Reclaimed (18 page)

Only then did Jet release my hips. His touch was gentle but firm as he pushed me onto my back at the end of the bed, pulling out and thrusting deep. His thrusts came fast and hard, and despite the magnitude of my earlier release I could feel another one growing, knew that it would be just as intense.

“Flick,” he groaned. “Ah, love. You feel so damn good. So good.” His teeth nipped at my neck as he buried his face in my shoulder. “I need you so bad.”

My arms wrapped around his back, my nails sinking deep into his flesh. With each powerful thrust into me, they sliced his back open. He moaned and increased his speed, shaking the bed. It felt like the entire house was shaking. Maybe the world itself. I was falling again. Falling hard and fast and it wasn’t just with another orgasm.

I was falling deeper and deeper for Jet Hannigan.

Chapter Thirteen

J
ET

M
Y PHONE WAS GOING OFF
. It had started five minutes ago, pulling me out of the best night’s sleep I’d had in too fucking long. I’d lain there, ignoring it as I savored the peace of holding Flick for the first time in a hell of a long time. The curtains were open, letting in the morning sunlight, casting a soft glow over my female’s nakedness.

The phone stopped, only to start right back up. Again and again it had rung, but I didn’t move so much as a finger to reach for it on the nightstand where I’d left it sometime in the middle of the night. Whoever it was probably had an emergency or there was news that I needed to handle. I couldn’t find the strength to give a fuck.

I was physically drained after worshiping Flick’s delicious body all night. Neither one of us had gotten much sleep after she had initiated that first, earthshaking, heart quaking round of lovemaking. I’d had nearly two years of going without her—without anyone—to make up for. To burn out of my system.

Fuck, who was I kidding?

I was never going to burn my need for Flick out of my system.

Finally, my phone—the burner—stopped ringing. Only to start up immediately once more. Flick moaned and shifted against my side, her hand over my waist clenching into a small fist. “Make it stop,” she pleaded in a sleepy voice that was both adorable and dick-hardening sexy.

Muttering a curse, I released her long enough to grab the phone. When the plastic made a cracking noise, I loosened my hold on it and flipped it open before putting it to my ear. “What?” I growled into the receiver.

“Bad news,” Ciro’s voice filled my ear. He sounded tired and pissed off.

“What?” A million possibilities were already rushing through my head, each one making my heart pound harder and harder.

“The old fuck had a heart attack and died about half an hour ago.”

Relief filled me. I’d thought something had happened to one of my brothers or Gracie. “So? Just saves us the trouble of having to end him.” I felt Flick stiffening and she moved until she was propped up on her elbow. Her blue eyes were fully awake now as she stared down at me questioningly.

Instinctively my gaze dropped to her chest. Ah, hell. She had the best tits on the planet. She was perfect from the top of her dark head to the tips of her hot pink toenails. But those tits...

Shit.

My dick was hard as steel that fast. Just looking at her made me ache. My brain was shutting down as all my blood went south and made my dick pulse with need for her. I caught hold of her hand and lowered it, wrapping her soft fingers around my dick. Her eyes widened but she smirked down at me as she started stroking me torturously slow.

“Jet?” Ciro growled in my ear at the same time Flick did that little twist thing with her wrist and I nearly exploded then and there. “You still there?”

I held the phone away from my head long enough to clear my throat and shot Flick a wink before answering him. “Yeah, man. I’m here. Does Hawk know?”

“I wanted to talk to you first. Didn’t know how the dumbass would handle the fact that his new toy was already dead and he wouldn’t get to dull up his knives on the old fuck.” Ciro let out a tired breath. “What do you want me to do?”

“Get some sleep. I’ll talk to Hawk,” I assured him as I reached out and started tracing one of Flick’s pink tipped, diamond hard nipples. She let out a pleased gasp. The scent of her growing arousal filled my nose and she rubbed her thighs together as if trying to relieve the ache between them. Fuck, I wanted her so damn bad.

“Got it. Call your lawyer. He’s been trying to reach you and Hawk too, but hasn’t been able to get anyone to answer.”

