Miah (Lane Brothers #2) (7 page)

I want to know that it’ll feel like to have his big organ inside me, because if this feels so good I know that full sex with Miah will be phenomenal.

“Jesus, babe, you taste so good,” he wheezes, pressing closer to my core.

After a few more grinding thrusts, I feel myself stiffen and seize up beneath him a second before my orgasm detonates and spasms of the purest pleasure rock through my twitching sex.

My orgasm must turn him on or something, because he stiffens above me with a growl and a groan that is wrenched from his soul before I feel a wet heat seep from his jeans into the silky fabric of my underwear.

We’re both breathing heavily and shaking when he raises his head and kisses me softly before rolling to his feet and pulling me up on my shaking legs.

“Bath and then bed, or I swear to God I’ll do something we’ll both regret.”

I wish he would but say nothing and allow him to strip me and pull me beneath the warm spray. He washes me and towels me dry before pulling a shirt over my head and placing me between the sheets.

“Miah?”

“Yeah, babe?” he asks after getting in beside me and tucking me into his side.

“That was the best sex I’ve ever had. Thank you,” I whisper, smiling around a yawn when he groans and pulls me against his growing erection.

“That’s good because it’s the best I’ve had, too. Now go to sleep, Clari, I can’t touch you anymore without taking you, and we’re not ready for that yet.”

He may not be, but I’m sure that if he just so happened to go for more than a dry hump, I wouldn’t turn him away. Good thing he’s in charge right now, because my judgement seems to be skewed at the moment.

In the best of ways.

Miah

“What exactly are you saying here, Jerry?”

I know I’m being rude to the poor guy, and after the way he tried to save Ellie last year and almost died when his crazy-ass wife put a bullet in him, I should be nicer to the man we’ve all underestimated for years.

But the truth is that I still don’t like him since all of Ellie’s pain could have been avoided if he’d told us the truth about Lynn instead of trying to save his other family and himself by sacrificing my little sister.

I feel almost nothing for the fact that he tried to make things right in the end, because yeah, I’m not a forgiving type of guy.

“I’m saying that I heard your cousin Ronny and Al Conrad talking yesterday when I went to visit my sister Cleo, and they sounded thick as thieves, boy. They’re still harboring a grudge against you guys for Bolton and Lynn.”

So what the fuck is new about that? I’ve had at least one Conrad or Lane calling me on a weekly basis to call me a murderer for “taking Lynn out,” and the fact that they’re all still sore about Bolton is another gripe that I have to endure on a regular basis.

Lynn and her mentally insane son aren’t actually dead, thanks to some quick work from Jared and the ever reliable Jace. Lynn was revived after three minutes of being clinically dead and her son is still rotting away in a hole in the French countryside.

I managed to get Lynn into a sanatorium of questionable practice after the bitch finally woke up from her coma, and there she has been for the last year, suffering as best as I can make her without actually killing her and sending her to hell where she belongs.

“So? We already know that, Jerry, it’s not exactly a secret with the way they keep calling me and threatening to kill me and mine,” I snarl, rolling my eyes at Roman when he looks away from the road and raises a brow.

“Boy, I’m telling you that whatever your aunt put into their heads about getting rid of you all is still very much in play here, and these people will only bide their time till they get the opportunity to strike at you!”

His tone makes me want to laugh because Jerry has been nothing but polite and meek since he woke up in the hospital and realized that his bitch wife was gone and no longer able to threaten the woman he loved or his child.

And that we weren’t going to torture him for his part in Ellie’s suffering.

“Jerry—”

“They were talking about some new woman…Claire…something or other.”

“Clara.”

“Yeah, that’s it. Clara. Veronica was saying that you should know what it feels like to lose someone you love, and Al was agreeing with her. Now don’t take me seriously, boy. That’s just fine since I can’t blame you for not trusting any of us worth a damn, but at least take your Clara’s life seriously, Miah. These people are full of hate and capable of God, alone, knows what when they get a bug up their asses.”

That strikes a chord of fear in me like nothing else can because I’ve seen Al in action many times, and the man is an animal when it comes to women. One of the reasons I’ve considered swapping him and Jace out is that Al has a tendency to get grabby and abusive with women when he’s drunk, and the last time it happened I had to jump on Jared and choke his ass out to keep him from killing the shit.

