Page 32 of Tainted Saints

“When you get your phone back, I’ll put our numbers in so you have a way to contact us if anything happens,” he tells me as we approach the vehicle, and my hand grips his tighter, my body refusing to acknowledge that it’s almost time to let go. “But until then, get in touch through Bobby if you need us, okay?”

His dark eyes bore into mine, and I’m reminded of the day of my arrest, when he watched me from the shadows. I desperately want to ask him why he was watching me, how long he’d been there, but the words won’t come, some part of me not wanting to ruin the moment.

“Okay, Lan,” I answer instead in a soft voice, stopping by the passenger side of the car. Bobby is there, door open and waiting for me, so I give him a small smile of thanks before Landon grips my chin to turn my face back to his.

“See you in the morning, Duchess,” he tells me, his gaze travelling over my face as if he’s memorising every line.

I just nod, unable to speak for fear that my anguish will pour out. I’m not sure I can still blame the alcohol from my drinks earlier at the club for my odd behaviour. I feel like these boys have opened a dam that will be almost impossible to shut again. They’ve shown me what it’s like to be wanted, to belong to someone in a way that doesn’t hurt but just brings comfort and pleasure beyond my wildest dreams.

He brushes another light kiss on my lips, leaving them tingling in memory of his consuming earlier, then he’s helping me into the back passenger seat and shutting the door. He stays by the door, talking to Bobby in a low tone that I can’t make out, and I watch as he places a hand on the other man’s shoulder before spinning and walking back towards the pound and their apartment.

Shivers make my body tremble, even though the car is warm, and I wrap my arms around myself, wishing with every atom, every cell that it was one of my Saints holding me.

Not yours, Aspen. They can’t be yours…

The driver’s door opens with a blast of freezing air, and soon we’re making our way along the dilapidated east side.

“Your parents think that you spent the evening with Mr. Pennington,” Bobby murmurs into the silence. My heart thuds painfully, nausea swirling in my stomach at the mention of Albert and what he’s meant to be to me. “I will tell them that I picked you up from his house, if they ask, Miss Aspen.”

My eyes fill at the kindness of his words, at the fact that he’s willing to lie for me.

“T–thank you, Bobby,” I rasp out, the words a struggle to get past the lump in my throat.

We sit in silence for a while, the streets becoming more cared for, trees beginning to line them as we enter my neighbourhood. It makes something twist inside me, the fact that only a few minutes away people are living in such hardship with no green spaces for their kids to play in, and yet wealth is in everything around me.

“They’re good boys,” Bobby says quietly as we pull up to the wrought iron gates that lead to the Ambassador’s residence, my new house that will never be a home like the apartment I just left. “They do a lot to protect the people of the east side.”

My head tilts to the side as I look at his profile in front of me.

“What do they do, Bobby? The Saints, I mean?” I ask, focusing on the way he swallows, his eyes unblinking as the guard lets us in.

“It’s not my place to say, Miss,” he replies, and disappointment makes me slump back. I can’t deny that I’m desperate to know what it means to be a Tainted Saint. I’ve never even met anyone in a gang before, let alone someone, or someones, who run one. And for it to be so well-known, as Aoife suggested when she told me about them, I can’t help wondering what they do to earn that kind of notoriety.

Plus the casual way Landon told me they’d killed people, that they would kill the Ambassador if he tries to hurt me…

It left me not frightened as I would have expected, or horrified, but instead, I feel protected and want to find out everything there is to know about them.

Bobby doesn’t say anything more, and even though questions pile up on my tongue, I don’t want to make him uncomfortable. Especially as he’s helping me to keep my whereabouts tonight a secret, so I don’t push the subject.

No one is waiting for me at the front steps, a good sign I hope, and after Bobby lets me out, I quickly dart to the door as it opens, Gerrard, our butler, letting me in.

“I’m so sorry it’s so late, Gerrard,” I tell the older gentleman, wincing when I see that he’s still in full uniform and no doubt will be up with the crow in a couple of hours.

“Quite alright, Miss,” he assures me, his slightly wrinkled face giving me a reassuring smile. “Did you have a good evening?”

My steps come up short, my cheeks flushing as I recall all the events of the evening; running from Albert after seeing him with Sarah. Letting Forest fuck me against a wall with Landon and Blaine watching. Landon going down on me and eating me like I was his last meal. The bath with Blaine touching me so that I had all of them in one way or another tonight. The meal Lan cooked for us. His kiss.

“Yes, Gerrard. I had a lovely evening,” I tell him, my voice soft as a smile plays around my lips. “Good night. Thank you again for waiting up.”

“Good night, Miss Aspen,” he says back, and I hear the locks behind me as I head up the stairs in a sort of dream, glad that I don’t meet my parents as I make my way to my part of the house.

I shut the door quietly behind me, pressing my heated forehead against the cool wood as I let my smile tug my lips upwards and try not to burst into giggles.

“Thinking about me, sugar?” a deep voice drawls from right behind me, a hand coming up to cover my mouth and stifling my scream. “Shhhh, it’s just me, beautiful.”

My body sags against his hard frame, and he releases me enough so I can turn to face him, my heart still racing.

“Fucking hell, Forest,” I gasp in a whisper-shout, leaning back against the door, his body pressing against me. Heat flares across my skin, my nerve endings tingling at his nearness.

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