“I’m right here, Benny. I’m not going anywhere, even if the tree gets chopped down and takes all the leaves with it. I’ve been waiting for you to find me.” And once he had, he’d managed to lead me to myself.
His hand tightened on my shoulder and his eyes briefly closed. He let out a sigh of relief that almost blew me back and when he opened his eyes, I could see that I had given him something he would cherish forever. “I found you in the middle of a blizzard, on the side of a mountain, Pop-Tart. I will always find you, anywhere, everywhere you happen to be.” It almost sounded like a threat, but his roughly spoken words made me happier than I’d ever been in my life. I always felt like the people I loved were letting me go and here he was, promising to hold on forever.
He cleared his throat and pulled me closer so that I had to wrap my legs around his waist to avoid toppling off the counter and onto the floor.
“Well, then, we only have one problem left to solve.” His deep voice rasped against my skin as his lips touched the pounding pulse point on the side of my neck.
I squirmed against him in anticipation and offered up a breathy, “What’s that?”
“How do I get you out of your clothes and get inside of you before I lose my mind? Like I said, I really fucking missed you, Echo. You’ve been burned into my brain and branded on my heart. The thought of you makes me hard but the reality of having you, of knowing I get to keep you, well, that makes me feel like I’m going to break in half. If there is something more than hard, that’s what my dick is right now.”
I groaned in anticipation and smiled up at him. “Good thing you’ve never met a problem you couldn’t solve. I’m sure you’ll figure it out in no time.”
Neither one of us would ever be the kind of people that could be described as good (I was obviously a lot closer to redemption than he was but only because he showed me the way to get there) but there was no arguing that we were great together.
Neither one of us had ever been better.
Chapter 12
Benny
I leaned into her, pushing her back onto the counter, feeling like I was finally right where I was meant to be. She was the promise of everything that could be. She was the fairy tale come to life. She was the dream I got to have while I was wide awake. She was what kept me going, what kept my head on straight when I submerged myself back in the sludge and slime that infiltrated every corner of my hometown. She was the thing that kept me focused when all the familiar temptations that had led me to being a man with no morals and no ethics reared their ugly little heads and beckoned me closer.
She was the reason I had gone to see my mom and tried to make amends and rebuild bridges I’d burned. I tried to tell her I was a changed man, that I was moving forward, making better choices, but too much water had passed under that broken bridge, too many years of her being disappointed in me. She sent me on my way with a goodbye and a “I don’t ever want to see you again.” She still refused to touch the money that I left in an account for her and, even though the petty part of me was tempted to clear it out and blow it on something extravagant, I refrained. I did, however, clear out all the accounts I had open under an alias the feds had never found and bought myself a new wardrobe, which was a lot like my old wardrobe, and a new car. I was supposed to blend in, but I’d always had a preference for things that stood out. Like Nassir said, I was never a stupid man so I’d been smart with all my ill-gotten gains over the years. I had plenty to sustain my new, legal and legit lifestyle, even if came with the flash and fancy of my old one.
It took longer than I thought it would to get a lead on the girl Nassir wanted me to find. I knew every alley and hole the rats in the Point hid in. I wasn’t as familiar with the fancy hotel bars and corporate meeting rooms the guys running the affluent part of the city conducted business in. It was easy to see why Nassir sent me in for him once I got through the glass doors. These guys were all aging, doughy, pale skinned billionaires that would never let a guy with a questionable heritage and known criminal background sully their pristine country club grounds. They really did put the white in white collar crime. On the streets, it didn’t matter what you looked like or where you came from. The man with the most respect and the baddest reputation was the one in charge, and I had to say I preferred it that way. In the Point, loyalty was earned; here on the Hill it was purchased. Once I was back in my old skin, I fit right in and it only took a few pointed questions, a little bit of blackmail, and one fight with the mayor’s paid protection. I held my own but I’d been out of the brawling business for a while, so he got in a lucky shot. By the time it was all said and done, I had a solid lead on the girl and enough information to get the devil off my back—as well as a black eye and some busted ribs.