Rough & Raw (Notorious Devils Book 2) (38 page)

It makes me smile.

I make her feel that way, and it makes me feel invincible.

I read Stella a story and tuck the little
malyshka
in bed. Her pretty blue eyes close, and her blonde curls spread out along the pillow of her
Elsa
sheets. The little princess holds a special place in my heart that nobody could ever fill or replace. It is solely hers. I leave her in dreamland and go in search of her mama.

When I walk into the bedroom, Brentlee is waiting for me, in the middle of the bed, completely naked, the way she knows I like her to be. My cock hardens at the sight of her, gorgeous and laid out, all for me. I want her, but not just as my Old Lady.
I want her as my wife
. I want my ring sparkling on her finger, fuckin’ blinding me. I want her last name to be mine, because that’s what she is—
mine
.

I turn from her and walk over to my dresser, pulling the little velvet box out.
It’s time
. I open it, keeping my back to her, and take the rings from the box. I should just give her the one, the solitaire engagement ring, but I want her to have it all—
now
.

I’m not a man that waits.

I want to give her everything, everything I can, and immediately.

I strip my clothes, keeping the expensive diamonds in my palm before I crawl up her body. Her legs automatically spread to accept my hips between them. She’s mine in almost every way. Now I need her to be legally mine, too. I want Stella to be my daughter in name as well. Corbin, even in death, doesn’t deserve to have his name live on through that gorgeous little creature.

Keeping the diamonds in my fist, I slide my fingers through her wet folds and she shudders beneath me, her whole body breaking out in a shiver.

I kiss her
.

Sliding my tongue through her lips as I slide my fingers through her wet center
.

I love her
.

She’s raw and beautiful and all mine.

Made just for me
.

I pull my fingers from her body as I pull away from her lips. Then, without uttering a word I slide the rings on her finger before I guide my cock into her waiting entrance.

“Bates,” she gasps looking down at her hand, ignoring the fact that I’m inside of her. I almost laugh.

“Marry me, my
tigritsa
,” I murmur as I pullout and then thrust back inside of her welcoming heat.

“Bates,” she whispers as she wraps her hands around my cheeks.

I rest my forehead against hers, closing my eyes as I continue to make love to her. I’m not fucking her or having sex with her. No, right now, I’m
making love
to my woman.

“I love you so much, baby,” I murmur as I continue to take her body, slow and gentle.

“I love you, too, so very much. Yes.
Yes
, I’ll be your wife,” she cries out as she lifts her hips to meet my thrusts.

I smile wide, happy as I make love to my fiancé.

The woman should have always been mine.

I made a mistake that changed the course of our lives when we were just teenagers. Never again. I’ll never lose her again. I won’t even chance it. This road, it’s been fuckin’ rough to get to where we are, but I wouldn’t change a fucking thing about it. Not now. Not now that she’s agreed to be my wife.

Not just my Old Lady, not just my woman, but my wife.

When I come, I do it looking into her gorgeous, honey colored eyes, and she soon follows behind me, her climax making her entire body shake. I will never get tired of this, never get tired of her. She’s mine, one hundred percent my life. Without her, I’m a lost soul. I’ve proven that shit. I never want to be that man again. I will forever be the man she needs me to be—the man that makes her happy, and the man she can trust.

I love her.

My tigritsa.

Seven Months Later

Brentlee

“I
t’s time.” The words come out in a panic. I look over to Kentlee, whose face has turned bright red, and she looks like she’s going to explode.

“Oh, shit,” I murmur before I grab my phone and dial Fury’s number.

Nobody answers, of course. They’re all in church, and nobody has their damn phones on. I gather the kids and load them up into Kentlee’s SUV before I help her into the car. She screams, holding her gigantic belly with one hand, the nails of her other digging into my arm.

“Shit,” I curse.

She ignores me. I continue to re-dial Bates and Fury, over and over, as I drive like a bat out of hell to the hospital. When neither of them answer, I give up and call Tammy.

“What’s going on, honey? I haven’t heard from you in a while,” she says.

Tammy hasn’t heard from me in a few weeks. I haven’t needed her. Bates and I eloped the weekend after he proposed. We ran off to Vegas and had a quick,
quiet
ceremony, just the two of us. Kent watched Stella. She and Fury were the only ones who knew of our nuptials. We had a huge party at the club the weekend after, but the private ceremony, it was perfect and exactly how I had always envisioned marrying Bates.

When we came home, Bates informed me I wasn’t going to be working anymore. It was the control I had feared would happen had I ever married again. After we talked, I discovered his caveman tantrum was really because he wanted to have a baby with me. He didn’t want me tending bar around all the booze, sex, and smoke while we were trying or while I was pregnant.

I understood his rational, but I still gave him plenty of shit about it.

We fought and made up and I quit.

Two months later, I found out I was pregnant. I’m now five months pregnant with our first child together. We discovered just this week it’s a girl. I thought he would be disappointed, but to my surprise, he was excited.

Another little girl to add to our house. Another
malyshka
. He told me he was so excited to have another princess to spoil, and maybe the next one would be a boy, but maybe not. He didn’t care. It didn’t matter to him either way. I smile just thinking about his excitement.

“Brentlee,” Tammy says, breaking me from my reminiscing.

“Kentlee is in labor. I can’t get ahold of the men, we have all the kids,” I say as I frantically drive toward the hospital. Kentlee is turning about fifty shades of red, and she looks pretty damn terrifying.

