Page 110 of City of Salvation

He was so damn cocky and loved to make me laugh. It was like a high for him. Every time I resisted, not wanting to stroke his ego, but it never worked. I supposed it would make up for all the years I’d missed out on making smile lines. “Please, I didn’t even call out your name this time,” I said, rolling my eyes and biting my lip, still fighting back a laugh.

His lazy grin grew into a full-fledged smile. “Oh, baby, you call out my name like it’s the only word you know,” he said, rolling off my body and crouching by my feet, his cock bouncing with the movement. Now, I was biting my lip for other reasons.

“You keep looking at me like that and we will never make it to the party,” he promised, taking my leg in his hand and pressing the flat of his tongue to my ankle before dragging it up, lapping his cum as he went.

“Can’t we skip it and stay in bed and fuck?” I asked, moaning when he made it to the apex of my thighs, pushing his cum-coated tongue inside my pussy.

This man was…fuck.

There was no thinking straight around him. As quickly as he’d started, he stopped, pulling away and grinning at me. “As much as I want to do that, we have to make an appearance.” His eyes sparkled with mischief.

CHAPTER 47

DEX

CUE HAPPY TEARS

It wasnice to see the club really enjoy a party without the threat of the Reapers hanging over our fucking heads. The level of ease was evident in the number of beer cans Torque had taped together.

“Fucker, neither of your sticks is going to impress anyone,” I called out, wincing when Nikki hit my shoulder.

“Leave him alone. He’s celebrating his job well done.”

I took a swig of my beer, kneading my girl’s thigh. God, I couldn’t get enough of her skin, her scent, her goddamn laughter.

“Please, they did half the work for him,” I said to rile her up. My favorite pastime was pissing her off and then apologizing by burying my tongue inside her pussy. Sometimes, I thought she’d storm into our apartment to pick a fight with the sole purpose of getting me on my knees, and I fucking loved her angry woman energy.

“Be nice. Torque did your job hunting down the rest of the Reapers so you could play nurse for me,” she said.

She wasn’t wrong, and I was forever grateful to him for that. While we were away in New York, the boys back heredecided to make their first move on the Reapers. But when they’d arrived at the compound, it’d been quiet as a cemetery. Rats fled town in the middle of the night when they’d learned there wasn’t any aid coming from the Russians.

Caleb’s doctor had been waiting back at their apartment for us, happy with how the wound looked. The bullet had gone right through with no fragmentation. But it was still a gunshot to the shoulder, requiring Nikki’s arm to be in a sling until a few weeks ago.

“Speaking of doing other people’s jobs, I hear you’re the new manager of Lotería, Nikki,” Scar piped up from across the firepit where she was sprawled out across all three of her men, her ass in Caleb’s lap, legs spread across Niko’s and Kenji’s.

I tugged on a blonde strand of Nikki’s hair, loving when she got to brag about the shit she was doing. “Turns out, dancing on a pole is a bitch to do with one arm.” She pointed the bottle of her beer at Ryan, who sat next to us, curled up in Gunner’s arms. “Mother hen over there wouldn’t even let me try.”

“I’m not paying more in worker’s comp because your stubborn ass decided to get up on a pole with a bum arm.” She smiled wide at the finger Nikki gave her. “Besides, I can’t be as involved in the club now that I’ve got a bunch of grown-ass men to babysit.”

“Hear fucking hear ,” Scar called out, raising her bottle in the air while her three men grumbled about not being that bad. The whole group burst into laughter.

Fuck, did my heart feel like it was on cloud nine. I looked around the compound, all of my brothers laughing and having a good time while I sat with the love of my life in my lap and my chosen family surrounding me.

My breath lodged in my throat.

There was no manual to grief. No guidebook to walk you through the moments two opposing emotions collided. When you were happy and content with all of the blessings raining down around you, only to feel the sucker punch of loss at the realization someone you loved wouldn’t be there to enjoy those wins with you.

To witness big life moments.

Gunner’s hand landing on my shoulder jolted me out of my daze. I’d completely missed him getting up and moving to stand beside me.

“She’d be proud of you, brother.” He nodded to Nikki. “And Kell would have liked her,” he said, before moving back to Ryan and dropping a kiss on her lips.

My sister really would have loved Nikki.

As if she could hear my thoughts, Nikki looked over her shoulder at me. She beamed, mouthingI love you, her smile like a wash of sunshine on my soul. Every day, I fell more in love with her, and it was bittersweet knowing the two most important women in my life would never meet.

Life was so fucking short. Death didn’t care how many things you had left on your bucket list for life.

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