34. Halo

"I've set up a trip wire across the main drive and let King know to tell the others," Bates says when I catch up with him down the driveway. This is the fourth walk I've done with him since Ari and I talked earlier.

And despite what is going on around us, I find I'm itching to get on with the rest of my life with her instead of dealing with my brother.

We keep to the shadows as we talk, our voices low.

"Good idea. Every extra moment's notice we get of their arrival is a bonus."

"Figured knowledge is power. Switch and I set up a bunk in the outbuilding over there." He points to a disused building with a corrugated roof and dirty glass windows with a small hole, as if a bullet had been fired through it but the glass didn't shatter. "He's getting some sleep while I keep watch. You should get some shut-eye too."

I glance up at the moon, wishing it wasn't shining quite so bright. "Would you sleep if someone was coming for your daughter?"

Bates shoulder checks me. "He's coming for you first."

"I'd rather me than Lola. Is it wrong I want to speak to him? See if I can talk him off this wild ledge he's standing on. Or at least understand why he's so fucking angry about it."

"And he never returns any of your messages?" Bates asks.

I shake my head but make a decision and grab my phone.

This cat and mouse bullshit is a fucking coward's way. Meet me anywhere. I can make any place my battlefield. One on one. It'll be my pleasure to finish this ridiculous fight with some guy who's butt-hurt because his daddy didn't love him.

"What did you say?" Bates asks.

"That he's a fucking pussy and needs to face me."

"To the point."

Bates looks over to the outbuilding, where Switch is now standing stretching his hands over his head.

"Two-hour switchover," Bates says.

I salute Switch, who salutes back, then gestures that he's going to check out the rear of the cabin.

As Bates walks back to the outbuilding, I return to the cabin, grateful that King would let us stay here and that my brothers are happy to come through for me.

I fire a quick message to King.

Any news from Vex yet?

It takes a moment for a reply.

Found where he was staying. Motel outskirts of the city. Checked out this afternoon. Could be on his way back to Texas for all we know.

I shake my head. Why would this guy keep hauling all the way up here from Texas? Sure, there is the access issue at the docks, but that doesn't feel like it's enough for him to come personally to solve it.

I begin to type. There's a reason he keeps coming up here. It's bigger than this beef with me. Is there someone he was close to from his time in the system? Someone is up here that's important to him, I'm sure of it. Ask Vex.

It takes a second for King to reply. On it.

I push open the door to the cabin quietly. King and Rae have done a great job of making this place feel like an escape, a sanctuary. There are pictures of the two of them on the walls. It struck me earlier that none of them feature the Iron Outlaws. He doesn't wear his cut in any of them. It's simply Uther and Rae.

A place for the two of them outside of the club.

It makes me want the same for me, Lola, and Ari. A place where we can just be the three of us.

I never intended to stay in the house I'm in, only flip it and move on. It was a vehicle to wash my cash, to make more money. Something to occupy my time outside the club. But it has felt like a home since Ari and Lola moved in. A place to have more of a life outside the club.

Maybe we should go on a vacation. Mexico or somewhere hot and sunny where we can sleep on the beach safely and swim in the sea. I want to see Ari in that Stars and Stripes swimsuit again and make more memories to add to fucking her on the table. And I want to splash in a pool with Lola and set her onto a path where she becomes like a little mermaid.

Hopefully Ari and Lollipop are asleep and I don't wake them, but as the door closes shut with a click, Ari's sleepy head lifts from the sofa.

"Hey," she says, stretching her arms and yawning.

"You should be in bed," I whisper, just in case Lola is sleeping with her.

"Lola went down without a fight," she says, tipping her chin in the direction of the bedroom. "It's like she knows there's something going on and she wants to do her bit."

There are interior bars on the windows at the back of the house. They lock into the wall, so they could be removed if there were a fire and someone needed to get out, but they prevent anyone from breaking in. I appreciate King's fortification, and it's making me think that my next project should be a cabin of our own. A safe place to run to if we ever need to hide.

I'll renovate it any which way she wants me to. And maybe I'll build a safe room in the basement of our home. That'd be a fun project for the winter.

I yawn as I force my eyes to stay open. It's three o'clock in the morning, and the house is still with that quiet energy you find when your little part of the world is sleeping. I strip off my weapons, except my knife, and put them on the side table near Ari's head. She moves the pillow she was lying on and pats the sofa. "Come sit here." Too tired to do anything other than what she says, I obey. "You should close your eyes for a minute."

"I'm too wired for sleep, even though I'm fit to fall over. And I'll feel better when more reinforcements come."

"I have an idea," Ari says, climbing off the sofa.

When she takes to her knees between my feet, I take a deep breath. "Ari," I warn.

"What?" she says as she plants her palms on my thighs and squeezes them. "I want to help you stay awake but find some ease."

"Watch yourself on the knife, yeah?" I touch my fingers to the one strapped on my thigh. "You'll piss me off if you hurt yourself."

She presses up and leans herself against my body so I can kiss her, and I indulge in the safety and sweetness of her lips. I wrap my arms tightly around her back, the warmth of her seeping through her clothes.

