Page 53 of A Bond Beyond Blood (The Butcher’s Daughter Trilogy #1)

G annon

I paced the street outside the gym while I waited for Jackie, my heart lodged in my throat and my pulse a rushing roar in my ears.

Like she and Vinny had suggested, I made sure to feed this morning so Mom wouldn’t see even a hint of hunger in my eyes, and after the threesome we’d had this afternoon, I hoped my desire for Jackie wouldn’t show up in my eyes either—though it was ten times stronger now that I’d finally been able to taste her again.

Jesus.

Fuck.

She’d always been my girl, always smelled and tasted and felt like mine, but something had changed with my heightened senses. Everything about her was magnified, stronger and more compelling.

At that first hit of her scent, that sweet tang of her desire, I’d almost come in my pants right there on my knees in front of her.

Watching Vinny touch her, seeing the way he was so gentle with her... I would have thought jealousy would take over, make me rabid to break every bone in his body—starting with the fingers that dared to touch what was rightfully mine—but instead...

I dropped my head back and stared up at the gloomy sky as wonder and amazement filled my chest with a prickly sensation.

Instead , I’d been more turned on than I could have ever predicted. Although, I’m sure the heightened senses had something to do with that aspect as well.

I could hear the thrum of Jackie’s pulse as Vinny touched her, the soft catch of her breath when he teased her nipples into stiff peaks.

I swallowed hard as the memories flooded me and blood rushed to my groin. I couldn’t get a freaking boner now ; I was about to go visit my mom.

But, fuck me, Jackie was gorgeous, and seeing another man touch her should have made me lose my freaking mind, but instead I enjoyed it.

Making Jackie come while Vinny held her up, worshipping her with his mouth and hands while I drove my tongue into her sweet pussy.

.. fuck, I couldn’t imagine anything ever being hotter, then he went and threw her against the wall, sinking his teeth into her pussy while she screamed our names, and I nearly came all over his fluffy white guest towel.

No way in hell there was anything that could top what the three of us did this afternoon.

Except, maybe, sharing her again in other ways, the two of us fucking into her at the same time—

I growled as my cock pressed against the zipper of my jeans.

“Terrible timing, Hayes,” I whispered to myself as I spun toward the gym and assessed my reflection—complete with a semi.

Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes. Time to focus on anything else. I breathed deeply and watched my reflection as I thought about the Yankees... and boats sinking into the Great Lakes...

Slowly, the redness faded from my eyes.

Like a good son, I’d slicked my messy hair back like Mama always hounded me about before, and in this button-down shirt and dark jeans I borrowed from Vinny, I wasn’t threatening in the slightest.

I could probably even convince people I was headed to mass instead of a terrifying meeting with the woman who raised me—then disowned me.

Shit.

Maybe mass wouldn’t be the worst idea. I could use the Big Guy on my side for this next tribulation. Of course, walking into a church after the threesome I just had would probably bring hellfire and brimstone down around me—

“You look good, G,” Jackie said as she stepped outside. She stopped beside me and turned to look at my reflection in the glass. “Yeah. I think she’ll like the hair.”

I chuckled, then ran my hand through it, messing up the style. “I hate it.”

Jackie grinned, then stepped in front of me, reaching up with both hands to mess it up more. “Me too. It’s not you.”

With her hands on my head and her body stretched out along the length of mine, I was propelled back to earlier, my thoughts once again returning to what we did in Vinny’s apartment just a short while ago.

“Jackie,” I murmured, pained by the force of my need for her.

“Kiss me,” she said.

I opened my eyes and dropped my head, searching her gaze as my pulse sped.

She tightened her hands in my hair and growled, “Don’t make me ask you twice, Gannon Hayes.”

I dove for her then, slamming my mouth against hers and wrapping my arms around her waist to haul her against me.

We’d kissed a few times, had even gone a little further, but she hadn’t fully let me back in yet.

And even after what we did today, I’d had this niggling of fear that it was a one-off, that maybe we only crossed that threshold because Vinny orchestrated it.

Because he allowed it.

Jackie moaned into my mouth and I drank down the sound, licking into her with fervor as my hunger burned up the back of my throat—a matching fire to the one tightening my groin and swelling my cock.

“Jackie, fuck.” I pulled back, panting.

“Sorry,” she said, breathless from the intensity of that kiss. She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth, then her gaze skittered away from me. “It’s just that... um...”

“You’re horny as fuck after what we did with Vinny?”

She barked out a laugh, then quickly covered her mouth. “Um... yeah. It was weird though, right? Are you...” She grimaced. “Are you freaked out?”

“Baby girl, nothing with you will ever freak me out.”