Just thinking of that filth getting anywhere near my Clari makes my gut twist with anger and I close my eyes against the need to land my fist through the dashboard.

“Okay, Jerry, you’re right. I’ll keep an eye out for them.”

“Not just them, Miah, but anyone they’d hire. My family may have disowned me and refused me my inheritance, kid, but that doesn’t mean the Conrads aren’t flush with cash. They have the resources and connections to get her hurt. How do you think I found that guy to watch Ellie? Cleo got me in contact with some shady dealers and I paid him out the ass to keep her safe. My family is not that altruistic, kid. They’re not going to want to help your girl, but harm her to hurt you.”

“Dammit! Why can’t those assholes just let well enough alone and move on? It’s not like Bolton and Lynn were fucking angels of mercy, Jerry. They enjoyed hurting other people, you should know since from what Pop has told me, you were one of their first victims.”

Roman has pulled over by now and sits glaring out the window with his face set in anger.

I can’t blame the man for his rage, not after Pop told us that the reason he won’t harm Jerry or let Wyatt have a go at him is because the guy has suffered his own shit under Bolton and Lynn for years now. We all assumed that Jerry was the one who’d messed Bolton up since he seemed so hard on the kid, but it turns out that Lynn would threaten Jerry’s secret family every time he or Bolton failed to live up to her standards.

Every time Bolton lost to us or failed at something, Lynn would let Jerry know how displeased she was with him as a father, and that if he didn’t make Bolton better, she’d give him a reason to try harder.

Why the woman was so nuts when my own father treated her like a treasured princess…

“Miah? You there, boy?”

“Yea, just thinking. Listen, I need you to get me something, anything to use against these assholes, Jerry. And before you say no, I want to remind you that you owe us for being such a cowardly asshole.”

“Christ boy, you wanna get my lynched by that pack of hyenas?” he splutters, making me laugh.

“No, old man, I’d just like for you to earn the help Pop has been giving you. Cleo’s still cool right?”

“You know she’s the only one who doesn’t have a hard on for you Lane boys, and why would she after your mama set her up with that specialist and the wheelchair after the accident?”

I smile at that, because of all the Conrads, Cleo is the only one worth knowing. The old bird lost the use of her legs after a horrific car accident that killed her husband, but she’s still the sweetest woman I know in that whole nest of vipers.

“Jared has been sitting on that friend of Veronica’s.”

“Paulette?” he asks, sounding mystified. “Why’d he be interested in her? Her and Ronny aren’t even that close. The girl just keeps Paulette around as a punching bag and errand girl.”

Well that’s news and maybe something I can use to get what I need before my brother decides to cut our losses.

“I was thinking that with Cleo and Paulie’s help we could wrap this thing up nice and neat and take a case to the prosecutor. You know your nephew and nieces aren’t exactly law-abiding citizens.”

“Prove it, boy, and we’ll all be the better for it,” he says.

“No, you prove it, old man. Call Jared and talk to him about getting Cleo and that Paulie girl in on things, and we’ll see how he works that angle.”

“Christ, fine, but if I end up dead because of this—”

“Get moving and get me something I can use instead of just calling me with dire warnings, Jerry.”

I end the call with a sighed curse and look over at Roman who is now smiling at me wickedly.

“You know that lunatic twin of yours has the worst crush on Paulette Hayes, right?”

We’re both laughing our asses off a half hour later when the man, himself, calls, cussing me out for all he’s worth.

“You fucking asshole—”

“Jared, calm your ass down and say thank you since I just gave you the biggest advantage you need to meet the woman instead of sitting outside her house like a creeper with his dick in his hand.”

The vile things he starts yelling at me would make me doubt his love if not for the fact that I’m sure I hear fear in his usually calm voice.

“I’ve kept my distance for a reason, Miah, and you Goddamn know it. Tell Roman to stop laughing, I can hear his braying all the way over here. Bunch of meddling old women is what you assholes are.”

My own chuckles are choked when he finally winds down and sighs wearily.

“You know Jerry is like the worst possible candidate if we want to keep our interest unknown, right?”

