UNDYING: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 3) (5 page)

“Oh, come on!” she whines. “Can I at least have a hint?”

I shake my head, feeling defeated by her puppy dog eyes. “Fine. I was still in Missouri.” I point at her. “That’s all you get!”

She holds up her hands. “I can live with that.” I can see the wheels in her head spinning as she silently attempts to figure out the most likely location.

I laugh and take a drink from my wine glass. Sure, I’m still technically under the legal drinking age, but after tonight, I deserve one glass of liquid comfort.

“And…” Ryan pauses behind me with fidgeting hands. “Claire, I’m really sorry about earlier...”

“Say no more—” I interrupt. “You were just trying to protect Amy. I can’t fault you for that.”

“Thanks.”

Amy points a stern finger at him. “Don’t do it again!”

“I’ve learned my lesson,” he grins, traveling back to the window. “Chivalry is dead.”

“That’s right!” she slurs back. “I will
chival
myself from now on.”

I laugh at their banter, feeling the slight pain of nostalgia. I feel that
pull
, the one that signals I’m where I was meant to be all along.

“Uh, Claire…” Ryan turns to me from his spot by the window. “I believe you have a visitor.”

I push off the couch and join him by the window. “Who?” He leans away, but holds the curtain open for me while I look down at the street below. “Ahh,
jeez…”
Tobias sits on his motorbike across the street. His eyes peer back and forth along the road, watching and waiting for whatever may come.

“Who is it?” Amy comes up behind me and peeks over my shoulder. “Is that Toby?”

“Yeah…”

“What’s he doing?”

“He’s been there awhile,” Ryan admits. “I thought he would have left by now…”

“How long?” I ask.

“A couple of hours.” Ryan backs away from the window. “Want me to go talk to him?”

Tobias’ warm breath turns to a white puff as he exhales into the cold air around him. Part of me is touched that he’d think to guard the street outside for several hours in the cold, but another, far stronger, part is still annoyed with him from earlier. “No,” I say. “I’ll do it.”

“You sure?”

“I can handle it.” I reach for my jacket, tossed over the back of the couch. “Thanks though.” I pull open the front door and walk down the three flights of stairs to the street exit.

Tobias notices me as soon as I step outside, but he doesn’t move. He just watches as I step towards him. His cheeks have turned pink in the cold, along with his exposed, bruised fingertips.

I pull my jacket tighter as a chill wind blows passed my face. The smell of winter tingles my nose, hinting at an incoming snow. I pause just short of his bike. “Tobias, what are you doing out here?”

He licks his lips. “I’m watching over you.”

“Yeah, I can see that. You should go home. It’s cold out here. Ryan is more than capable of—”

“I don’t trust him,” he says quickly.

I chuckle. “Fair enough. But you should get some sleep. It’s late.”

“I can’t sleep if I don’t know you’re safe.”

“I am safe here, Tobias.”

He says nothing as his eyes once again scan the vacant street around us. It pains me to see him this way. Being away was utter torture for me, but it wasn’t like that for him. Knowing that I was outside of Rick’s reach gave him a sense of calm. It let him keep his focus. Now that I’m back, steady and focused Tobias is gone.

I believe he and I are stronger together than we are apart. I have to make him see that, too.

“Fine.” I reach out, gesturing for his helmet sitting behind him on the bike. He grabs it and hands it to me. “Take me somewhere you think I’ll be safe.”

“What?”

I pull the heavy helmet down onto my head. “Take me somewhere safe, Tobias.”

He stares at me for a brief moment before nodding. “All right.”

I slide onto the bike behind him and the engine revs beneath us.

***

We ride for twenty minutes before Tobias pulls into the parking lot of a small, secluded motel just off the highway. He pays in cash and gives the woman working the desk a fake name to register under. It’s drastic, but necessary. I can’t imagine the Double Ex Kings have eyes and ears in this area — quite literally the middle of nowhere — but Tobias won’t leave any loose thread dangling.

He takes my hand and I follow him back outside and down the long line of identical doors. His eyes wander the parking lot, each sitting car a possible threat to my existence. I want to tell him to relax, that he can put his guard down for a moment, but I bite my tongue instead.

Tobias pushes the key into the lock and opens the door for me. We walk inside and while I slide my coat off my shoulders, he takes one last look into the dark parking lot and locks the door.

It’s your standard, boring motel room. I’m not sure who decided every single one of them should look the same, but that’s just the way it is. One large bed with an old chair near the window and a small, wobbly table. An old television sits atop a small chest of drawers. I flick on the lamp next to the bed and sit down while Tobias inspects the bathroom.

“I highly doubt Rick has an assassin hiding out in the bathroom, Tobias,” I point out as he returns to the room.

He eyes me with subtle amusement. “Better safe than sorry,” he mutters before walking to the window. He pulls the curtains closed and plants himself in the chair next to them. “You should get some sleep.”

I kick off my shoes and lie back onto the overly thick pillows. My eyelids feel heavy. It hasn’t even been a whole day since my mother woke me up from a screaming fit, but it feels much longer than that. My palms still sting as the dark crescent shapes form black scabs. I never thought then that by the end of the next day, I’d be with Tobias again.

I open my eyes to find him sitting forward in the chair. His fingers gently push the curtains open and he eyes the world outside — especially the station wagon passing by in the parking lot — with great suspicion. “Tobias, lie down with me.”

He pauses, then shakes his head. “I have to keep watch for—”

“Tobias…”
I roll onto my side to prop my head up, resting it lightly against my hand. “I’m
safe
here, remember? You brought me out here because
you
thought it would be safe. And look — there’s a big lock on the door and I have my trusty bodyguard by my side.”

