Redemption: A British Stepbrother Romance (59 page)

A
ccording to his doctors
, Riker had been despondent for the last month, but whenever I visited he seemed to gain a new lease on life.

In my absence, he dwelt on the loss of his career, but I could distract him from all that. He’d passed every exam the doctors had given him. His brain was in perfect working order, and he had no coordination or balance issues.

Alison kept an eye on him in when I wasn’t there, and I noticed that she had warmed to him over the last few days. She no longer lectured me on my poor taste in men, although she still spoke about the cage fighting in the same tone of voice she reserved for street violence.

After another week, the doctors signed Riker out. He was allowed to leave. I got there early to help him pack, but he’d already done it himself. God forbid he ever actually rely on me for anything.

Riker also had a visitor. A familiar face that I hadn’t ever expected to see again.

I rushed into the room, expecting to break up a fight, but the two men were laughing and looked on good terms.

Both turned to look at me when I burst in.

“Hi,” the man said, holding his hand out to me. “I’m Elliot.”

“I know who you are,” I replied, refusing to shake his hand. “I’m hardly likely to forget.”

“Nora, it’s okay,” Riker said, motioning to Elliot’s still outstretched hand. I shook his hand reluctantly.

“I’m sorry for what happened during the fight,” Elliot said to me. His voice didn’t match his appearance. I’d expected him to sound a bit like Riker, but he had a strong English accent that didn’t go with the muscles and tattoos.

“You’ve already apologized,” Riker said. “And I told you then it wasn’t necessary. You didn’t do anything illegal. I would have done the same thing.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t have knocked me out. It takes a lot more than that to make me go down.”

Riker laughed, while I watched on not believing what I was seeing. The last time these two men had been together, they’d been kicking fifty shades of crap out of each other. Now they were laughing and joking around.

“You’re only being a cocky shit, because you know we can’t have a rematch,” Riker replied.

“Well you’ll never know,” Elliot replied. “I’d better be going. You want a hand getting out to the car?”

“No, we’ll be fine,” I replied.

Riker might be on speaking terms with Elliot, but I couldn’t imagine he would accept help from him.

Alison came in shortly after Elliot left and told us when Riker should take his pills, of which there were plenty. She was definitely warming to Riker, but still insisted on lecturing him on fighting whenever she got the chance.

“Come on,” I said once Alison had left. “Let’s go get you home.”

“
W
here are we
?” Riker asked I parked the car in the driveway of a small house on the outskirts of town.

“My house,” I replied. “This is where I grew up.” The place where Mom had died.

“I thought you didn’t want to come back here.”

“I didn’t, but I figured we needed some time out of the city while you recovered. This place has fresh air, and there’s even a tiny yard.”

“You sure about this? You seemed pretty adamant about selling this place.”

“I’m still going to sell it, but there’s no rush.”

Riker smiled at me unnervingly. I didn’t think of him as the smiling type, but he’d been doing it a lot these last few days. Retiring from fighting was going well for him so far. There would be rough times ahead—I wasn’t kidding myself on that point—but I had some optimism for the future.

“You’re in a good mood,” I remarked. “Should I be worried?”

“I’m allowed to be happy. I’m out of the hospital, and I’m going to be living with you. That’s enough to put a smile on any man’s face.”

“You don’t think it’s too soon for us to be living together?”

This was definitely a bad move on paper, but it didn’t feel like a bad move in my heart. We’d jumped ahead a few stages, and Alison would give me grief, but I had watched him nearly die. That had a way of making you reevaluate all the rules around this kind of thing.

“No, not really,” Riker replied. “Once you go off to work, we’ll spend less time with each other than we did this summer anyway.”

“But, you know, we’ve only dated casually up to now. We seem to be skipping a few steps.”

I wanted to tell Riker how I felt about him, but it had been a lot easier to blurt the words out to Alison than it was to say them to Riker’s face.

“I’d say we’re fairly serious,” Riker replied. “After all, you’ve told me you love me. That’s a big deal.”

“Yeah, I know, but… wait, I haven’t told you that.”

