Sacrifice by Caitlyn Dare
Rhett
I thought I’d lost you.
I swallow down the words that want to tumble from my lips as I breathe in her scent. But it's not the usual fresh cherry, because I can smell them on her.
My fists curl around Dane's shirt with my need to go back and end that cunt. It's what I should have done the second I stormed into that building. But knowing it would potentially stop us from getting any intel on why they felt the need to follow Evan's dumbass plan and take our girl meant I had to put the bullet in his shoulder instead.
"I'm okay," she whispers, but it does little to make me relax.
Every time I blink, all I can see is him with his hand in her hair, ready to—
"Rhett," she soothes, obviously able to feel me trembling as I attempt to do the right thing for once.
I know Dane should probably be the one to comfort her right now. I know he was desperate to get back to her, to know she was okay, but it needs to be me. I need to be here with her. I need to know she's okay, otherwise I'm going to lose my goddamn mind over all this.
Her tiny hand moves up my chest, making a shiver run down my spine as she pulls her head away from my shoulder and looks up into my eyes. I have no idea what she sees staring back at her, but it makes her gasp in shock.
"What happened tonight?" she asks, her brows knitting together.
I shake my head, not ready to talk about that, or anything, right now. "Not important."
"I think it—"
Pressing my fingers to Sadie’s lips, I cut off her words. "Not now."
Her large green eyes bore into mine, and my heart rate picks up speed.
"Fuck, Sadie. Fuck."
My lips are on hers before I know what I'm doing. Forcing her mouth open, I push my tongue in and search for hers as I pull her body flush against mine. A low moan rumbles up her throat and spurs me on.
Fuck, I need her right now.
But I can't. Not after what she's been through.
"Rhett," she moans when I drop my hands to the backs of her legs and lift her, her pussy pressing against my already hard cock.
"Shhh, princess. Let me look after you."
I walk through to Dane's bathroom and place her on the counter beside the sink. Just like the rest of this place, it's dated and mostly empty. I understand why Dane feels the need to have this place, though. He craves something of his own, but it's not necessary. He might not know his real family, but what he has at the club is all the family he needs. He's my brother in all the ways that matter, and I'd never let anything happen to him.
"What are you—" Sadie's words vanish when I take a step back from her, shrugging off my cut and dragging my hoodie over my head.
Her eyes immediately drop to my chest and her teeth sink into her bottom lip. It's a move I'm sure she's not aware she’s making, but one I appreciate nonetheless. Sadie thinks she hides her feelings from me, keeps a lid on the things she doesn’t want anyone to know, but I see it all.
Unsnapping my belt, I toe off my boots and drop my jeans, kicking them off as I move toward the shower. My cock tents my boxers and I have no doubt that she's already seen it and is getting ideas, but it's not happening. This is about her, not me.
"Arms up, princess." She hesitates, but when I lift the fabric of Dane's shirt, I leave her no choice but to follow orders. "Fuck," I groan when I drop the fabric to the floor and run my eyes down her body.
She fucking disarms me, and she has no idea.
"What hurts?" I ask.
"I-I'm okay."
Reaching out, I take her chin lightly in my grip. "No lies, Sadie Ray. What. Hurts?"
"My head."
My eyes lift to the bandage that I'm sure that prick Noble probably applied for her. I want to hate him, to beat the living shit out of him for being anywhere near her, but I also can't help but feel grateful that he looked after her for us while we dealt with business. And despite the fact that he was involved, I could see in his eyes the second I looked into them at the compound earlier that he wanted to protect her almost as much as we do.
Threading my fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck I move her forward a little and press a kiss to the skin beside the bandage. "Where else?"
She shakes her head, and I kiss down the side of her face.
"Sadie."
Holding her hands up, she shows me the red sores around her wrists from the rope she was bound with.
"Motherfuckers," I grunt, lifting one to my lips and gently brushing them over the sore skin. Holding her eyes, I watch her lids lower with each kiss.
"Rhett."
"Where else?"
"N-nowhere."
Dragging my eyes from hers, I run them over every inch of her body, looking for bruises or scratches, but I don't find anything.
Releasing her hand, I push my boxers down my legs and lift her from the counter, copying the move with her panties until we're both bare. I walk backward with her until the water hits me.
She watches my every move before she gets distracted by the rivulets of water running over my chest and down my body.
"Come here, but don't get your head wet."
She steps into my body, and I find her lips again, kissing her as deeply as I can in the hope that she can feel everything I'm too scared to admit even to myself, let alone her. Her hot hands slide up my back, burning a trail everywhere they go as my cock bobs painfully between us.
