Chapter 26

"Where did she go today?" I ask John as soon as he answers his phone.

"I'll send you the list," he says.

"Did you see anyone touch her?"

"No. But she sped away with that girl in a hurry. I didn't get there until she was walking away from the house."

"Why weren't you there?" I yell at him.

"Got stuck at a red light while tailing her."

"Next time, don't fucking lose sight of her. Someone put their hands on her and I want to know who."

"Fuck. I'm sending you through the address now," he says, and my phone pings in my hand with the incoming notification.

I take one look at the address and walk back into her apartment. I have to wait. I can't just go and deal with this fucker right now. I send John a message, instructing him to watch the house. And to let me know who comes and goes.

Twenty minutes later, Daisy is walking out into the living room. She's wearing a pair of jeans and a white sweater. "You look… fucking delicious," I tell her.

"You're still here?" she asks.

"Where else would I be?"

"I don't know? Out shooting anyone who dares to look at me the wrong way?" she fires back.

I take a deep breath and count to five in my head. "I wouldn't shoot anyone for that, Daisy," I grunt.

"Gabe, I love you. And I love that you want to protect me, but I don't ever want you to hurt someone—or worse—because of me," she says. "I don't want to be a burden on you."

"You are not a burden." I'm not going to stand here and lie to her. I'm not going to say I won't ever end some motherfucker for thinking they can touch her. Harm her.

Fuck that. I might not always like who I am and what I do for my family. But killing her piece-of-shit, abusive stepfather today…? Yeah, I fucking enjoyed that. And I plan on doing something similar before the night's out.

"You ready to go?" I ask her.

"Where are we going?" Daisy beams a big, beautiful smile at me.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise." I grin while taking hold of her hand.

"Oh my gosh, what is this place?" Daisy's eyes are glued to the night sky as I lay out the picnic rug.

I place the basket on top and start unpacking the food I had prepared for us. "This is somewhere I come to when I want to be alone. I used to stop here a lot… when my father was around," I tell her.

Daisy makes herself comfortable on the ground. "It's really beautiful," she says wistfully.

I look around, wishing I could see this place for the first time again. I stumbled across this little park when I was fifteen. I'd stolen one of my father's cars and just drove until I saw a quick exit. I remember getting out of the car and aimlessly walking until I came to this clearing. Just a field of grass surrounded by huge pine trees. It's the night sky that makes it perfect though, and tonight there isn't a cloud to be seen. Bright stars shine down on us like something out of a movie set.

"It is, but nothing compares to your beauty," I tell her.

"Did you come up with that line all by yourself, Gabrielle De Bellis?" Daisy laughs.

"Sure did," I say proudly as I pour two glasses of red wine, before handing one to her. "To us."

"To us, always being real," she adds..

I sip at the wine. "I spoke to Gio today."

"You speak to your brothers every day." She laughs.

"He gave me the option to focus on the more legitimate side of the businesses and take a step back from the other stuff," I clarify while watching her face for a reaction. Any reaction. And I know the moment I see it.

Hope.

"What did you say?" Daisy asks me.

"I didn't say anything." I shrug.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," I tell her. "What I do know is that I don't want to lose you."

Daisy crawls closer, stopping when she's right in front of me. "You're not going to lose me, Gabe. You couldn't even if you tried," she says.

"What if I decide to not step away?"

"Then we will navigate what that looks like for us as we go through it. Will there be rough seas? Sure, but there are in any relationship."

"How'd I get so lucky to have you?"

"Mmm, pretty sure you won the girlfriend lottery or something," she muses. "I just… I don't want you to put yourself at risk because of me. I don't want you to go and hunt down anyone you think has hurt me and take vengeance. I can't live with that sort of guilt on my conscience, Gabe."

I can't tell her what she wants to hear. What I can do is love her. Right here, under the stars. So I take both wineglasses, placing them beside us before I bring my lips down to hers. My hands snake underneath the hem of her sweater and up the sides of her waist.