“I overheard your conversation with Alison when I woke up from the surgery.”

“Oh. I guess that’s a relief. I didn’t know how to say that for the first time.”

Riker insisted on carrying most of the bags from the car to the house. I only had my purse and a small bag of clothes.

Before reaching the door, I stopped in my tracks and dropped the bag to the floor.

“Wait a minute,” I yelled out to Riker. “You heard me tell you I loved you a month ago, and you haven’t said anything back to me?”

Riker frowned. “You sure? I think I mentioned it.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” I said through gritted teeth.

He smiled again, and dropped his bags by the door, before walking over. “We never seemed to get any alone time at hospital.”

“We’re alone now.”

Riker looked around, as if he didn’t believe me. “So we are. Nora Delmonico, I have no idea what I did to deserve you, but I’m very thankful. You’ve made five years in prison worth it, because if I hadn’t done that, then I never would have met you. I love you.”

I wanted to reply, but a lump was stuck in my throat. I just nodded instead. That would have to do.

Riker wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly in his strong arms that had lost no definition despite a month in hospital.

“Let’s go inside,” he whispered in my ear.

“I could stay here forever.”

“I’d rather we moved indoors. Particularly to the bedroom.”

“Ah. Well, in that case…”

R
iker’s doctors
had insisted that he was well enough to come home, but I’d had my doubts.

Not any more.

We half-walked, half-fell into my bedroom as Riker hitched up my skirt and reached a hand between my legs. He murmured with pleasure as his fingers grazed my wet panties. The prospect of sex hadn’t even been on the table until a few minutes ago, but already I was gushing with damp desire, ready to feel him inside me.

“That’s how much I want you,” I whispered in his ear, as his fingers explored my folds.

I unbuckled his belt and pushed his jeans down over his thick, muscular thighs, and reached into his boxers to take hold of his member.

I could feel the blood pumping through the thick vein as I stroked him slowly, and then pressed his cock against my wet panties.

“You’re a tease, Miss Delmonico.”

I let go of his cock and pulled my panties down to my ankles, before kicking them off.

“I’m no tease,” I replied. “I’m here for the taking.”

Riker growled, but then paused and looked around. “Please tell me you have condoms here somewhere.”

“Uh…”

“Shit.”

“If it helps, I’m on the pill. I’m clean, and I know you are.”

“I’ve been with a lot of women, but I’ve always been careful.”

“I know.”

“You must really trust me,” Riker said, smiling.

“I do,” I replied. “That and the doctors ran every test on you ever invented and they didn’t find anything, so….”

Riker laughed and then stopped again just as quickly. “Alright, I’m done talking.”

He pushed me onto the bed, but before he could climb on top of me, I wriggled out from underneath him and let him fall down on the bed. The second he turned round onto his back I was on top of him.

I still had all my clothes on—except my panties—but I needed him in me more than I needed to be naked. My fingers closed around his cock and I lined it up against my entrance before lowering myself down on top of him.

Usually Riker entered me slowly, but not this time. My sex dripped with anticipation as he slid all the way inside me.

“Fuck, Nora,” Riker moaned, as I started rocking my hips on top of him. “Fuck.”

I reached down and pressed a finger against his lips. “You said you were done talking.”

We kissed tenderly, before I sat up and continued grinding on top of him. I dug my nails into his chest for support as I soaked up the feeling of him being inside me.

I’d never take this for granted. Never.

Riker stared intently between my legs as he admired the view of my pussy taking the entirety of his bare cock inside me. I followed his gaze and sat up slightly to see his cock covered in my wetness.

I dropped down on top of him as Riker grabbed my hips and rocked me back and forth. I could see on his face that he was trying to delay his release, but unable to fight the desire to have me fuck him harder and harder.

My hips swung wildly as I reached down and started rubbing my clit, desperate to have my orgasm coincide with his.

“I can’t wait to come inside you,” Riker moaned.

I moaned and rubbed my clit harder and faster, so wet between my legs that my fingers could barely stay in the right place.

“Fill me up,” I groaned. “Fill me with your seed.”

