Twisted Tides (Forged Hearts #2)

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-One

EVIE

“Let’s Have A War” by Fear

W e sit there stunned into silence. My breathing picks up, and Jameson’s grasp on me tightens. I practice my breathing like I was taught so long ago in therapy. When my thoughts go dark, I think about the therapist who helped me so much back then, but it feels like all the same emotions are just beneath the surface, threatening to break me. Amid a violent storm that threatens your life amongst the chaotic seas that rocks you to your core, you must get through it because at the end of the storm, there is calmness and peace.

The sun breaks through the stormy clouds, and the water reflects the light off the peaceful waters. This storm has been brewing for years, and now we must face it. No matter how strong I tried to make myself, I knew that this time would come when I would face all my fears and our family would have to come together to win a war—a war that was started so long ago over greed and power at the cost of those that weren’t born yet.

And we will have to suffer the burden to end it all.

I am pulled from my thoughts as Eduardo roars and throws everything off his desk. It all comes crashing down—his anger, frustrations, and helplessness at the failure to get his reason for existing, as he says to her so often in anyone’s company, are all his emotions swirling as he refuses to let her go.

Emma sobs into her hand, and he goes over to her, kneeling at her feet. He takes her hands in his, pulling them from her tear-stained face.

“I thought I was free, but will we ever be free from this, Eduardo?” she asks him so innocently that my heart breaks for her.

She suffered so much brutality from Julian. We ended his life, but his father is still alive and now wants to sell us off as if we are his possessions to do so.

“I am not going to let anything happen to you, baby. I promise.”

I rise from Jameson’s lap. I extend my hand to my sister much like I did that day we ended Julian’s life in that warehouse. I knew that this time was coming. The time when we would have to fight for our family.

She looks up at me, and her face is streaked with tears, but tears no longer flow from her eyes. There is a look on her face that I haven’t seen before. She looks pissed.

She places her hand in mine and rises as Eduardo moves aside, allowing her space to stand alongside me. She looks into my eyes, searching for something she must find, and then she looks at Eduardo.

“I am so tired of this fucker, and I want to see him suffer a cruel death deserving of the sins he has committed. I want to see him die, witnessing the moment his life fades from his eyes. I want to know that we did that and that he lost. Everything he wanted. His hopes and dreams are to be extinguished so he can burn in hell with his son.”

I’ve never heard Emma speak this way, and it empowers me to know that she can and will be brave enough to see this through.

Jameson is shaking when he takes my hand, pulling me out of my trance-like state, seeing my sister finally become the woman I knew she could always be. There is no place for weakness now, and knowing that she can be strong enough to do this helps me. I can’t be strong for the both of us, and Eduardo, as much as he wants to keep her safe, understands that she needs to be strong, his equal, if she wants this type of life with him. We all do. We are all part of this life together, and together we will fight to keep what is ours.

Someday, Eduardo will take over his father’s business and take his place as the head of the family. He was raised for this. Knowing that Emma can be by his side, strong and assured in her role as his wife, is all I ever wanted for my sister. I want all of us to get what we deserve–the happiness and peace we so desperately seek. This is the moment where it starts. It’s time to finish this. So, I say, “Let’s have a war.”

Jameson takes me to my apartment, and Emma will meet me here. Mateo has already texted us and told us he will be here soon, so we can be ready. I step through the door and walk to my bedroom. I stand there looking around the space I have called my own, but not my home.

Jameson comes around me and wraps me in a solid embrace. He is so warm, and I shiver—not from being cold, but from my comfort when he is here with me. I lean into him and tilt my head to the side. His warmth caresses me as he leans in to place soft kisses on my neck.

“When all this is over, Evie, I want you to move in with me. I want us to pick out a place together that is just ours. I want you. If I have learned anything from being with you, it is that life is fleeting. I see the dangerous life we live and the enemies that will stop at nothing to take what doesn’t belong to them in the quest for more power and control.”

I turn around to look him in the eye. I am amazed to hear his words spoken and the truth that he loves me written on his face. Jameson wears his heart on his sleeve. He may not be the alpha male that Eduardo is, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t risk his own life or do everything in his power to keep me safe. Eduardo was born into a different life than he was, but being Eduardo’s friend means that he needs to be a strong man as well.

“Maybe we can get a place in Eduardo’s building? Even Mattie, too. We can all have separate places, but still be there for one another.”

He nods. “That sounds amazing, Eves. I like that idea so much, and it will be the only thing I will look forward to when you are in that monster’s house. I won’t be able to keep an eye on you like I want to, but I will be able to at least track you.” He pulls out a box from his pocket. “Here. I had these made and picked them up the other day.”

He hands me a little black velvet, heart-shaped box. I stare at it, afraid to open it. “What is it?”

