Page 6 of The Queen of Nightmares

She looked back up at me, a small, sad smile on her face that didn’t reach her eyes. Her eyes held nothing but bleak misery, and the sight of it made me want to howl at the moon in frustration. “I know that, Jack.” She looked away from me to stare at the darkened window across the room. “I just wish…” Her words trailed off, fading away the way her light seemed to be right before my eyes. I finally gave in to my need to touch her.

I placed a finger under her chin and forced just enough pressure there to get her to turn her face back to me. I needed to see her eyes. My heart thumped wildly in my chest at the feel of her soft flesh against mine again. For so long, all I had allowed myself was to hold her at night. I have been so afraid I would hurt her. I suppose, in a way, I was also punishing myself for my mistakes that had led to her injury.

“You wish, what, little Queen?” I coaxed as I swept my thumb over her chin, close to her plump bottom lip. I couldn’t see her scars under all the makeup. It made me want to demand that she wash it all off so I could see her, the real her. She always looked beautiful, but I loved her natural beauty the most.

She blinked up at me, and a tear escaped, sliding down her cheek and making a trail through the dark smears of her makeup. She let out a stuttering breath, and her voice was so soft I had to strain to hear her in the quiet room. “I wish you still loved me, too.”

Her words nearly had me doubling over from the pain they caused. It felt as if someone had taken a red-hot blade and plunged it directly into my heart. My words sounded as broken and jagged as I felt.

“You don’t think I love you?”

She gave me that small smile that was nothing but misery and what I suddenly recognized as heartbreak because I felt the same emotion now, too.

“I think that I wouldn’t still be in your life if I weren’t carrying your baby.”

I closed my eyes as I felt her words hit me like serrated knives, slicing me to the bone. I thought back to every time I left her in the morning. I always ensured she had what she needed. The tea, I knew, helped with the sickness she woke up with. I didn’t dare touch her while she felt so poorly. I hadn’t wanted to cause her more discomfort, so I left her with the ginger cookies that the lady at the diner had assured me would help with the nausea. I would remind her to take her prenatal vitamin since the doctor had assured me it would be good for her health.

But all along, what she needed wasme.

I opened my eyes, blinking back moisture, to see her head bowed in defeat again. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had held back because she needed to heal. I had spent all my time away to ensure her safety. Most of my days were spent on the phone or in meetings with the other MC presidents, discussing plans to stop Oogie and the Boogeymen from their imminent invasion of my territory and the specific threats he had made against my woman. The only comfort I had been able to allow myself was the intimacy of holding her in her sleep. In doing what I had, I made the woman I love lose her hope.

I moved my hand, sliding it down from her chin until it rested on her neck. I could feel the soft fluttering of her heartbeat against my fingers and relished in the feel of the proof that she was alive and in front of me. I tightened my grasp until I could feel her heart beating steady and strong. She gasped and jerked her head up, her eyes meeting mine. A small spark of life flickered there as her gaze met mine.

“The baby is my world, little Queen. It exists because it’s part of you. But you? You are my very existence. Without you, there is no me.” Her lips trembled as she stared into my eyes, and I watched as that little flicker of life grew brighter. “I told you before that I didn’t know what love is. But, Sally, the way I feel for you? It doesn’t seem strong enough, but there is no other word that could describe the yearning, the obsession, the desire I feel for only you. I’m sorry I haven’t shown you. But, I vow to you, not another day will go by in our very long lives that I won’t show you with everything I am. I love you, little Queen.”

I counted each tear that slid down her cheeks as I spoke the words from my heart until I lost count. Each tear was another misdeed I had made against her that I would strive to make up for.

“Jack.” My name trembled on her lips.

“You’re mine,” I swore to her as I lowered my head to press my lips to hers, groaning at the contact I had been craving for months.

“I’m yours,” she promised, her soft lips moving against mine. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders, diving a hand into the hair at the back of my head. “I love you, Jack. Make me yours again,” she moaned against my mouth.

“You have never stopped being mine.”

ChapterFive

THE QUEEN OF NIGHTMARES

It seemed as if mere seconds ticked by, and I was naked in front of a fully clothed Jack. I clawed frantically at his T-shirt, desperate to feel his skin against mine but too overwhelmed to think straight. He gently removed my fingers from the tight grasp I had on his shirt and shifted my hands to my sides. Then, he reached behind his head and pulled his shirt off the way that always had my heart beating faster and anticipation building in my core.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he breathed against my lips before reaching for my thighs. He gripped them firmly and lifted me while turning and taking a few long strides to the nearest wall. With his gaze trapping me in their bottomless black depths, he pressed my back against the wall, the cool surface making me hiss and arch my breasts into his smooth, muscled chest. “You will never doubt me again.” He reached between us to pull at his belt and the button of his jeans. His growled words went straight to my clit, making me shudder, while at the same time, a small pang of regret twisted my heart.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, meaning it down to my soul. I should have trusted him. I should have known that the man I knew he was would never turn his back on me so easily. After giving me everything and knowing he had trouble expressing himself, I should have given him the benefit of the doubt. My stupid emotions had been all over the place after I had woken up in the hospital. Guilt, pain, sadness, it all tormented me into thinking I was unloveable, that I didn’t deserve to be loved. So why wouldn’t he turn away from me? It was nothing but lies and self-doubt.

“I’m sorry I didn’t give you the reassurance you needed.” His expression was so tortured that I raised my hands to cup his cheeks.

“We’ll know to never do this to each other again,” I whispered.

“Never,” he agreed roughly.

With that vow, he shifted until his hard cock was at my entrance, then he slowly pressed forward, sliding into me inch by glorious inch. The burning stretch I felt as he filled me so completely made me gasp with the pleasure I had been missing. He took advantage of my open mouth, pressing his lips to mine and plunging his tongue inside. The kiss was so sweet as his lips caressed mine that my eyes teared up with an overflow of emotions.

Once he was at the point where he could sink no deeper, he paused, allowing me to adjust to being so full again. I watched in rapt fascination as he closed his eyes, the tendons on the side of his neck straining as he groaned with pleasure. Seeing this ruthless, hard man being so overwhelmed by the feel of me was such a beautiful sight. It made me wish I could take a picture to carry with me always.

“You feel so fucking good,” he growled as he opened those intense eyes again to stare at me. He withdrew as slowly as he had entered me, his long length dragging against all the sensitive nerve endings in my channel. “My pussy.” He slammed his cock back into me, making me cry out from the pleasure-pain. “My woman.” He pulled back only to slam back in again just as hard. “My Queen,” He growled as he began to piston his hips at a brutal pace that left me whimpering as I clawed at his shoulders.

I could feel everything inside me tightening as an orgasm so huge it almost terrified me began to build. My skin was so sensitive that goosebumps covered my arms and neck, and even my scalp tingled as my hair moved with his rapid thrusts.

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