She shrugged. “At least I know now. I know who and I know why. And I used Russ’s guilt over it. He untied me inside so I could run. Unfortunately Walter caught me.”
“Walter’s got a lot to answer for,” AJ said. “I wish I’d known this before the feds got hold of him.”
She felt the rock-hard tension in AJ’s arm. “Don’t. He has to pay for his crimes the right way. And I’ll testify.”
“You seem so calm about it. Aren’t you angry?”
She shifted her gaze to where Walter and the others were being loaded into a van, then back at AJ. “Anger ruled me for a long time, AJ. It prevented me from living. I can’t let it do that to me anymore.”
He put his arm around her and hugged her close. “You’re an amazing woman, Teresa.”
“No, I’m just human. I make mistakes. I made the mistake of letting the rape rule my life for too long. No more.”
He brushed his lips across hers. “Let’s go to the hospital and check on Pax.”
TWENTY-TWO
PAX HAD FINALLY BEEN SPRUNG FROM HIS PRISON. TWO WEEKS of bed rest and house confinement and he was ready to climb the goddamn walls.
He was fine. They’d pulled out the bullet and sewn him up and claimed over and over again how lucky he was that the bullet had missed vital organs and arteries.
Whatever. He felt just fucking fine. Though he had to admit that recuperating at Teresa’s house wasn’t a bad thing at all.
He’d done the ER thing in South Dakota, and after the doctors had patched up his shoulder, he and AJ and Teresa had debriefed with the FBI. Walter and his Fists pals were going to be going away for a long time.
Teresa had been great, had given unemotional, detailed statements of everything she’d been through. Then they’d gone back to Grange’s house where Pax had been loaded down with antibiotics and pain medicine so all he did was pass out for about two days. Grange had sent a car for them, since Pax’s bike was toast after Russ shot him off of it. It was a damn good thing Russ was dead, because ruining a guy’s bike was a killing offense.
Teresa had insisted on trailering her bike and riding in the car with Pax, who refused to act like a sissy and be driven. It was bad enough he didn’t have his bike to ride back, the least he could do was drive Teresa home. AJ had followed them and they’d settled in at her place.
AJ helped Teresa get her bar back up and running as well as covering things with the local authorities. Magee, the dumbass who had killed Larks, had kept his knife, and the uniquely custom-made edge matched the wounds on Larks’s body, so Joey was released and Magee would face murder charges.
Teresa was elated and Joey was relieved, though shocked and hurt and pissed as hell at his former best friend Russ. But at least Joey wasn’t going to jail for a murder he didn’t commit.
All was well. Pax had been given the okay to leave town now. There was nothing keeping him—or AJ—here anymore.
Nothing but Teresa.
His first day sprung from the house, he’d bought a new bike. It gleamed black and silver and rode like a dream. He and AJ and Teresa had ridden a couple hours that day, enjoying the back roads and trails away from the city.
Now he sat at the bar with AJ while Teresa worked. Joey and his guys were there, too, but Pax was only interested in watching Teresa, who seemed much happier than she’d ever been before. She laughed and danced on the bar and smiled as if she didn’t have a care in the world. He leaned against the back of the bar stool, sipped his beer and watched her as she served her customers, at home in her element once again.
Even in the short time he’d known her, she’d changed, grown into a woman who’d overcome a tragedy in her past. She didn’t let it rule her life, refused to be labeled by her circumstances.
He’d learned from her, and maybe it was time he let go of the past, too.
He loved her. He’d never loved anyone in his entire life, but he loved Teresa. He and AJ had enjoyed a lot of women together, but leaving them had never been difficult. They’d all had fun together, and that’s all it had ever been—just fun. Because that’s all he’d ever allowed. Loving someone hurt, and risking that was just too much.
With Teresa it had been intense and hot and sexy and emotional and one big package of I-want-this-forever. And wasn’t that just a kick in the pants, because he was the one who was always down on forever and commitment, and the one woman he knew he’d never have a chance at forever with was the one he wanted it with more than ever.
“You feeling okay, man?”
Pax dragged his gaze from Teresa to AJ. “I’m good. Glad to be out of the house.”
AJ tipped his bottle against Pax’s. “Amen to that. About time to hit the road again.”
Pax lifted the bottle to his lips. “Uh-huh.”
He’d always loved riding. The open road meant freedom to him. But suddenly, freedom didn’t seem so damned exciting. If he told AJ what he was feeling, he’d probably laugh at him.
AJ COULDN’T TELL PAX WHAT HE FELT FOR TERESA. HE KNEW HIS best friend, knew he’d walk away from him if AJ told him he was in love with Teresa. Pax had the bonds of friendship down well. He wouldn’t stand in AJ’s way.
The problem was, AJ had been watching Teresa with Pax the past couple weeks since they’d come back here. She fussed over him, catered to him, and the looks she gave Pax made it clear that she was in love with him.
Plus she’d slept alone in her room every night, hadn’t invited AJ to share her bed since they’d come back from South Dakota. She said she had to stay alert in case Pax needed her, but AJ figured she just needed some distance and time to think after everything that had happened up there, all the revelations she’d had to deal with. Plus, try as she might to deny she was hurt, he’d seen the bruises covering her body. He knew she was sore. He wanted to offer her comfort, but he didn’t want to pressure her into anything she didn’t want, so he stayed away.
