Page 16

Blaze

I have declared that I would first kill someone before I let them come between Ingrid and me, but what I never anticipated was for that person to be me.

I dropped my guard. I was careless and became too comfortable too soon.

And now I’m back in the shadows, watching the girl of my dreams move on with her life without me.

She looks miserable, or maybe I’m just projecting.

Maybe it’s both. Ingrid always looks put together, but there is something off today as she walks from her building.

She turns and looks around, but I know she can’t make me out from my spot.

I’ve always been good with hiding, following well-trained men through the city without being spotted.

“ Leave, please. Just go. ”

I close my eyes against the painful memory of her last words to me.

It’s been a little over forty-eight hours since she asked me to leave her apartment.

Maybe if she’d yelled at my face, cursed me out, then I would have found a way to get back into her good graces, but she’d looked at me with those beautiful eyes crowded with tears and begged me to leave.

I left, but staying away is a whole different story.

How can I?

There is no way in hell I can go about life not knowing where she is and whether or not she is safe. What happens if some guy gets cocky, and there is a repeat of what happened in her apartment hallway the other day? I would never forgive myself if something ever happened to her.

When she’s sure no one’s watching her, Ingrid sighs and walks on.

It feels like a knife in the heart when I realize she’s back to hiding too.

But instead of sticking to the shadows like me, she hunches her shoulders and makes sure her hair covers her birthmark.

She had just started to come out of her shell, and now she’s dived right back into it.

I follow her to her favorite café, but she doesn’t walk inside.

She stares through the large windows for a solid minute before walking on.

The next café is one block over, and she enters that one, ordering an entirely different breakfast. I watch through the window as she toys with her breakfast sandwich before tossing it away.

Fuck!

It chips at me seeing her like this. Knowing that I caused her hurt by betraying her trust. Fuck, I am doing the same thing now by not giving her the space she asked for.

I should walk away. I should leave and let her sort this out without me following her around town, but I know deep down that I can’t. She became mine the second our eyes locked the first time. She’ll always be mine, and I will be damned if someone else tries to get to her.

Ingrid grabs a taxi to her office, and I am about to take one myself to follow her, but Saint picks that exact time to call and send me on a job. I want to rage at the thought of being away from Ingrid, but maybe this is the outlet I need to get rid of all this frustration burning inside of me.

My job is to deal with another small group of gang members who have been snooping around in our territory.

Over the years, we’ve seen the formation and distraction of small groups that have come in and tried to assert dominance in our territory, but they’ve never lasted.

The Steel Rebels have been running things for decades, and we’re never afraid to get our hands dirty so it stays that way.

Ice settles in my veins as I head back to where I’ve parked my bike, getting myself into the calm, stoic mood I channel when working.

I find the men where Saint said they would be.

There are three of them, brandishing metal rods as they threaten a bodega owner known to be under the club’s protection.

They sneer as I park my bike, and it’s clear this is what they were hoping for when they came here.

“The Rebels are cockier than we thought sending just one of you,” the smaller of the three snarks. “Lucky for you, we’re not cheats like you all, so we’ll have a fair fight. Go on, call two more men.”

“One of me is plenty to exterminate some rats.”

That wipes the smirk off their faces, and one of them lunges at me, but I sidestep quickly, feeling the rush of air as the metal rod swishes past me. I throw a punch that connects with the first guy’s jaw, and I read surprise in his expression as he stumbles back.

“ You don’t expect me to thank you for stalking me, do you? For breaking into my house and violating my trust in this way? How am I supposed to trust you now, knowing what I do? ”

Another guy swings at me, and I let the rod connect with my shoulder.

I welcome the sting that shoots through me.

It’s what I deserve for hurting her. It’s my penance.

But it’s the only hit I am going to allow from these fuckers.

I pivot, using the momentum to drive my elbow into the man’s gut, and when he doubles over, I kick him aside.

“ Leave, please. Just go. ”

The third guy comes at me swinging wildly.

I duck under his strike before grabbing his arm and twisting it hard enough to hear a bone crack.

He hollers as I send him crashing to the ground.

I glance back at the first guy trying to regain his footing, so I charge at him and with a final swing that connects with his face, he collapses to the ground.

