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Authors: Ronin Winters

Tags: #Romance, #Fiction, #Paranormal

Razor (3 page)

BOOK: Razor
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They grew them tall around here, as her sister had said the couple times she ventured this way to pick Aaliyah up from work, and this man personified it. He was huge, both in height and breadth, but the way he was built everything was in proportion. He didn’t have that puffed-up bodybuilder thing going on. Everything was just…
nice
.

And it was time to stop that train of thought, but before she could call out, his hands ran through his dark hair, ruffling the short, slightly curly strands, and he turned to her.

She’d been so intent on the boy she barely looked at the man, only noting
big
and
gentle
in her very quick mental musings.

But those green eyes in the unfamiliar familiarity of that face – sharpened and squared since she last saw it – and there was no doubt who this was.

“Razor?”

Chapter Three


S
he smelled twice
as good as he remembered – and he remembered her smelling
damn
good. Her hair was in a multitude of braids, pulled back from her face and into a ponytail and longer than it had been before. Her face was the same perfection it had always been and those dark eyes were wide with shock.

He’d wanted their first meeting to be different. Wanted to somehow sweep her off her feet, show her he wasn’t a kid and she could trust he
would
take care of her.

Except standing in front of her, the jittery, achy feelings that he always associated with her came back like a bare-knuckled blow to the temple, making him woozy and a little faint, and a little doubting that anything he was seeing could be true.

“Razor,” she asked, and while her tone had a ton of emotions running through it, he held onto
happiness
like a lifeline. Whatever else, she was glad about this reunion, and that would do to start.

“Hey Aaliyah.” Thanks to heavens, his voice didn’t crack. It came out the same way it always did now, which was a lot deeper than what it had been during puberty.

She looked like she didn’t know what to do with herself, her hands clasping in front of her stomach as her eyes and mouth gave tiny tics, giveaways to her internal debate. She must have come to a decision, because what he mentally labelled
Hot Nurse Aaliyah
came to the fore. Her hands dropped and her chin stiffened, and when she was like this he could so see her in an emergency situation, both issuing orders and taking them when needed, and all the while with that soothing manner that told any patient they could trust her. “Your son is fine. It’s a simple break, nothing more, and–”

“He’s not my son. I don’t have kids.” That misconception couldn’t be allowed to stand. “I was watching over him. Guess I didn’t do the best job.” His hand came up to scratch the back of his now-hot neck. Damn, first time she saw him, and it’s because he let a kid get hurt on his watch.

Here her arms crossed over her chest and that special look he swore was only for him came over her face, the one where her head tilted and the right corner of her mouth tilted up even as her lips pressed together, and it looked like she was debating between shaking her head and rolling her eyes, all the while holding back a smile. “If that boy is related to anyone in your old gang, I guarantee there was nothing you could have done to stop him from getting into trouble.”

She had him there. “He’s Track’s boy.”

“And I rest my case.”

“You look good.” It was probably too soon to say anything, but
damn
, she did, standing there all gorgeous, barely changed from the last time he saw her. She wasn’t a giant, but she was tall enough, wearing a short sleeved shirt and black slacks which she might have picked to be boring and professional, but to his eyes it hid nothing of those curves he’d never stopped dreaming of.

She had long, slim fingers and the prettiest hands, and if she told him the only way she’d wrap those fingers around his cock was if he dressed up as the Easter bunny, he’d get the most pastel colored suit in existence and hop over to her house. Once again, those hands clasped together in front of her stomach, a nervous habit she never could seem to break. “Um, you look good too. Grew tall.”

Razor damn near
preened
because while the words might be easy, standard, something anyone might say after not seeing anyone in a long time, the way her eyes traveled his body told she was seeing things she liked.

He could work with that. Fuck, he could do anything. She was
free
, here in front of him, and he’d follow Steel’s lead of kidnapping his woman and chaining her to his bed if she ever tried to go away again.

But before he did that, he’d go the old-fashioned route first, which was getting her so addicted to his dick she’d never think of leaving.

