Normal might be stretching it.And Blade is not a huge fan of Zane and how his presence in the MC has jeopardized the good work they’ve been doing.Harboring him has made them outlaws, while before, they’d always worked closely with authorities, only breaking the laws they couldn’t avoid breaking.I tell her as much, but do promise to put her in touch with Zane the first chance I get.She thanks me, but says I don’t need to go out of my way, since she knows him and can look him up herself.She sounds like she had high hopes for meeting Rogue and I’ve just dashed them, but also like she doesn’t want to talk about it anymore.
So we don’t talk until it’s time for the reveal of the tattoo.That makes the air in the room heavy again.She just stands there at the bathroom mirror, gazing at her new tattoo and I’m trying very hard not to imagine having to get a similar one for Blade sometime soon, because he’s at war.
As soon as that thought sounds in my head, everything else falls dead silent.
I rush to my get my phone, needing to contact him, needing to know my fear is just my fear, and nothing real.
And if I didn’t already have a text from him waiting, I’m not sure how the rest of this tattooing session would go.I might’ve just curled up back into the darkness that’s pretty much been the last ten years for me.
But there is a text.The best kind.He says he’s on his way home and should be here by the morning.I text back that I’ll be waiting and feel like the sun has already come up, even though it’s not even midnight yet.There’s no reply from my brother which is for the best.It was probably a mistake contacting him in the first place.So I just shove the phone back in the drawer and get back to Karma.
There’s no heaviness left in the air and my thoughts are all happy and loud and full of anticipation.So it’s great Karma wants the other tattoo tonight too.Because I probably wouldn’t sleep anyway and because I’m in exactly the perfect mood to make the happy tattoo she wants a thing of timeless beauty.
And one day, I’ll make one exactly like this for myself too.One of Blade and me, doing what we do best.Being together.Loving each other.The scene doesn’t even matter, anywhere will do.But it’ll probably be under a starry night sky.
27
Blade
Before I could head back to LA, I first had to make the rounds, explaining to my brothers and sisters that I’ll be right back and tell them that they’re doing a big thing here.Rogue is far better at keeping the members’ morale high with his natural preacher man flair, but I do my bit, tampering his often-zany enthusiasm with cold hard facts and logic.For some, that works better.And given that this war we’re currently fighting is none of our own, some need to hear the cold hard facts about why we have to.
As a result, I didn’t hit the road to make the six or so hour ride back to LA until just after midnight.
But I rode fast, imagining Bella waiting for me.In my visions she was in the garden, sipping iced tea, her soft, long, wavy brown hair stirring in the summer breeze, her smile more radiant than the rising sun.
This will not be the reality.She’ll probably be in the small bedroom of the apartment over the garage and there will be no sun in the sky when I get there, but that doesn’t matter, because she’s always sun enough for me.
And if I didn’t already know that, the surge of renewed energy I get as I turn into my mom’s street despite the long ride would be all the evidence I need.If I never slept again, I’d be a happy man.Just as long as it was Bella I was riding sleepless to meet.
The street is quiet in these predawn hours and the expensive cars with tinted windows parked along the curb look like mounds of dirt in the near darkness.Everyone that lives in this neighborhood is richer than God, so you’d think they have a spacious enough garage to fit all their cars in, but clearly not.But that’s just a passing annoyance, stemming back from the years I lived here and felt like everyone thought I was only here to steal.
A soft light is on in the living room of the apartment, the stained-glass windows full of butterflies and pretty flowers the only thing in color in this drab darkness.They’re a thing of beauty.
But not as beautiful as Bella.
She’s sitting on the sofa, right below those stained-glass windows.The fuzzy white blanket slides off her lithe, perfect curves as she stands up to greet me and I swear those stained-glass windows were illuminated just by her, the small lamp by the sofa had nothing to do with it.This is so much better than any vision of her I could’ve ever dreamed up.
“You’re here,” she says quietly as she walks towards me.“Finally.”
Everything is so calm, so perfect, so right, especially as she wraps her arms around my neck and I lean down to kiss her.Our lips touching sends a surge of waking electricity through me, but other than that, this is some kind of dream.The best kind.
Time stops whenever we kiss.It’s no different now.Except that maybe it is moving now, but very slowly, signifying that we have all the time in the world, that even time itself will slow for us, because we have so much catching up to do.
She slides off my cut and I sit on the sofa, pulling her down into my lap.Since we have all the time in the world, I’m in no hurry and I plan on making every second of my return home count.
She’s in no hurry either, the kiss we’re sharing slow and sensuous, waking cells and nerves in my body I didn’t even know existed.My cock’s rock hard, it always is for her, but that’s not the most important thing.The most important thing is getting to hold her, kiss her, feel her body against mine.
“I missed you so much,” she whispers as I trail kisses down her neck.She took the words right out of my mouth.
“My, my isn’t this sweet,” a gruff male voice says.“Did you hear?She missed him.”
A couple of other men laugh harshly.
My mind was so disconnected from reality, so lost in getting close to Bella that it takes me awhile to fully realize what is happening.
By then we’re surrounded by five men wearing black suits and Bella’s eyes are wide open, her breathing rapid and jagged.
In the next moment two of the men grab me and try to pull me away from Bella.But it’s gonna take more than two.
