AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not ready to leave my sister again,” I said softly. “I’m sorry, Deacon. I don’t want to make things difficult for you, but I want to stay here.”
“Then that’s what you’ll do. It took an act of God and the promise of my firstborn for Rocket to let me in here in the first place, so I’ve got motivation to stay.” He grinned, giving me an affectionate look. “Truth is, I’d rather you stay here until Venus does her thing and rids the world of Martin Calhoun. I wasn’t lying when I told you I thought Grim was the safest place for youto be.”
“You can use the time to suck up to me, Deacon.” Lemon gave Deacon a bright smile. Which always meant she was getting ready to wreak havoc on some unsuspecting mortal. In this case, it was definitely Deacon.
Deacon only grinned. “I’ll look forward to it. Sister.”
That wiped the smile off Lemon’s face in a hurry. “No way. You might be with my sister, but that in no way makes you my brother.”
“Always wanted a little sister. I’ll tie your hair in knots and put worms in your bed.”
“And I’ll put Nair in your shampoo and give your bike a brand-new paint job.”
“Oh, hell no,” Knox said, sitting up straighter in his seat. “No more fuckin’ pink bikes in my fuckin’ garage, Lemon. There’s a line.”
“And you know I just love obliterating those pesky boundaries, Knox. So, suck it up, buttercup.”
“I’m gettin’ too old for this shit.” Knox stood. “Rocket, if you don’t need me any longer, I’ve got to go do something to forget about the two pink Harleys that I can’t trash sitting in my garage.”
Rocket waved Knox on, chuckling as he did. “Never a dull moment in this place, Deacon. You’d make a good addition.”
“Let’s wait ’til Venus comes back. Me and Apple’ll hash it out, then let you know.” It both shocked and thrilled me that he included me in the decision. Maybe he was learning from his mistakes after all.
“You know,” I spoke up, needing to point out the obvious. “Y’all mentioned Venus coming back several times, but you haven’t said a thing about Piston.”
“That’s because she’ll probably kill him before he has a chance to come back.”
“I’m tellin’ you, Falcon,” Lemon said, “Piston’ll win her over. I think he already has and she’s just playing hard to get.”
“Don’t think that just because you’re the VP you can renege on your bet. When I win, you’re gonna owe me a pretty penny.”
“And when I win, I’m going to enjoy that hundred dollars. Might frame it and put it above the bar in the common room. I’ll put a plaque on it that says, ‘Proof Lemon is always right’.”
I gazed up at Deacon and, for the first time, had some real hope for our future. It was small things like telling Rocket we’d discuss where we wanted to stay as well as big things like not going back out on the hunt in order to keep his promise and stay with me. I could tell, looking into his eyes, he was at peace with his decision. It wasn’t something he was giving up for me. The man truly didn’t want to leave me.
“I feel like I already won.” The words slipped out quietly. I wasn’t sure if anyone else heard me, but Deacon did. His gaze softened as he looked down at me.
“Me too, Applejack. Me too.”
Because he was trying, I thought I needed to try too. “You know, if it’s something you really want to do, Deacon, you can go after Calhoun. Just promise to come back and to not shut me out again. That’s all I need.” I sucked in a breath at the thought of him leaving. “I can’t lose you again, Deacon.” We were still in Rocket’s office with people around us, but our conversation was quiet. Between us only. It struck me that it didn’t matter. These people were as much my family as the guys at Iron Tzars. I knew everyone here had my back.
“I’m doing exactly what I want, Apple. I’m not OK with being away from you. Not any more than absolutely necessary. There’s plenty of people in both Grim and Tzars willin’ to do this. Ain’t sayin’ I’ll never have to leave for short periods of time, but I promise I will always come back to you.”
That must have been exactly what I needed to hear because a band around my chest loosened. I hadn’t realized how worried I’d been until that very moment. The relief was nearly overwhelming, and I found the room spinning slightly. Then Deacon wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly against him.
“Get a room, you two.” Lemon laughed cheerfully. “Rocket, let’s me and you get a room too. I feel the need to get freaky.”
“Far be it from me to go against my vice president’s wishes.”
“I want to get freaky too,” Deacon whispered.
“Yes,” I said, nodding my head emphatically. I couldn’t help the big cheesy grin on my face. “Let’s do that.”
Deacon took me back home. Once inside he stripped me bare. I laughed and ran from him only to let him catch me in the backyard. And yeah. We were both bare-assed naked. When he finally caught me, he laid me down on a bed of soft clover, covering me with his body and making love to me under the warm sunshine. Everything might not be perfect, but I could honestly say I could never remember being more content. I had Deacon. He had me. We had each other. Life was better than good.
Life was…beautiful.