The men are groaning on the ground when I walk back to my bike. I don’t need to tell them to clear out. I know they’ll be gone before I get to the next block. I’m about to ride out and go after Ingrid when my phone vibrates in my jacket.

“Fuck, what now?” I hiss, grabbing the annoying device from my jacket, ready to chuck it against the concrete wall, when I see her number flash on the screen. Ingrid and I have never exchanged contact info, but I had her number; she could only have gotten mine from Jade.

Can you stop by and grab your jacket from my place?

I stare at the text for a long minute. I could have sworn she left for work from the café. Does she want me to break in and grab my jacket? I’m about to send a response to the text when another comes in.

I’ll be home.

It seems she didn’t head to work after all. Something tells me that this might be the only chance I get to fix things with Ingrid. If this is her trying to cut ties, then she should know that it’s not going to work. I start the engine, revving it at the men still groaning on the ground.

I park my bike across the street walk into her building. I run into the loud neighbor in the elevator, and he immediately cowers in the corner, whimpering when I step inside.

I’m not in the mood to deal with him. I’ve already expelled some rage on those cocky fuckers, and I feel more at ease as we ride up to the fifth floor.

The guy barely utters a word as I walk out and down the hall to Ingrid’s apartment.

She opens the door before I can knock, shoving the jacket into my chest. “Thanks for this,” she says, looking anywhere but my eyes. “I don’t need it anymore.”

“Ingrid—”

I see it the second her eyes lock on the dusty imprint left earlier by the metal pipe.

She reaches forward and touches my shoulder, and I wince.

It’s just my luck that those fuckers hit the same injured shoulder that had barely started to heal.

“You’re hurt,” she says accusingly, grabbing my arm and pulling me into her apartment before I can say another word.

“Are you doing this on purpose?” she rages, tugging the jacket I have on off my shoulders and letting it drop to the floor.

Her fingers start unbuttoning my shirt, and my cock stiffens in seconds.

God, I haven’t been this close to her in what feels like forever, when in actuality it’s only been two days. Two torturous days.

Fuck, I missed everything about this girl. Her scent and touch…those beautiful eyes that always steal my breath.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” I rasp, my voice heavy with desire.

“Don’t talk; I still haven’t forgiven you,” she demands, tugging my shirt off and gasping when she spots the blood on my shoulder. “How did this happen? You told me you’re always careful!”

I wait until she’s lifted those pretty mismatched eyes to mine before responding. “I let it happen.”

“Why?” Her voice sounds broken, and I watch with alarm as her eyes well up with tears.

“I deserved it. For hurting you.”

“Blaze,” she scolds, slapping my shoulder—the uninjured one.

“It’s not enough that you ruined my favorite café for me.

I can’t even enjoy an avocado toast without thinking about you.

” Her voice breaks and she takes a breath before continuing.

“Or missing you and…wanting you.” Her teary eyes blink back to mine.

“Now you’re letting yourself get hurt. How am I supposed to live with that? ”

I brush her hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear, and this time she doesn’t evade my touch. “You missed me?” It’s the only thing that matters at this moment.

“Doesn’t change the fact that I’m still mad at you, but first, let’s get this shoulder cleaned up and bandaged—”

As much as I would love to feel her hands on my skin, we need to clear this up. “I missed you too, angel.”

“Your shoulder—”

“Can wait,” I say, palming her cheek. My stiff cock pulses when she chews on her bottom lip. It shouldn’t drive me so insane, but Christ, I can’t help myself when she does that. “Fuck, I missed you, baby. Staying away has been killing me.”

She blinks up at me. “Did you? Stay away?” she asks.

This is my chance to prove that I did as she asked and gave her the space she wanted, but I don’t want to lie to her anymore. “No.”

She nods. “I felt you.” Ingrid runs her fingers over my torso. “I couldn’t see you however much I looked, but I always felt your eyes on me when I left my place. I was convinced that I was going insane.”

I stroke a hand over her hair. “Angel—”

“I might be insane because I still want you, even knowing what I do. I’ve been sleeping in your jacket every night, and I was convinced that returning it would somehow erase you from my life, but…”

“You don’t want that?”