Ari slips beneath my arms, kissing my body through my black T-shirt as she goes. Just her touch has me harder than the handle of my SIG. When she reaches my utility belt, I help her unfasten it, but leave the buttons and zipper of my jeans to her.

Her confidence in herself is as arousing as the feel of her gentle hands on me.

I stroke the side of her face, her skin soft to the touch. She turns and places a kiss on my palm.

"You don't have to do this, Ari."

She sits back on her heels. "I know. But you've been such a good boy." She keeps her face straight for about two seconds, then laughs. "Sorry, it sounds so much better when you call me a good girl."

"You wanna dominate me, kitten?"

Ari grins. "Put your hands behind your head on the sofa."

I do as she says, but she groans.

"What?"

"Your biceps are huge."

That makes me smile, and of course I flex them. "You make it sound like it's a problem."

"It is for my concentration," she mutters.

I glance down to where my cock is pressing hard against my jeans. "I got something that needs some of your concentration."

"I was getting there before you distracted me." She reaches for the button of my jeans, undoing it before gently lowering the zipper. My cock feels every vibration.

I suck in some air and, for a moment, close my eyes, until her hands on me makes me jump.

"You're so thick," Ari says as she strokes my length. "And always so hard."

Her hand slides from tip to balls and back again. Long and deliberate. "Only for you, kitten. Use your mouth."

I open my eyes so I can watch. Surprisingly, she starts with my balls. Licking them, sucking one and then the other into her mouth. It feels good and speaks to a promise that soon those lips will be wrapped around another part of me.

I think back to the first time she put her mouth on my cock. There is no hint of nerves in her actions today. It's all confidence and desire.

Candlelight flickers, casting shadows along the hollow of her cheeks. The urge to tangle my hands in her hair is unrelenting, but for now, I keep my hands where she told me.

Her tongue slides along the vein on the underside of my cock, but it's her eyes I can't stop looking at. I know when a woman is rooted in her own skin, owning her sexuality in a way that is undeniable and sexy as fuck. Right now, she isn't thinking about how she looks or sounds, but is utterly immersed in enjoying this moment with me.

When she licks the head, a strand of pre-cum stretching from my slit to the tip of her tongue, my cock jerks. "Fuck, Ari."

"No fucking tonight," she says. "Just this. Just you."

And then she sucks me into her wet warmth, and I thrust my head back against my arms, my body arching. The involuntary action forces my cock farther down Ari's throat, but she doesn't complain.

She adds her hand, stroking the length that can't fit into her mouth.

"Yeah. Like that. As deep as you can take it," I say.

And, holy fuck, I slide down the back of her throat. Her eyes water as she gags, saliva spilling down over my cock, wetting her hand.

It takes every last ounce of self-control to not thrust, but I do grab her head between my palms, holding her where I want her.

"You squeeze my thighs if it's too much," I say, pulling a final moment of sanity before I cave into what this precious girl is giving me.

She lifts her head slightly, and while I let go, thinking she wants to stop, all she does is lick up some of the saliva before sucking me back down her throat again.

This time I do what I please. I hold her head, and I thrust into the back of her throat. Ari lets go with her hand, placing both palms flat on my thighs, her fingers outstretched.

So I don't confuse them with gripping me.

"Jesus," I mutter as Ari looks up at me. Tears run down her cheeks.

I should have promised to never make her cry again, but I can't help but revel in the gift my girl is giving me right now.

In the quiet, this might be one of the most intimate moments between the two of us. Then I think of the night she bathed me, when she made the experience just about my needs.

Finding someone to love for the rest of your life is a one-in-a-million endeavor. And yet my forever is kneeling right in front of me in the midst of danger, making sure I'm okay.

I'm not sure I could love anyone harder than I do Ari in this moment.

I allow myself to forget what is happening outside the front door and slip deep into this moment. Sensations coalesce with feelings of loving and being loved.

The warmth of her mouth, the tenderness of her tongue, eases and excites me in a way I find difficult to put into words. I have a momentary flicker of frustration when I feel my orgasm build, wanting this moment to last forever.

"I'm gonna come, Ari." My words are raw. "You need to move if you don't want me to send it down your throat."

But she doesn't move. Just looks up at me with those wide fucking eyes of hers.

"Ari. Fuck," I cry out on a bark, coming hard down her throat.

It feels so fucking good, I forget why we're here.

Shit, I can barely remember my own name as she swallows everything I give her, then begins to lick me down gently.

When my cock lies in an exhausted heap, I lift her into my lap and kiss her. I taste myself on her lips, and it's hot as fuck.

"Normally last longer, but that throat of yours sucked the cum out of me, I swear," I admit.

"Close your eyes for a minute. I'll watch your phone. If you get a message from Switch or Bates, I'll wake you."

I shake my head. "I need to be alert if they message."

"Okay." Ari climbs off my lap and walks behind the sofa. "You check your messages and do whatever you have to do, and I'll do this."

I'm just opening my messages when Ari's fingers dig into the tense muscles beneath my T-shirt. Holding my weapon all day, the tension that comes with that, makes my shoulders ache, and her hands soothe.

"Fuck that feels good." My phone sits in my palm, but I don't look at it. I simply let my head hang forward so Ari can get her fingers right into the areas where I am stiffest.

And she's still massaging me when I fall fast asleep.