Truthfully, he had no fucking idea what to do about Teresa. Coming back here and being with her again had thrown him. He’d thought visiting old friends would be easy, that whatever he’d felt for Teresa long ago would be old history. It hadn’t been.
He hadn’t intended to fall in love with her all over again, but he had. She’d grown more beautiful since the last time he’d seen her, but it was more than her physical beauty he loved. She’d suffered a major trauma, but had picked up the pieces and figured out how to move on with her life, to not let what had happened to her define her. Five years later she was still kicking the past’s ass. So why had he spent all these years running from his past, determined to never take anything in his life too seriously, never set down roots. That’s why he and Pax had always meshed so well in everything they did. They took it light and easy, neither of them wanting permanence or forever. They lived for today, because they both knew promises were often—always—broken.
But now AJ wanted tomorrow. And he wanted tomorrow with Teresa.
What the hell was he going to do about that?
Nothing. She didn’t want a life with him. Not his life.
He was going to leave, just like he’d always intended. He was going to walk out of Teresa’s life for the second time.
Only this time, he wasn’t a kid chasing big dreams, or trying to protect her, or clueless about his past and his future and what that all meant to Teresa. This time he knew exactly what it would cost to walk away from her.
TERESA SHUT THE FRONT DOOR BEHIND HER. IT WAS STILL EARLY, but Heather had told her she’d close up and clean the bar tonight, that Teresa had been pushing herself too hard since she got back two weeks ago.
Maybe Heather was right. And it was nice to be back home before midnight, especially having Pax and AJ with her.
Pax finally had some color back in his face, and he looked plenty healthy. The man had amazing recuperative powers. After the first week he’d been grouchy as hell about being housebound, but Teresa had insisted he stay put. What was it about men thinking they were indestructible? She had even threatened to tie him to the bed if he didn’t cooperate, but then Pax told her she’d have to stop talking like that because it made him hard and gave him ideas. She’d laughed, but it had spurred ideas of her and Pax together—ideas she shouldn’t have been entertaining about someone recovering from being shot.
She’d kept AJ at arm’s length, too, which had been difficult as hell, but she’d had a lot to think about over the past couple weeks. The revelation about Russ and Walter and what they’d done to her had left her feeling bruised, then empty inside. Plus she’d had to deal with Magee and the police and getting her brother freed. All of it had exacted an emotional toll and she’d needed some distance to think.
Now two weeks had passed and Pax was fine. But he’d almost lost his life over her. Russ tried to kill Pax to get to her, and Pax would have gladly died to save her. So would have AJ, who was prepared to storm the building single-handedly before Pax and the feds showed up.
She didn’t know quite what to make of these guys, and she’d sure as hell never been in love with two men at the same time before. How was she supposed to handle emotions like this?
She knew they were leaving. Pax had been given the go-ahead to travel. They had jobs—careers they loved. It would be selfish to ask them to stay, and she loved them both too much to do it. So she already knew she was going to let them go, wasn’t going to say a word.
But she had tonight with them.
“It was nice of Heather and Shelley to cover for you.” Pax laid his keys down on the table in her living room.
She turned to him. “Yes, it was.”
“You’re probably tired.” AJ came up to her and swept his fingers over her cheek.
“Actually, I’m not tired at all. I’ve gotten a lot of sleep the last couple weeks.”
“Me, too,” AJ said.
“Me, three,” Pax threw in.
Her gaze shifted from one to the other. “So, we’re all well rested. I don’t know about you guys, but I have all this . . . pent-up energy from all this rest I’ve gotten.”
Pax moved in and flanked her other side. “Is that right?” He slipped his arm around her and nuzzled her hair. “What do you want to do with all that energy?”
She turned to face him and wound her arms around him. “Fuck both of you. All night long.”
AJ came in behind her, his hips bracketing her buttocks, his cock already hard as he pressed in and captured her waist with his hands. He pressed his lips against her ear. “I’m about to explode, Teresa.”
Pax tipped her chin up with his finger, forcing her to look up at him. “I want to fuck you hard, Teresa. I want to come inside you over and over again.”
“Yes. I need you.” She reached back and wound her hand around AJ’s neck. “Both of you.”
Pax bent and kissed her, a hard, strong, passionate kiss that made her so damn glad he was alive, and that she was alive, too. She fell against him, rocking her hips against his, needing to feel his hard cock riding against her pussy. He grabbed her ass and pulled her closer, dragging her against his hard shaft. “I need to be inside you. I’ve waited too damn long.”
AJ swept her hair away from her neck and kissed her nape, reaching around to lift her shirt and cup her breasts. Pax unzipped her jeans and slid his hand inside to cup her sex, his fingers sliding ever lower. She was wet, hot, and she wriggled as his palm grazed her clit and his fingers slid inside her pussy. AJ found her nipples and tugged them while Pax fucked her pussy with his fingers, both of them licking her neck and kissing her mouth. Her senses on overload, she rocked against Pax’s hand, close to her orgasm, tightening against him.
“Yeah, that’s it,” he murmured against her lips.
She came with a harsh cry, tossing her head against AJ’s shoulder.