“Yeah.” I chug my beer and throw it into the fire to join Aiden’s. The flames flicker and rise higher for a moment. “Did you guys find Mickey?”
I looked for the asshole, but he’s nowhere to beseen. He wasn’t at the party, and he hasn’t been at his usual haunts over the last week. It’s like he fell off the face of the planet.
“We can’t find him,” Ryder says.
I close my eyes and sigh hard through my nose. “That’s fine. I’ll just wait him out, then.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Ryder says.
“He’ll turn up.” Hawk lights a cigarette. “That piece of shit can’t ever stay away for too long, since he needs tears and blood to feed his tainted soul.”
I give my friend a weird look.
He shrugs. “He’s literally the spawn of Satan.”
I shake my head and look toward the front door. All the things I want to do to Kyle, Connor, and Michael flash through my head. I’ve tortured them long enough, and I only have a few short hours before the Reckoning ends. They all need to pay the piper, and I’m dying to make more jewelry for Dahlia.
Especially from Michael and Kyle.
“Let’s get this over with so I can go back home to my wife,” I say.
“You married your sister?” Aiden says in disbelief.
I give him a rueful smile. “No laws touch us during the Reckoning, so I took advantage of that.”
Ryder shakes his head and lets out a soft laugh. He walks past me and says, “You never fail to surprise me. Now...let’s do what we came here for.”
Iwake up early in the morning, feeling refreshed but sore. Jaxon still sleeps beside me on his stomach, his face burrowed in the pillow. I slip out of bed, do my business in the bathroom, and get dressed. I’m rummaging through the kitchen, looking for something to eat, when I spot a jar with sourdough starter that I didn’t notice last night.
A smile tugs at my lips. “God, I love him.”
I spend the next hour making sourdough bread and reading random internet instructions about the best temperature and time to bake the bread.
Jaxon slips behind me as I pull a bowl-shaped sourdough from the oven and place it on the cooling racks. It’s a little crispy, but it’s still edible. I put another bowl into the oven to bake for forty minutes.
Jaxon’s hands settle on my waist, and he brushes his lips along my throat. A shiver runs up my spine, and I giggle at the tickle of his five o’clock shadow against my skin. I sink my front teeth into my bottom lip as tingles shoot between my legs.
“Stop.” I laugh and raise my shoulder, gently knocking him off of me. “How do you have this much stamina?”
“Mmm.” Jaxon’s hand creeps around my middle, palming my apron belly. “Because it’s you.”
I lay my hand over his, noticing that he isn’t wearing a ring on his finger. “We need to get you a wedding ring.”
“Yeah?” He kisses my shoulder and raises his hand to gaze at the bare finger.
“Maybe we can renew our wedding vows and I can at least remember it this time.”
He nips my skin, earning a yelp from me. “Maybe if you ask with a little less attitude.”
I grin and turn my head to look at him over my shoulder. His eyes dance with mirth, and the gentle smile curling his full lips steals the breath from my lungs. “Do you want me to get on my knees to ask you?”
His expression darkens. “Be careful,” he growls.
I smile at him innocently. “What? Just a question.”
He slaps my ass, stinging the cheek. I yell and jump forward, but he catches me and brings me back against his body. His mouth descends, and my eyes flutter closed as I part my lips for a kiss. His breath fans against my mouth and I wait and waitand waitbefore I open my eyes and find him smirking.
“Good girls get kisses. Bad, slutty girls get fucked,” he murmurs.
