Devil May Care: Boxed Set (50 page)

The invitation wasn’t lost on him and his pants were gone suddenly. I eyed him, indulged in his thick member, watched it as he settled between my spread legs. He leaned over me, lining himself up and matching his eyes to mine. I looked into his eyes as he slid inside me and then I was lost.

He began slowly, sliding inch by inch into me until I was so full of him that it was all I could focus on. Then he slid back out only to start the movement all over again. I urged him forward again with my hips, my thighs quivering with desire as he took his time with me. And I wanted more and more. He obliged and thrust into me deeply. I let out a cry of pleasure, my arms wrapping around his neck and clutching him tightly to my body, my breasts pressing tightly to his hard chest.

His rhythm increased and I worked hard to match it, undulating beneath him. He was beginning to shake and I knew he was getting closer to his release. That was why he moved his arm so that he could slide his hand between us, one of his thick fingers slipping between my nether lips just above my core where he continued to thrust within me.

I cried out when he found my bundle of nerves, pleasure shooting through me like a drug. “Please, yes!” I cried.

“Olivia, babe,” he breathed, panting above me. “I won’t last long, but please, I need you to come for me.”

At the pleading tone in his voice and the measured, pulsing rhythm of his finger, I obliged him. My orgasm washed over me and I barely even noticed as he found his own release right along with me.

He slumped, catching himself just barely on his arms so that he wouldn’t collapse on top of me. Carefully, he rolled over, falling to the side of me on the mattress. Then, still panting, he reached for me. He held me, despite our sweating, exhausted bodies. He caressed my face, my hair, my lips. Then his eyes found mine and he whispered exhaustedly, but contentedly, “I love you, Olivia. And I’m going to keep you.”

I smiled and relaxed against him.

We fell asleep that way, my body and heart in agreement that he was what I wanted in my life, whatever trouble might come with it. This was worth it.

Epilogue

Rome

I had to be honest, I didn’t think Axel would get off. Especially since he was guilty as sin and we all knew it. True, he wasn’t going to go out and hold up a bank or shoot up a school or take hostages. He had a code he lived by, and while that code allowed some illegal things to slide, he at least had principals, which was something a lot of “upstanding good citizens” did not.

That being said, there was no question that he’d broken the law and not in a little way. But the thing about being on the wrong side of the law was that you tended to accumulate a lot of free cash. Money to put towards things like unscrupulous defense lawyers.

I thought his name was McAlister or something equally Irish like that. Definitely a Mac something. There was a good chance he had connections to the mob and he sure as hell dressed like it, walking around in a very fancy suit that was fucking
pinstriped
for god’s sake. His hair, which was just shy of a fiery red, was slicked back and he had a smile that was both inviting and dubious. He looked like a wolf or a shark, some predator that was attracted by the distinct smell of blood.

He was also the best damn criminal defense that money could buy. He didn’t bother asking if Axel was guilty—if you were calling him, you were loaded and definitely guilty—instead focusing on technicalities. “Did they read you your rights?” and, “Did they have a search warrant?” and, “Who was this anonymous source?” The kinds of things that almost seemed so small, so obvious, that they were irrelevant, but Mr. Irish explained that it was the details that screwed people, the White Hats and the Black Hats alike. He said it was taxes that fucked Capone and it was the Miranda Rights that saved Ecceles, a mobster who liked barely legal women, American Italian restaurants, and laundering cash through half the bars in Boston. The law was full of loopholes, Mr. Irish claimed, and it was a loophole that was going to save Axel.

I was a little skeptical, but when the trial rolled around, Axel was let off. Not for his innocence, of course, but for a little technicality that had to do with private and public property, ownership laws, distribution rights, and having the proper paperwork filled out on the police’s part. I was flabbergasted, but relieved to see Axel as a free man again.

Especially since the shit with Jacob had gone over a little rough. It wasn’t that Jacob had come back. My warning had rung loud and clear with him it had seemed, but that didn’t mean his influence was completely erased. There were guys,
our guys
, who thought Jacob had the right idea. Forget scruples, they thought, go for the gold. Run girls, run hard drugs, kill cops. It didn’t matter to them so long as they got what they wanted—which was a variety of things that ranged from money to pussy to violence. It meant some cleaning house when Axel got out.