Good plan.

“Does it feel strange, to be back here?” As much as he wanted to go over there and drag her into his arms, it might be a better idea to relax her a bit. The longer she stood looking at him, the more her nerves came to the fore, replacing the shock and surprise she started with.

“In a good way.” She nodded, those pretty braids bouncing around her head, and with their movement came the flash vision of wrapping them around his dick as she licked all around.

Fuck
. Not the time for blue balls, and not the time to scare her by tenting his pants. He managed to somehow not do that when he was sixteen, and he wasn’t going to start now.

Bella came out then, her gaze questioning as it darted between them. He hadn’t told her the history, though she knew enough to make an educated guess what was going on. “It’s all good. There is a fracture, but it’s clean, and I expect it to heal very well.”

Aaliyah startled, as if only now she remembered the job she was here for. “I’ll get him set for release.” With a small nod to Razor, she left to go back to the exam room.

As soon as Aaliyah was out of sight Bella advanced. “Something you want to tell me?”

“No.” And he didn’t. This was still too new, and though he wanted Aaliyah as much as he ever did, he was off-balance right now. He loved Bella, but he didn’t want this up for examination by her.

Bella nodded her understanding. “If you ever need me, I’m here.”

“Thanks.”

And then there was no more time for revisiting his past, because he had a little boy to get home and a worried father to reassure everything was alright, and it was only when he was at Iron’s that night that his thoughts drifted again to his true mate’s reappearance in his life.

Iron wasn’t there, but Ash was, placing beers on the bar and flirting with every woman who came up to grab a drink.

Ash was the same age as him and Tank, and were part of the group who knew about Aaliyah being his mate from the first scenting, unlike Iron or Steel or the older wolves who didn’t hang out with the younger group as much. When Aaliyah got married and left, those friends closed rank. They never mentioned her to him or mentioned to any other wolves about Razor’s true mate having been found and lost at the ripe old age of sixteen. They let it be, and Razor would never forget what he owed them. It was probably the only thing that saved his sanity in those early days, along with his responsibility to his brothers.

Ash looked away from a pretty blonde at his coming, grabbing a beer from underneath the bar. With a wink at the woman, he sidled to the other side of the bar, waiting for Razor to sit. “What’s the news? Look kind of smug there.”

Fuck. He did want to talk, but he didn’t want to broadcast to the bar his secrets. He wiped his hand down the front of his face in an attempt to wipe away any expressions. “Iron here tonight?”

“Nah man, says he doesn’t want to deal with the unmated pups running wild when he has a sexy and pregnant mate home to take care of. That was a direct quote, in case you couldn’t tell.”

“Never would have been able to,” Razor deadpanned, especially since he was included in that statement. Iron now knew Aaliyah was his true mate – any wolf with a nose did – but he hadn’t told the beta of the pack any details. “He hired anyone to take over from Mel yet?”

“Not yet, which means my ass is getting all the overtime. Not that I mind, too many pretty ladies who want to wait for me until closing,” Ash said, his eyes following the blonde from earlier as she did a very deliberate sashay past them on her way to her friends at the pool table.

The group of women were definitely putting on a show for Ash and a few of the other men around, all of them wolves, by leaning over the pool table and dancing with each other. Razor could appreciate the sight the way people appreciated looking at pretty paintings, but it did nothing for him. Now if Aaliyah wore a skirt that short and started dancing…yeah, he’d have to punch every fucking wolf in this bar out for looking at her, so maybe it was a good thing Aaliyah wasn’t here.

Tank walked in, coming over to the bar but not without a quick look-over at the women, who all returned the interest. Tank might be shorter than him, but Tank had that hard muscle thing that only MMA fighters seemed to possess, and the women were very happily ogling him.

With the quick eye all bartenders possessed, Ash had the beer on the bar before Tank reached them, and Tank was had the bottle to his mouth before he was seated.

