Page 157 of Cruel Lies

Fuck, I wanted to drag her to the edge of nirvana with me. The pressure built in the back of my spine, my balls tightened up against my body, and I broke our kiss just long enough to gasp her name in warning as she clenched down on my cock and shouted my name to the ceiling. She damn near pulled half my hair out as her teeth came down on my throat and she bit me, marking me like a damn animal as I came inside her, dragged over the finish line by the way her cunt clenched down on my dick, milking me of all that I had to offer.

I’d come plenty of times before today. But spilling myself inside the woman I’d decided was my soulmate so long ago was like reaching the peak of enlightenment. If heaven were a place on earth, it would be her arms.

She was my shelter, my home, my everything.

And I’d almost lost it all.

"I’m never letting you go, Harper," I mumbled into her hair as she softened in my embrace. "You hear me? The others can fight me for you, I don’t care. You’re mine now."

"Angel," she muttered softly, exhaustion claiming her as I laid us down on the messy sheets.

"I’m here, Harper," I promised, pulling the covers over us both as she drifted off to sleep. "I’ll always be here for you."

Always.

SIXTY

EPILOGUE—HARPER

"I knowyou’re all wondering why you’ve been called here today."

Nash and Rowan blinked at each other,but Angel sat beside me, all smiles, his hand in mine like he did any time he got the chance. He might not be the same old Angel I remembered, but I was seeing more and more glimpses of the caring, sensitive man he used to be every day we spent together.

"Well," Lilly St. Clair continued, "we’re here to welcome a new member to the Guild."

The guys looked around like they half expected a new crew to waltz out of the wings and announce themselves, but I just smiled as I stood and shook Angel’s hand free, moving slowly up to the woman who helped me find myself and my strength when I was at my weakest. The woman who taught me to take matters into my own hands.

My new employer.

If my new crew would have me, that is.

"Everyone welcome Harper Daniels, the newest member of the Skeleton Crew."

It must not have registered in their minds yet, because none of my men said a word to me as they stared on in shock. Rowan seemed to balk at the idea when Lilly held out the hot blade for me to mark myself with—the emblem of the guild in raised metal on the knife forever burned into the skin of my shoulder, a reminder of the exclusive group I would now forever owe my loyalty to.

I held out the blade, eyes meeting Nash’s with a wicked glint. "Would you like to do the honors, Nashville?"

The poor man looked ready to come in his pants at the opportunity. "Fuck yes, I would." He stood and rushed to my side, his fingers practically twitching as he gripped the hilt of the knife I offered him. "Where do you want it?"

"Right above your favorite freckle on myshoulder."

His grin turned wicked. "Oh, you picked a good spot. I’ll get to look at it every time I bend you over the?—"

"Nashville!" I scolded, turning a bright shade of red as Angel’s head fell into his hands as he laughed silently, Rowan shaking his head with a sigh. I turned to Lilly, the warmth of a blush creeping up my throat, and she smiled knowingly. "Sorry."

"You’re young and in love. Enjoy it. Don’t apologize." She beamed at me as Nash slipped the edge of my tank top over my shoulder and pressed the blade without warning to my tender skin, the sizzling sound and smell of burning flesh imprinting in my mind as I gritted my teeth against the pain.

I didn’t want to show how much it fucking hurt. The only one here who wouldn’t overreact would have been Nash. And that was just because he liked pain. So I held my breath, counted to ten, and let it out, breathing through the sting as Nash took the cream Lilly offered and slathered a generous helping of it over the burn. I wanted a lasting reminder, not an infection.

The boys introduced me to the rest of the Guild, some of whom were familiar to me already. Jackal and his Neon Dogs grinned like devils and high-fived me as I pretended the burn didn’t bother me, moving through the crowd with ease. Before long, Surgeon’s face popped up among the crowd, and I smiled as he leaned down to whisper in my ear about proper care for the wound and to let him know if I needed anything for the pain. Even Lilly’s ex-husband Keehn was present, though not in uniform, obviously. He lurked in the shadows at the corner of the patio, arms crossed, and his eyes tracked Lilly as she mingled.

Talk about a man in love.

I wasn’t sure what was going on with those two, but clearly, their divorce wasn’t the end of it. Maybe there would be more love in the air soon, with Lilly lifting the "no outsiders" rule to allow the crews to find new members, or people to love them and all their twisted, strange, vigilante ways.

I found Angel and the others and pulled them off to the side lawn as the drinking began, eager to give them a gift of my own, now that things were stable again.

"Here, sit, sit," I demanded, ushering them to the nearby retaining wall. They leaned against the waist-high stone one by one, waiting for me to get to the point.

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