Page 55 of Darkness of Mine

“Jude’s going to be fine,” Oz says.

Eli pushes away from the door. “And you’d be surprised at how much Freya can forgive.” He snags the bottle of whisky off my desk and grabs another glass from the side table. “I was always going to kill Maxwell,” he confesses as he pours. “Freya knew that. She gave me that.”

I sit up and lean back against the chair. “You think I didn’t know that was always your plan? I’ve spent the last fourteen years trying to make sure you didn’t do anything you’d regret.” My head spins a little as I shake it. “Guess I should have been more focused on myself.”

“I don’t regret it,” Eli states, his back still facing me as he puts the bottle down.

I wait till he turns around to respond. “I know. If I thought you couldn’t have handled it, I would have shot him myself.”

Eli tilts his head. “I know you feel like you’re a shitty person right now but the fact that you’d do that for me just proves you’re not.”

I raise a brow. “Me being willing to commit murder makes me a good person?”

“It makes you human, which I think sometimes you forget is what you are. You’re allowed to make mistakes, Riv.”

This was more than a mistake. This was betrayal. For someone who demands utmost loyalty, I never thought I’d be the one breaking Freya’s trust.

Oz watches us, his hands in the pockets of his chinos. “Eli’s right and his point is that Freya can forgive a lot. We just have to make sure she knows we didn’t mean to hurt her and that we won’t ever do it again.”

“And how exactly do we do that?” I ask.

Eli knocks back his shot of whisky. “We grovel like hell.”

25

JUDE

Time and I aren’t exactly the best of friends on a good day and if I hadn’t been given the all clear to leave the hospital later today, I might have needed to check myself back in with a fatal case of boredom.

Three days in this place is long enough for me and I’m not about to hang around to be officially discharged this afternoon. I sign the sheet saying I’m leaving against the hospital’s advice because I’m going before they’ve dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s and step outside before the sun has fully risen.

The need to see Freya is buzzing inside of me. She’s visited with the guys everyday but it’s not enough. Ever since she told me she loved me I’ve been dying to be inside of her, to feel that connection again.

I get an Uber home and make a beeline for my room to grab a fresh set of clothes before I go find her.

Except I don’t have to go looking because Freya is lying in my bed, her ginger curls spread out across my sheets like a goddamn halo. A smile curls across my lips, my chest expanding and satisfaction settling deep in my stomach. I could get used to this.

My shoulder burns like hell as I take off my clothes but it’s worth it when I slip under the covers and draw Freya’s body against mine.

She rolls over in her sleep to face me and any pain from the gunshot wound is lost under the pure pleasure of having her palm settle against my bare chest.

I dip my hand under the covers and slip it beneath her pajama shorts. My palm cups her ass and I hold back a groan. One touch is all it takes for my cock to go rock hard.

Freya’s eyelashes flutter in her sleep and I know I should wait but I’m not sure I can.

I slide my hand between her thighs, biting my lip to suppress another groan when I find her soaked and ready. I ease two fingers inside her heat and she gasps, the slender lines of her neck elongating as she tilts back her head.

“Jude?” She’s still half asleep and I press a kiss to her lips as I curl my fingers into her heat.

“Shh, go back to sleep. I just need to be inside of you.”

I pull my fingers out and pain flares in my shoulder again as I roll onto my back and draw Freya’s leg across me. I grit my teeth against the deep ache as I find her entrance and sheath my hard length inside her tight pussy.

My breath shudders out of me. My shoulder is ten times worse now but the pain was worth it because Freya feels like goddamn heaven. It’s been weeks since I’ve touched her like this, and I don’t know how I forgot howrightthis feels.

Freya nestles against my chest, her hips shifting around my intrusion.

I kiss the top of her head. “Rest Angel, I’m not going to fuck you. Just be a good girl and hold me while you sleep.”