Page 56

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

THE ROAD STRETCHED ahead, empty and endless. The rumble of my bike was the only sound filling the silence, steady beneath me, grounding me. I’d ridden this highway a hundred times before, but this time felt different. Everything felt different.

Zeynep.

Her name settled in my chest like a brand, burning into every part of me. I hadn’t meant for this to happen, hadn’t planned on falling this hard. But there was no denying it now.

I was in love with her.

Not just drawn to her, not just protective over her— I loved her . The way she trusted me when she had every reason not to, the way she looked at me like I was more than just my scars, more than just my past. Like I was someone worth holding on to.

And she was mine. She didn’t doubt it.

But she didn’t know everything.

My hands tightened around the handlebars. The weight in my chest wasn’t something I could shake, no matter how many miles I put between me and the clubhouse. No matter how many times I told myself I’d deal with it later.

There was no later anymore. Not after last night. Not after she gave herself to me like that, no hesitation, no doubt.

She deserved the truth.

I spotted a break in the road ahead and pulled over, dust kicking up as I slowed to a stop. The engine cut off, leaving only the hum of the wind through the trees around me.

My pulse thundered as I pulled my phone from my pocket, my thumb hovering over the screen. I knew what had to be done.

One breath. Then another.

I hit the call button and pressed the phone to my ear.

The line rang once. Twice.

Then, a voice on the other end. Familiar. Unavoidable.

I stared out at the open road, my grip tightening. “We need to talk.”

***

THE CLUBHOUSE WAS quieter than usual when I walked back in. A few of the boys were out riding. The rest, nursing beers, playing card, or shooting a round of pool. I sighed as I looked around, for the first time in months I wasn’t crawling out of my skin.

The pressure was off, for now. The problem was handled. Not fixed. Not clean. But enough to give me space to breathe.

And fuck, I needed it.

Because all morning, all I could think about was her. How she’d looked tangled in my sheets. How she’d whispered she wasn’t leaving. How her body had moved beneath mine like she’d been made for me.

I found her out back near the edge of the property, barefoot in the grass, her hair a soft mess in the sunlight, reading that book again— A Walk With Me or whatever the hell it was called.

She looked up when she saw me, and something shifted in her expression. Relief. Happiness. Like maybe she hadn’t been sure I’d come back. That made something crack open in my chest.

I shoved my hands in my pockets and nodded toward the trees. “Wanna take a walk?”

She smiled and closed the book without a word, sliding it under her arm as she joined me.

We didn’t say much at first. Just walked past the garage, down the dirt path that led to the woods behind the property. Birds chirped overhead, the breeze catching the hem of her dress, and all I could think about was getting her somewhere no one could hear her scream.

Not from fear.

From me .

We reached the clearing near the old stone wall. No one ever came out this far. I stopped walking and turned toward her.

She paused, eyes questioning, soft lips parted. “Are you okay?”

I stepped closer. “I am now.”

Her gaze flicked over my face, her hand brushing the edge of my cut like she didn’t quite believe it.

“You were gone a long time,” she whispered.

I nodded once, stepping into her space. “Won’t happen again.”

I cupped her jaw with one hand, the other already gripping her hip, dragging her into me. “Say it again,” I muttered.

She blinked. “Say what?”

“That you’re not leavin’.”

Her eyes held mine, steady and brave. “I’m not.”

I kissed her hard, teeth scraping her bottom lip, tongue demanding, and she moaned into it, her body melting against me like she’d been waiting for this all damn day.

My hands slid down, gripped the backs of her thighs, lifting her clean off the ground. She wrapped around me without hesitation, heat pulsing between us through the thin fabric of her dress.

I pressed her back against the stone wall, kissing her like I needed her breath to live.

She gasped when I nipped her throat, her fingers twisting in my hair. “Mystic…”

“You feel that?” I growled, grinding against her. “That’s what you do to me. You got no idea how fuckin’ crazy you make me.”

“I like it,” she whispered, breathless, hips rolling into mine. “I want to see how crazy.”

That was it. That was the end of my patience.

I pushed her dress up roughly, yanking the lace panties down her thighs. She was already wet—already ready.

“Fuck, baby,” I growled, dragging my fingers through her slick heat. “You were waiting for this, weren’t you?”

She nodded, head falling back, exposing her throat like a prayer.

I undid my belt fast, yanked my jeans just low enough, and guided myself to her.

One hard thrust and I was inside her—deep and rough and fucking perfect.

She cried out, her nails digging into my shoulders, and I swore under my breath, trying not to lose it too fast.

This wasn’t soft.

This was raw. Gritty. The kind of fucking that left marks and made you forget your name.

She met every thrust like she needed it just as bad, like she wanted to be wrecked.

And God, I gave it to her.

I pinned her hips, pulled out slow just to slam back in hard, over and over, until her cries turned to pleas and my name was the only thing on her lips.

“We belong together,” I gritted, forehead pressed to hers. “Say it.”

“We belong together,” she gasped. “Mystic, I’m yours.”

I kissed her hard, silencing the sounds she made as I fucked her through her orgasm, not stopping until I felt her clench and cry and shatter around me.

Only then did I let go.

With a groan torn from my chest, I spilled inside her, my whole body trembling with the force of it.

We stayed like that, her back against the wall, me holding her up, both of us panting in the quiet woods.

She leaned her forehead to mine, smiling through the haze. “That was… intense.”

I chuckled, rough and low. “That was me finally breathin’ again.”

We stayed there a while longer, tangled in each other, the sunlight slipping lower through the trees.

And for a moment, I believed I could really have this.

Her.

A future.