She frowned as her eyes searched mine. “Really? I don’t understand.”

“What?” When she ducked her head, I tucked my knuckle beneath her chin and lifted her face up so I could look into her eyes. “What don’t you understand?”

“How you’re both so cool... with... with sharing me.” She exhaled deeply and the pained fear in her eyes nearly broke me.

“Hey, listen, you don’t have to worry about scaring me away, okay?

I’m in, Jackie. I’ve been yours since we were three years old.

I’m sorry I fucked up, baby, so fucking sorry.

I’d go back if I could, go back and never leave.

I’d do anything to take away that doubt in your heart because I know I’m the one who put it there.

” I squeezed my eyes shut as my voice caught on the words.

“I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you know that I’m in, Jackie.

However you want me, for however long you’ll have me. ”

Her lower lip trembled and my heart broke. “Even if Vinny...” She pursed her lips, considering her words.

So I saved her the trouble. “Yeah, baby, even if Vinny gets to love you, too.”

Her breath caught and I pulled her close, tucking her head beneath my chin.

I caught movement inside the gym and my gaze landed on Vinny, standing in the shadows near the back of the weight room.

When our eyes met, he gave a curt nod. Of course he’d been listening.

That dude wouldn’t let her out of his sight on a good day, but after we’d crossed a line together like the line we crossed this afternoon?

Of course he wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to break the delicate balance of whatever this was—or cause our girl any more pain.

“I love you, Jackie,” I said, still looking at the vampire inside. “I may have had your heart first, but I broke it, and I know I’m not the only one who has your heart now. He came in when I was too stupid to hold onto you, and I’m thankful, fuck , I’m so thankful he did.”

My voice cracked on the admission and my eyes widened. I hadn’t realized it until I spoke the words out loud, but I was thankful Vinny had been there for her.

She tightened her arms around my waist and nodded. “Okay,” she murmured against my chest, the word muffled.

“Okay?” I pulled back and lowered to look into her eyes. “We good?”

She nodded, sniffling as she swiped her jacket sleeve beneath her eyes to wipe up the few tears that had fallen during our embrace. “Yeah. Let’s go. Anti hates when we’re late for dinner.”

I chuckled and pulled her into my side, draping my arm over her shoulders. With one last nod toward Vinny, we began the long walk toward the old neighborhood.

About ten minutes in, Jackie tilted her head up, that cute little nose red from the cold. “It’s going to be okay.”

I stopped walking, searching her eyes for any indication that those words were lip service, but the determined sincerity in that blue gaze allowed me to take the first deep breath I’d taken since we began this trek and, in our comfortable silence, I’d let my worries consume me.

My shoulders relaxed and Jackie smiled.

“Good,” she said. “You’ve been so tense.”

I snorted, but she was right.

“It’s going to be fine. The fact that she even agreed to see us is huge.”

I nodded, breathing deeply even as my heart pounded wildly. If Jackie believed this meeting would go well, then I wanted to believe that too.

Smiling softly, she reached for my hand. I tightened my fingers through hers and brought them to my lips, brushing a kiss across her knuckles. “I love you. You know that, right?”

She nodded. “I do.”

She didn’t say it back, but that was okay. I could wait. She’d loved me once, and that kind of love didn’t just go away.

Which meant not just that she’d love me again , but that she loved me now .

So she didn’t have to say it, because I knew.

When we reached my old street, dread curdled my stomach. My pace slowed, as each step felt like a death march.

We reached my old home and walked through the gate, then Jackie paused at the base of the stoop, tugging me to a stop. “You can do this,” she said, searching my eyes and imploring me with those big blues to believe her. “I’ll be right there beside you the whole time.”

Of course she would be. That’s who Jackie was.

Emotion tightened a fist around my heart. After everything I put her through, she was still the fierce Fiorino girl by my side, ready to hold my hand through a trip to the principal’s office, or a devastating funeral, or the end of the goddamn world.

I cupped her cheek and pressed a kiss to her soft lips. “I don’t deserve you, Jacqueline Fiorino.”

“Sure you do.” She grinned, her eyes glistening with a hint of unshed tears. “You just forgot for a moment.”

We each inhaled deeply, then I nodded.

“Let’s go.” She squeezed my hand. “The sooner we get done, the sooner we can go home.” The way her eyes sparkled with mischief and lust, the obvious intent behind that simple statement made my cock stir.

“Baby girl,” I groaned, tilting my head back to breathe deeply. “Don’t make me go in there with a boner.”

Jackie laughed and I grinned, the sound such a welcome, beautiful thing.

I could do this. Of course I could.

With this girl by my side, I could do literally anything .

But when the door opened, my stomach bottomed out, and it took everything in me not to run.