She shakes her head. “No, I don’t want you to leave.”

“I never had any intention of leaving,” I admit, leaning down to kiss her lips.

She melts in my embrace, wrapping her arm around my good shoulder as we deepen the kiss before breaking apart to breathe.

“I would have kept following you every day for the rest of our lives until you wanted me as much as I want you. Until you love me just as much.”

“I do,” she says, spreading her fingers over my chest. “I love you, Blaze. It’s crazy, but I do.”

My heart slams against my chest at her words, and it’s all I need to hear before I am carrying her to her room.

She’s careful not to touch my shoulder as I set her down on the bed before following her.

“I love you,” I growl, sliding a hand under her skirt, and she whimpers as my fingers trace her thighs.

My cock jumps in my pants when I grab her panties and yank them down her thighs before tearing them completely off her. “You belong to me, Ingrid. Only me.”

“And you’re mine too,” she whispers, spreading her thighs for me even as she drops her fingers to the waistband of my jeans and tugs impatiently at my belt. “I missed you so much. Missed this. Want you. Now.”

I hiss out when she tugs down my zipper and slides her hands into my jeans, stroking my cock through my underwear. All the shyness from before seems to have disappeared as she jerks my cock, her moves impatient. “I need to be inside of you. I’ve been thinking about fucking that pussy…craving you—”

“Yes.” She spreads her hips wider for me. “Want that too.”

“Then show me,” I grind out, gripping her butt and rocking forward. Her lips part on a soundless gasp. “Put my cock into that hot pussy.”

Ingrid frees my cock from my jeans, and she’s panting as she guides my erection to her sex.

Her eyes are glazed over with lust as she rubs the tip of my cock over her wetness before guiding it to her entrance.

“Oh God,” she whimpers when I inch my cock into her, but her pleasured scream echoes through the room when I drive home in one quick thrust. “Daddy! Feels so good,” she cries, bringing her hands to my nape and pulling my face down to hers.

Her lips are a hair’s breadth from mine, our breaths mingling hotly between us as she stares up at me with those gorgeous blue-brown eyes. “Take me. Make me yours!”

“Mine,” I growl against her mouth, gripping her tight as I start hammering into her in brutal thrusts, set on claiming her.

“Mine.” My mouth slams down on hers in a long, desperate kiss as I pump my hips faster, burying my cock deeper into her.

Moisture pools between us with every fevered thrust, and Christ, she’s so fucking tight.

Every stroke sends me closer and closer to the edge.

I’ve wanted her for so long, jerking myself raw at the memory of her, and now I know I won’t last long.

“Close,” she whimpers against my lips as her thighs begin to tremble.

“Fuck, angel. You are a drug.” I drop my hand between us and strum her clit in rough circles, drinking in her flushed expression, and it doesn’t take long before she’s wailing, her back arching off the bed, and violent trembles racking through her.

Her pussy clenches hard around my cock, and I follow right behind with a strangled moan, hammering into her through the orgasm that rips through me, nearly knocking the wind out of me with its violence.

“Oh God,” she sobs, burying her nails into my shoulders as tremors course through her. I fuck her through the orgasm, spilling my seed into her womb, and I can’t help but imagine her pregnant with my child. Our child .

Forever.

Before Ingrid, I never put much thought into the future, but now, I can’t help thinking of a life with this girl and little replicas of us running around our home. With Ingrid, I want forever.

As if reading my mind, she brings her soft hands to my face, those pretty eyes searching mine.

“I love you,” she says. “I can learn to accept…to understand this possessive side of you just as you’ve learned to accept the imperfect parts of me.

And no, I’m not talking about my face,” she quickly cuts in before I can correct her.

“I mean the need to always run and hide when things get too overwhelming. You are patient and gentle with me.”

“I love you, every part of you.”

“I’m beginning to accept that,” she says, pulling me into a tight embrace. “Be patient with me even when I want to hide.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I promise her, brushing my lips over her temples. “No matter how hard you try to run or hide, I see you. Always.” She can take however long she needs to come to terms with the idea of us.

I’ll be here through it all.

Forever.