Uncontrollable Temptations (The Tempted Series Book 3) (37 page)

There was one more score to settle, and I saved the best for last.

I jumped off the bar and dragged the stool to the center of the room and reaching into my bag one last time and pulling the container of lighter fluid out and a box of matches.

This is for Reina.

I circled him, emptying the bottle of lighter fluid around him creating a perfect circle before I pulled one match from the box. I stared into Jimmy’s eyes as they fought to remain open. I leaned close, making sure I still had his attention before delivering one last message.

“Tell Vic I said hello,” I whispered and swiped the match across the bar.

I stared at the flame and remembered Reina’s scars, the ones she gave me freely, the ones that would forever mark the woman I loved. Then I dropped the match and watched the ring of fire form.

Dance motherfucker.

I gave myself a minute to watch the beauty of it all, to watch as the flames slowly chased Jimmy, crawling up the legs of the stool, capturing his feet first and traveling up his legs. The heroine was doing its job, and he was helpless against the torment of the flame.

Just like Danny.

Just like Reina.

I grabbed my duffel bags and turned around; Jimmy’s whimpers filled my ears as I strode out of Temptations to the men standing outside waiting for me.

“I got the location,” I said, dropping the duffel bags to the floor. “Give it a minute or two. When he screams put the fire out and leave the drugs next to his body. Then call Jones.” Pipe’s eyes widened in realization. Jones was the cop he kept on the club’s bankroll, the same cop that fixed the mess with Blackie’s truck yesterday. The cop that would make the front page of the newspaper for taking down New York’s next notorious mobster. “He and his partner are waiting on word to make the arrest,” I said, making everything perfectly clear.

I turned to Bianci. “Tell Vic, a deal is a deal and when I give my word, I don’t go against it,” I said, removing my gloves and shoving them into my pocket.

“Riggs, gonna need a hand,” I said, as I straddled my bike.

“I got you,” he said hoarsely.

I revved my engine, closed my eyes for a moment, and as Jimmy screamed I peeled away from Temptations.

I’m coming to take your last scar, Sunshine.

I forgot what the world was like before it slipped from beneath my feet. I waited for my life to flash before my eyes, the poignant moments I was never supposed to forget, but they didn’t come.

Maybe it wasn’t the end.

I took deep breaths through my nose, fighting the dryness of my mouth and repelling against the handkerchief that threatened to choke me. I didn’t know how much more I could take and wished for peace. So, when the sound of the door crashing against the wall came I didn’t dread it. The twenty-four-hour mark had to have hit by now and it would all be over.

It was my time.

Goodbye, world.

Goodbye, Jack.

“Holy shit,” said a voice I didn’t recognize as one of my three captors. It was huskier, gravely and vaguely familiar but I didn’t dwell on it. If I put a face to the voice, then it was just one more person I’d have to say goodbye to.

      
“He’s barely got a pulse,” the voice said.

Fading.

Goodbye.

Then it came to me. The sense of touch. Someone else’s touch. Strong hands touched my shoulders, calloused fingers traveled gently up my neck and paused on my cheeks. The fingertips pulled the tape from my mouth, prying my dry lips further open to remove the handkerchief.

Air.

I took a deep breath through my mouth, the muscles in my jaw aching.

Feeling.

I felt those fingertips touch my lips and I tried to speak but I succumbed to the gentleness, the faint feeling of security enveloped me and I was lost to anything else. I felt the person lean over me and gently untie the knot from the blindfold wrapped around my head blocking my vision. The blindfold fell from me and I was blinded by the light as the darkness shed.

I blinked.

Dark soulful eyes gazed into mine and I heard the gasp escape my lips.

“You,” I sobbed, the word barely audible.

“Me,” Jack whispered.

I relived those few moments when Jack rescued me every night for a week after he brought me home. One would think that dreaming about my time captive would be considered a nightmare, but my rescue was no nightmare and I welcomed the dream. The moment the blindfold dropped to the floor and my eyes met Jack’s was pure bliss.

Those eyes, the darkest eyes I had ever seen.

The ones that got me every single time.

I remember staring into his eyes and seeing the change in them when adoration turned to love. It was the moment he looked at me as if I was an angel that had dropped from the sky and landed at his feet. The first time he uttered that single word.

