Motown Takedown (Motown Down Book 3) (35 page)

“I’m a man who’s made mistakes, Mo chuisle,
”
he whispers into the dark thinking me asleep. “Ruthlessness has no place between us and I’ll spend my life making it up you, I vow this.”

“The only vow I need from you is the one where you’ll love me for the rest of your life, Eros.”

“Thought you were sleeping,
”
he mumbles.

“I thought we’ve moved on.”

“Struggling,
”
he says playing with my hair.

“Less struggling and more snuggling,
”
I say wrapping myself around him. “Shut up and sleep, Monarch.”

“My queen is bossy when she’s tired.”

“Your queen has spoken, now do what she says.
”

Finally, he did.

My back bowed off the mattress as my orgasm tore through me. Panting and fisting the sheets, I tightened my thighs to keep him in place. As far as wakeup calls go, it was perfect and I’d yet to open my eyes. At this point, I wanted to snuggle back in and sleep but he had other ideas. For instance, straddling my chest and slapping my cheek with his cock.

Cracking my eyes open, it was the adorable look on his face that made me smile. We’d been through an emotional time, and here he was…playing. I loved it. “Good morning,
”
I speak to his manhood. “You’re up bright and early.
”
Not that I expected his cock to answer me but I wanted to play too.

“Is my queen happy?

“She’d be even happier if you’d fuck her.”

“Later,
”
he says tucking himself back in. “We have plans.”

“We do?
”
I ask sitting up. “Where will the boys be?
”

“We need to stop calling them boys because they aren’t much younger than you,
”
he laughs. “But they’re occupied.”

“Define occupied.”

“I gave them a work vehicle,
”
he shrugs. “Can’t do business on foot, it just isn’t done.”

My insides melted right at the same time they froze. “They can drive?”

Blinking rapidly, he then closes his eyes and calls Pookie. “Find out if they know how to drive,
”
he groans. “If they don’t, give them a crash course.
”
And then he hung up. Looking back at me, he motions me out of bed and into the bathroom. “Getting you a cup of coffee, get ready, Mo chuisle, we have shit to do.”

Showering didn’t take long because I skipped washing my hair. It still looked amazing, as did the rest of me, so I put on a hot pair of skinny jeans, an even tighter halter and grabbed a cardigan. Slipping my flats on, I was finishing as he brought my coffee in. With his arm extended he stares. “What?
”
I ask taking my cup.

“I’ll never get used to it,
”
he says softly.

“Used to what?”

“Your beauty, your love, and waking up to you.”

“Eros,
”
I sigh. “All of it is yours, we’re moving forward. Forget about that past, okay?”

“Ready?
”
he asks dropping the subject but something was troubling him. Right now he had something planned and I didn’t want to ruin it, so I nodded and followed him out to the truck. Sitting in my seat patiently, when we turn to hit the Ambassador Bridge, I suck in a breath. “Oh my God,
”
I wheeze. “It’s really happening!
”
Waiting in line at customs, I didn’t even worry about it because Monarch has us covered. Especially when he handed them our licenses and passports and we were waved through. Rolling down my window, I stick my head out and squeal. The second we crossed over into Canada, I couldn’t help it, I yelled out, “I don’t even speak French!”

Laughing, he drives a bit before turning and taking us down to the riverfront. Grabbing a blanket, he shakes it out and we sit together. Leaning into him, I sat quietly in Canada staring at my home across the river. A small body of water separated two countries yet it was so close I swore I could reach out and touch it. “When this is over, we’ll road trip to Niagara Falls and keep going until we hit the East Coast. I promise, Cinn.”

“I’m here
now
, Monarch. This moment is all I ever wanted. To have the opportunity
…
You made my dream a reality,
”
I tell him honestly. Hooking my arm around his waist, I whisper, “Thank you.”

“He kept you from living,
”
he says tightening his grip. “I hate it as much as I’m grateful because I’m the one who gets to give it to you now.”

“True,
”
I agree. “But you don’t have to
give
me anything, Eros. I have
you,
which means more than any life experience I was denied.
”

“I’m giving you everything, Mo chuisle,
”
he says taking me to my back. “Every-fucking-thing.”

“You already
have
,
”
I try explaining but he was stubborn. “I don’t need material things, just you, just us. Got it?”

“I let him keep you,
”
he says hardening his jaw.
Ah, so this is what was bothering him then
. “I had it all wrong and because of that you were abused, forced to do shit no girl should be doing. You did all that waiting on a motherfucker who did not come for you like he promised. So yeah, Cinn, you waited on me and for that you get
every-fucking-thing
.”

“My man is dealing with some serious fucking guilt right now,
”
I say reaching for his face. “And he needs to stop.”

“Your man made some serious fucking mistakes, Cinn and you’ve suffered for all of them. Maybe you deserve a normal guy, one that pays taxes and has clean hands.”