Fuck, I love the feel of her skin. I don't know what she does but it's always so fucking soft.

Then I pick her up and her legs wrap around each side of me as she straddles my lap. "I need you so fucking bad right now," I tell her as I pull away from her lips.

"You always say that." She chuckles.

"Because I always need you," I say as I lift her sweater over her head.

"Good thing you'll always have me then."

"Promise?"

"Promise what?" she asks.

"That I'll always have you?"

"I don't think it's possible for me to fall out of love with you, Gabe," Daisy says. Though it doesn't go unnoticed that she didn't actually promise me forever.

My fingers hook into the clips of her bra, releasing the material as I slide the straps down her shoulders to free her breasts before covering them with my palms. "I really fucking love these."

I arch Daisy backwards, granting myself the space I need to cover one of her nipples with my mouth, and she leans into my hold as I slowly lay her down on the rug. Like a magnet, my body follows her down. Her hands pull at my shirt.

"I want it off," she says. I reach to the back of my shirt, behind my head, and pull it off. "And the pants." Daisy smirks.

I tug at the button on her jeans first, popping it open as I slide her zip down, and then I'm pulling them over her thighs. Her jeans stop where they meet her boots. I look at the shoes and decide I don't have that much time.

"This will work," I tell her. I pick her up and roll her over, so she's on her stomach, and then lift her ass in the air. Her pussy glistens at me while my fingers hastily pull at my own pants. I need to be inside her now. I run the tip of my cock between the lips of her pussy, and Daisy shudders. "Are you ready for me?"

"More than ready. Hurry up and fuck me, Gabe," she says as she glances back at me over her shoulder.

"I'd tell you to hold on, but there's nothing much to hold on to. So brace yourself, baby. This is going to be rough and fast," I say, then slam into her to prove my point.

Daisy cries out as I bottom out. "Do your best," she says, her pussy clenching around my cock.

I take her up on that challenge as I thrust in and out. My fingers digging into her hips while holding her body exactly where I need it. Her juices are flowing, coating both of us in the evidence of how much she's loving this.

"Fuck, I love your cunt. That's it, baby. Take it all." My words are gritted out through clenched teeth as tingles run up my spine. I'm so fucking close. "Come for me, Daisy. Milk my fucking cock. It's all yours, baby."

"Oh shit, Gabe!" Daisy's pussy tightens around me, and her legs start to give out beneath her. Holding her upright, I thrust into her, one, two, three more times and then I'm spilling my seed inside her.

I'm not an idiot, though. She was close but she didn't come, which I'm not fucking okay with. Staying buried deep inside her cunt, I reach a hand out and press down on her clit. I rub little circles as her hips push back into me. And within a minute, she's spasming around me. When she comes down from her own orgasm, I pull out of her and we lay side by side. Staring up at the stars.

"And here I thought you brought me out here to be romantic and make love to me," Daisy says.

"The night isn't over yet. I just needed to get that out of the way first. Give me five minutes and the making love part can start," I tell her, reaching out to take hold of her hand. I bring it up to my mouth and kiss the underside of her wrist.

"Mmm, I think you should feed me first," she says.

"Feed you? Food or my cock?" I wiggle my brows up and down, and Daisy's eyes fall down to my half-hard dick.

"That's a really hard choice, but food first."

"I can do that." I push myself up and unzip her boots, pulling them off her feet, and then remove the rest of her jeans. Daisy adjusts herself into a sitting position, and I place a throw blanket over her shoulders before removing what's left of my own clothes.

Then she starts serving up two plates with a mixture of the finger foods I had packed. There're cheeses, meats, crackers, sandwiches, and a heap of other crap I thought she might like to have.

"This really is amazing, Gabe. Honestly, best date ever," Daisy hums.

"You're too easy to please," I tell her. I have the means to give her anything she could ever want, and it occurs to me in this moment that she's never asked for anything.

Except the one thing I can't give her. The promise that I won't kill for her.