AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I love you.
I’ll come home to you.
You are everything to me and then some.
All those words and more were on the tip of my tongue, but fear gripped me again. I didn’t want to chase her away. I wanted to be able to look into her beautiful blue eyes the first time I told her how much she means to me. And then I wanted to kiss her until we couldn’t breathe but found life in each other.
“I know,” she whispered, “but you will not say those words over the phone before you walk into a dangerous situation. Not for the first time,” the threat was clear in her voice.
Her acknowledgement of the connection between us, of the feelings that arced between us like electricity, calmed something in me and soothed some of the fears of her running away from me.
“Yes, ma’am,” I teased her, my voice soft because I still wanted to tell her exactly how I felt. I didn’t want there to be any miscommunication or unsaid words.
But I also knew she was right, and it wasn’t the time. Not yet. But it would be soon, and I would make sure of it.
“As long as you know, Firefly. That’s enough for now,” there was a promise in my words, for later, for more, for soon.
“You better come home to me in one piece. I will bandage wounds, but they better not be deep or life threatening,” the tremor in her voice belied how strong she sounded.
“I will always come home to you.”
It was a vow; one I intend to keep.
That was hours ago, and the memory of her voice is keeping me moving forward, but I need to focus on the task at hand so I can keep my promise to her. I scan the area, again, and curl up my lip at the state of the house in front of us.
At some point it might have been a beautiful home, but it’s in disrepair now and it looks like the earth is on the verge of taking it back over and claiming it back to where it all began. But it’s not there yet. The walls are still standing, which is more than can be said for the entirety of the roof.
I would be surprised that anyone would step inside of those doors to have sex, but I’ve seen some of the seediest parts of the city and I can’t find it in me to be shocked. People will always find a way to feed their demons if they rule a person’s life.
It’s clear, without ever stepping a foot inside of this hell hole, the demons are running the show here.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I take it out, my screen already on the dimmest setting to not attract too much attention.
“Adam hasn’t signaled any surprises, and his time is up inside,” I murmur the words, but the men surrounding me have been waiting for this and are listening intensely.
I look back down at my screen, his second message only the number ten. I start counting in my head, forcing myself to not rush through as adrenaline spikes in my veins. When I get to five, I hold up my hand and count down to ensure that my brothers move with me in synch.
We might be more than willing to rush into a situation, guns blazing, but we do it as a unit. Always as a unit. As a family.
On two, I pull one of my guns from the double holster wrapped around my chest. Everyone flanking me does the same. I glance over at Prodigal and his eyes are already on me.
Earlier, when we went over the plan, he wanted to lead the second team to take the front, but I insisted on doing it. His eyes turned flinty with fury because I was pushing back against his authority as VP.
But I couldn’t let him go in first.
“Prodigal,” the way his brows furrowed together, I knew he could hear the plea in my voice, “you have to let me go in first. If shit goes down, I can’t come back to the compound and tell Wrenley that something happened to you. I won’t. Not when she’s pregnant.”
I wasn’t going to yield. He studied my face and knew there was no way I would back down.
He heaved a heavy sigh and then shook his head, the challenge clear in his voice, “But you’ll make me do that to Sioux? I don’t fucking think so, brother.”
“I made a promise to my woman that I would come home to her, and I plan on keeping it, but I also can’t allow you to go in first. I’m an enforcer for the club. Let me do my damn job,” my words were barely leashed fury.
We took a step closer to each other, abandoning the blueprints laid out on the table in Church. I would fight him on this. And I was determined to win.
Did I want anything to happen to me? Hell no, I don’t have a death wish, but he also had just a little bit more to live for with a baby on the way.
“Apostle goes in first,” Lucifer’s voice cut through our standoff.
