Page 11 of Tangled Souls (Bratva Souls Duet #2)

BAKER

“I should have changed before we left the warehouse,” I mutter more to myself than to Maxim or Huck.

Now that my adrenaline has leveled back out after torturing Adam, who is fucking lucky he’s alive right now, I’m starting to freak out because of the blood on me. I could be covered by a lot more considering how hard we worked him over tonight.

Maxim shakes his head. “It’ll be fine.”

“It won’t be fine,” I snap at him.

Panic starts to set in. I don’t want our woman, our fucking wife, to see me like this. She’ll see who I really am and what I’m really capable of.

I don’t want that.

It’ll change the way she looks at me.

My breathing deepens and becomes slightly labored. Whether I was covered in blood and the assumptions made about me didn’t used to matter.

I was more than fine being the muscle in our family. I prided myself on it. It wasn’t the same as being overly blood thirsty. Protecting my family is a point of pride.

It was something the guys understood and relied on. But what about Oaklynn? Will this change how she sees me?

When her father was taken out, which was the right fucking move, I came home with a bullet graze. The only blood on me was my own.

Tonight is different. None of this blood is mine.

“You’re freaking out over nothing,” Maxim’s voice is a little softer than normal.

“You don’t know that,” I accuse him.

“Our wife knows what this life is about,” Huck points out, trying to make me feel better and stop me from spiraling.

“Knowing and seeing are two different things,” I bark as we pull through the gates of the house.

My leg is bouncing up and down and a feeling settles in my gut that I haven’t experienced since I met Oaklynn—dread.

I don’t want to go inside. I don’t want to see the disappointment in our wife’s brown eyes. Her judgement will slay me.

When the door opens next to me, I jump a little bit. Maxim’s dark eyes, the same ones he shares with his older brother, Kirill, are staring at me and taking my measure. When the hell did he even get out of the vehicle? He shakes his head and lets out a long-suffering sigh.

“You’re underestimating our woman,” he tries to reason with me, “and that is a dangerous thing to do. It’s what Adam did and look where that got him.

Mikhail is doing the same thing, and we know he’ll be dead soon, just like her father who also didn’t see her strength or value.

Don’t be like those men, Baker,” he snarls.

My head is screaming at me that he’s right. And he is. I know it. But my heart is still pounding in my chest, and worry is still singing through my veins.

I won’t be able to handle it if she rejects me.

“It’s not about her,” I whisper to Maxim after he moves back and allows me to climb out, “it’s about me. What I lack. Who I am.”

“My point stands,” his words are firm and unyielding.

When I try to swallow, the lump in my throat makes it almost impossible. I should have changed before I left the warehouse. It’s the only thought I have when I look down at myself again.

And this isn’t even as bad as it could be. I’ve been covered in much more blood before. I probably will be again.

But this feels different. This is her looking at me and seeing what is real. About me. About us. About the life she’s been thrown into.

I won’t be able to survive it if she runs.

She’s stronger than you’re giving her credit for.

Tell that to my racing fucking heart.

When I look up, Oaklynn is standing in the open doorway with Kirill at her back. Her eyes sweep over us, and her body relaxes as if she was worried about us even though she had no reason to.

She looks me over and her expression doesn’t change, it doesn’t falter. The only thing on her face is relief and happiness.

Can that really be right?

Maxim strolls up to her and kisses her lips softly. His lips move to the shell of her ear, and he whispers something too low for me to catch.

All I can do is shuffle from foot to foot, waiting for the inevitable. Waiting for her to look at me like a monster and be disgusted by me.

Oaklynn’s eyes snap to mine and then she’s closing the distance between us. Our toes are touching, our chests one breath away from touching.

“Don’t,” I croak out, “come closer. I don’t want you to get blood on you.”

“Is it your blood?” There’s no judgement in her question, only curiosity. But I still hate it. All I can do is shake my head, not trusting my voice.

I’m supposed to be stronger than this. Giving into fear is not like me. I’m used to being the one to lighten the mood, along with Maxim. Being quick to smile and crack a joke while charming everyone around me is what I’ve built my life around.

But with her here, everything is different.

She grips my hand and tugs. It feels like I have no choice but to follow behind her. I’m sure that I look like a lost puppy who has just found a master they can trust. I don’t even care.

I would follow our woman anywhere. Happily.

Oaklynn doesn’t stop until we’re standing in our bathroom. Even though we’ve kept our rooms in the house, we have figured out how to sleep in Oaklynn’s bed with her. Everything is better with her. At this point, I don’t think I could sleep without her.

Which makes the need I have for her to not look at me any differently grow even more. I wouldn’t survive without her.

After turning on the shower, she lifts her face and her eyes lock with mine. She takes her time undressing me, her movements methodical and graceful. Once I’m naked, she pulls the tank top she’s wearing off and then pushes her sleep shorts down until they fall to the ground.

