AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty-Five
Baxter
Normally I hate the fucking beach. Fucking sand gets everywhere. The last time I had any fun at the beach was when I showed Raven the secret cove on my grandfather’s island and she kissed me.
I still think about that day, hell that whole summer really. I’m not about to say it hits me with the feels or that I go all warm and tingly or any such shit, but it does make me smile. We became pretty good friends, I guess. I mean, I only had Amelie as a friend before that and she was great because she knew some of my secrets, which obviously Raven didn’t, but we never hung out like I did that summer with Raven. And it was nice not to have to protect Raven’s ass every five minutes.
I enjoyed joining her for breakfast and taking her to different spots on the island. Sharing that childhood secret cove with her was no exception. The day was great, if a little awkward after she kissed me. Well, it wasn’t the kiss that made things awkward. Not when my dick was throbbing and I wanted to lay her out on the sand and bury myself into her until she screamed. No, it was my reaction that made shit weird between us.
I suppose that was the turning point for me, when she kissed me and I pulled away. I’d definitely never turned down a woman before that, so my call to return to the U.K. on Order business was perfect timing. I could mull it over. What was really going on? What was I really feeling?
I suspected of course. That she was on the run from something. Seeing Rebel and learning how frantic they all were to find her cemented it for me, but it was only when I returned and caught a glimpse of a curve to her stomach that the pieces started slotting together faster than a stack of falling dominoes.
So I asked her.
And she confessed.
Then something even stranger happened. I felt a need to protect her, to help and support her, take root almost immediately. Maybe it had been there before – why else would I have spent the summer entertaining a chick that wasn’t putting out? – but it was magnified tenfold when I realised she was creating a life inside her. It was the perfect way to atone for my sins and failures with Casey and Beth.
Since then, any beach trips I’ve been subjected to have been back in Blighty at those torrid ‘kiss me quick’ tacky seaside resorts that I can’t abide. But it was all Raven could afford after months of saving and scraping together tips, and as she was too damn stubborn to willingly accept help from me, I was subjected to torturous tacky days out on wild, wet and windy beaches. Literally my idea of hell.
I’ll begrudgingly admit that it’s not so awful this time though.
The sun and foreign climes help. As does the lavish price tag of course. I suppose the additional company isn’t too arduous either. Phoenix is great, but it is nice to have the others around to distract her a little.
Like now for example. Nix, Ace and Rebel are making some sort of giant sandcastle...fort? I’m not too sure but it’s kept all of them out of trouble for hours. Thorn’s surfing, in his element, and Jax is doing something on his phone, scowling and not talking to anyone. And I’m staring at Raven from behind my aviators as she skimboards in the shallows, a smile on her face.
There’s a small group of guys watching her a bit too closely for my liking, but I’m keeping an eye on them. The others haven’t seemed to notice, or maybe they just don’t care. I’m not about to be a possessive asshole that gouges out a man’s eyes just for looking – although it is tempting – but if they touch her, all bets are off.
I palm my knife absentmindedly while I watch the dickweasels get closer to her. My eyes narrow. Maybe I could spill a little blood in warning? Stay away from what’s mine. Not that I’m worried or anything, I just like to send a message. A clear as blood message.
They’re standing around her now, laughing and joking by the looks of it. I slip an AirPod from my ear but I can’t hear anything from this distance. Not over Rebel and Nix screaming anyway. I can hardly see Raven, just a flash of red bikini between gaps of flesh.
I’m on my feet the second a guy hits the sand, clutching his crown jewels. Raven.
“Don’t touch me you piece of shit!” I hear her seethe as I get close.
“Like you’re not dicking all five of those guys!” One sneers. “What’s wrong with a few more?”
Realising I dropped my knife in the sand in my haste to get over here, I pull a second one out. Not my favourite, but it’ll do.
I push my way through the tight circle, throwing some well-aimed punches as I go. Fuckers didn’t even see me coming. I grab the guy on the ground by his neck and jerk him up to face me. My knife presses to his throat and all bravado falls from his face. He gulps nervously, the action causing my blade to gently nick his neck. A trickle of blood runs down his flesh, and for a moment I don’t speak, transfixed by that deep red drip.
“Baxter! What the fuck?!” Raven hisses. “You can’t stab people on a public beach.”
“I’ll buy the beach,” I reply dismissively, pressing my blade a teeny tiny bit deeper.
“That’s not what I meant. There are witnesses.”
“I’ll buy them off too.”
“Not everyone can be bought.”
“But everyone can be killed.”
“Stop it!”
I sigh and shoot the cunt in my arms a filthy, murderous look before letting him go and pocketing my knife. Not my choice but Raven so rarely asks me for anything that I can’t deny her this one simple request. Even if my blood is pounding in my ears and the voices are roaring for vengeance.
