Claiming Crusher (Savage Brothers MC #4)(67)

“Beauty fades, Zander. It can be changed or altered, it can even be fixed. You should have seen my stomach before Dr. Bradens got a hold of me.”

I bend down and place a small kiss on her stomach. “It wouldn’t matter to me what you look like. You’d still be beautiful, never forget that, Hellcat.”

She takes a deep breath and then looks over the beach, before her eyes come back to mine. “I’m thinking the fact that we’re f*cking is no longer a secret.”

“Thank, f*ck. I want the world to know.”

She leans down and places a light kiss on my lips, but I can’t let it stop at that. I slide my tongue into her mouth and deepen the kiss. It’s long, it’s slow and it’s sweet. “I love you, Hellcat,” I whisper against her lips.

“I love you too, Zander.”

Our foreheads touch and we stay like that and I wish I could freeze the moment forever, because it is that perfect.

Then…all hell breaks loose.

Gunfire rings out repeatedly. The sand around us pings with either the casings or the real f*cking bullets, I have no way of knowing and I’m not about to stop and look. I instantly flip Dani and me over, so I can lay on top of her. I don’t have a f*cking thing for cover, but me and I’m glad that I’m so much bigger than her so I can hide her body. She’s whimpering underneath me and I kiss her ear, keeping my head down and trying not to move.

“Let me up, Zander. God don’t do this, you need to go take cover,” she cries and I move just enough so I can kiss one of her eyes. There’s sand on her eyelid, but her salty tears mingle and hurt me.

“Shhh…sweetheart. My brothers have this. It’s going to be okay. Just hold still a few more minutes.”

Just like that it ends. The ringing of the shots stop and the sound of a vehicle peeling out from the parking lot above can be heard. I get up and pull Dani up carefully. I rake the excess sand off her body, and check her over for marks. Satisfied that she’s okay, I pull her close to me and walk towards Dragon. He’s checking over his woman and issuing orders at the same time. He looks at me and Dance and orders us to go with him. I want to scream, f*ck no. I need to be close to my woman. I can’t.

“Freak. You keep close to Dani for me?”

Freak is mad, I see it all over his face, but he agrees. I think I’ve run out of time to come clean to my brothers. I look down at Dani and kiss her again, but quickly and with just a small taste of her mouth.

“I’ll be back Hellcat, stay safe.”

“Don’t get hurt, Zander. Please? I couldn’t handle it if something happened to you.”

“I’ll be fine. You just be waiting when I get back. I love you Melly.”

I thought she would kiss me again, she doesn’t she pulls away from me and turns toward Gunner and Freak. I know she’s blaming herself for this. It pisses me off. I can’t get into it right now though. I have to go with my brothers.

*

It’s late by the time we get back and my ass is dragging. Drag and I managed to capture one of the motherf*ckers and he sang like a f*cking canary. Which was good and bad. I had to tell Dragon I knew about Dani and Michael and parts of what I already knew. To say my brother was unhappy was a freaking understatement. All I want is to crawl into bed, hold my woman and grab a couple of hours sleep before I face tomorrow. That’s the only plan I have. Until I open the door to Dani’s room and see she’s not there. We’ve been sleeping in her room most every night, but maybe tonight she wanted to wait for me in mine. I take off to my room and I start to feel fear when it is empty too, but that’s not what causes the feeling to bloom into a full blown panic. No, that would be the envelope on my pillow. The name Zander, written on the outside of it in Dani’s handwriting.

I sit down on the side of the bed, my body feeling like lead. My f*cking hands shake when I rip it open and pull the two page folded note out.

Zander,

I figure if you’re reading this you already know I’m gone. I wanted to stay. Today at the beach, I actually thought about it. I can’t though, that’s a dream and I definitely don’t live in a dream world.

I asked you not to contact Michael, because I know him in ways you never could understand. I’ve been married to him for over six years now as Melinda Marinetti. Though we only stayed together one year, Michael won’t ever willingly let me go. I only escaped the first time by changing my name and hiding. If he gets a hold of me again, he’ll kill me this time. I’m actually okay with that. If I was brave perhaps I would actually beat him to the punch. I find I can’t though.

As odd as it sounds I want to live. I want to take the memories of you and the love you’ve shown me and live. You made me truly feel like Dani, a woman who could handle life and anything thrown at her. I will always be Dani now and that makes me happy. This way a part of me will always belong to you.

What you need to understand, is this is not your fault. This was set into motion before you even knew who I was and I can’t let my mistakes, my past hurt you in anyway. I’m no longer a scared seventeen year old child. I’m an adult. It’s time I stop hiding and leaning on Ray and Nicole for help and live whatever life I have, for however long I have left.

I love you, Zander and I know you’ll be upset by this. Please understand, I wanted to stay and I really thought about it. Then today when you called me Melly, I realized, I can’t. I’m not the woman for you. Memories of you will help me survive my past, but you have to be free to find the woman who will make you put your past behind—make you put Melly in the past where she belongs.