same, but behind them is so much hurt. All I want to do is scrub every bit of it away.

"You have a daughter," she says quietly.

I give a soft chuckle. "Yeah, I guess I do." I run my fingers over my beard. "Why didn't you tell me, Mear?"

She looks up to the ceiling like it will give her answers or some s.h.i.t. "I wanted to. G.o.d, I wanted to." Her eyes come back to mine. "So many times, I picked up the phone and dialed then hung up." Her soft laugh reminds me of better times. Still love that sound. "I wanted to. I wanted to just come back and be with you."

"Then why didn't you?"

Her eyes drop to her hands that are laced in front of her. "I saw what this life consisted of. Women were everywhere, wearing nothing but sc.r.a.ps of fabric and hanging on to your every word like it was gold. I didn't belong here."

"I never once cheated on you, Mearna. You can't throw that s.h.i.t in my face," I growl, feeling the anger begin to burn.

"I actually trust that." She bows her head. "I wasn't pretty like them. I didn't have the huge b.o.o.bs or hair out to here." Her arms come out to her sides of her head, demonstrating. "I didn't speak the language that you were beginning to take on. I was an outsider. That is why I left."

"Mear, that's f.u.c.king bulls.h.i.t, and you d.a.m.n well know it. You left because you were scared."

"I ..." I hold up my hand, not wanting to hear the words she's going to say.

"You know you were the only woman for me. None of those b.i.t.c.hes meant s.h.i.t. I didn't f.u.c.k a single one of them, and I had a s.h.i.t load of opportunities to, Mear-don't get me wrong. But I f.u.c.king kept my d.i.c.k in my pants and came home to you every night."

"I know," she whispers.

"Then why'd you leave?"

She rests her head back on the headboard. "I didn't think we had a future. You were so enthralled with the club and going on runs or whatever. I felt like I didn't matter, that you didn't love me enough to pick me over the club."

And the truth finally comes out.

"Was that s.h.i.t so hard to say?"

Her head pops up, and she gives me an icy stare. f.u.c.k, I missed that s.h.i.t, too.

"It's true-the club comes first-but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't protect you and keep you safe until my dying breath," I tell her in all sincerity.

A tear falls from her right eye and travels down her cheek, falling to the sheets. "It would have never worked. I was so young."

"You were young, but that's no reason to a.s.sume it wouldn't work," I fire back.

"I saw one of the ol' ladies get slapped across the face," she says quietly. "I didn't want to end up like that."

"I don't know what that situation was, but I never gave you the impression that I'd hit you, Mear. That s.h.i.t belongs to the a.s.shole that's dead right now." Her body shakes as more tears fall. "So why not tell me about the baby?"

"All you would have said to me was 'Mearna, come back,' and I would have. I was so lost without you. I wanted you so badly. I was terrified about having a baby on my own. As much as I wanted to come back to you, I knew, after I found out I was pregnant, there was no way. I couldn't expose a baby to this." She moves her hand through the air. "I cried all the time. Sometimes I didn't stop for days, just aching to be with you."

Aw, f.u.c.k it. I move to the other side of the bed, kick off my boots, and climb in. I pull Mearna into my arms and hold her as the sobs rake over her.

"You're right. I would have come and gotten you and brought you back. I would have taken care of you and Tanner."

"But a baby in the club?" Mearna says through her tears.

"Princess grew up just fine. She's been around the guys since she was born. Have you seen Casey yet?" She shakes her head. Princess is a bada.s.s b.i.t.c.h, and I'm proud of the way she turned out, smarta.s.s mouth and all. "That's Bam's kid and GT's ol' lady. She's in college, doing well."

"Ma did a great job with Princess," she says through a hiccup.

"You would have done a great job here, too, with me." f.u.c.k, I sound like a f.u.c.king p.u.s.s.y. Someone needs to strip my f.u.c.king man card. "It's in the past now. Tell me about Tanner."

The overwhelming sobs slow as she sniffles into my shirt. "She was born at midnight, not a minute before or after. Even the doctors and nurses said they hadn't had a baby at straight up midnight in a long time." She sighs. "She came out screaming b.l.o.o.d.y murder, and I knew she was my girl. Looks-wise, she was perfect, but she did have a small defect." Mearna's head shifts up a bit, and my stomach drops at the word defect. "She was born with a cleft palate. Inside your mouth, you have a roof as they call it. Well, she was born without it. So there was a hole from her mouth to her nose. No one could see it from the outside, but inside, there was no denying it. Feeding her was difficult because everything that went in her mouth came out of her nose."

Holy s.h.i.t!

"And you dealt with all that by yourself?"

"For the most part. Tanner had to go under surgery to repair it. Two, actually. Each time, they had to put stilts on her arms at the elbow to make sure she didn't put her hands in her mouth and mess up the st.i.tches in there." Mearna settles back into me. "After the second surgery, she was perfect. She was able to eat and drink without anything coming out of her nose. I took pictures, but I'm not sure if I grabbed them when we left."

I rub my hand up and down the softness of her arm. "How was she as a kid?"

"Trouble." She chuckles. "She was into everything. We had a small apartment, and I did my best to baby proof it, but she always found a way to get past it. Even locks. I have no idea how she figured them out, but she did and opened them with ease."

"Sounds like she has some of me in her."

"More than you think. Growing up, she had friends, but only certain ones. She liked being alone. She wasn't a social b.u.t.terfly and still isn't. All through school, she got decent grades and ended up learning to do hair after high school. She works at a shop in town and says she loves it." Pride swarms within Mear's words, and I can't help feeling it, too.

"So she's happy?"

"She never liked James."

"Smart girl."