“I’ll do that next.” I pinched Flick’s nipple between my thumb and index finger, tugging on it lightly. Her tongue snuck out between her slightly parted lips to dampen her kiss-abused lower lip.

The phone went dead in my ear and I snapped it shut before tossing it back on the nightstand.

“Trouble?” Flick murmured.

I grinned as I grasped her waist and rolled her onto her back. Her legs spread all too willingly and I thrust into her without bothering to make sure she was ready. I knew she was. My Flick was always ready for me. “No, love. No trouble at all.”

Something flickered in her eyes but she lowered her lashes to hide it before I could figure it out. Before I could ask her about it, she arched her back and shifted her hips, causing me to sink that much deeper into her soaking wet, tight-as-a-glove pussy. I lost all ability to think clearly as I took everything I wanted from her and gave it back times a million.

I didn’t know how much time passed. It could have been hours, or even days, but when I lifted my head after a release that had nearly caused me to black out, it was to find Flick smiling up at me as she stroked her fingers lovingly through my hair.

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful.” I stroked a finger down her soft cheek. Her lashes lowered and she leaned into my touch. “I love you so damn much, Flick.”

Long, thick lashes snapped upward as her eyes widened. I saw a mixture of surprise and delight all too quickly followed by disbelief. “Did we fuck so hard that a few fuses overloaded? I thought for sure that you just said you love me.”

“I did.”

“Oh…” She swallowed hard once, twice. The third time she did it she pushed against my chest. Reluctantly I moved off of her. “I should get dressed. Aunt Mary is probably expecting me to have breakfast with her and I want to go over to the hospital to see how Gracie and Hawk are. Did he take the antibiotics?”

“Uncle Jack gave them to him,” I told her, watching her move around the room.

“Good,” she mumbled.

“Flick…”

“I’m going to shower,” she called over her shoulder as she picked up the clothes she’d worn the day before and went into the bathroom. The door shut behind her and I heard the distinct sound of the lock sliding into place.

I let her go, too hurt from her reaction to my confession of love to think clearly right then. What the hell? Why was she acting like this? I thought she would be happy that I’d finally told her I loved her.

Motherfucker. What the hell just happened? I had thought—hoped—that with me finally admitting that I loved that female, she would say the words back. In the beginning, before I’d ruined things between us, she used to tell me she loved me all the time. I knew she’d always wanted me to repeat the words, but I’d been too much of a chickenshit to give them to her.

Had she felt like this each time she had said those three little words and not gotten them back?

Rubbing at the ache that was burning in my chest with one hand, I reached for her pillow with the other and punched my frustration out on the damn thing.

~*~

It was just after nine when the cage Ciro had lent us pulled up in front of the hospital in Connecticut. A second one stopped right behind us just as I was getting out and reached in to help Flick out. She didn’t say a word as I kept hold of her hand and linked our fingers together before turning to face my brothers.

Colt shot Raider a dirty look before he turned his attention on us and smiled at Flick. “Morning.”

She returned his smile and I tried to hold on to my urge to punch my baby brother in the face. Colt looked more like me than our other siblings. Did she have a thing for him?

Clenching my jaw, I tugged her toward the hospital’s entrance without speaking to anyone. Flick didn’t try to pull her hand away and some of the pain in my chest eased a little. After her shower she had come out of the bathroom acting like nothing had happened. Like I hadn’t just puked out the words that had been churning in my gut for years. She’d smiled and kissed me and then gone downstairs to have breakfast with her aunt while I’d taken my own shower.

I had no idea what was going on inside her pretty little head, but if she thought that I was just going to tell her I loved her once, she was crazy. Now that I’d broken the seal and let those three little words free, I wanted to say them over and over again. I wanted to tell her every five seconds. Maybe if I said them often enough, that look of disbelief that had been in her blue eyes would disappear.

Maybe she would return the words and put me out of my misery.

Raider, Colt, and Matt got on the elevator with us and Matt punched in the correct floor. Hawk hadn’t answered his phone when I’d tried to call him that morning, but Uncle Jack had so I knew my brother was okay. He was just passed out in bed with Gracie. I didn’t know how he was going to take the news I’d gotten from Ciro, or what I’d learned from Jenkins when I’d called him after my shower earlier.

