“And now Rocky’s dead,” I said. “And Endo was supposed to die. He’s in a hospital bed in a coma.”
Winter looked up at me. I hated to think it but her eyes looked even prettier when she cried. The wetness of her tears made the blue color brighter.
I was falling for her, and hard.
I kissed her forehead. “Thank you for telling me this.”
“It’s the darkest secret I’ve got. All I can hope for is that Autumn is okay. Living a good life. A happy life somewhere.”
“You don’t know where she is?”
“No idea,” Winter said. “That was how it was meant to go. After it all happened, Endo disappeared. He was done with me. Rocky kind of picked up the pieces. He took me in and took me away from that life. He brought me here and let me stay. I worked at the cafe when I wanted and slowly came back to life. I don’t know, Tripp. It was hard to do. I ran. I exercised. I did anything to try and erase it all. It’s impossible to do that. Because Rocky didn’t wait long to show his true colors. The whole picture thing… it was his way of being jealous. He was always angry that other men had seen my boobs. So he wanted pictures like it would erase my past. I don’t know.”
“Did he ever hurt you?” I asked.
Why would you ask that, Tripp? What good can come of the answer?
“Of course he did,” Winter said. “But all I knew was that when I came to the Red Aces MC, I felt protected. Safe. Up until the last few months. Everyone seemed on edge. Rocky and Stoney argued a lot. They got into a couple fist fights even. I think Rocky wanted to push at Skull X for some reason. Stoney tried to stop him. And, well, look how it turned out.”
I couldn't stop putting the pieces together. I knew nothing of this shit. Trying to figure out murder, betrayal, all that stuff. I was a fighter. When I wasn’t fighting, I was fucking. When I wasn’t fighting or fucking, I was having a few drinks and waiting to fall asleep.
But Aldo had sent me here for a reason and it wasn’t protection.
“Is there anything else?” I asked.
“That’s everything,” Winter said. “I had no idea who your boss was. Or that it was all connected.”
“I know, darling. I know. There’s something going on. There’s…”
And then it hit me. Oh, man, it fucking hit me.
I stepped back, putting Winter at arms length. Her blue eyes tore through the last few shreds of my heart. There was no turning away. There was no turning back either.
“Tripp, what is it?”
“I know what this is now,” I said. “I know what’s happening.”
“What?” Winter asked.
“This has nothing to do with you,” I said. “I wasn’t sent here to protect you. It’s about her… shit, darling, they want your kid.”
~
It made sense now. Rocky was dead because of what he knew or what he wouldn’t share that he knew. Someone tried to take out Endo. They were the ones who were directly involved with Winter. And if they wanted Winter dead, she’d be dead. I had nothing to do with protecting her. This was all about what she had done. What she had been forced to do.
Winter was shaking as we stared at each other.
“Tripp,” she whispered. “We’re in danger, aren’t we?”
“Yeah,” I said. “We’re in this deep, darling.”
“What do we do?”
There was a handful of things we could have done right then. None of them should have been what I decided to do.
I pulled Winter close to me and kissed her.
Our lips collided in a dark and beautiful way. My hands pulled at her shirt, wanting to touch her bare skin again. My right hand touched against her belly. My intrigue was through the roof with her. The intense feelings racing through my body were almost foreign to me.
When our tongues touched, she moaned into my mouth. Her nails dug harder at my neck, scratching at me, tearing at my skin.
I walked forward, pushing her to the bed.
I lifted her shirt up and over her head. My hands cupped her face, pulling her back to me for another kiss. Her mouth was delicious, she was the best kiss I ever had in my life.
Reaching around, I unsnapped her bra and she let it fall to the floor.
My hands cupped her breasts, keeping a small distance between us. Our kiss broke, our foreheads touching, and I looked down at my hands touching her. I cupped her hard, gritting my teeth, my cock pulsing in my jeans. I slid my hands down and cupped under her breasts, admiring their beautiful shape and size. I then inched down and kissed her chest, slowly working down to her left breast first. My tongue demanded another taste of her nipple, swirling around, flicking, my teething gently grazing, just enough to make Winter shiver.
I moved to her other breast and did the same.
I slipped my hands around to her back, leaving her breasts dangling in my face. I looked up at her. Her head was down, hair in her face, and a little smile crept across her face. My heart pounded fucking hard. Harder than any fight I’d ever been involved with. That meant Winter was more addicting than a fight, which seemed impossible.
Her hands played with my hair.
I kissed below her breasts.
Then I moved down a little more and did it again.