Page 87 of Suspicious

She giggles. “Sadie was making the cakes, and I happened to walk in when she was putting the ring into the grenade… I made her spill the tea.”

Widening my eyes, I snort out a laugh. “That’s what you meant by ‘you just never know what can happen when cake comes out?’”

Bea shrugs, smirking at me, and it’s impossible not to think how fucking beautiful she looks right now. Still slightly flushed from me being inside her moments before, with a glow of happiness from the joy of the party. Inhaling deeply, I slide a stray strand of hair behind her ear as I stare into her stunning eyes. “I fucking love you.”

She cuddles into me tighter. “I love you, too, but the party is still going, and now there’s so much more to celebrate—”

“I wanna show you something,” I interrupt, take her hand, and start leading her away from the party, even though it is clearly starting to kick up a notch now.

She furrows her brows as I lead her up the stairs toward our bedroom. “Loki, c’mon. I mean, I am down to go again, but wereallyshould stay and hang out with our friends for a little bit—”

I push open my door, and as she steps through, she instantly stops talking, her breath catching in her throat as she comes to a grinding halt. Moving in behind her, I close the door, making the dark room twinkle even more with the sparkling lights I’ve strung from the ceiling.

Her eyes wander all over the room, clearly in awe as I enter past her, making my way for the remote and switch on the television. Bit by bit, she walks to the edge of the bed to see a tray filled to the brim with chocolates, cookies, Mike and Ikesour candies, and, because I know how she loves balance, a mix of fruits.

Slowly she turns to face me, a genuine smile crossing her face in recognition of what I am doing here for her tonight. “Alex Grimes, when did you find the time to do all this?” she repeats the exact phrase she said to me the first time I did this for her.

Chuckling, I step up to her, remote still in hand, then lean in, gently pressing my lips to hers while simultaneously pressing play. Her fingers slide up into my hair as she kisses me back with so much gusto. But it’s when the sounds of honking car horns sound and Romeo Midnight, the radio host fromValentine’s Day,says,“Hey there, all you sleepy Angelenos,” thatBea pulls back, snapping her head around to face the television, her eyes wide.

My arms tighten around her asValentine’s Day, the movie, plays in our room while it’s set up just like the night of our prom. She slowly turns back to face me, her eyes glistening as she looks at me. “You’refartoo good for me, Alex.”

I let out a small laugh, sliding that pesky hair behind her ear again, and rest my forehead against hers. “What kind of man would I be, if I didn’t spoil you, and give you all the things you love?”

Her shoulders slump, and her hand comes up, gently caressing the side of my face. “Well… you just earned yourself another blow job tonight.” I burst out laughing as she grins, detaching from me and pulling me over to the bed. “But first, we have to watch the movie and eat all this food.”

Laughing as she pulls me down onto the bed, I hold her close, kissing the top of her head.

Honestly, I don’t even care if we just watch the movie and fall asleep.

Today has been such a great fucking day, and I want to live in this for a moment.

Seeing Bea’s eyes light up as I brought back the nostalgia of our past is so worth it. Our history is painful. It caused legitimate health issues, maybe for both of us. We fucked it up completely.

But the thing about our past is, even though the ending was brutal, before all that, it was fucking epic. It was what fairy tales are made of. And if I can try to capture that part of our journey here, tonight, and make Bea happy, that is all I couldeverwant.

In the end, we still have shit to do—a governor to deal with—andthatis going to be a big fucking deal.

But tonight, I am going to enjoy being with my woman, celebrate the club having a win with Alpha and Haven’s engagement, and take a moment to let it all sink in.

Because in the dawn of a new day, we all know how quickly shit can change.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Loki

Two Days Later

With all the celebrating out of the way and only six days left until we have to go public with the breach, it’s time to act.

We know who is behind it.

What we don’t know is why.

I’ve tried hacking into the governor’s systems, but I can’t find anything pertaining to the breach.

He’s got it locked down tight.

There’s only one course of action—go see him face to face.

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