Page 131 of Renegade Ruin

My mouth drops open, and I’m stunned into silence. The skin is raw and the colors vibrant.

On the outside of his thigh there’s a gargoyle, much like the one he got to commemorate his induction to the Renegades. Only this one has two bats crossed behind it and has a tiny circle of stars surrounding it. And I knew—without needing to count—there are sixty-eight. One for every soul lost in the crash.

But that’s not the tattoo that renders me speechless.

It’s the tiny portrait of a cream-colored kitten with bright green eyes, surrounded by purple morning glory flowers on the inside of his thigh.

“When did you add that?” I murmur, my heart battering against my rib cage.

“When I was in New York. I paid my artist double to make room for me.”

“But when you left, you alluded you weren’t all in.” I work through the timeline in my head and come to a conclusion. “Jackson?”

Bishop nods. “He reminded me life’s too short.”

I chuckle because it’s exactly what Lana told me too. “Like mother, like son.”

He smiles and runs a hand through his hair, resting it on the back of his neck. The pose makes him look like a damn Greek statue—chiseled to perfection.

“I realized that no matter what happened between us, you played a part in my story and I needed to have you with me forever.”

“I’m honored,” I say, my voice breathless. “It’s beautiful. Both of them. But I don’t have green eyes.”

“No.” He laughs, a sly smile lifting at the corner of his lips. “That’s a reminder of our first night together.”

Realization dawns on me, and my chest shakes with laughter. “The jewel on the butt plug.”

“You trusted me to take care of you, this”—he gestures to the tattoo—“was my way of hoping you might trust me again.”

“Yes,” I blurt out too quickly, making his smile grow. “Anything. I’m yours.”

“Fuck, I love hearing you say that.”

“I’m yours,” I repeat, pouring every ounce of my love into the words.

Bishop’s eyes darken, and he eyes the box of toys on the bed exactly where I left it before the game today. He steps forward, sliding between my legs. “Then let me take care of you.”

I’ll let him do so forever if he asks.

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

BISHOP

Splayed before me on the bed, I hone in on Willow’s pretty, pink pussy lips, parted and glistening with her arousal—just for me.

I love her.

And she loves me.

It’s something I knew before she uttered the words. Her actions over the past months speak volumes, but hearing her say them is better than what I imagine a World Series win feels like. Not that I don’t still want that win. I do, butthat moment would be a snapshot. Willow’s love for me transcends space and time. It fills the cracks in my heart, promising that if they grow, she’ll be there to fill them.

I want to be that for her too.

That want is rapidly growing to become a need. I may have only just admitted to myself that I do indeed love her, but seeing her on that balcony opened the damn floodgates of my heart.

Sliding between her legs, I drop my cock on her pussy, savoring the gasp that escapes her when the top barbell on the underside grazes her clit. I rock forward, sliding through her slick folds, coating myself in her arousal.

As I do, the small blonde kitten tattoo catches my eye. It was an impulse decision. One I will never regret. She’s as much a partof my story as every other moment inked on my skin. And I love that from this moment forward, every time I look down when I’m buried deep inside her, every time she takes my cock into the back of her throat, it will be there. A reminder of our beginning. A promise of the future I plan to give her.