“I’ll meet you there and take the kids back to my house,” she says before she hangs up the phone.

Tammy is the best. I don’t know how Kent found her, but I never want her to leave us. I wouldn’t survive without her.

When I pull up to the hospital, I park in the emergency parking and jog inside as fast as I can, yelling that my sister is in labor. She was panting and breathing funny. I know she has to be close, and she’s scheduled to have a C-section in a few days. She’s not supposed to have him naturally.

Luckily, a nurse takes me seriously and she and some other staff follow me outside. They take my sister with them in a wheelchair, and my stomach turns at the blood that’s on the leather seat of the SUV. My eyes water and my mind goes over a million different scenarios. Only one thing consumes my thoughts though—fear.

I clean the seat as best as I can and get the kids out of the SUV just in time for Tammy to come barreling around the corner like a bat outta hell. We don’t exchange two words to each other as I transfer all the kids’ things to her car. When she wraps me in a hug, I try my hardest to stay strong. I’m so scared.

“Go be with Kent,” she says softly. I nod.

“Thank you,” I say before I hurry toward the hospital. I dial Fury’s phone again and, thank Jesus, he picks up.

“The fuck?” he barks into the phone.

“Kentlee’s in the hospital,” I cry as I run.

“
What
?” he breathes.

“She went into labor, you need to get down here, now. Tammy has all the kids,” I say.

The phone call ends. Seconds later, my phone rings, and it’s Bates.

“Baby, what’s happening?” he says, sounding out of breath.

I explain the situation to him as I ride the elevator to the floor where they have my sister. He curses and assures me they’ll be here to join me as soon as possible.

When I make it to the floor where my sister is, the nurse tells me I can go inside, but they’re prepping her for surgery. I run into her room and she’s high as hell. She smiles lazily at me and reaches for my hand.

“What’s happening?” I ask.

“He’s breech. Of course he is. He’s Pierce’s.” She chuckles before she pulls me down to her level and whispers, “I’m so high, I can’t even feel my brain,” she giggles.

Luckily, Fury bursts into the room at that exact moment. When he falls to his knees at her bedside, I take that as my cue to leave. No way do I want to see that big ass scary man breakdown. I walk out and find Bates sitting in one of those uncomfortable waiting chairs.

“Hey, baby, how is she?” he asks wrapping his hand around my belly as soon as I stand between his open thighs.

“Kentlee or your daughter?” I ask with a smirk.

“Both,” he murmurs as he places a kiss on my belly.

“Kentlee is high as a kite. She says she can’t feel her brain. Your nameless daughter is good,” I smile.

We spend the next four hours waiting, just waiting for anything. I’ve asked the nurses about a thousand times for updates, but they don’t give me a damn thing. Then Fury charges through the room with a huge ass smile on his face. I sigh in relief.

“He’s so fuckin’ perfect. Come on,” he calls. I quickly follow behind him.

We walk into the hospital room, and the tiny little baby cradled in my sister’s arms takes my breath away. I walk right up to him and sit next to her on the bed. Without a word, she hands me the little bundle. I look down on him and smile at the bright gray eyes that stare back at me.

“He’s perfect,” Bates murmurs from behind me.

“He is, so beautiful,” I say. “What’s the little guy’s name?” I ask, unable to look away from him.

“Danger,” Fury grins. I wrinkle my nose.

“It isn’t my favorite, but I named Bear,” Kentlee shrugs. I look over at my sister.

She’s looking at Fury, who looks so damn proud. I would let him name my baby just about anything, too, with that look on his face. He is completely smitten, in awe, and so fucking proud.

“Danger Duhart it is, then,” I murmur. Bates squeezes my shoulder.

I look around the room. Fury, Kentlee, Bates and me. Aside from our children and Mary-Anne, this is our family, our real family. I have never been prouder of these people, and I’ve never been happier. I’m so grateful and thankful to have my sister back in my life. And Bates—words cannot describe how I feel about him.

This world we live in can be a hot mess, but it can be beautifully breathtaking, too. Sometimes, you have lived through complete hell to come out on the other side, to appreciate all of the beauty it does hand you later in life. Had I not gone through my hell, had Kentlee not gone through hers, perhaps we wouldn’t feel as incredibly blessed as we do right now. I know that I wouldn’t be as appreciative of the man at my side had I not gone through my marriage with Scotty.

“I love you, Kentlee. He’s just so beautiful,” I murmur as I hand him back to her.

“I love you, too, Brent. Thank you for being here for me,” she says. I want to brush it off, but I don’t. Instead, I take her hand in mine and I give it a squeeze.

“We’ll keep the kids for a week. Longer if you need,” I offer. Fury blinks once before he grins.

“Thanks. ‘Preciate that, sister-in-law,” he says. A new thing he’s started calling me
. I love it.

Bates and I leave the hospital hand-in-hand and walk over to his truck. He helps heft my ass inside and we head over to Tammy’s to gather the rest of our family.

I never thought I would be this happy.

When I would run and hide from Scotty, praying that I would just disappear, I never thought I would smile again. Now, I do nothing but smile, and it’s Bates, Kentlee, Fury, and the entire Notorious Devils family that has made it possible.

I love all of them—with all of my repaired heart
.

ROUGH & RUGGED

N
OTORIOUS
D
EVILS
MC
B
OOK
3