Rapture 2: a BWWM, Alpha Male Romance (15 page)

TWENTY-THREE

Alika

Two weeks later…

“
Baby
, next week is Thanksgiving,” I sang. “What are we gonna do? Does Hazel do the entire feast, or is it gonna be a first one where you’re not at your dad’s house?”

“I don’t know. Let’s figure it out. We can set a new tradition. Because even though I made appearances over there, I never stayed more than two hours after we’d eaten. I usually ended up at Chaos hanging out with my customers.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll just do it myself,” I smiled. “I’m sure Hazel will want to be with her own family for the holidays and I wouldn’t mind being able to take over that dreamy kitchen for an entire day. Of course, since I’m so spoiled now, maybe we could get someone in over the weekend to clean up the mess I’m sure to make. I mean, I’m no slob and I generally clean as I go, but there’s gonna be a lot!”

“Whatever you want,” he assured me, as he ate the last of his scrambled egg breakfast.

“Yay! I can’t wait! So now, who do we invite?”

“I don’t care, babe. I’m okay with whatever.”

“Even if I need to recruit you to cut up some of the stuff with me?”

“Even if you need to recruit me to cut up some of the stuff with ya,” he reiterated, smiling.

“That’s wonderful. So, I’m going to get started on my list so that I can have someone pick all the fixings up for me. I usually like to get stuff early because growing up in my aunt’s house, and then my foster parents, there were always…
always
last minute grocery store runs to make and everything was always picked over by that time.”

“Baby, your man knows nothing about any of that. Seriously. I just know I can’t wait to taste what you come up with. I’m sure I’ll be running every morning for the next month because I won’t know how to stop stuffing my face.”

“You think Michaela will be able to come by for a little bit?”

“Oh, I’m sure of it. I was actually going to see if she could spend Thanksgiving with us, since it’ll be my first major holiday with her.”

“That would be beautiful. I can’t see her mom having an issue with that.”

“Yeah, me either. I’ll call her later and ask.”

“Good! I can’t wait to see her. You know she texted me yesterday to say,
hi
? I thought that was so sweet.”

“She told me that she texted you. I’m so glad I got her that cell phone because it really worked for her being able to pace herself with getting to know me…getting to know us.”

“I agree. That was brilliant. And she calls you so much. It’s super cute,” I acknowledged, walking over to him, and pinching his cheek, then snaking my arms around his neck.

“Yeah…” he said, as though reflecting on a thought.

But I interrupted beforehand so I could inquire about what I had been wanting to, but was afraid to do.

I started, kissing into the curve of his neck. “Baby, how are you feeling about all this stuff with your family? Not forcing you to talk about it, just want to make sure that I do wellness checks on you. I don’t want you to think that I don’t care, or that you can’t tell me about
any
of it.”

He pulled me around to sit me on his lap, where I began to smooth down his beard, lovingly watching, as he prepared to speak.
This man is just sexy as fuck
.
How blessed am I
? I actually did find myself speaking those very words in my head quite often.

“I’m okay. Honestly. I grew up knowing what the situation was. I didn’t worry about it then, and I don’t worry about it now.”

I watched him pause for a few seconds before proceeding, which sent me back and forth between feelings of guilt, and sadness. I should never have treaded upon the subject at all. There was something in his eyes, and something in the tone he used whenever he said anything about his home life, that caused me to feel that as much as he denied it, he was affected—even if slightly. I was just about to renege on the conversation when Rush spoke again.

“You know, babe…Jamie and I are a year, two months, and ten days apart.”

“Oh, wow. I hadn’t realized it was that close.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda close ain’t it?”

“It sure is,” I chuckled. “And with two different women?”

“Yep. Exactly. My father basically carried on a relationship with two women at the same time—for years. Not even a month after my mother left, Jamie and her mother were in the house. Even with as fucked up as shit was with me not knowing where the hell my mother went, why she left, or any of that, I felt comforted that I had a sibling. So, Jamie and I got close really fast. I was almost six at the time. So, I say all that to say that we had each other’s backs a lot growing up. Even though she was the fave of her mother and our father, she was still my sister. I even kicked a few asses whenever that half sister-brother bullshit came out of anybody’s mouth because I felt that we were full siblings in every way that counted. Different mothers or not. She was my family. So, for her to side with my father on something this huge…” he said, lightly shaking his head from left to right, “…unforgivable. That’s the part that gets to me. But aside from that, baby, your man is good. He’s got you,” he said, smiling and rubbing his hand across my leg.

I hugged him tight and laid my head in the corner of his neck and placed kisses inside the crease. “You damn right you got me.” I lifted my head to look him in his eyes, and almost got lost in his deep, dark ass irises for a minute. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise…?”

