Lucky parked the bike near the back and got off before helping me. We locked everything up and got into the garage before turning to face one another.

  "I'm sorry you had to see what you saw today." He reached for me, and I moved into his arms.

  "It's my fault, Lucky. You can't victimize me. I knew I was going to the arcade to deliver drugs. Me taking Elec up on his offer to do it for me is no excuse. I shouldn't have been there. I should have done something different. I just don't know how to break away."

  "But do you want to break away, Lena? That's what I need to know." He slid his strong hands up my shoulders and cupped my neck. "You want to be free from it all?"

  "Some days I do, Lucky. Some days, I'm not so sure I would survive trying. Does that make sense?"

  "Unfortunately, yes." He moved down and kissed me fully, his tongue brushing along mine with a slow, gliding movement.

  I must have melted, because the next thing I knew, I was stretched out across the couch and he was on top of me, his strong body pressed to mine as he took his time exploring my mouth.

  My time of being strong was over. Or maybe it had never begun.

  "I love you," I whispered and pulled him in for another long kiss.

  Chapter 10

  Lucky

  Lena was so tired the night before that I let her fall asleep in my arms on the couch. I brushed her hair away from her pretty face. The dark circles under her eyes told me far more about her struggle than she might have wanted me to know.

  Regardless of everything that had happened during the last year, her whispering that she loved me was enough for the moment. I'd already known it, but hearing her admit it left my heart mending a little. I'm sure she had her reasons for completely turning her back on me and I would ask her about it, but now wasn't the time.

  After she passed out, I got up and pulled a few blankets from a cabinet above the desk and made us a comfy palate on the ground. A few wadded up jackets for pillows, and we were good to go. I undressed her slowly, enjoying the soft sounds of pleasure she made as I ran my fingertips down her thigh or pressed my nose to the side of her neck, my tongue between her breasts. She never woke up, but it was alright. I needed time to memorize every inch of her again, to fall deeply in love with her, to worship her beauty alone in the silence.

  I pulled my clothes off and snuggled in next to her long after midnight, hoping to fall asleep, but not finding rest too quickly. My cock was rock hard, my balls tight and heart racing at how bad I wanted to be inside of her, but she was exhausted. I would see if she wanted a little bit of loving in the morning, but for the moment, she just needed my arms and my heart.

  Good thing I was willing to sacrifice both, and so much more.

  ***

  I woke before she did in the wee hours of the morning, the light from the windows nothing more than an ethereal glow. After realizing where we were and that my sexy girl was next to me, cuddled up against my front, I grew needy again.

  "Baby. I want you." I licked at the beautiful column of her neck and slid my hand down her warm side, cupping her ass as she lifted her leg and tucked it over my hips.

  "Take me, Luck," she whispered sleepily.

  "Get on your tummy for me." I kissed at her lips twice before nipping at her cute little button nose.

  "Okay," she mumbled and turned over, stretching her hands above her head and lifting her ass in the air as she groaned and stretched.

  I moved out of the covers and got on top of her, mounting her from behind and pressing my chest to her back before tugging the covers back over us. I ran my hands up her back and over her arms to clasp her hands as I pressed by cock against her ass, rubbing her softly as she moaned quietly.

  The sweet sound of her enjoying my body almost kicked me over the edge of being able to make love into hard-core fucking, but I held back. It had been a rough couple of days. When she was ready to fuck again, she'd let me know for sure.

  I reached down and took my dick in my hand, positioning it perfectly to line up to her tight entrance and pushed hard, wanting so badly to hear her cry out in pleasure.

  She didn't disappointment me. Her hips shifted as she lifted her rear back into the air and gave me more room to push in deeper. I used her back to push myself up to my knees and moved back, pulling her with me so that I could start my assault.

  "Deep, baby," she cried out as I jerked her hips and impaled her quick and hard. "Yes. Like that. More."

  She was demanding, and fuck, if I didn't love it.

