Paxton's Promise (25 page)

“You don’t think Camden would lie to us do you?”

“No,” I stated adamantly. He’d fucked over his brother and my best friend and I wanted to kill him for it, but out of all of his friends, I was there for him. I never judged him or Ryley when everyone else around them did. They were my friends.

“Camden doesn’t belong with Scar,” I murmured. “He may be a self-centered pain in the ass, but he’s not fully gone. The Camden I met a long time ago is still in there. I just don’t know what it’s going to take to get him to change.”

Paxton clasped my chin and rubbed his thumb over my lips. “I’ve been there too, sunshine. It takes a certain person to come along, and right now, he doesn’t have that.”

A text came through my phone and I jumped. Paxton and I both groaned. “Let’s see who it is, shall we?” I grumbled sarcastically, reaching for my phone. Speak of the devil.

Camden:
Just got word. The fight is definitely on.

Camden:
Tell Emerson to be ready for anything.

Handing the phone to Paxton, he read the messages then got out of bed.

“Where are you going? It’s late,” I exclaimed.

His body was coiled tighter than a snake. He was already in the zone. There would be no reasoning with him being like that. “I have to be ready, sunshine. There’s no way in hell I could sleep anyway.”

After watching him throw on a pair of shorts and T-shirt, he stormed out of the room. Quickly, I got out of bed and followed him. “Well, I’m not letting you do this alone. I’ll help you.”

With his back to me, he opened the front door and stopped. “You need your rest, Gabby. This is going to be just as hard on you as it is on me.”

“That’s true, but you must be forgetting something.” I came up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “You see this ring you put on my finger?” He looked down and placed his hand over mine. “It may just be for show, but it means we stand together through the good and bad. You’re in this shit because of me. Let me help you.”

Taking my hand, he lifted it to his lips and kissed my palm. Without any more words, he pulled me out the door and straight to his garage. It was going to be a long night.

FOR HOURS, I trained nonstop and envisioned Scar and that fucker Rage every time I hit the bag. I was accustomed to fighting ruthlessly, but there was nothing at stake other than my own life. It wasn’t like that now. I wasn’t fighting for justice, or to teach someone a lesson. I was fighting for Gabby, to keep her safe.

While I trained, she called Mason to tell him the fight was on. He promised his team would be ready. We both had our trackers in place so each one of us had two. Mason tested them out and they were all set to go.

Gabriella kept up with me until three in the morning, but then passed out on the mat. I didn’t want to carry her into my house without me there, so I covered her with a couple of towels and rolled one up to put under her head. The thought that I was going to leave her at the mercy of Scar and Rage tonight terrified the shit out of me. I didn’t want her out of my sight. Unfortunately, we had no choice. When her phone rang and I noticed it was Mason, I silenced it and quietly rushed downstairs.

“Mason, what’s up?” I answered. “Anything new?”

“Thank fucking God
you
answered. I tried calling your phone.”

After getting phone call after phone call it had started to piss me off. “I turned it off after everyone wouldn’t leave us alone. Apparently, our engagement circulated a lot faster than I anticipated.”

Mason chuckled uneasily. “I saw that. Nice touch by the way. However, after what I found out about Josh Davenport, we might’ve taken this a little further than we needed.”

“What are you talking about?”

He cleared his throat. “It looks like this Josh character is seriously fucked up in the head. He’s wanted for killing not one, but three girls in the past two years, as well as two men. Looking at the reports, he stalks them before he makes his move. The first two women were obsessions. When they didn’t submit to him, he killed them. One had a boyfriend and he killed him too.”

“What about the other guy?” I asked. “Who was he?”

“Now this next instance is a different story. Josh was actually dating this victim, but when he walked in on her and another man, he flipped out. And I’m not talking just a bullet to the brain. I’m talking straight up bloody and psychotic as fuck. He dismembered them completely.”

“I’m assuming you don’t want Gabby knowing all of this?” I asked.

Mason sighed. “Not exactly the details, but after the whole engagement fiasco and with the way this guy is, I think it might be good if she doesn’t flaunt the idea in front of him. If she does, he might snap and take it out on her. That’s the last thing we want.”