“Yea, that’s the point, Jared. He’ll tip them off just by breathing and that’ll make them nervous enough to start making mistakes. We need to know if they’re all bark or if they bite back in the form of two assholes breaking into Clari’s place. Time is not a luxury right now, and it’s starting to chap my ass that I don’t know anything more than what I knew three days ago.”

I need to have some answers and soon because sleeping beside Clari without touching her is starting to wear on my self-control. Especially when the woman prances around the room in one of those negligées I now regret buying her, shaking her fine ass my way every chance she gets.

“And the other?”

“Roman’s in with the dirty cops and they should invite him to a meet sometime soon. We’re hoping they let their guards down and take him into the fold.”

Not that I’m counting on that happening yet. These cops are smart and organized and vet their members very well. I suspect that they’ll want him to prove himself before they let him into the inner sanctum, but as opposed as I am to it, it seems to be the only option left to us.

My superiors have vetoed sending another operative in, so it’s just me and Roman right now, unless something big goes down soon.

“Tell him to watch his six.”

“Will do. Gotta go, bro. I have a scene to process.”

It’s a lie and he knows it, but I can’t tell the guy half the things I do because as close as we are in the field, this stuff is still classified enough that if I tell them too much, I could face a lot worse than a court-martial if it gets out.

“So, we ready to start making things happen?”

“Yes, Mr. Impatience, let’s go see if we can stir the pot and be home on time for dinner. Ma’s making meatloaf.”

***

Clara

Someone’s watching me and I know it. I just don’t know what to do about it since I’m standing on the main sports field right now with a class full of kids doing PT drills.

My first impulse is to hustle them and myself back to the main class area to escape the feeling of some freak’s oily eyes all over me. I choose to stay where I am, instead, and keep the kids moving through the routine while I glance around covertly, hoping to get a look-see of the idiot.

              It takes another twenty minutes before all the kids have hula-hooped, skipped, and completed the ball skills program, and I reach my class with a sigh and a feeling of relief that has my knees shaking.

I’m about to get my phone and call Miah when I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I turn to see Nick standing in the doorway, his eyes smiling as he takes me in and says hello to the kids.

“What are you doing here?” I hiss once I’ve given my class enough work to keep them busy and pull him out into the hallway.

Nick, as usual, ignores the irritation I’m not trying to hide and shrugs easily.

“You haven’t returned my calls and you sent the clothes back, Clara.”

“Because I told you I didn’t want them and I asked you to leave me alone, Nick. Jesus, can’t you just take a hint for once? We are over. Done. Caput. I am not coming back to you,
ever
, and it’s time you got that through your thick skull.”

              He’s not used to this level of ferocity from me, and I see it in the way his eyes stretch before narrowing on me in that way that tells me his temper is piqued. He’s not usually violent, but Nick is no pushover.

“You’re making a mistake here, Clara, and I won’t let you continue to be unreasonable. We belong together, and it’s time that you realized that,” he says, attempting to grab my arms.

I dart to the side and face him with a look that would strip paint.

“Don’t you dare touch me. We are so done, it’s not even funny, and you want to know why I say that, Nick? Because I’ve moved on. Yes, that’s right. I am not single anymore or on the market for whatever it is that you seem so fixated on. Stop watching me, calling me, and sending me things, Nick. I’ll say it again. We are through, and we have been for a long time.”

His eyes lose that cajoling twinkle and he takes a step closer, raising his hand.

“Miss Elms, you know that family is not allowed on school grounds unless vetted by myself or the vice principal.”

My heart stops clambering in my chest when Principal Jones comes stalking our way, her heels clicking over the floor with enough force to echo off the walls.

Nick drops his hand and plasters a smile across his face before turning away.

“My apologies, ma’am. I haven’t been able to get in touch with Miss Elms all week and I became concerned. I won’t drop by uninvited again,” he drawls, using that smooth voice of his to have the middle-aged tyrant tittering like a schoolgirl.

“Oh, well, as long as you’re leaving soon it should be fine. Why don’t I walk you out? You have a class to teach, Miss Elms.”

I’m left with a bitter taste in my mouth and the certainty that this is not something I can keep to myself if I want my relationship with Miah to work.

              Telling him this is so not going to set the mood for a night I had hoped would finally lead to some good love making.

“Cripes. Now I’m never getting laid,” I mutter beneath my breath as I stalk back into class and go for my phone in my bag.