  "You're going to get a lot more, Lena. Hush being bossy or I'll spank you." I ran my fingers between the beautiful curves of her ass, playing with her as she bounced back on my cock, mouthing something or other as she did. I couldn't understand her, but I knew her game.

  I popped her ass hard and she cried out as her body tightened around mine.

  "Fuck," I growled and I slid my hands up her thin waist and locked my fingers over her shoulders, using the grip as good leverage to work my girl good and deep.

  She grumbled something else, and I popped her ass again as she came hard. The sweet sounds leaving her lips combined with her jerking her hips forward and slamming back into me left my toes curling. I wasn't ready to come. Not by a long shot. I wanted to fuck for at least an hour or so, to get her to scream my name and wet my cock three or four times.

  "A condom," she barked as she moved to her hands and knees and pushed back, bouncing her pretty ass as she took over our sex.

  "In a minute baby. I want to feel you for a little while. I'm still a ways off. Just take the dick, Lena." I pressed my thumb against her ass and pressed in a little. She cried out and rocked against my offerings, fucking herself far better than I might even be able to.

  She came again, and I bit my lip to the point of tasting blood. She was so fucking hot, so sexy and talented in the bedroom. How I deserved to even stand behind her and give her something big to ride was beyond me. She was far too much woman for me to handle, and yet her reminder that she loved me the night before was enough to solidify my position for forever.

  "I'm going to pull out and get a condom, baby." I pulled back, tugging my finger from her after my cock.

  She groaned and flattened against the floor as her ass contracted, and she twitched a little. "Gosh, you're so good. I love the way you fuck me."

  "I'm pretty sure you were fucking me." I got up and walked to the desk, opening it and pulling out a rubber.

  She stood up and moved to stand in front of the couch, her beautiful body on full display for me. "Come sit down. I wanna show you what it looks like when I fuck you."

  "Shit yes." I moved to the couch and dropped my happy ass down before reaching for her. "Come do it. Fuck my world up, Lena. Make me explode."

  "Consider it done, playboy." She crawled onto my lap as I leaned back against the couch. Straddling me, she glanced down and took my cock in her hand, playing with herself a little as I watched.

  I groaned loudly and pressed my hips up as she giggled. She was teasing me, and damn if I didn't love it.

  The minute she slid down the length of me, a knock resounded at the door. Pleasure pulsed at the center of my stomach and I didn't want to let her go.

  The voice was low and ominous. "Open the door, mother fucker. I know you're in there."

  I gripped Lena's hips and lifted an eyebrow at her. "Old boyfriend?"

  "Please." She got up, and I had no doubt that I was going to kill the mother fucker at the door. No one should have been out there. Especially not while I was in the middle of fucking my girl. People could be so damned rude sometimes. I needed a 'go away - fucking right now' sign. I smirked at the thought and tugged on my jeans as the bastard hit the metal door again.

  "I'm not kidding Morrison. Open the damn door. I know Lena's with you."

  I stiffened at the guy’s words. His voice was a little too familiar. I looked back at her as her eyes widened.

  "It’s Domingo," she whispered.

  One of her many cousins. I could hardly keep up with them anymore. Besides, a Delgado was a Delgado... At least everyone but Lena.

  "Stay here. I'll be right back." I picked up my Glock from my bag that hung over the chair at my desk.

  "Be careful. He's crazy." She moved around the room, getting dressed.

  "They all are. Even you." I winked at her and pulled my shirt on before opening the door and slipping out. A lanky mother fucker that looked like Rafael on crack cocaine paced in the dirt in front of me. He had a blade in his hand, and by the looks of things, he didn't come to welcome me into the family.

  "What can I do for you, Black Heart?" I lifted my eyebrow and slipped my gun in the back of my pants as Domingo stopped pacing and turned to greet me.