You.

Who knew one word as simple as that one would hold so much meaning? One word tied to the biggest revelation either of us would ever know.

I know now the meaning of the word,
you
. At least for me and Jack, I do. It means finally being aware that I’ve found the missing piece of my heart. It means I’ve waited my whole life for
you
and now here
you
are. It is knowing that because of
you
I am now complete. It means
you’ve
healed me. It means I love
you
.

You
, you’re everything.

You’re
the moon and the stars.

You’re
my whole world.

You’re
the one I give my life too.

And with discovering what
you
meant for us, I also learned another word.

Me
.

      
A single word that affirms every promise.

Me
, the one who will pick you up when you fall.

Me
, the one who will chase away all the demons.

Me
, the one who will always heal you.

Me
, the one who promises to always complete you.

Me
, the one who owns your heart.

Me
, the one who loves you more than anyone.

I could stare at her for the rest of my life and it still wouldn’t be enough. I could hold her in my arms until death called me home, and they’d still feel empty. I sounded like a pussy but it was true.

I’ve always felt out of control, a man not in charge of his life because of his illness but she’s healed me. I’ll always fight with my maker, always be a manic-depressive but I don’t have to fight those battles alone. Lacey won’t have to wonder if her dad will come back from his latest episode because I will always drag myself away from the darkness.

I’ve got sunshine now.

“Good morning, beautiful,” I whispered, as I wrapped a strand of hair around my finger and stared into her groggy eyes.

“Mmm,” she murmured, stretching her body. “Morning.”

I let the hair fall from my finger and took her hands in mine, glancing down at the bruises fading from her wrists and kissed where the ties marked her skin. I placed her arms around my neck and dragged her warm body over mine and stared up into her eyes.

That first glimpse of those eyes, after I asked her for a slice of pie, I recognized the pain and sadness reflected in them. I knew some of her story but not all of her scars.

You want more from me? You want my scars? You got to earn them.

Her eyes weren’t sad anymore and somehow, someway I earned those scars. With each one she gave me, I gave her one of my own.

Thirty-eight years old and I finally found my home. To think I almost lost her after waiting so long to find her. I remember pulling up to the café on 18
^th
Avenue and fearing they wouldn’t be there. I questioned every move I made that led me to that point and was so frightened that I had made an error somewhere. I’d never forgive myself, not this time, not ever.

Riggs must’ve sensed my apprehension because after I broke down the door he walked in first to assess the situation. I never thought that hearing Riggs confirm Blackie was barely alive would be the words I so desperately needed to hear. They were there and they were alive.

The kid I underestimated sprang into action and went to work on saving our vice president. And me? I got the girl. I never wanted to be anyone’s hero until that moment. I removed the gag from her mouth first, watched as she took that first greedy breath through her mouth and felt my heart pound inside my chest.

She looked so frail and it became clear how close I came to losing her. She would not have lasted much longer and neither would have Blackie.

I had to remind myself that the son of bitch who did this to them would pay. That there was no need for me to seek revenge. It was mine already, and I had taken it.

I reached around her head and untied the blindfold that covered her eyes and held my breath until those sad eyes found mine.

Home.

“You,” she said, her voice raspy and the word barely a whisper.

“Me,” I promised.

“What’s going on inside that big head of yours?” She asked, holding the sides of my head in her palms as she straddled me. She leaned down, nipped my lower lip with her teeth as her blonde hair fell around us.

I wrapped my arms around her and my fingertips dug into her ass, pressing her into my morning wood.

“Thinking about how long it’s been since I’ve fucked you,” I growled, taking her hips and flipping her onto her back.

She laughed.

Best fucking sound ever.

“What’s it been a whole two hours?” She asked, before breaking into a fit of giggles as I tickled the side of her neck with the scruff lining my jaw. I hadn’t shaved in a week and I might never shave again because Reina enjoyed the rough beard forming around my face. She enjoyed it on her neck as the little course hairs tickled her sensitive skin and she really enjoyed it when they tickled her pussy.

My lips traveled down her body and her moan was just as sweet as her laugh. I spread her legs wide, sliding down until my head was positioned above her pussy and I lifted my eyes to hers.