"What are you doing, Rhett?" she asks when I finally release her.
"Washing tonight off of you," I admit, not wanting to tell her that she smells like that cunt and that dank warehouse. "Looking after you."
Reaching for the sponge, I pour a generous amount of Dane's shower gel onto it and set about washing every inch of her, once again looking for any signs she might be lying about not being hurt.
I cover her in fluffy white bubbles, memorizing every sexy curve and mark on her body as I go. "All done," I say regretfully, knowing she needs rest because her eyes are starting to flutter closed.
"But…" She reaches for me, and I capture her hand.
"Not about me, princess."
She nods, too exhausted to argue with me.
Turning off the shower, I wrap her in the only towel hanging on the rail and sweep her into my arms. I redress her in one of Dane's shirts before getting her into bed.
"Where are you going?" she asks in a rush when I take a step back, lifting the towel she'd used to wipe down my own body.
"I'll be right back, princess."
She nods, watching my every move as I back out of the room to grab my boxers. Dane will be back before long, and I'm sure the last thing he wants is me walking around his place naked.
To my amazement, she's still awake when I crawl into bed beside her. She instantly curls into my side and searches out my lips. Her leg curls around my waist, ensuring my cock grazes her pussy. Her burning heat calls to me, and I know that if I were to drop my hand to her right now I'd find her wet and ready for me, but I don't, as much as it pains me to do so.
"You need to rest, princess."
"I know… But when I close my eyes, I see him," she whispers, making my chest ache and my need for blood to return full force.
I think about the state of Evan when we kicked him out of the truck on the outskirts of Savage Falls and it helps to settle me. That stupid fuck isn't going to forget how badly he screwed up tonight for a very long time. And if he does, if he even so much as looks at Sadie ever again, I won't hesitate in following through with my threat of ending everything for him.
Justin, though, that fucking snake… thoughts of him really make my mouth water. He wasn’t as lucky as his cousin, who got a chance of finding his way home. Justin isn't going to see the light of day again after we're finished with him.
Tomorrow we'll tell Ray what we've discovered, and I already know that he'll be as hungry for Reaper blood as I am.
Evan might be a stupid prick, but he's lead us right into the lions’ den. Exactly where I wanted to be after last week's little warning when they ran Dane and Sadie off the road. We just need to make sure we act before they can strike again.
"Let me give you something else to think about, then." I kiss her once, twice, and on the third, she sucks my bottom lip into her mouth and sinks her teeth into it. "You're wicked, princess."
"I learned from the best." She smirks.
A growl rumbles up my throat as I deepen the kiss, distracting her from the events of the night. I kiss her until her body goes lax and she finally gives in to her exhaustion. Then, I pull her into me and hold her as she sleeps, reminding myself that she's okay.
I lose track of time as she lays sleeping in my arms, but it must be a couple of hours later when the front door opens and Dane's footsteps fill the silence.
It only takes him a few seconds to appear in the doorway, his eyes immediately landing on Sadie. "How's she doing?" he whispers.
"She's okay."
He walks into the room, dropping his cut to the floor and kicking off his boots. Gently lowering himself to the bed on the other side of Sadie, he carefully tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear as he checks her over, needing to see for himself that she's in one piece.
"You sorted your shit out?" he asks without looking at me, knowing that I'll never willingly open up face to face.
"Getting there," I admit.
"It's okay to need her… to want her, you know." His eyes bore into the top of my head as my heart begins to thunder in my chest.
"That how you feel?" I ask.
"You know I do."
"And what about him?" I look up this time, meeting his eyes as something passes between us. Apprehension, confusion, I'm not sure. But I think we can both admit that something big happened tonight, and it wasn't just about the three of us in this room. But I have no idea where it leaves us all.
"He cares about her,” he says, “but he knows she's ours."
"That doesn't seem to be stopping him."
"He said nothing happened tonight."
"And you believe him?"
"I… uh…" He hesitates.
"Exactly. He wants what's ours, and we need to decide what we're going to do about it."
Because fuck… it’s hard enough to think about Sadie with Dane, let alone that Pretty Boy motherfucker.
"Tomorrow, yeah?" Dane murmurs, pushing from the bed. "I'll sleep on the couch. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." He studies me for a beat, probably wondering if anything happened while he was gone.
"I only looked after her, bro,” I say. “I did the right thing."
"Good.” He gives me a stiff nod, his eyes flicking to Sadie once more. “She deserves it."