  "I know you have Lena in there. Give her back and I'll make sure to cut your throat fast instead of tying you up and chiseling off pieces of your stupid ass. What were you thinking? We're everywhere, you idiot. You had to know you were going to get caught." He shook his knife at me and lunged as if he were going to cut me.

  I stayed still, more than ready to fight him off in a hand to hand. He was a little high, no doubt. The fact that he couldn't stand still was my first inclination.

  "No clue what you're talking about, but if you shake that blade at me again, I'll be pulling out my gun, and it doesn't miss." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Lena is an old friend of mine from high school, but you'd know that we don't talk anymore if you hadn't snorted your breakfast."

  He chuckled darkly and stood up as his eyes darkened. "She's here, bitch, and I'm going to drag her skanky ass all the way back to her daddy."

  He lunged fully that time, but I turned and tugged his arm, using his own momentum to throw him against the wall of the garage. He reached for his piece, but I pulled mine and put a hole between his eyes before he could think about it.

  "Lucky!" Selene ran from the garage, her eyes wide and voice shrill.

  "I'm sorry, baby. He reached for his weapon." I put my gun back in my pants and wiped my fingers across my lips as my hand shook slightly. I'd only killed once and it had been for Lena then, too.

  "Oh no." She moved down to kneel beside her cousin. "What the fuck are we going to do?"

  "The only thing we can do, Lena. We're going to bury the body and act like it didn't happen." I shrugged and moved to pick up the asshole.

  "Have you lost your mind?"

  "What would you have me do, hmmm? Run away and leave someone else to find him?" I snapped at her as my adrenaline raced around my bloodstream with nowhere to go.

  She jerked back as if I'd slapped her and marched back into the house.

  "Lena... baby, I'm... fuck." I reached down and grabbed Domingo by his ankles before pulling him out into the middle of the forest.

  I hadn't asked to become a killer.

  But people often didn’t. That shit just dropped in their laps.

  Besides... it was self-defense.

  Chapter 11

  Selene

  Shock rolled over me in deafening waves as I walked back into the garage. Domingo was an ass, but he was still family. He was the one to teach me to ride a bike as a little girl, and fight with two fists. Tears burned my eyes, and I let out a frustrated growl. The bastard rarely carried a gun. He was a knife fighter. Was he really reaching for a gun?

  I spun on my heel as Lucky opened the door and pressed his hands to his hips. "I need your help, Lena. I can't drag him through the forest. You're going to have to help me pick him up."

  "He was my fucking cousin, Luck. This isn't some random guy that you killed. He was my Uncle Jeffery's son." I let the anxiety that threatened to pull me under rise up and fill my voice with a tightness that best explained where I was.

  "I understand that," Lucky bit out through clenched teeth.

  I could tell he was shaken.

  "He came at me, Selene. What choice did I have but to defend myself? Fuck."

  "Defending yourself doesn't mean killing someone," I growled back, hating that we were fighting, but stuck in the middle of it now.

  "So killing someone who attacks you with a knife and goes to pull a gun isn't okay, but watching an innocent guy snort your daddy's shit and seize to death... that's all cool and shit?" He growled loudly and turned, walking back out in the early morning.

  How had things gone from us making love to screaming at each other?

  Right. My family showed up.

  I let out a shaky breath, finished putting my boots back on, and went in search of him. He was right about one thing... I wasn't at all like my father. He wasn't either, though. I needed to tread carefully. If I had called him the day before to come and help me with Jamison he wouldn't have hesitated a second. I couldn't either.

  Setting my resolve, I walked out of the garage and moved toward the edge of the forest where Lucky was tugging my cousin through a puddle of mud. I almost barked at him again, but held my tongue. I bent down and picked up Domingo's legs.

  "I'm sorry, baby. I wouldn't have killed him if-" he started.

  "I know. I'm sorry too. I just want this kind of shit to go away." I nodded toward the forest. "Let's get this over with. I'm going to be sick later over just being a part of it."

  He moved back into the forest, walking quickly, but carefully. "Then help me get him out here and go back inside. I don't want your hands dirty with a murder, Selene."