Things shifted quickly after that. Axel made it clear that whoever was with Jacob was against him—and he knew who they were. That made people nervous, even as they scoffed and said he was bluffing, just being a blowhard because he spent a little time in the big house. For the next few months, it seemed like they were right. Axel’s threats had seemed to be nothing more than words, disappearing up in wisps of smoke after a while.

Then the bust happened.

The Renegades had opened a second shop—but not one Axel was in on. They boosted cars and it seemed like they were taking all the business away from our main shop, which was a problem. If we weren’t doing business, we weren’t making money. At least, not in that area. Several guys loyal to Axel were furious about it, but when they brought it to his attention, he merely smiled and nodded his head.

“I know, don’t worry about it,” he told them, and they left the office still mad, but also a little befuddled. Axel wasn’t the kind of guy to take anything lying down.

Time passed and it seemed like Axel was almost completely out of business. This new Renegades shop, which we discovered was being run by Jacob, who had returned, but was keeping down low and out of sight to avoid any retribution from either me or Axel, was picking up cars, chopping them up, and turning out new ones at a ridiculous rate. Every stolen car in the area and in the immediately surrounding area seemed to be linked right back to them.

We were doing almost no business at all and when several of the guys bitched about it, Axel calmly told them to relax and take it easy. He had some stuff working right now that needed to get finished first.

Finally, the idiots stole the wrong car. Some judge’s wife, complete with tracker and her cell phone. They got busted that night and Jacob happened to be there. The whole crew was arrested and there was little question in anyone’s mind whether they were guilty—or whether they’d get off.

The trial was swift and definitive. They had tried to hire Mr. Irish, but he refused, saying that he had other obligations. I thought that was odd, because Jacob was willing to pay and the lawyer didn’t exactly have a problem taking on dirt bag clients. But when I commented on it to Axel, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I said I would match and add five large to whatever Jacob offered him.” After that, I was pretty sure Axel just had him on retainer.

Jacob and his men were sentenced to twenty-five to life after the cops discovered not only the grand theft crimes, but the drug dealing as well, not to mention the fire arms. One day I asked Axel if he’d had anything to do with it.

“You know I don’t like cops, Rome,” he had answered me wryly, but I acknowledged that it wasn’t really an answer. Not an official one. I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was with the concept that maybe Axel had ratted to the police—that was one of those rules in
my
book—but I didn’t pursue it. Jacob was out of the way; Axel wouldn’t do the stupid, dangerous shit that would get us all killed; Olivia was safe. If Axel had a part in that, then I would just have to learn to live with it. I couldn’t help but hope that he didn’t, though.

***

Almost seven months after the events that threw Olivia into my arms, I was finally here. The suit felt a little strange, not uncomfortable, but too formal for me. I wore it because I was as good as my word and I wanted this all done right this time.

The chapel was decorated moderately. It was one of those places with all the fancy moldings and the stained glass windows and the statues carved intricately and delicately already, so I didn’t see the point in adding in a bunch of unnecessary crap that would just make it look tacky. Olivia had agreed and I was grateful; it told me she wouldn’t be tacky chic or whatever with the home either.

We did have flowers added along the far edges of the pews and towards the front where I stood. And there were some thick fabrics hung deliberately between the pews like the ropes to some exclusive club, but not as tacky. Beyond that, I noticed a cake, a long table with some food and plates, and a few presents. We hadn’t asked for a lot—none of that registry stuff—and most of the guests wouldn’t have had the foggiest idea of what to get us anyway. Probably, there were a lot of envelopes with money on the table, though I didn’t think it was necessary and I was sure that Olivia agreed.

She was big on the independent thing, not needing outside help, not needing to be “taken care of,” though she had relaxed around me and finally let me in.

I fidgeted nervously as I stood at the front on the right side of the aisle. I was looking back, waiting for her to emerge through the door at the other end, but it was killing me to just
stand
there. I didn’t really think she’d run off or anything, but until I actually saw her, I would be nervous.

There was so much that could go wrong, and after what we’d been through, it sometimes still set me on edge.