“So,” Tank began, putting the bottle down. “Heard you saw Taneasha.”

Ash looked up, all surprised eyes and raised eyebrows. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“I don’t know how this one heard it so quickly,” replied Razor, pointing his thumb over at Tank. “It was only this afternoon. Did your sewing circle meet up right after and start talking about me?”

“We were working our embroidery today,” Tank said, all laconic drawl, the tattoo on his neck stark against the white of his tee. “Nah man, had to go over to Track’s to talk some Jacobson shit. He told me.”

The word
Jacobson
cast a quick pall over the group, each wolf grabbing a quick drink from his beer as if to wash thoughts of the bastard away. It faded when Ash asked, “Did you ask her out? Did you ask her to marry you?”

“I have more restraint than that.
What?
” Razor protested at the disbelieving look the other two wolves were throwing him.

“Try that shit on people who don’t know you. I’m surprised you didn’t jump on her the minute you got close. Or did you? Track wasn’t exactly sure.”

Razor side-eyed Tank after that comment. “No, I didn’t
jump
her. I’m not a dog.”

“You’re a wolf, which in this instance is similar.” Tank motioned to the women still by the pool tables with his beer bottle. “Or is it you don’t know what to do with a woman, considering I don’t see you flirting with the ladies.”

Razor flipped Tank off, grabbing his beer bottle, but Tank was proven correct only seconds later when a few women came up to the bar – ostensibly to get drinks, but ended up chatting with Ash and Tank, and trying to chat with Razor. He put up with it for a minute before grabbing his bottle and heading outside.

He’d hadn’t even made the parking lot when Tank reached him, walking alongside. Without discussion they headed into the wooded area behind the bar, like they so often had before.

After several minutes of silence, Tank said, “How you dealing?”

“Strange. I’m not quite sure how I’m taking it.” Understatement of the century there. He was a mish-mash of crazed emotions, and seeing Aaliyah today before he was ready had everything going warp speed.

“You mad at her?”

That was one question Razor could answer no problem. “No. Can’t say it didn’t hurt when she left, but how the hell can I be mad at her? What, I’m supposed to be pissed my woman
isn’t
a pedophile? She
didn’t
jump on a sixteen year old kid?

“Reasonable has nothing to do with what you’re feelin’.”

“Nah man, I’m good there. It’s the other stuff I’m not sure about. She went through a fuck-all of a divorce. I find her ex I’m tearing his balls off – how the fuck can you cheat on your woman? Get some backstabbing whore pregnant?” It still had Razor seeing red, hearing the story from Iron, who got it from Bella. She left him alone, and for what? To be married to a lowlife piece of crap like that? “Do you think after going through that, she’s going to be open to me showing up and going,
‘Remember me? I’ve been in love with you for ten years. Let’s get mated, and by the way, I’m a werewolf.’
There’s really not a card to cover this situation.”

Tank snorted, and even Razor had to laugh at the absurdity. Fuck his life. Fuck it hard.

After the laughter died down, Tank smacked his shoulder and continued walking again. “Aaliyah can handle anything. Fuck, she’s the only one who ever got Cage to settle. That tells you right there what she’s made of.”

“Cage, man – Cage was always fucking with me that he was going to steal her away. Asshole.” It was said easily, with deep affection and a tinge of pain, and both men were silent afterwards.

They were rounding their way back to the bar, and Tank was getting antsy, showing the signs his wolf was coming to the surface. Made sense. Out of all of them, Tank spent the most time amongst humans, running his gym and training like he did. It meant he was always eager to let the wolf free when he had a chance. He pulled off his shirt, putting it to the side in a hidden yet easily found patch behind some trees. “I gotta run, man. All I can say is this – she always liked you. Being blunt, I think one of the reasons she left was because she would have gotten involved with you eventually if she didn’t, and no matter what you or I or any other wolf said, there’s no way she would have forgiven herself or ever believed she didn’t somehow force you. Aaliyah was always good people like that.”

BOOK: Razor
8.41Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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