  "Murder? Fuck is that what it is when you're defending yourself?" I leaned down as we stopped and let out a painful sigh. There was no love lost between me and my cousin, but having seen two dead men in the last two days, I was slightly overwhelmed.

  "I guess. Hell, if I know." Lucky wiped the back of his forearm across his forehead and let out a shaky sigh. "I never would have imagined taking anyone's life. I'm against this kind of shit."

  "I know, baby." I moved toward him, needing his touch all of a sudden. What the hell we were going to tell my dad was another story.

  Nothing. I'm not telling him shit. He can think Domingo hit the open road and gave up on all of us.

  Lucky wrapped me in a tight hug, kissing the top of my head and then moving us back toward the garage. "I'll deal with the rest. Just clean up the garage and as soon as I'm done, we'll get the fuck out of here."

  I nodded, not quite sure I wanted to talk about anything else. After he dropped me back off at the garage, he found a tool that resembled a shovel and left.

  Cleaning up quickly, I forced myself to hum a song I'd heard on the radio a few weeks before and calm down. My heart was racing at the thought of Lucky getting found out, but I should have been worried for myself, too. Lucky's situation was out in the middle of nowhere. Mine was in a fucking arcade in the middle of town.

  Plopping down on the couch, I pressed my hands into my hair and tugged lightly. How differently things were now. Lucky and I were obviously going to try to repair the damage between us, but the fun, playful stuff was gone. I longed for it, and yet I knew that because of our life choices that it would be a while until the sun shone down on us again. Until we were free.

  He walked back in, and I stood, my chest contracting painfully at how pale he was.

  "You okay?" I asked and walked toward him.

  "I guess." He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around himself.

  I wrapped mine around his from the side and kissed his shoulder. "You couldn't have known that he would come here."

  "I'm worried about anyone else knowing about us. I can handle the Wolves, but your father put an end to what he thought was a friendship a year ago, Lena." He glanced down at me before releasing his hold on himself and turned to pull me against him. "I can't lose you again. I won't."

  "No. You don't have to, baby." I lifted to my toes and kissed him as my fingers brushed through his dark brown hair.

  "I want more time with you, but you need an excuse, Lena. We can't keep leaving the door open for your people or mine to take note that we're missing for long chunks of time." He touched my face. "I don't just want your body, baby. I want your time and your conversation, your thoughts. I need to see you laugh and have fun. I want so much from you, Lena. Just promise me that we can work toward it. That all of this shit will one day be worth it."

  "It will. I can feel it already starting to get better." I ran my hands up his chest and cupped his neck, pulling him down into one more kiss. "I told my father that I'm starting college. It will give me an out for a good chunk of the day, every day. How about we nickname you St. John's community college?"

  He chuckled and brushed his nose past mine. "Anything to have more time with you."

  "I need to go. I'm going to head back to the house. I'll text you later." I kissed him again.

  "You sure you're okay? I'm sorry about--"

  I pressed my fingers to his lips. "Hush. I'm sad to lose another member of my family, but if he was threatening you, then you come first."

  There was no way I was going to let Lucky know just how fucked up my insides were at knowing that he point blank killed someone without hesitation. It was nothing like what my father had called on Dante to do back at the house a few days before, but it was a death nevertheless.

  "I love you, girl. You're mine. Forever." He nipped at my lips, and I smiled, nodding and walking out of the garage. I needed to get home and convince my father of my college acceptance. Seeing that I was interrupted, there was only one way to do that.

  I would get Dante to go up there with me.

  ***

  Mateo met me at the door with a goofy grin on his fat face when I walked into the house.

  "Where you been, Lena?" He poked at my side as I swatted his hand away.

  "Out. Why?" I swatted at him again. "Get the fuck off. I'm not in the mood."

  "Your dad's sent Elec out to find you. Said you had to deal with some rough shit yesterday."