Page 176 of Cook

I shook my head. He wasn’t understanding, but I wasn’t explaining. It was like when he saved me and brought me home, and I didn’t know how to say how I wanted him to hold me and fuck me and spank me. It was how I wanted him to hold me down. He gave me back my power after everything had been stolen from me. He had understood before I could ever speak.

“I liked Serenity.” I peeked up at him through my lashes. “What it offered. I liked what we did there. Who we were.”

Slowly, realization dawned on him. “You want to go back if it’s not owned by the Mafia?”

I nodded. This was how I could reclaim my life.

“I’ll make sure the Mafia sells both,” continued Cook with a huff. “Or I’ll buy them.”

I didn’t know how he had the money, but I imagined the MC had some from what they were running across the border. MC, Mafia, and cartels—the same, but not.

“Does this mean you’ll stay?” asked Cook.

I pursed my lips. “Are you asking me to stay with you?”

He dragged his gaze across from me. “You are staying with me, baby girl. It’s the MC I’m curious about.”

That was the Dom I knew. And needed. “I’ll stay with you. It’s the only answer I can give for now.”

“And you’ll see Doctor Ava?”

“Yes.” I needed more help, and the last time I met her, it wasn’t so bad.

“And you’ll testify against the Gambinos?”

“Of course.” I nearly laughed. “I won’t let them get away with what they did to me.” Or so many others.

“Good.” He dropped his head back.

I reached for the door. “I’ll send in your mom.”

Chapter 31

Cook

The smell of the recoveryhouse in Park Ridge was better than the sterile hospital, but the bed was just as uncomfortable. The walls, just as white. The art, just as ugly. The machines still beeped.

I’d been here for two weeks before Doc finally decided that I wasn’t going to die and let Roni take me off the monitors. No matter how many times I’d sworn to them I was fine and wouldn’t be leaving my girl anytime soon, they were still immovable. But I wasn’t going anywhere but home with Maddie after she’d agreed to stay.

The other strange thing about this whole situation was Mom. At one point, she, Doc, Roni, and Ava came into my room and surrounded my bed.

Trying to diffuse the tension, I’d asked, “If this is an intervention for my sex addiction, you’re too late.”

They had all laughed and Roni said, “No, we just have a proposal for you.”

Mom then grinned from ear to ear. “They’ve asked me to cook around here. Isn’t that amazing, Morris?”

That’d been a gut-shot and I’d cried like a fucking baby, but happy tears. Mom would be closer. I didn’t have to hide her away anymore, and she would have a purpose.

Damn, the way shit worked out sometimes just baffled the helloutta me.

From that point on, Mom brought me three home-cooked meals every single day.

Maddie visited almost every day from sunup until she fell asleep with her head on my bed while holding my hand. When Mom came in, they would hug and make a little small talk about the food or new clothes. Something about having the two of them so close completed the picture of us. There wasn’t any stigma to Mom’s condition, and she seemed happy at the recovery house.

My girl would’ve stayed in my bed or slept in the chair by the window if Doc had allowed her. She always needed a ride, and she was getting comfortable with my brothers and even her sister. Things were better all the way around.

But I still wanted her with me all the time. I hated how the bed felt without her. How cold my body felt without her curled into me. How I couldn’t hold her and breathe in her scent.

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