Page 125 of Borden 3

We couldn’t keep living like this.

This had to be the end of it.

The Lost Boys had to be the answer.

“Mama,” Lincoln called, stirring me out of my thoughts. I dashed to him, if only to keep myself busy. He was sitting up in his cot, his bed head had his hair sticking up on all ends. He looked around, rubbing at his eyes.

“Hey,” I whispered, settling in next to him. “It’s okay.”

He barely looked at me as he laid back down, but his hand grabbed at me, holding onto my shirt, making sure I was present. Sliding in next to him, I stroked his hair and kissed his head. He squeezed my hand once before falling back asleep. I didn’t leave him for some time, knowing it was best to stop pacing. Hector was right. It was out of my hands, and I needed to be calm for Link.

I shut my eyes, taking a deep breath, waiting for sleep to come also. I had only just begun to relax when a loud beep sounded at the door. I blinked awake, turning around to look across the room at the door. It opened and Borden stepped in first. His eyes immediately cut to Hector and held. Hector nodded once at him and then Borden turned, scanning the room, searching for me.

He found me straightaway, my body wrapped around Lincoln, but my head turned and staring back at him. My chest dipped at the sight of him. His face was wracked with stress lines. His eyes were wired, like he hadn’t slept and was too on edge to. His dark hair, much like Link’s, was standing on end like he’d raked his hand through it a dozen times. His giant frame sauntered to me slowly, and I saw the emotion flash in his blue eyes as he glanced over at Link and then me.

“Doll,” he whispered.

And before I could even slide off to greet him, he twisted away and moved slowly across the room. His shoulders were low. He stared down at the floor like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. His black sweater looked stretched, his hands were covered in dirt and…there was blood on his palms. In fact, as I squinted my eyes and slowly slid off the bed to take a better look at him, there was blood everywhere. Along his forearms where his sleeves were rolled up.

Entering the room a moment later was Gerry. I paused in my step, examining him closely as he looked equally exhausted. Gone was the dutiful man who stood straight and answered diligently to Borden’s commands. He looked years older, his body loose. He exchanged words with Borden, I couldn’t catch what they were. Then he passed him a handgun and left.

“Are you heading back out?” Hector asked in a hushed tone after Gerry was gone.

“In a few hours,” murmured Borden. “Gerry’s tidying up.” Borden glanced over his shoulder at me. “I need my wife.”

Hector glanced at me and, as if knowing he was being dismissed, he nodded at Borden. “Good morning, Borden. It’s a pleasure to see you back.”

Borden nodded just once as Hector exited. The sound of the door shutting and the white noise machine were the only sounds for the next few moments. I didn’t breathe, much less move. I stood beside Lincoln’s bed, wringing my hands together, watching the slow transformation happen.

Borden was dark when he came back from a firefight. It usually took hours to get him to even look like my man again. He never frightened me, per say, but I was on edge nonetheless.

He settled the gun on the table and then he looked at me. “I won’t bite.”

His voice wasn’t loaded with amusement. It was dead.

I moved, closing in on him slowly.

“Unless you want me to,” he added quietly, his blue eyes glimpsing at me now as I stood before him.

I stared up at him, saying nothing for a while. Assessing him. Taking his expression apart. Trying to map out what happened last night to make him look like this. What evils had he witnessed, had he inflicted…had he overcome.

I licked my lips, aware his eyes had followed that action closely. “I want you to.”

I’d barely let the words out when his hand shot out, gripping the back of my neck. He pulled me to him, smashing his lips against mine in a fierce, punishing kiss. His scent cloaked me. That familiar intoxicating scent of my man, but it was mixed with the scent of copper and dirt and metal. I didn’t care. I shut my eyes and took him in, pressing my hands against his chest as he unleashed a kiss that made me weak in the knees.

“I need you,” he gritted out, biting at my lip. “I need my wife.”

“I’m here,” I whispered.

“It’s not enough, Emma. I need to feel you.”

His hands wrapped around my thighs and he picked me up, gripping me tightly to him as he sucked at my tongue. He moved us across the room. His length prodded at my centre. I wasn’t even ready for this. Borden hardly behaved this way. His strength was astounding, yet he held me like I was the most delicate thing he owned. I groaned in his mouth, shocked how hard he felt against me.

This Borden was full of rough edges. He took and fucking took. Whatever he wanted, he demanded it of his men. He was unforgivable and relentless. An unstoppable force. And right now, his attention was on me, needing me. And I…I couldn’t resist. Because I knew, deep down, he might be forceful in the next few moments, but he was also achingly vulnerable. He needed me more than just a fuck. He needed to be inside me to ground himself. Remind himself that we were still there. We still existed—Lincoln and I—and he was doing all this for us.

He moved us into the next room where it was dark. Link’s white noise machine sounded distant here. Our breaths were loud as he tugged my pj’s and underwear down quickly, discarding them on the floor. Then he pressed me against the wall, sucking at my mouth, tasting me with his hand clenching my chin. My hands worked his pants. I unzipped him. He let go of my chin to shove his pants down, and within moments, both hands were wrapped around my thighs, holding me tightly as he plunged himself into me, hard and ready.

He fucked me hard and fast, his cock surging in and out of me, his piercing brushing against the bundle of nerves that made me explode around him in hardly a minute. He didn’t stop to allow me a moment of respite. He just kept fucking me, watching me explode again and then tremble, my body spent in his hold. His arms flexed as he held me, his strength never waning, his hold on me tight as ever.

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