“Your man…he got me into a program in the Poconos at Mountain Strong. A facility that works with people addicted to drugsandother vices. My other vice is gambling…but you know that.”
Speechless, she could only breathe out, “What?” Her man. Locust. He’d helped her step-brother, the very man he’d betrayed Nadia to find. The man he’d wanted to kill not more than two weeks ago.ThatLocust?
Shaking her head in dumbfounded disbelief, she asked, “How did he help you?”
His eyes glowing, his smile growing, Elijah replied, “He knew someone who knew someone who could get me past the two-year long wait list. One of the Unchained is driving me up there in two days.”
Mountain Strong Rehabilitation Center…she’d heard of that place—anyone who worked around rich, entitled people with more money than morals would hear about rehab centers—andshe knew it couldn’t possibly be cheap. Sure,shecould pay for it, but?—
“How you’re paying for it? Are you using the money you stole from the Bone Dogz?”
Elijah snorted, his cheeks turning pink. “Er…uh, that money is long gone, sis.”
“Then how?—”
“Your man is paying for it. Said he got the family discount, or some shit like that.”
Locust got afamily discount? What the hell did that mean?
Something buzzed in Elijah’s pocket, and he pulled out an old Motorola flip phone from the 1990s.
“Shit…Horde wants me back,” Elijah muttered, his expression sheepish. He looked at her again, his eyes growing sad. “I really am sorry, Nadia. For everything. And once I’m done at rehab, I’ll come back. I’ll build you a new closet, or something.” He grinned, looking, for the first time in years, like the young man who’d first hugged her, when Jack brought her home.
Without a word, Elijah yanked her into his embrace, gripping her tightly against his wiry chest. God…it felt good to hug him, to know he was alright, safe, and that he was doing something good for himself. Something right.
Something he couldn’t to do without James’s help.
They parted then, him back to the clubhouse, and her back to work. And during the twenty-minute drive back to Emerald Greens, Nadia couldn’t stop thinking about what it all meant—why had Locust…James…helped Elijah?
And what did that mean for them?
Locust tried like fuck to ignore Frost’s glare from across the common room, but it was getting more and more difficult. The man was pissed that Locust had defied him, but once Locust had explained why he’d gone to Nadia’s house—the break in—Frost couldn’t say shit about it. Then again, the man was still steaming from his wife finding out about how Frost had ordered Locust to seduce Nadia. To say that Emily was still pissed was an understatement, but Locust didn’t have the mental bandwidth to deal with Frost’s personal life as well as his own.
After Horde and Tornado had finally snagged Ratchet on his way out of the casino, they’d brought him to the club house where he spent 72 hours detoxing—the hard way. Once he showered, downed some beef stew and three bottles of water, he was more than willing to tell Locust why he’d broken into his sister’s place and ransacked her closet. He had been looking for the phone, and the reason why nearly made Locust strangle the asshole with his own intestines. They’d known the fuck-face was into it with the mafia, but they hadn’t known he’d tried to blackmail them.
It had taken every connection Locust, Tornado, and Frost had to get a sit down with Matteo Souci and discuss that fuck, Ratchet, and it had taken promises in blood, and nearly $200,000 of Locust’s money in palm greasing, to get the Souci’s to “forget” all about Elijah Tate. Once that was done, Locust took his time “talking” to Ratchet, and once that was done, they sat down with a couple of Cokes and Locust told him how it was going to be.
Surprisingly, Ratchet agreed with everything, even going so far as to demand to talk with Nadia on his own. Locust didn’t like the idea of him seeing Nadia alone, but he understood—on a personal level—what it would mean for Ratchet’s recovery. Redtube kept tabs on Ratchet, making sure the ass wipe didn’t run off, and that he didn’t do anything shitty to Nadia during his chat with her.
Waiting for that night when Nadia would finally be in his place was like watching the clock tick down to midnight on Christmas; he was giddy as fuck, but he was also terrified that she wouldn’t show up. He knew he’d hurt her, and he deserved to never have a second chance with her but,fuck, he wanted one.
And what he wouldn’t give for a total do over…though he’d never want to do over their first night together. The first time he tasted her on his tongue. Even now, his mouth watered for her….
“Oh, God, James!” she called out as he wrapped her legs over his shoulders. Fuck, she was a goddess, spread out before him like a wicked offering to her worshippers. But she would only ever be worshipped by him, her loyal, dedicated, faithful acolyte—and he’d bow before her for the rest of his life. His goddess. His woman.
Thrashing her head from side to side, Nadia wailed, “James, I can’t—I can’t?—”
He couldn’t wait another minute—he leaned down and licked her clit, circling it with the tip of his tongue, taking her taste, her nectar into his mouth. She cried out, and he groaned, intoxicated on the heady mixture of arousal, womanhood, and a flavor that was wholly Nadia. Fuck, he could eat her for every meal.
“Fuck, baby, you taste so good,” he said, moaning into her swollen folds as he continued to feast. She writhed beneath him, her fingers clutching chunks of his hair as she mindlessly held him in place, thrusting her sweet, hot pussy into his face as hethrust his eager tongue into her tight hole. He felt the walls of her pussy undulating, and he knew she was close. “That’s it, baby, give it to me. Come in my mouth, give me your pleasure!”
As if on command, she screamed, her body jerking and pulsing as she came. Cum spilled from her soaking wet pussy, and he swallowed every drop, lapping up all she gave like a man dying of thirst.
Boneless beneath him, she moaned as he crawled over her, notching his rock hard, aching cock at the entrance to Heaven?—
A hard punch to his arm tore him from his memories, and he turned and growled at the motherfucker who ruined his fantasy.
Tornado stared at him, a single golden blond eyebrow arched in a“what the fuck are you gonna do?”expression.