Savage Savior (Savage People 3)

Jade: “Of course there is.”

Carter (exhaling loudly, obviously relieved): “Yes?”

Jade: “I fucked your best friend on the counter. You might wanna wipe it before you make yourself a sandwich, though. My cheeks were totally bare.”

Or, another conversation from two days later:

Jade: “Hey, Carter, I made spaghetti. Do you want some?”

Carter: “No.”

Jade: “Come on. It’s really good. With mushrooms, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese.”

Carter: “You’re not clean enough for me to eat from. Sorry. The answer is still no.”

Jade: “Even if I promise you I washed everything twice before I used it?”

Then I heard Carter getting up from his bed and stalking toward the kitchen, obviously lured in by her pretty voice and the mouth-watering scent of her cooking. He walked into the kitchen, and two seconds later:

Carter: “What! The! Hell! Jade, look at the sink!”

Jade: “Aw, sorry about the dishes. I figured since I did the cooking you’ll do the cleaning? Only fair, you know.”

Carter (mutters): “I hate you. Before I eat anything, please tell me you and Cole didn’t shag on any of those goddamn appliances or lick the plates as a part of a weird foreplay ritual.”

Jade: “No. We haven’t had sex here since you yelled at me about it two days ago.”

I heard Carter slurping spaghetti before Jade delivered, deadpan, “But I sucked him off in your favorite chair when he got back from practice yesterday because he had to ice his ankle in the kitchen.”

Even though it sounded like they weren’t getting along—and they weren’t, to an extent—Jade and Carter didn’t dislike one another. A part of me was grateful that they shared secretive smiles and winks when they thought I wasn’t looking, but another part of me wanted to cut his balls off and feed them to him to make sure he didn’t touch my girl. Luckily, I knew both of them well enough to be certain they weren’t fucking behind my back. Carter just never operated that way. Loyalty was his very first priority. Everything else came after, pussy included. We were especially attached to each other because we both climbed out of trouble approximately at the same time, with Graham Savage holding our hands throughout and shoving us together.

As for Jade, she had a weakness for bad boys, but she was a good girl at heart. She wasn’t a cheater. I knew that. She wouldn’t have done anything with Carter. She loved me. And she kept telling me so time and time again. Usually while I fucked her or while she sucked me off, but still.

Point was, Jade and Carter got along.

Jade and I really, really got along.

And for the next two months, it was nothing but me fucking Jade, me winning fights, and me loving almost every moment of the life I used to hate. I put the warehouse incident behind me and started smiling again.

Until Graham called me to his office.

He wanted me to come to his New York apartment, so I instantly knew that it was important and something he needed privacy for. If it was anything else, he wouldn’t have had a problem giving it to me straight while we bumped into each other during fight night or at Hot N’ Bothered. I dragged my feet a little, because no matter what it was, I knew for a fact I didn’t wanna do it, but ended up visiting him on a Friday when New York was just beginning to embrace the fall. Orange leaves crunched under my shoes, and the air was crisp and thick with opportunity.

After I went through four security systems to get to Graham and Dahlia’s apartment, I knocked on the door. Dahlia answered, and she was breastfeeding Kathleen. Again.

“Do you ever just walk around without anyone with the Savage last name sucking on your tit?” I greeted as I pushed myself into her condo. It was vast, new, luxurious as fuck, and completely unreachable if you weren’t a multi-millionaire. Graham Savage knew how to make a buck. Dahl scowled at me and waved me into the hallway.

“His office is the third room to the right, and if I were you, I’d try not to piss me off. I’ve barely slept since the…” she trailed off, aware of sensitive ears. “The, uh, warehouse incident. Plus, Leena is teething, so when I finally do sleep, she wakes me up to eat.”

“Duly noted, Tits McGee,” I joked, in hopes of keeping things light. I hated thinking about how Luciano and Stefano affected Jade, Dahlia, and especially the babies. I couldn’t even go there in my head without wanting to fucking rage.

I knocked on Graham’s door, not waiting for an invitation before I pushed it open and leaned against the doorframe. “You wanted to see me, boss?”

Graham was sitting at his new desk—concrete, expensive looking, but also bare and weird—and tossed back a whole glass of whiskey before crushing the ice between his teeth.

“Sit down.?

?