“I
promise
,” I said, animatedly raising my right hand into the air, causing Rush to pull me closer.

As badly as I wanted to, I refrained from asking for the full back story about his mother. I would have to pick the right moment to segue into that topic of discussion—if I would it at all. Two weeks had passed since his father had almost died and Rush hadn’t spoken a single word about it. We both found out by way of Gigi that he was out of the woods and on his way to a full recovery, and Rush didn’t miss a beat. Life was as usual, and he hadn’t even been back to the hospital. All his focus was on home, his businesses, and building his way to super daddy status with Michaela. And from what I had witnessed, he was well on his way.

“Sooo, Big Daddy…” I started, rising from Rush’s lap, and grabbing hold of his hands. “What’s on our agenda for the rest of the night? I was thinking we invite Gavin and Christina over for drinks or something. Or we could watch a movie, or we could go out to eat, or—”

“
Or
, I could take you upstairs and do all kinds of shit to your beautiful body,” he smiled, making his way onto his feet and towering over me.

I returned his smile, trying not to cheese too hard. I was speechless, because like so many other times he caught me off guard…in a good way…a good ass way.

“Nothing to say, huh?” he asked, chuckling slightly, his eyes lighting up.

I shook my head left to right in response, never releasing on the smile that seemed stuck on my face.

“Okay, well let’s see how long that lasts.”

And of course he knew it wouldn’t last because whenever I was loved down by this man, I didn’t even recognize half the shit that came out of my own mouth. He felt
that
damn good. Never had I ever given my entire self to a man sexually—as I had with him. In fact, I think I would go so far as to say that he was the first man I had ever
made love
to, and for that matter, who’d ever made love to me.

When he was done with me a while later, I was satiated, and had forgotten about any of the suggestions passing time, that I’d presented to him earlier. I was trying my best to regroup so that I could have another helping of everything he was serving up.

I can’t wait for part three
…I thought as sleep sneaked up on me.

TWENTY-FOUR

UCSF Medical Center

Two weeks after Lance Cambridge was admitted, he lay in a large private suite on the fifth floor at San Francisco Medical Center on his way to a slow recovery. When he had first been rushed in, his prognosis was grave. In fact, doctors threw out things like, “Contact next of kin…” and even “
If
he makes it, then…” and “It won’t be much longer.” However, Lance Cambridge had stunned everyone when he showed them what others had long ago learned—not to ever discount him. Not even a high dosage of ketamine could take him down.

Lance had to admit it, a hospital stay was the only way he’d ever stop for a second to catch his breath. He’d always been of the mindset: ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’. And someone had almost succeeded in making that happen. But there he was ready to be back at one hundred percent, so he could live even larger than before. As comfortable as they had made him, he couldn’t wait to regain his full strength so he could be free of his hospital bed. He had too much business to handle and too many places to see. So while being down and out was never a part of his forte, there he was lavishing in the only rest he would get for a while.

While he was in and out of sleep, he kept seeing that face.
She tried to kill me
was the first thing he thought when he’d awakened yesterday and realized where he was and what had happened to him. He remembered the first prick to his thigh. And then he thought there might have even been a second that was swift and inserted much deeper than the first—forcefully, and hate-filled. She had come equipped and she’d meant to leave him for dead. So, he knew that the moment he had enough strength, he would make the right call to have her dealt with the right way. The way he should’ve had her dealt with the first time. Even the thought of her demise made him smile on the inside.

Lance’s eyes were small slits as he tried to open them to focus. He felt as though he was being watched. He knew it wasn’t the nurse or his doctor because they’d already come and gone. Not just that, they always announced their arrival. His eyes darted around the dimly lit room, while trying to pry them open just a little bit more.

“What’s got you all happy?” the voice asked. “Oh wait! I know! You survived.”

Oh fuck
, he thought.

An inner panic button sounded off in his head. He didn’t have to see her to know who was talking to him. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have an ounce of fear. But this was different.
Who the fuck let her in here
?!
And where the fuck are the imbeciles who should be guarding me from harm
?! He slowly moved his hand trying to reach for the nurse’s button to no avail.

“Don’t bother,” she calmly stated. “It’s dangling on the side of your bed. We need some alone time. I actually didn’t think we’d get it. I thought I’d managed to get rid of you,” she said, standing and walking near his bed. “Imagine my surprise when I saw all over the news that your ass had lived.” She chuckled before continuing. “I have to give it to you. You are one lucky motherfucker. And a motherfucker you are, indeed.”

Lance’s eyes were wide open and alert now, and they were yelling words that he couldn’t say out loud. He was scared and he was angry…more like angry that he was scared. Anybody who instilled fear in him needed to die. There was no other way around that, and she was no different.
You’re a dead bitch
, he threatened in silence, as an anger-induced tear crawled from the corner of his eye.