“So what exactly are you saying?”

“You’re not going to like this, but I’m saying that if this guy comes for her, she can’t fight him. I know it’s going to be against all her instincts, but we can’t take any chances.”

“What if he tries to touch her? Am I supposed to just let him?” I hissed.

“Paxton, I’ve been in this same situation before. I had to watch someone else kiss Claire right in front of me. Did I want to kill him? Yes. But I had to concentrate on the objective, and that was getting her out of there and keeping her safe. This isn’t just about you and Rage, it’s about Gabriella. Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t.” There was no way in hell I could forget it.

“If you can, text me before everything goes down. If you can’t, I’ll keep watch of the trackers to see where it leads us.”

“Will do.”

“Is Gabriella asleep?”

I looked up the stairs to the open door of my gym. Her still form was lying on the floor, unmoving. “She passed out a while ago.”

“Tell her I’ll call her later. I want to go over everything with her before it all goes down.”

“I will.”

“And be careful, both of you. Try to get some rest. You’re going to need it.”

“Don’t I know it,” I grumbled. After we hung up the phone, I trudged up the stairs and laid on the floor with Gabriella. Her eyes fluttered open and she snuggled into my side before closing them again.

“I can’t believe I fell asleep. Do you forgive me?” she asked, yawning.

Putting my arm around her, I closed my eyes and held her tight. “Don’t worry, sunshine. You’re going to make it up to me once all of this is over.”

Her breathing slowed and she smiled. “I look forward to it.”

PAXTON’S DEEP BREATHING was all I focused on until the sun came up, shining through the small window. I didn’t want to move and wake him up, so I stayed there while he slept. His arms were covered in tattoos from his shoulders down to his wrists and intermingled around the celtic symbols was the skull tattoo that gave him access to the Dark Side. I never noticed it before, but
Reaper
was printed just inside of it. I traced it lightly.

“What are you doing?”

“I was just looking at your tattoos. Does everyone have to get the skull if they want to be a part of the underground shit?”

He looked down at his arm. “Yes. And trust me, I’d take it back if I could.”

Stretching my arms, I sat up and looked for my phone. It wasn’t beside me. “Do you know where my phone is?”

Paxton slipped it out of his back pocket and handed it to me. “Mason called while you were sleeping, so I answered it.”

I took it from him. “What did he say?”

“I tell you what,” he said, getting to his feet. He held out a hand and I took it so he could lift me up. “How about we spend this day
not
talking about tonight? I think we need to concentrate on the good in our lives.”

“What do you suggest?” I asked.

Instead of answering, he gazed down at me with those sea green eyes of his, the intensity making me tremble. Sliding his fingers underneath my cami straps, he pulled them down my shoulders and over my breasts, exposing my bare flesh. His kisses started on my lips and trailed down my neck, only to stop at my sensitive peaks. He was on his knees now, staring up at me as he sucked my nipple into his mouth. My legs grew weak, but he held me tight, licking his way down my stomach as he lowered my shirt and shorts past my hips to the floor.

I dropped to my knees and let him guide me down on the mat. He covered me with his body, keeping his gaze on mine as he thrust deliciously hard. No words were said, it was just our bodies moving together. The perfect sound. Holding my body tight, he picked up the pace, his grunts deep and hot as his breath hit my ear. His grip was almost painful, but yet I held him with just as much need. I was close to losing control. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I squeezed them hard and rocked my hips.

Taking my face in his hands, he pulled my bottom lip between his teeth—the pleasure and pain of it sending me over the edge. My body tightened around him at the same time he released inside me. We laid there connected and in each other’s arms for what felt like only seconds, but it ended up being hours. No words, just us.

Once Paxton and I decided to separate from each other, I chose to take a shower and relax while he continued with his brutal training. There actually wasn’t any relaxing going on, but I had to at least pretend everything was right in the world. If only for a couple of hours. Sitting by the window, I could see Paxton in his garage staring off into space. I could only imagine what was going through his mind.