Page 69 of Complete Me
CHAPTER 19
kinsey
Reid’s confessionshould terrify me. It should have me running the other way. But it only made me realize how deeply in love with this tortured man I am. He’s seen and committed horrible acts, but I’m not going to judge him for them. He erased pure evil from this world, and I’m not naive enough to believe everything is always black and white. Learning his history, what happened to his sister, broke a piece of me that I left with her. I’ve always suspected Reid had something dark inside him that snuffed out his light, but the goodness in his heart never went away; he just had the inability to recognize all the good he was doing, past the grief he’s been drowning in.
We stayed at Lena’s grave for hours, talking and crying. He told me about what it was like to grow up just the two of them, how they were best friends and did everything together, how she wanted to be a midwife someday. He reminisced, and I listened, soaking in a part of him that I didn’t know existed. His fingers toyed with my hair or rubbed aimlessly over the bareskin of my legs while he spoke. It seemed cathartic, and I wondered just how long it had been since he had been able to talk freely about her.
Later that night, we lay in bed facing each other, my fingers tracing over the dark lines of the tattoos that cover his forearm. I don’t like to push and ask questions, wanting him to give information freely, but I can’t help but think about his parents and what they must be feeling after losing a child and then having a strained relationship with their only living one. My parents would be devastated, and the pain must be unimaginable to live with every day.
“Can I ask about how your parents have coped with your sister’s death?”
“They don’t know she died, sweetheart.”
“How is that possible?”
“The night she died, Camden gave me a choice. We could leave Lena there and call the police after we left, and my parents would know every single gory detail of what happened to their little girl, or I could take her back to the compound with us and bury her. In that moment, Kins, I couldn’t let her go. I would have killed any one of my brothers if they had tried to pull her from my arms without a shred of remorse.”
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. This poor family. This poor, sweet man. I can’t imagine the weight Reid has been bearing on his own for all these years. Knowing the truth of his sister’s fate and keeping it to himself to protect his family? I honestly don’t know what I would have chosen, and I’m not a parent and can’t imagine which I’d rather know. Keep hope alive in my heart, or know the truth and have it break me completely?
“I’m so sorry, Reid. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I know, baby. That’s why I keep my distance from myparents. I can’t face them. They filed a missing persons report, and I even helped look for her, knowing exactly where she was the entire time. It got to a point where one day, I just left. I told them it was all too hard, because it was. They still hold out hope that she’s alive, and I know she isn’t. I never got to grieve with them.”
“Have you thought about telling them?”
“No. My dad’s a lawyer, and while he typically only deals with estates and wills, I don’t know how he’d react. I have to protect the club, too. I’m in this for life, Kinsey. There’s no getting out. It’s complicated.”
My heart has never felt so heavy. “You carry this all alone?”
He nods his head yes, and my heart shatters. This poor, sweet man.
“You have me, now, and I need you to trust that I’m strong enough to carry it with you.”
His hands reach out, pushing my hair behind my ears and grasping my face. He leans in slowly, his eyes bouncing from my eyes to my lips, and I hold my breath in anticipation.
“I believe you, little fighter,” he whispers against my lips before he kisses me. It’s sweet at first, his lips firmly pressed against mine, his hand cupping my face in such a tender touch that it’s almost heartbreaking. But then the energy in the room shifts, heats up as his hands start to roam my body, his tongue pushing into my mouth. I moan at the intrusion, accepting him greedily.
His fingers slip under my T-shirt, slowly caressing my bare skin, sending goosebumps scattering across my flesh. My hands move to his face, running my fingertips through his beard while we kiss like our lives depend on it. He devours me, and I feel every bit of his feelings in every stroke of his tongue, every brush of his lips against mine; it’s earth-shattering and life-altering in a way that I never expected kissing someone could be.
Kissing Reid Knight is everything.
He sits up, grabbing the hem of my T-shirt and lifting, my arms moving upward, allowing him to pull it over my head. He tosses it over his shoulder, not wasting any time reaching for the clasp of my bra. With a flick of his fingers, it gives way, falling down my shoulders, my breasts released from their confines. I remove it completely, as Reid sits back on his haunches, watching me. Then he’s on top of me again, lying off to the side so he doesn’t crush me with his weight, one hand threading through my hair, the other grasping my breast in his palm. I arch into him, trying to press myself against him as much as possible. I’m desperate. I want more of him, I want everything from him. He tore himself open and exposed every dark and gritty part to me, and I want to give him everything in return.
Reid kisses my jaw, licking a trail from under my ear to my chin, and dipping down, peppering open-mouthed kisses, sucks, and bites down my neck.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he moans against my skin as he reaches my chest and dips lower, lifting the handful of my breast to his mouth and swirling his tongue around the tip. My nipple pebbles for him as he blows a breath of cool air onto it before sucking the tip into his mouth.
My back bows, my hand wrapping around his head as he moans around the bud.
“That feels so good. My god. I want you, Reid. I need you.”
“I love making you feel good, Kins, I never want my time with you to end.”
He gets up then, gripping my skirt and slowly pulling it down my legs as he climbs off the bed. I’m left completely bare in front of him as he stands in front of me. I’ve never been naked in front of a man before, and I don’t feel an ounce ofnervousness lying here in front of Reid. Even though he saw me naked on the first night, this is different.
My heart tumbles in my chest like a shell caught in a crashing wave. Reid looks down at me with so much heat, awe, and reverence. His eyes are heavily lidded, his pupils blown with hunger. I’ve never felt sexier and more desired than I do when his emerald eyes are on me.
“Jesus Christ, sweetheart. Look at you. You’re so goddamn perfect.”