He looks at me, amused. “Well, why don’t you open it, and you’ll find out?”

I look at him, assessing, until my curiosity wins out. I step away from his embrace, turn to look at him, and open the box.

“Wow, I don’t know what to say. They are beautiful.” I hold a box open that contains a set of two large emerald hearts. I pick them up, noticing they are a little heavier than I expected. “They are beautiful, Jameson.”

“I agree,” he says, “and practical, too.”

I look at him curiously, wondering where he is going with this. “Well,” I say, thinking about it, “I do wear a lot of green, and they do go very well with my eyes, making them very matchy-matchy.” He chuckles at my comment. “You don’t think so?” I raise an eyebrow at him in question. I take the earrings out of the velvet holder and put them on. “They are also screw backs, so they won’t come off.” I list all of the valid points as to why they are such a perfect present.

“Sure, I do think about all those things. I also think that they will let us know where you are at all times and let us hear you if we need to.” He waves his tracking app on his phone before stuffing it into his pocket.

I laugh aloud. “Of course there is.” I shake my head as I tighten the last earring, securing it in place.

He looks delighted with himself as he rocks on his heels and back to the balls of his feet in one fluid motion. His hands are in his pant pockets, and he looks absolutely delicious. I lick my lips and he seems to understand the look of hunger in my eyes as he approaches me slowly, calculating his next move.

“One’s a speaker.” He touches one of my earrings. “The other is a tracker with an SOS feature, much like Emma’s bracelet Eduardo had me make for her.”

My hand drops from his gift. “Practical and beautiful,” I whisper.

His body is flush with mine, and I breathe in his masculine, earthy scent. It envelops me, and I want to remember it, to bottle it up and take it with me. I want to commit it to memory, so that I can take it with me and cherish it when I am alone and in my bedroom without him, waiting on someone else to determine my future for the last time. I don’t voice the thought that I may never see him again because I have to believe in our blended family and know that they will do everything in their power to see him through to the end.

“I agree. So beautiful.” His words tickle my ear as he sucks and tugs on my earlobe, sending a tug at my core. I moan and tilt my head, giving him better access. He licks down my neck and places kisses all over my face, until he plants a soft kiss on my lips. He hovers over my mouth, until he brings me in close, parting my open lips farther with his tongue. My body is pulled into his, and I can feel the rigid outline of his cock.

He leads me backward to my bed until my legs hit the edge of the mattress. He pushes me back and takes off each of my shoes, and then my pants and panties in one go. He undoes his belt, letting his pants pool around his ankles as he steps out of them.

“Take off your shirt.” His voice is desperate. Pleading. “We don’t have much time until everyone gets here.”

It’s like having cold water thrown on my face to wake me from my lust-filled gaze. He watches me as he pulls his shirt over his head and then grabs my shirt, ripping the thin, lacy material. It smarts against my skin, and I look up at him, ready to say something, but he doesn’t let me.

He pushes his cock into my mouth as my teeth scrape lightly along his velvet skin. He is trying to get me out of my own head, and it’s working. He always knows to give me what I need, and right now, I need his cock choking me, filling me.

He crouches over me, holding my head up as he fucks my face. I hold onto his ass, and my fingernails in their usual pointed shape dig into his cheeks as he pauses, holding himself to me. He hisses and removes his cock as dribbles of saliva trail down my chin. He drops down to my legs and plunges his tongue into my entrance. My legs spread wide, giving him full access to my pussy.

Jameson licks around my entrance as he lashes out at my clit and sucks hard. My back bows off the bed. I open my eyes, seeing him watch me from below. He places kisses to each side of my leg, wiping his mouth on my inner thigh. He brings himself up and hovers over me, aligning himself with my entrance. He drives in one thrust, and I cry out. He fucks me mercilessly, as if this is the last time.

We are loud and wild. I grab his hair and tug him to me. He kisses me hard and grabs upward, using the wrought iron to pull him into me more forcefully. I’ve never been fucked harder, and when he hits that spot deep inside of me, twisting his hips, I cry out.

“Fuck me, Jameson, that’s it. Right there. Keep—Oh God, keep going. Oh…” My mind stops working, and my body shakes, convulsing with an orgasm so strong, I spasm, turning rigid under him, and he fucks me through it until I open my eyes and see him again.

He kisses me lightly, so different from the man who owned me and possessed every ounce of my body a moment ago. “I love you, Evie. Come back to me.”

Something wet hits my cheek, and I see this man crying for me. It is almost my undoing as I shed tears that I haven’t in so long, when I vowed never to be weak. To never show my emotions. He drops down onto me, covering me in his full weight.

“I promise,” is all I can say because I will do everything I can to come back to this man. To come back to my family and have the life I deserve and the happiness I have now in Jameson’s arms.

He doesn’t just own my body but my heart and soul, too.