Mearna chuckles. "Yes." She stops laughing and almost stills. "The first time he hit me, it was bad, but I hid most of it from Tanner. Then it happened a few more times, and I stayed because he scared the ever-loving s.h.i.t out me. The time that Tanner saw it, she was livid at me, but not as mad as I was at myself for putting up with it."

"Go on," I urge.

"Tanner told me that, if it ever happened again, she would get me out, and she did. That kid is the light in my life."

"I can see that."

"Sometimes, I worry that she's so put together because she's afraid I'll be disappointed in her or something. Truth is, I just want her happy. I don't care how it comes, just happy."

"Even with Rhys?" I ask. He's my brother and I love him as such, but if he hurts my baby girl, h.e.l.l will rain.

Mearna lets out a deep sigh. "If that is who makes her happy, then so be it. I will stand by her no matter what she chooses."

"What about you?" I feel like a f.u.c.king idiot as soon as the words leave my mouth, but f.u.c.k it. I've always been b.a.l.l.s to the wall.

"Me what?"

"What makes you happy?"

Mearna rises off me so she is now sitting next to me. "Too much time has pa.s.sed. We are different people now."

"True, babe."

"I'm getting old, Dagger. I'm done with the games and the broken promises. Whoever is going to make me happy is going to be straight forward and get to the point quickly. I'm not into all that courting or dating c.r.a.p. It's been too long." Her arms wrap over her body protectively. "And I don't look the way I used to anymore." So that's what this is really about.

"I'm ditching Flash, and you're in my bed from now on." She gasps. "I've seen your body when the doc checked you out, and you're perfect to me. Is that straight enough for you."

She stares at me like a doe-eyed deer, and it takes everything in me not to burst out laughing at the sight.

"Why would you want me now?"

Stupid woman.

"Look, I don't play games. I'm too old for that s.h.i.t, too. That being said, even after all these years, I want you in my bed, with me."

"I ..." I don't want to hear what she has to say, so I press my lips to hers, shutting her up and taking her, branding her as mine.

TANNER LIES WITH her arms above her head, spread eagle on the bed, showing me that pretty pink p.u.s.s.y of hers. f.u.c.king h.e.l.l, she's hot. Her p.u.s.s.y lips glisten with moisture, and I want nothing more than to lick and taste her until she screams.

I slowly move up her body, using the tips of my fingers to trace up her legs. Her skin p.r.i.c.kles as my fingers go up, and her body shivers beautifully. I continue with my fingers up her thighs to the V between her legs, but not touching the target. Instead, I move around it, up her stomach, around her belly b.u.t.ton, and to the bottom of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"Rhys," she gasps, making me smile.

I haven't even begun my torture of her body yet, and she's already aching for me. When I circle her nipples with my fingertips, they pull together tightly, almost turning purple. I can't believe how responsive she is to me, like she was made specifically for me. f.u.c.king s.h.i.t.

I shake that thought out of my head. Not the time for it.

Her back arches, putting those beautiful t.i.ts right in my face. I suck a nipple in, feeling it elongate on the roof of my mouth, while my hand plays with her other nipple. The noises she makes are such a f.u.c.king turn on.

I will my d.i.c.k to calm the f.u.c.k down, but he has a h.e.l.l of a hard time when it comes to Tanner. It's been a long time since a woman let me play like this. They never wanted to, only there for the quick f.u.c.k. Not with Tanner. Every inch of her, I want to saver and caress until I'm the only person or thing she thinks about. I want to inflame her body to the point of combustion, only leaving embers burning in its wake.

It's been a long time since I tied a woman up, but f.u.c.k me, it's something I'm craving to do with this woman right here-tie her up and never let her go.

"Let me touch you," she says breathily.

"Hands stay up there."

She groans in frustration yet listens and complies.

I take my time, giving the same treatment to the other breast and even underneath each of them. Using my tongue, I make a trail down her stomach, over to her side, up around her t.i.t, and the same on the other side. Tanner's skin p.r.i.c.kles and b.u.mps with each lick. The taste of her skin is heaven-salty yet all woman.

Moving down to the small patch of red curls at her p.u.s.s.y, I rub my stubbly beard all over it, back and forth, just needing to mark her. I inhale deeply, smelling Tanner's arousal, and I need my sin. I need it now.

From a.s.shole to c.l.i.t, I make a huge swipe up with my tongue, and Tanner bursts on my tongue. The taste is so f.u.c.king s.e.xy I close my eyes briefly, just to catalogue it in my head so I never forget.

I pull her to me, lifting her a.s.s with my hands and eat her in long strokes, short fast ones, combining my fingers inside of her warm, soft p.u.s.s.y. She moans, mewls, and begs, but I don't relent. She tries to move her hips from side to side, but I hold her still, driving her to the brink.

Her c.l.i.t gets hard as stone under my touch, and I pull back just a bit, making more languid strokes and pulling my fingers from her warmth.

"Don't stop!" she yells out, barely able to lift her head from the bed.

"Sprite, what did I tell you before? I run things. You'll get what I give you, what pleasure I give you."

"Please," she begs. I love the f.u.c.king sound of that s.h.i.t.

"Hold on for me." I go back to the sin that is between her thighs and devour her, memorizing every fold and curve her p.u.s.s.y has.

I squeeze her a.s.s cheeks, stopping her movement. Then I pull her c.l.i.t in my mouth and suck hard. She lets out a scream, but she hasn't tipped over quite yet.

I pull away, lift her legs from the bed, and press them to my chest, her feet dangling above my shoulders. I put a condom on quickly and drive home into Tanner, who comes instantly, her legs on either side of my head coming together and trapping me.

In and out, I thrust my d.i.c.k to encompa.s.s every inch of her. I want to be so deep she feels me for days so she knows I'm the one who she f.u.c.ked. I'm the one who gave her the pleasure. Me.