“Wrong,
”
I argue. “One man busted his ass to get himself in a position of power and made sacrifices to obtain it. I understand sacrifices, Monarch, and I don’t hold my past with Savage against you. And seriously paying taxes is stupid and no one has clean hands. And I swear if you mention kids and a minivan, I’m leaving you in Canada.”

“I sacrificed
you
,
”
he argues.

“You had no choice,
”
I argue back. “Did you ever consider that the fault lies with him and not you?
”
When he opens his mouth I shut him up with my hand. “We won, Eros. Can we please stop giving our power to a dead man?”

“Jesus Christ, you’re right.”

“Of course I am,
”
I huff. “Since I’m never wrong…”

“You want kids?
”
he asks kissing my nose.

“Maybe,
”
I admit. “But not while we lead this kind of life. What we do would affect them and I don’t want that. Plus we’ve got four under roof who already keep us on our toes.”

“I’d leave this life behind for a family, Cinn.”

“You would?”

“For you? In a fucking heartbeat,
”
he says sincerely. “What we have runs deeper than any God damn certificate but if I wanted to make it legal, give you my name, would you do it? Marry me?”

“What
is
your name?
”
I ask smiling.

“Dominic Ford.”

“Is there anything about you that isn’t bad ass?
”

“You’re my strength and my weakness, Cinn. Marry me.”

“Don’t you want to know my last name?”

“No,
”
he growls. “Since you’re taking mine it doesn’t matter.”

“That’s fair,
”
I admit. “Okay, we’ll get hitched.”

With a quickness that shocked me, he moved himself from above me, stood and held out his hand. “Mo chuisle,
”
he says fiercely. “Step to me.”

And I did, on foreign soil.

“You four love her,
”
I say leaning against her truck. “And it’s because of that I’m letting you know she’s going to marry me.”

“If this is your way of asking permission, try again,
”
Pillbox grins.

“Wasn’t asking,
”
I let him know. “But if one of you has a problem with it, it’d be good to hash it out sooner rather than later.”

“Say I have a problem with it,
”
Jones says looking at his boys. “Say we all did. Automatic death sentence or we get a fighting chance?”

“I’m not going to kill you,
”
I couldn’t help but grin. “But I’m also not going to spend time changing your fucking minds either. Your queen will say yes and when she comes home, she’s gonna want to share that shit with you. It’d be nice to know up front where you stand.”

“I dunno, man,
”
Sam says crossing his arms over his chest. “You don’t seem so sure she’ll say yes. Is it just me or does Monarch look nervous to you?
”
Each prick grinned and nodded because fuck yes I was nervous but I wasn’t admitting it to these assholes.

“She’ll say yes,
”
Dopey grins. “For some reason she loves your crazy ass. If Cinn’s down for crazy, we’re down for crazy.”

Each one slapped me on the shoulder and I won’t lie, it eased me knowing they approved. Now to convince her and eliminate the threat so we can find an altar.

Because I wasn’t sure what the law was when it came to fucking outdoors in another country, I put her in the Tahoe. For at least an hour we sat there talking about the past. Hers was shit, mine was shit, but our future held promise. She was right, I had to let go of it and focus on keeping my queen happy. There would be no more thoughts of Savage or the asshole I’d been. We belonged to each other and she fucking agreed to marry me.

“I don’t recognize this number,
”
she says rattling it off and hell if I knew it either. Shrugging, she answers the call and rolls her eyes. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Who is it?
”
I demand to know and she instead of answering held up a finger.

“Uh huh,
”
she says absently. “Yep,
”
she says smiling. “Of course! I’ll even take pics as a souvy!
”
she laughs. “No really, I’ll hang it above my bed and everything. See you soon.”

“Who the fuck was that?”

“Casper,
”
she says and my mood took a big shit. “He asked if you knew he was coming for you and I said uh huh. Then, he asked if I thought he should be afraid and I said yep because he was cocky about it. He didn’t find that funny and asked if I honestly thought you could kill him to which I said of course and I’m taking pics as a souvy. When he said nothing I said, no really I’ll hang it above my bed and everything and finished with see you soon.”

“How’d he get your number?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.”

“Should I call him back and ask?
”
She asks sarcastically and before I could say shit, she kept going. “Him calling me was good news, Monarch. It means he’s rattled. He won’t come at you alone and survive it, he knows that.”

“What aren’t you telling me, Cinn?”

“We just had a moment back there and I didn’t want to ruin it by telling you he liked my tank top…”

“He’s watching.”

“Or someone else is,
”
she shrugs then asks, “Ransom?”

“Probably,
”
I grunt. “Fuck.”

And just like that, the God damn moment was lost. I wanted out of Canada and back inside our walls where she was safest. If that motherfucker thought he could dangle my woman like bait, he’d be wrong. Dead fucking wrong. On the way back, I dialed Pookie telling him to bring the boys back home. She called Pope and Gunner, plus left a message for Demo. As we pulled in, she reminded me of her plans tonight. The immediate reply should have been no, but she needed her freedom. She needed her friends and I needed to give that to her.

Besides, once she was gone I’d have the boys trail her which gave me time to kill the bastard myself.