With four huge men on the elevator, Flick looked like a kid stuck between us. I pulled her close and wrapped my arm around her. Dropping a kiss on top of her head, I shot Colt a glare, letting him know exactly who she belonged to.

He rolled his eyes at me and smirked, but didn’t say a word as the elevator climbed higher.

Finally on the right floor, we stepped off and walked down the hall to the room where we’d left Hawk with Uncle Jack and Trigger to watch over Gracie. Matt took the lead with Raider behind him. I pushed Flick in front of me and let Colt bring up the rear. It wasn’t like we thought someone was going to pop out of one of the rooms and snatch her, but it had been beat into all our heads to take care of our females.

Especially Raven and Flick.

Uncle Jack was in a chair by the window when we walked in. He looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep but he smiled tiredly at Flick when she moved forward to give him a tight hug. “Hey there, darlin’.”

My gaze went around the room. Trigger sat in a hard-looking chair beside the narrow little hospital bed where Hawk was sprawled out with Gracie tucked close around him. My brother looked better than he had the day before. He wasn’t pale as death and his breathing was steady as he held onto Gracie for dear life.

Gracie, on the other hand, still looked bad. Her hair was a tangled mess, her face pale and covered in sweat, making me wonder how high her fever was. The heart monitor showed us that her heart rate was high and her breathing looked just as fast. Blood poisoning—or sepsis as Raven had told me when I’d called her last night—was dangerous. It could shut down her entire body because it attacked the organs. The doctor had wanted to admit her into the ICU, but because Hawk and Uncle Jack had refused to leave her side for even a second, the doctor had put her in a private room figuring she would get better faster if she was surrounded by people who made her feel safe.

Because of the gunshot wound, the cops had been called. It was the protocol for those things. We all knew it and had already had the story straight before the first cop started questioning us the night before. We’d stuck to the truth…minus a few details.

Uncle Jack had told the cops that Santino’s men had taken his granddaughter because we were rivals back in California. We’d come out to New York to get her back and had found her with the gunshot wound. When the three cops had kept asking questions, I’d called Ciro and then handed the phone over to the cop who seemed to be in charge. They had left a few minutes later, apologizing for taking up so much of our time.

“Did he take his antibiotics?” Flick asked Uncle Jack.

“Gracie asked him to and he took them without any arguing,” the old man assured her with a weak smile. “He’s been out for about six hours now. Seems to be getting better, but she just keeps getting sicker.”

I moved toward the bed and shook Hawk’s leg. My brother’s head snapped up immediately. “What?” he grumbled.

I nodded my head toward the door. I wanted to talk to him alone before I told the others what Jenkins had said.

Hawk grimaced and then turned to brush a kiss over Gracie’s sweaty brow. “When’s the last time they came in to check on her?” he asked Trigger.

“About an hour ago. They switched out her fluids and replaced the bag of antibiotics. Nurse said it could take another day or two before the antibiotics did their job.” Trigger shrugged his shoulders. “Her heart rate has been rising for the last thirty minutes and her blood pressure has been pretty high every time that automatic thing checks it.”

“Flick, do you mind getting a washcloth and wiping her face?” Hawk’s voice was soft, his eyes pleading. It was a drastic change to how he’d looked at her just the day before.

She gave him a sad smile. “I don’t mind. You go talk to Jet. I’ll take care of your Gracie.”

He swallowed hard, twice, before nodding and kissing Gracie again. He moved slowly while getting up, his body tense with pain as he stretched his back and shoulder. Muttering a curse, he followed me out into the hall.

Nurses and a few doctors were everywhere so I moved into the waiting room at the end of the corridor and shut the door behind us. Luckily there wasn’t anyone else in there. Hawk scrubbed his hands over his face and glanced at the vending machine a few times before turning his full attention to me. “News?”

I nodded. “Ciro called. Morgan had a heart attack. He’s dead.”

“Motherfucker. I was looking forward to gutting that bastard.” He shook his head. “What did you tell Ciro to do?”