Hell on Wheels (Kings of Mayhem MC 4)

She frowned, her mood darkening. “It’s always wait, wait, wait. Wait until I get reassigned. Wait until its safe.”

I moved behind her and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. This wasn’t the first time she’d cried about having to hide our relationship. She wanted to be a part of my life. Wholly and openly. She wanted to walk through the streets holding hands. She wanted to kiss me and touch me and not worry if anyone saw us. She wanted to come with me when my unit dined or had drinks at the nearby bar we frequented.

“We will. I promise. My unit will move on soon, and I will be able to stay for a while as a civilian.” I tangled my fingers in hers. “Then I’ll walk the streets holding your hand. Kissing you. Hell, I’ll even take you in my arms, dip you, and kiss you senseless for the whole world to see!”

Her eyes shone brightly, but she jutted out her chin. My lighthearted promise was lost on her. “It has to be now.”

She rose to her feet and moved away from the bed, the sheet slipping away from her body. Naked, she was perfect. And confident. She moved across the room and stood at the window. Outside, the pale streaks of dawn lightened the sky, and I admired her silhouetted curves in the dim light.

“Tomorrow night, you and your unit are celebrating something. What is it?” she asked, not turning around.

The mood had changed. My promises didn’t appease her anymore. And maybe if I’d been paying more attention, I would’ve realized that I never once mentioned anything about celebrating Sergeant Healy’s birthday the following night. I never told her anything about my unit or the men in it.

Instead, I sighed and rubbed my eyes with the heel of my palm. “It’s someone’s birthday.”

“And you’re going to a bar?”

“I’m not sure.”

She turned back to me. “Take me with you. Or we’re done.”

I was a little caught off guard. There had never been an ultimatum before.

But before I could reply, she quickly crossed the room and climbed onto the bed, pushing me back onto the pillows with a sudden frenzied energy, and straddled me. She kissed me hard, pleadingly, her pussy rubbing against me as she tried to convince me to take her with me the following night. Her hand reached between us, grabbing my cock and rubbing it through the damp folds of her pussy. She nudged the head inside, surrounding my crown with creaminess and sending a flare of pleasure through me.

But this craziness had to stop.

I pushed her hands off me and rolled away from her.

“What are you doing?” I breathed.

“I want to be a part of your life now. No more waiting.” Her eyes were dark fire, her hair a wild mess as it tumbled over her shoulders. “It starts now. Or it stops now.”

“You know I can’t—”

“Then we are done!” She climbed off the bed and snatched up her clothes.

“Don’t do this,” I said.

But she said nothing. She tossed on her clothes and stormed to the door where she paused and turned around. “You should have let me come.”

She disappeared out the door, letting it slam behind her.

I hadn’t seen her in over a week. I’d visited her father’s restaurant, but it seemed her frostiness extended to him as well. He said it was a good idea if we didn’t go there anymore. I couldn’t lie. That hurt. And it confused me. How she could cut me off like that and disappear? And where was she? She wasn’t in town. She wasn’t in my bed. She wasn’t anywhere.

My job kept me busy. Kept her from my mind. Our final mission had come through; we were due to leave in less than a week.

We’d been slowly annihilating the same cell across several villages along the countryside, and intelligence indicated it had arrived at the village where we were stationed. Weeks of waiting for this to happen was now paying off. Our SEAL mission was to take out the cell leaders: a woman known as The Dark One and two men who were thought to be her brothers.

I leaned down and pressed my eye to my scope, and then she appeared. My target. The person responsible for the catastrophic attacks on several marines, resulting in high casualties. I pulled back, my brows knitting together. No. It couldn’t be. Blood whirred in my ears as my pulse quickened. I peered into the scope again and watched my target moving through the street, walking with the two men known for orchestrating attacks on American and allied soldiers. There was a fleeting moment where I wondered if she was somehow being held against her will, that perhaps she was not involved in any of this. But her body language wasn’t that of someone who feared for her life. She walked with purpose. Confidence. The beautiful body I’d spent hours making love to was relaxed. Those long legs, the ones she’d wrapped around me as she rose to meet the thrust of my cock, strode confidently alongside her companions. The mouth she had kissed me with a thousand times spoke fast and with purpose. And those eyes … the ones that had looked at me with so much lust and affection, and at times with what I was sure was love … were now hard, sharp, and deadly.