I wanted to tip Riker over the edge, but all I did was seal my own fate. I yelled out his name as I came hard, slamming my hips down on him and grabbing his chest hard enough to rip pieces off him.

Riker’s hands grabbed my ass as he pushed his hips up, thrusting his cock deep into me, before releasing his essence into my pussy.

I stayed sitting on his cock, making the most of having him inside me, until finally he softened. I lay down next to him and put my arm on his chest.

I’d left a few nail marks, but nothing that wouldn’t heal. For the first time, I got a good look at the stab wound he’d picked up in prison. My fingers traced the mark as I remembered why Riker got into fighting in the first place.

“You’ll never be able to fight Tyler now,” I said softly.

Riker took my hand and moved it from the scar, holding it tightly between his. “I don’t care about Tyler Young any more. I only care about you.”

I smiled and snuggled up to him. “Really?”

“Well, I do care about Tyler a little bit, but I have a feeling you’re going to help me forget all about him.”

“I’ll do my best,” I replied, kissing him on the cheek. “I’ll do my best.”

“
A
re you doing anything tonight
, Riker?” Catherine asked after class.

I’d assumed that teaching kids would have avoided the need to turn down horny women after class, but the moms were just as bad as my former students had been.

“I’m out to dinner tonight,” I replied.

I didn’t add that it was dinner with my fiancée. I taught two of Catherine’s kids, and they were great students. I didn’t want her pulling them out of class just to spite me.

Not to mention, Catherine was one of the paying parents. Many of the kids were here for free, because their parents couldn’t afford the classes. I’d gone back to my old neighborhood a few times and found kids who looked bored. Learning basic combat skills gave them something to do after school.

Speaking to parents after class was part of the job now. At least that was better than doing the paperwork. I owed Duke an apology. I had no idea how much meaningless administrative minutiae there was involved in running a gym.

I’d been struggling to keep on top of all the work, ever since I opened my own small fitness studio. Teaching the classes was the easy bit.

As usual, the last student left after class was Tom. His dad rarely picked him up on time, and today was no exception. I didn’t blame the guy. I’d spoken to Marcus a few times and knew why he was late. He worked three jobs, and didn’t have a car. They could barely afford a bus ticket.

Tom’s eyes suddenly perked up as he saw someone walk through the door. Nora. She often popped by at the end of class, and all the kids loved her. Largely because she often brought them cupcakes to eat after class. The fitness instructor side of me didn’t approve, but what the hell, they were kids, and they’d earned a treat.

She’d come empty-handed today, but Tom didn’t seem to mind.

“I can kick this high now,” Tom said, before showing Nora one of his kicks.

“Oh very impressive,” Nora replied. “I can only kick this high.”

She pretended to struggle getting her foot off the ground and Tom laughed.

Marcus ran into the gym as Nora and Tom fooled around.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said panting a bit from running. “Got kept late at work.”

“Which one?”

“The scrap yard. Big load turned up at the end of the day and I couldn’t leave until it was done.”

I had no idea how he coped. I’d been through some shit in my life, but I hadn’t had a kid to look after. The mother had left almost as soon as Tom had been born, and Marcus had brought him up by himself.

“He has a lot of energy,” I remarked, as Tom continued to show Nora his moves.

“Yeah, he’s a good kid. I’m glad he’s learning to defend himself.”

“Does he get bullied?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Marcus replied sullenly.

Tom had such a natural energy and enthusiasm that it was hard to imagine any kid not liking him, but bullying rarely had much logic behind it.

“Want me to have a word with the school?” I offered. “Some of the teachers send their kids to my classes. They might keep an eye on him.”

“No, I’m going to take care of it. I figure it might be better to have a quiet word with the fathers of the bullies.”

I nodded, understanding what he meant by ‘quiet word.’ Nora wouldn’t approve, but I’d do the same thing.

The smile disappeared from Nora’s face as she played with Tom. She’d overheard. Her career revolved around protecting children, but her power only extended to the child’s home. She couldn’t do much about bullying at school.

“We should be going,” Marcus said, once the awkward silence had dragged on a little too long.