“Lillian had bodyguards,” he says, refusing to budge.

“She didn’t have
you
,” I point out. “Please, Tobias. You can resume being my brave and determined
Alpha
in the morning. Right now, I need my boyfriend.”

His lips curl, but he tries to fight it. “That’s not fair…”

“It wasn’t supposed to be.” I hold out my hand to him. “Come here. Please.”

Tobias sighs, hesitating for a moment longer before he finally stands and lowers himself down onto the bed beside me. He slides his boots off and they tumble to the floor with soft thumps. I lean back again as he moves in closer and balances himself on his right side next to me. His body heat toys with my skin, the sensation only increasing as he entwines his fingers with mine. He brings my cold hand to his lips. “I’m not going to convince you to leave, am I?”

“You’re certainly welcome to
try
,” I tease. “But no.”

He leaves the smallest of kisses on my knuckles. “Then do me a favor and promise me that you won’t leave my side. Not even for a moment.”

I bite my lip, feeling the twinge of guilt inside. “Tobias… I can’t make any promises here. This might not end the way we want it to end. The other Dames are—”

“We can protect them.”

“What if we can’t? If another person dies, it’s on my hands. Lillian is already on
my
hands—”

“Claire,
I won’t let him take you from me.” I pause, feeling the full intensity of his words. “Do you remember what you told me? You said you’d
never
say goodbye to me. That goes both ways.”

“Tobias—”

“I will
not
say goodbye to you, Claire.”

I close my eyes as subtle pain rushes through me. “Then what do we do?”

He brings his hand to my cheek. “We figure it out tomorrow…”

I open my eyes again as he leans in closer to brush his lips against mine, teasing a kiss I so badly need.

Tomorrow.
Tomorrow could bring anything. It could bring a new beginning or a tragic end, neither of which will surprise me. Tonight might be all Tobias and I have left.

He kisses me slowly, easing our lips together like jigsaw pieces. Every curve and bump of his mouth fits perfectly against mine, two sides of the same beating heart. A rush of warmth extends through my fingers and toes, killing every bit of cold left in my body from the ride over here.

Tobias.
My lover and
Alpha
. I’m finally in his arms again, after what felt like an eternity away from him. I shiver as his touch glides off my chin and down my body, sliding over my quivering breast to land on my lower back. He flexes and pulls me closer as his kiss becomes firm on my lips. I feel his hard desire pressing between us, begging to be touched as much as I am.

My passions ignite, twitching throughout my body to reawaken my dormant nerves. I spread my knees apart and Tobias instantly pulls my thighs around him to lock us together, easily bending me to his will. I sigh as pleasure teases my throbbing core and he smiles at me, knowing exactly where to touch me to push me further. Even after all this time apart, he still remembers every piece of me, every button, every movement to make me purr with delight.

He lifts my shirt over my head and tosses it away without looking at where it’s gone. I do the same with eager intensity, driven to feel his skin against mine again. His tattoos stand out against his pale, white skin. I kiss and lick the black ink and he grips my hair with great fervor, pulling me closer to own me. He grips me and pushes me down harder against the bed, towering above me to stare into my eyes.

I see it inside of him; that insatiable lust. He’s always looked at me like this. Even the night we met, I saw it in his eyes, although I didn’t notice it back then. At the time, he was
untouchable
. My forbidden treat. Just one taste, and I’d be hooked, completely addicted. If I had stayed away, none of this would have happened.

We broke all the rules to be together.

But if I could go back and change it, I know for a fact that I wouldn’t.

Neither would he.

Tobias lowers himself to me and devours my lips one more time before traveling down my body. I let him pull my jeans and panties down to my ankles, twitching as his fingernails rake along my thighs as he goes. He reaches for his own belt as his eyes scan my naked body. He licks and bites his lip, taking quick, short breaths as his pulse intensifies. I don’t move a muscle, my own eyes waiting for him to drop his jeans.

He lowers them an inch, then stops, noticing my breathy anticipation. I grit my teeth in playful frustration, my mouth watering for him, waiting patiently for him to end his delicious striptease.

Finally, he pulls them down and his rigid manhood stands on end. He kicks his jeans to the floor and returns to me, pushing my knees apart before sliding into place between them. I kiss him again to delight my taste buds with his flavor. He grips my wrists, pinning me to the mattress as his hardness presses between my folds. I tremble with pure bliss, waiting for him to be inside of me and end this misery. I raise my knees and lock my feet together around his waist, urging him to give himself to me.

“Tobias…” His breath skirts against my cheek as he presses his lips against my neck, tasting me with smooth flicks of his tongue. He throbs against my wetness as it drips upon him, begging to embrace him.
“Tobias…”
I moan his name again, this time met by his deep chuckle against my ear lobe.

He thrusts forward and slides inside of me. My back arches off the bed. A delicious elixir of pleasure and pain brings me great torture as his thickness dominates me. He goes all the way in, locking our bodies together before finally breathing a subtle groan. I watch his eyes, his perfect rings of natural green, catching the love and lust reflecting back at me before he thrusts me again, this time harder and faster. His grip tightens against my wrists, refusing to let me move or touch him as I want to. He’s in complete control of both of us. The only thing I can do is moan and he takes great pleasure in making me do it.

“Claire—” he breathes. “Never leave me again.”

It’s not a request. He’s not begging either. He’s telling me, demanding it of me. I answer him with a kiss, long and deep. His lips curl against mine, accepting my response for the gospel truth it is.