To my left, in a row of suits topped by leather biker jackets with
Renegades
on their backs, were two men. My best men. Skylar, the Renegade member who had been willing to take a risk and warn me that Jacob was gunning for me, had bothered to comb his usually messy black hair back. It looked greasy but neat. And he wore the tie, even though he said he felt like a pussy. And Axel was between him and me. Leader of the Renegades and a good man in my book, whatever liberties with the law he might have taken. He looked cool and collected, strangely comfortable and fitting in that suit, where Skylar couldn’t help but look awkward in it.

There were guests, too. Not a lot, but enough to fill up several rows of pews. I didn’t have any parents, but a few of the foster kids I’d shared a home with had shown up along with all of the Renegades—well, the ones who hadn’t belonged to Jacob and were now in prison. I even spotted Mr. Irish in the crowd, smiling like the cat that ate the canary, looking so pleased with himself I wondered if he didn’t think he was getting laid tonight.

On the other side were friends of Olivia’s. I wasn’t sure if her family was there. Her mother was there, but she was escorting Olivia down the aisle, so I wouldn’t see her for a moment longer. I didn’t think her dad would come and wasn’t sure if Olivia had bothered to invite him anyway. From what I knew of him, the guy was a real piece of work, and it would be better for everyone if he just stayed as far away from this day as possible.

Sasha was there, too. She sat towards the back, dressed in a plain dress, maybe one of the few she bothered to own, and had her hair done in a simple braid that stopped just below her shoulders. She looked nice, if a little weary and weathered.

I’d had to tell her about Dagger and she’d taken the news hard. For a long time I’d thought that she was dead, that Dagger had warned me off of Olivia because he’d failed in his own attempts to keep his love alive. Now I knew better.

He had given her up after Jacob had threatened her. He’d done the same thing to her as they’d tried to do to Sasha and she’d never entirely recovered. It didn’t help her state of mind that Dagger had left her—and the Renegades it turned out—quickly after that. But it did save her life. Jacob let her be, because Dagger no longer threatened him.

I never forgot the warning Dagger had given me. Olivia was precious and she deserved better than the danger my lifestyle might bring into her life, but at the same time, love bridged a lot of the gaps that might otherwise appear in our lives. I believed in my heart that I could protect her—and I knew that the boys, my Renegades, would do the same. Axel had become fond of her, and Skylar, though a little skittish, had taken a liking to her, too. The rest didn’t mind her and would follow Axel, so I was confident she would be safe.

Besides, Sasha had been honest with me the day I told her about Dagger. “I wish he hadn’t put me first. I would have given anything to stay with him for as long as we could have had together.
Anything
. I wasn’t afraid.”

Olivia and I felt the same way. She was an independent woman and I told her of the dangers, but I left the choice up to her. It was the only way to be with Olivia and I understood that a lot better now.

She chose me and now here we were.

Lost in thought, I almost didn’t notice when we started. It was the music that caught my attention and I watched as two pretty women, bridesmaids, walked down the aisle, one after the other in matching purple dresses. They were done up pretty and I knew them both as friends of Olivia. She had insisted that our lives merge, rather than just picking up the people from mine. I’d agreed whole heartedly and appreciated both Sylvia and Lynn for their humor and personality.

They came to stand opposite Axel and Skylar, Sylvia winking at one of the two. I couldn’t be sure which one. She had a boyfriend, but they had an open relationship, meaning he was okay with her having her fun with other men when she needed to. I didn’t think Skylar was bold enough for it, but I thought Axel might give her a go. And he was the kind of man who was able to keep things casual.

The kind of man I no longer was.

Finally, the music shifted and Olivia came out. She was being escorted by her mother, an older version of her with hair that was probably blonde from a bottle and way too much makeup, but pretty nonetheless. She wore a plain soft pink dress that was maybe closer to lavender or something, basic so as not to take attention from her daughter.

Not that anything in the room could.

Her dark hair was long and curled around her shoulders tenderly, caressing her. Her makeup was subtle, accentuating her already perfect features, drawing my attention to her eyes and her lips. My gaze traveled lower along her neck and down her collarbone to her dress. Olivia had chosen a mermaid dress, the tight white fabric clinging to her slender waist as it traveled down over her full hips before flaring out at her knees. The dress was cut low and strapless, making a heart shape out of her full, soft breasts and giving me a hard-on that I worked to conceal. Her green eyes flashed and I wondered if she knew that I wanted to ravish her in that dress. The sensual smile she sent me told me that she did.