“Why don’t you come and have dinner with us?” Nora offered.

“No, that’s fine,” Marcus replied, although Tom looked excited at the prospect of more time with Nora. I knew how he felt.

“We were only going to grab Chinese food,” she replied. “Nothing special.”

The Chinese restaurant in question was the one we went to a year ago.
Exactly
a year ago. So much for anniversary celebrations. Still, there was no stopping Nora when she saw the opportunity to help someone.

That’s why I loved her.

“If you’re sure it’s okay,” Marcus replied cautiously.

“Of course it is,” I agreed. “We’ll pay,” I whispered in his ear. I knew he couldn’t afford it, and it seemed better to mention it now than have him worry about it all evening.

Marcus went to argue, but I ignored him and headed to the locker room to grab my clothes. I didn’t bother getting changed. There didn’t seem much point now that we weren’t really going on a proper date. Besides, I’d been wearing gym clothes when we’d gone out a year ago, so it was fitting really.

I’d expected Tom would have an appetite, but the way Marcus ate his food made me wonder how long it had been since they’d last had a good meal.

“How are things at school, Tom?” Nora asked.

She could now use chopsticks without getting food all over her, but we’d asked for forks anyway so as not to embarrass Tom and Marcus.

“It’s okay,” Tom replied. He looked down at his food as he spoke. You didn’t have to be a social worker to figure out he was hiding something.

“He has excellent grades,” Marcus said with the smile of a proud father. “God knows where he gets his brains from.”

“How’s work going, Marcus?” Nora asked.

“Fine, I guess. I’m looking for more work. Something with regular hours.”

Nora nodded, but didn’t say anything. She was up to something. I recognized the look on her face when she was coming up with a plan. She might as well have stroked her chin until a light bulb appeared above her head.

“Oh, before I forget,” Nora said, turning to face me, “we’ve been invited to hang out with Alison tomorrow night. She wants us to be there for a double date.”

“No way,” I replied. “I have so much to do at the center. I can’t take tomorrow evening off as well.”

“That’s a shame,” she replied casually. “You’re always so busy at work.”

“Joys of running your own business.”

I went to shovel more sesame chicken into my mouth when Nora kicked me under the table with enough force for me to drop the food back onto my plate.

“Sorry,” she replied. She didn’t sound sorry.

Oh. Now I got it.

“Marcus, I have an idea. Why don’t you come and work for me?”

“Work for you?”

“Yeah. You can help around the gym, get the equipment tidied up, that kind of thing. You interested?”

“Hell yes. I mean, yes, of course I am.”

“The pay isn’t great, but you can work as many hours as you want. It’s got to be better than working three separate jobs.”

“Are you sure about this?” Marcus asked.

“Of course. I need the help. Even if you just distract the ladies from me after class it’ll be worth it.”

“And if you could bring his ego down a notch, that would also be appreciated,” Nora added.

Everyone needed help. Duke had helped me after my release from prison, but if someone had been there for me beforehand, I might never have gotten into that mess in the first place.

But then I wouldn’t have met Nora. She’d turned my life around. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be able to help Marcus now.

I couldn’t kid myself and pretend that my work was anywhere near as significant as Nora’s, but I did now contribute to the community in a positive way, and that was a start. I had a lot of making up to do.

“Do you want to come back to our house after dinner?” Tom asked. “Marcus bought me some Lego, and I’ve made it into a castle.”

I looked pleadingly at Nora. Looking at Lego wasn’t how I’d planned to end the evening.

“Sorry Tom,” Nora said. “Maybe some other time. Riker and I have plans after dinner.”

“Can we come?” Tom asked. “Ow. Why did you kick me Marcus?”

The day I turned down the chance to spend a night with Nora was the day life was no longer worth living.

Today wasn’t that day.

We went home together and did what we did most nights. Twice.

I watched Nora drift off to sleep in my arms and then thought about Nick, my brothers, and everyone I’d lost.

But not for long. I didn’t blame myself any more.

I thought about the happy times I’d had with them.

Then I closed my eyes and slept. I could do that now.