Page 34 of Aftershock's Fury

“Crue, if you keep taking me bare, I’m going to get pregnant before we get married, and I don’t want my brother to kill you.”

“Already taken care of. Don’t worry about it.”

I pull away and moan as he slips from my body. I roll over to face him. My palm against his cheek. “Crue, honey, I love you, but it’s my body. I need to know your plan.”

He sighs and rolls to the side, reaching for something in his nightstand.

“I wanted to wait until your property patch was done, but you want to know the plan.” He rolls back over and takes my left hand in his. “Had this ring since you came home. I’m marrying you. I already got your brother’s permission. You have three months to put it together. I want to marry you in October, at your parents’ place.”

“Yes.” I jump on top of him and kiss him all over. He slips the ring onto my finger.

“Wasn’t asking, Starlight, but okay. Now look at your ring.”

I look at the beautiful blue and green sapphire, surrounded by diamonds. Something about it feels slightly familiar. I’m about to ask him when he tells me instead.

“Your brother gave me your mother’s ring. He took the center diamond to use in a piece he’ll give the woman he wants to marry someday. After today, I think that day might be coming soon.” He chuckles. “But the rest of the ring, the surrounding diamonds and the band, were all hers. The band I’ll slide onto your finger in a few months belonged to her too.”

“Really?” I can’t stop the tears as I look down at my hand. “I thought she was buried with it.”

“No. Your father made sure your brother got it so you both could use it.”

“I love it. Why the sapphire?”

“I knew you’d love it. Sapphires represent nobility and loyalty. Both of those represent us. We’ve been loyal to each other all these years, and you are the princess.”

“I love you,” I say, then lean down and kiss him.

We make love slowly before we fall asleep in each other’s arms. I look over at the chair where my Paddington Bear is sitting, the same one that was in my room until we moved to Texas. I never thought I’d see him again. Crue told me he took him from my room before they closed up the house, just so he could have a part of me with him.

Aftershock

My cell pings in the middle of the night, and I roll over to see a text from Icarus. He took care of Jerry. He was beaten and left at the police station with a note stating all his crimes. Jerry won’t be giving our names to the officials, or he’ll die. This way, he has a chance to live until we make it known in jail that he’s a date rapist and uses drugs. He was planning to do that to my woman, then basically suggested he’d do it to Marnie, which upset Kodiak. I’m not sorry about what we did, and I never will be. We protect those who can’t protect themselves. It’s not easy, but we walk a fine line between legal and illegal acts. Some call us blue-collar workers because of our construction jobs. I just call us the Granite Peak Grizzlies.

I roll back over and hold my fiancée in my arms. When I hear scratching at the door, I shake my head and roll out of bed. As I walk across the room, I see our clothes strewn everywhere and pick them up as I go. Standing on the other side of the door is Fezzik, and I let him in. He walks over to Harlowe’s side of the bed, checks on her, then goes to the second dog bed I put in our room for him. I don’t want him in here when I’m making her scream, but I’ll let him be close when she’s sleeping.

When I crawl back in bed, Harlowe wraps her body around mine, and I hold her tight as I drift off to sleep, trying not to think of the fact we still haven’t taken care of Aaronov. The man who attacked Harlowe at the brewery was found dead near a homeless camp in Anchorage a couple of weeks ago. He must have pissed off his boss. Vortex is still looking into the files my father gave him. There was a lot of information. Vortex has said he wants to have a meeting on Monday to go over everything.

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

HARLOWE

Monday, I don’t have class because school is still closed for the holiday. Marnie and I are both working in the kitchen. She’s making some of her signature gougères, a light and fluffy cheese puff that customers love. She is avoiding talking to me, and I worry that she’s mad at me, or that she and my brother aren’t going to work out. Oly is at a summer day camp program at the local family fitness club, not the gym Jerry went to.

“Okay, I’ve let you wallow long enough. We are friends. I’m not giving up on you, even if you and my brother don’t work out.”

She sighs and drops her head. “It’s not that. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. I can’t be with him.”

I sit on the stool and watch her work. Her hands knead and work the dough. She’s been working with me and teaching me how she does it.

“It’s just that my life isn’t in a good space for a relationship right now.”

“Are we ever ready? Do you think I was ready for Crue when he came into mine? I wanted revenge for my dad’s death. I wanted to prove I was tough enough to do it on my own and didn’t need the men who walked away from me all those years ago.” I share something with her I never have before. She only knows I moved from Texas, not that I was in hiding. “I didn’t know that for my safety my father told them never to contact me.”

“Why were you in hiding?” She looks up at me, taking her eyes off the pastry she’s creating.

“I had to because an enemy of the club decided to put a price on my mother’s and my head. She was killed, as you already know.”

---