When she steps into the shower, I follow right after her without even thinking about it. I need to be close to her. I’m not sure I can get close enough to her.

I move underneath one of the showerheads and let the warm water flow over my body. It’s tinged pink, but it’s not nearly enough for me to feel clean.

The rough fabric of the shower poof thing touches my back, and I jump a little. When I whirl around, Oaklynn is giving me a gentle, amused smile.

“Talk to me,” she prompts. Her voice is soft, but I can hear the command wrapped within her words.

She’s not going to let this go if I try and avoid it. And if I did try that shit, I wouldn’t be a man worthy of worshiping this woman.

“On the way home, I looked down and realized I had more blood on me than I realized. All I could think about was you looking at me differently when you saw me,” I admit while hating myself with every word.

“I know who you are, Baker,” she tells me, an insistence in her tone that I desperately want to believe in.

“Knowing and seeing are two different things, Little Bee.”

I can only hope she feels my sincerity and my fear in the words. I don’t want to say it. I’m not sure if I can.

Oaklynn makes a humming sound before walking around to my back as she continues to clean me. After a soft plop, it’s her hands on my skin and not the netted ball thing anymore. My entire body shudders as her hands glide over my skin.

“You’re right; knowing and seeing are two different things.

But what you aren’t considering is the fact that I see you just as clearly as I know you.

” She steps closer, her tits pillowing against my back as her hands glide around my waist. “I know you will do anything to protect me and our family. You will kill for us; you will die for us. It is part of who you are, and I’m not disillusioned.

Nor am I na?ve or unable to handle the reality of it. I see the blood on you and am proud.”

I spin so fast to look at her that she stumbles a little. My hands shoot out and I grab her, my fingers digging into her hips as I look down at her. “Proud?”

“Maybe I’m a little messed up, but it’s true,” she says casually.

I bark out a laugh and spin us while pressing our wife against the shower wall. She lets out a small gasp and my cock throbs against her hip where our bodies are pressed against each other.

“You’re amazing,” I praise her, my voice filled with awe.

Her hands come up and cradle my jaw, her fingers rubbing against the stubble there. “And you were scared,” she challenges me.

My hands slide down over her hips until I’m gripping the back of her thighs and lift. Her legs wrap around my hips, my cock gliding between her pussy lips and making me groan as my vision blurs slightly.

With my forehead pressed against hers, I admit, “I was.” I kiss her lips softly. Everything in me screams to kiss her harder and to slide deep inside of her. But I can’t.

Not yet.

I’m not the only one who needs to see and touch our wife. Kirill was on the verge of jumping into the abyss of his anger to be consumed by the darkness. I’m not jealous of the fact that he got to spend some time with her. He needed it.

And now she’s right here with me.

“How do you know how to give me what I need?” I murmur the question against her lips.

We share our breaths. The water showering down on us from above and soothing the edges of my frayed nerves.

“It’s easy because you do the same for me.

” Her hands land on my shoulders. Her touch is like a feather, but it grounds me just the same.

“I don’t just love you because you’re a part of this family, Baker.

I love you for you. You are an amazing man, one who has hidden parts of himself behind smiles and charm.

You are allowed to feel how you feel, and you are allowed to be who you are.

You are deeper and more emotional than you’ve allowed yourself to show others.

” When I open my mouth, she shakes her head, and it snaps closed.

“I understand why but in here, with just me, you can be scared.”

This time when I kiss her, I take her mouth brutally. The kiss is all teeth, lips, and desperation. Her taste is fucking addicting, and I only want more.

I slow the kiss down and then pull back. Our chests are heaving as we breathe heavily. Her eyes are half-lidded and glazed over with lust.

After I pull her away from the wall, I set about getting her clean. There’s no way I’m not going to take the opportunity to show her how much she means to me and how I want to worship her.

The more time I spend with her while looking into her eyes, the better I feel and the smaller my fears become. I press my lips against her forehead before I shift us slightly underneath one of the rain showerheads.

“Thank you,” I murmur.

She smiles at me, and it feels like I can really breathe again.

I take my time drying us off after we step out of the shower. Is it a stall tactic so I can soak up a few more minutes? You better fucking believe it, but I’m not going to apologize for it.

When I reach over and grab her slinky, silky robe my cock takes an immediate interest. The way the fabric molds to her curves, hugging them and making me want to trace them with my hands, is impossible to ignore.

Just as I suspected, we step out of the bathroom and the rest of the guys are waiting for us. Their hair is wet which tells me they showered in their own bathrooms. The conversation stops from where they’re sitting against the headboard of our giant bed.

It’s not at all difficult to see the appreciation in their eyes as they take Oaklynn in. I’m not sure the robe will survive tonight, but we’ll just get her another one.

Oaklynn kisses my cheek before her eyes lock onto Huck. Our woman is up to something, and I can’t wait to see how it plays out.