“Mine,” I growled, letting go of her skin so I could crash my mouth to hers again. “All fucking mine.”
She couldn’t respond with my tongue in her mouth, tasting and devouring her whole. Scarlett did something to me. She made me wilder. She set me free from my burdens and shame. I might hold her heart, protect her and be the one she came to for comfort, but she did the same for me. This woman had the power to heal me from the inside out just by being her.
I let go of her mouth to press my face into her neck, so close to the edge of everything.
“I love you, sweetness,” I choked out.
Scarlett wasn’t just my little lamb, she was the sweetest thing I’d ever tasted. The sweetest woman who opened her heart to four broken men, who needed her more than they needed air to breathe. She was dark like us, but she was brilliant and bright too. She was our light. There in the spaces where I ended. And I was there in the spaces she began. We were destined for each other.
Her nails drew down my back as I adjusted the angle between us. I shoved a hand down, finding her clit and rubbing it whilst I fucked her pussy. I fucked my woman into the mud, getting her dirty. It stuck to both of us whilst the rain battled to wash it away.
It was almost poetic, this moment. A symbol of our relationship. How we were so in tune with each other and yet the passion between us burnt so hot, it was an inferno blazing, devouring the two of us in a pit of twisted desire.
“Pres, fuck,” she gasped right before she exploded, her body bucking and trembling beneath mine.
The moment she went limp, I pulled my hand away, gripped her hip and drove into her, seeking out my own end. I kissed her lips despite the fact she was holding onto me weakly as if I’d sucked the life out of her. I would look after her and make it all better when we were done.
My climax hit like a fucking freight train. It raced up my body, ripping me apart and knitting me back together in the same breath. I collapsed on top of her, pressing her deeper into the muddy mess we’d made of the ground. She held me to her as if she didn’t want me going anywhere.
“I love you,” she whispered against my rain-drenched neck, “I love you so much.”
Now we were spent, both of us trembled with the cold. I needed to get her back to the car and warmed up. I cupped her face with my palm, still needing to catch my breath. Still needing to regain my equilibrium.
“You’re shivering,” I murmured.
“So are you.”
I chuckled.
“We’re wet, muddy and cold, I think it figures.”
Her arms around me tightened as if she was trying to give me her limited body heat. Was there anything my beautiful girl wouldn’t do for me?
I was about to pull away from her when I froze at the sound of voices.
“You saw them come in here?”
“Yeah, I swear it, mate.”
“It’s too fucking dark, man, I can’t see them anywhere.”
Scarlett’s fingers dug into my skin.
“Let’s split up. Can cover more ground that way. The things we fucking do.”
“Too right.”
The noise of them moving off in different directions met my ears. I was up and off Scarlett the next moment, pulling her with me and pushing her behind the nearest tree. I covered her body with mine, pressing her into the bark.
“Help me with my clothes,” I hissed in her ear.
She fumbled between us, tugging her wet dress down her legs before she got me put away too, zipping up my chinos in the process.
“Stay quiet, okay? Don’t move.”
She nodded. Her body shook against mine, but she was holding herself there, trying not to make a sound. I could hear one of the men moving through the undergrowth despite the rain. He wasn’t being very stealthy. Peering out, I could see him walking a few feet away with a light in his hand. My hand slid into my pocket, gripping a knife I kept in there. I pulled it out and then I left Scarlett, stalking after the guy with quiet steps. Knowing she would stay unless someone found her, I didn’t look back to check on my girl. She wasn’t stupid. Scarlett knew the risks.
I watched him as I moved after him. The man was so unaware of his surroundings. The rain didn’t help, but even his fucking flashlight wasn’t doing him any favours. Stuart was seriously getting sloppy if he sent these idiots to do his dirty work. Then again, Drake had said the men who came after him and Scarlett weren’t the brightest sparks, either. Hired muscle didn’t need to be smart, but Stuart knew we weren’t stupid men. Clearly, he was desperate to get us. Desperate enough not to be clever about it. It would be his biggest mistake, underestimating the Four Horsemen and their goddess Nyx.
I got close enough to the guy to catch him unawares. I was on him the next moment, dragging him up against a tree with my knife pressed to his throat and my other arm locked around his chest. Before he could say a word, I growled low in his ear.
“You better stay silent or I’ll slit your fucking throat and leave you to bleed out.”
Twenty Seven
Prescott
The man shook in my grasp but didn’t say a word. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep Scarlett safe, including killing this man. I’d known coming out to the woods was possibly a bad idea, but I couldn’t help it when it came to my girl. We’d needed this. And now we were going to fight for our survival. Fight to stay safe, regardless of Stuart’s fucking plans.
“You listen here,” I murmured in the man’s ear, “you’re going to find your little friend and you’re going to leave these woods. You won’t come after us. If you do, I won’t hesitate to gut you. Is that understood?”
Before the man had a chance to respond, I heard a high-pitched scream echoing through the woods.
Scarlett.
“Fuck!”
Then I was moving, dragging the guy along with me as I ran through the trees to get to her. The other guy must have found her. I’d known leaving her was risky, but I needed to get rid of this guy so we could escape. If she was taken away, I would never fucking forgive myself.
A minute later, I could hear the other man cursing and grunting. There was clearly a struggle going on, as the light he was holding was moving around wildly. I slammed the man I was dragging up against a tree.
“You fucking stay there, you hear me.”
He nodded, fear lacing his features. Then I was running towards the light. The scene I was met with had me in a full-on fucking rage. The guy was struggling with Scarlett in his grasp. She was fighting for her life, kicking out and trying to bite his hand over her mouth.
“Listen here, you little bitch, you better fucking quit it.”
No one, and I mean no fucking one, got to call her that except me and the others during sex.
I leapt, crashing into both of them. My knife slid into the guy’s back, piercing through flesh. He howled in pain. Then I ripped him away from Scarlett, pulling him backwards with me whilst tugging the knife out and stabbing it into him again, right where his kidney was.