Rocket (Hell's Handlers MC 5)

“About four.”

“Wow.” She hadn’t meant to sleep for two hours.

“Can I sit?” he asked, indicating the spot next to her on the bed.

“Go ahead.” Chloe scooted until her back met the wall. She drew her knees up and wrapped an arm around them in a sort of metaphorical shield for her heart. After toeing off his boots, Rocket sat against the headboard and stretched out his legs.

There was a crease between his eyes. It tended to pop up when he was deep in thought. The fact he hadn’t stepped right in the room and told her to fuck off had to be a good sign, right?

Who the hell knew at this point?

After at least three minutes of silence, Chloe was losing her mind. Someone had to say something before the pressure became so great, the room exploded off the side of Izzy and Jig’s house. “So, uh, did you…”

“I fucked up,” Logan said at the same time.

“Huh?” She blinked at him. “I mean, what did you say?”

Logan’s sigh was heavy and full of pain. “I fucked up.”

As her head shook side to side, Chloe said, “No. You just got caught up in the thought of finally getting Lefty. I understand why, Logan.”

He huffed a soft chuckle. “Well, I fucked that up too, but it’s not what I was referring to. I’m talking to how I treated you at your house. My reaction to you calling Copper.”

“Oh.” Not her smoothest, but she was truly stunned speechless. “No. You didn’t. I—”

“Saved my fucking ass, baby.”

She had nothing to say to that. It was such a one eighty from the man who’d glared at her like she’d snuffed out the sun.

“I kept seeing you. The way I found you in the motel.”

She tensed and his hand landed on her thigh.

“I shouldn’t bring it up.”

“No.” She scooted a little closer. “It’s okay. Continue. Please.”

“I kept seeing you that way and I didn’t try to push it away. I let it come. Let it fuel the raging fire of hatred I had for the man. And then he was there. In front of me. After hurting you again,” he said as he stroked a gentle finger over the two butterfly bandages on her cheek. “God, Esposito had to fuck with me one last time.” Rocket’s head thunked against the headboard. His eyes fell closed and he breathed in and out as though trying to get a handle on his emotions. Then he opened his eyes and those blue orbs met her gaze. “I felt so guilty I didn’t check your house that I lost control when I saw that he hit you. Then this afternoon, I had my second shot at him. I did the same thing. Pictured you hurt and helpless. But this time, the image faded away. It was replaced by a new one. One of you as you are now. Strong, resilient, so sexy my dick aches every time I so much as breathe the same air as you.”

As though to demonstrate his point, his gaze drifted down between his legs. Chloe couldn’t help but follow. Sure enough, there was a bulge in his jeans. She chuckled softly.

“I realized something today. We need to live for the current image of you, not the past one. Today is what’s important. And today I have you. And you’re whole, and healing, and strong enough to protect yourself. My guilt doesn’t move us forward or show you the respect you deserve. I’ll always try to protect you, Chloe, maybe even too much, but I see you for the strong, kickass woman you’ve become. I trust you to take care of yourself when I can’t. What I’m trying to say, Chloe, is that I fucking love you.”

“Logan,” she breathed.

He grabbed her and hauled her into his lap. A tiny bit of wiggling later and she was straddling him with her arms tightly wound around his chest, head buried in his neck.

“Please, tell me you can forgive me for being an asshole. You saved me from losing my family, and I cast you aside. If you can’t forgive me today, tell me there’s a chance it can happen in the future. I’ll work my fucking ass off to get back to where we were, baby.” His words were interspersed with soft kisses to her cheek, the side of her head, her neck.

Though they may have been meant to comfort, Chloe’s body reacted with a swift and fierce need. “There isn’t anything to forgive, Logan,” she whispered against his ear. One tug on her hair had their foreheads resting against one another. “I love you too. So much. You’ve given me my life back. Actually, you’ve given me an even better life than I had before you. So much better. Not only do I get you, I get your whole crazy family.”