Page 134 of The Saviors: Part One
Axel laughs, then covers it up with a cough. “Yeah. He’s a pushy little bastard.”
Nolan starts pulling every ingredient he needs and lays a pan on the stove to heat up. “I can help you.”
He whirls around. “Don’t you dare. I’ve got this.”
I slide my ass back onto the stool, and Sean lays his head on his arms, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “Should someone check on Kai?” I ask.
Axel rubs his hand down my back, settling his hand on my hip. “He’ll come back in when he cools down.”
My eyes start filling with tears remembering the look on his face when I told him he could leave. “I don’t really want him to leave.”
“Kai knows that, Gorgeous. I promise. Tensions were just high. It happens.”
“I’m going to check on him,” I say. Before they can stop me, I go to the backdoor, where he disappeared. I find him in one of the patio chairs with his head buried in his hands. He looks up when he hears the door, and I’m in his arms before I can blink. “I’m so sorry, Kai.”
He squeezes me to his big chest. “Shhhh, it’s okay. I was out of line.”
“No. I was.” I pull back and clasp his cheeks in my hands. “I never should have said that. I don’t want you to go anywhere.”
“I don’t want to.” He sighs and pulls me to lean back against his chest. I can tell he has something to say, so I wait for him to start talking. “You know, I grew up basically on the streets being slung from one foster home to another. After I had aged out, someone grabbed me off the streets because my last set of foster parents owed them a shitload of money.” I can already tell where this is going to go and brace myself. “No matter how many times I told them that I had nothing to do with them, they wouldn’t listen. They locked me in a cage most of the time and beat the shit out of me when I wasn’t in there.” I look up at him in surprise, and he smiles sadly. “I was a lot smaller then, Dragonfly.” He rubs a hand down his scarred cheek. “The leader is the one that did this.”
“How did you get out?”
“Axel, Cole, and Sean. They were after the leader for soliciting minors and selling pornographic images of minors. The day the Saviors busted in is the day I’m pretty sure the guys who had me were going to kill me. When they heard the commotion, he tried to slit my throat. He damaged some nerves and fucked up my vocal cords, but it wasn’t deep enough to kill me.”
“Did they get them?” I get even closer. Just thinking about Kai not being here breaks my heart.
Kai shakes his head. “At first, no. They were too focused on saving me. Axel stopped the blood flow, Cole kept me conscious, and Sean drove like a bat out of hell to get me to the hospital. I was covered in badly infected wounds, second-degree burns from a blow torch, and a gaping hole across my neck.” He buries his face in my hair, holding me tighter. “It took me a while to trust them, but once I did, they showed me everything I needed to know to get revenge, then they set me loose.”
“What happened?” I whisper.
“I found all twelve of them, locked them in a room, and killed them.” He says it simply, but I can hear the crack in his voice. “With my bare hands. I wanted to feel their bones crush and their blood pouring from them.” He pulls me up so I can see his face. “Trust me, I get why you have to do this. But even after all this time, I still feel everything I did. I still have nightmares about it. I don’t ever want you to go through that, Dragonfly.”
“I’m so sorry you went through that, Kai.” He wipes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. “But I need to find this out on my own.”
“I know you do, but I don’t know if it’s something that I can support.” He kisses my forehead. “But I can try. I won’t make any promises, though.” After what he told me, that’s all that I can ask. I still feel like killing Brady myself is the only way to get past this. I can’t explain it. I just have this feeling deep in my stomach that I’m the one that is supposed to kill him. Like this feeling won’t settle unless I’m the one that pulls the trigger.
“I won’t ask you to if you don’t feel comfortable, but you need to talk to me. I don’t like fighting with you.” I swallow past the lump in my throat. “I love you, Kai. I need you here.”
“Fuck, Dragonfly,” he chokes out. “I love you too. So fucking much.”
I snuggle back into his chest and listen to his heartbeat. We sit in companionable silence, thinking about what we know that’s about to happen. If Brady is working with Charlie, our problems just got a whole lot bigger. Kai rubs circles on my back, and I feel myself relaxing into him. I’m going to get through this with my guys by my side. No one is going to take this from me ever again. I’m finally in a place in my life where I’m happy. I have Kai and Sean, who love me unconditionally. Cole and Axel are back in my life. And Nolan…he’s still a mystery, but after my stomach somersaulted over his sweet nickname, I know it won’t take much for him to be in my heart too.
I look up when I hear the door open, and Nolan steps through with a small smile. “Food’s ready, Lovie.” He disappears back inside.
“Lovie?” Kai asks.
“Yeah,” I sigh, making him chuckle. “He made me tacos.”
“Oh shit. He’s not playing.” He kisses my cheek, helps me to my feet, then stands up behind me. “Let’s go eat.” I tug his hand when he tries to walk away. He turns to look at me.
“I love you.” The smile that breaks out of his face will be forever ingrained in my brain.
“I love you too.”
He leads me inside to the kitchen, where Nolan is setting my plate of tacos in front of my place at the island. I peck his cheek and slide onto the stool. I watch his cheeks darken and want to do it all over again. “Thank you,” I say, and he smiles.
“You’re welcome.”
