Raging Heart On (Lucas Brothers #2)(132)

“Can we not talk about Marcum’s sperm while we’re in our bed?”

I smile when he says, our bed. I can’t help it. “Why not? Do his little soldiers intimidate you, Max?” I joke.

“Jesus. How is it you always manage to bust my balls, Tess?”

“It’s a gift?”

“I’m beginning to ask myself which one of us actually got taken prisoner that day.”

His words give me a funny feeling, and it warms me. I don’t want to give myself time to dissect it though. I’ve already had one irrational, emotional outburst tonight. “Okay so, Marcum?” I prompt because I really do want to know. Max is a mystery, and I want to know more and more about him.

“He’s my old man.”

I blink, lie still, and then blink again. Shouldn’t that have been in his file? How did I not know that? “Your records never mentioned it! How is that possible?”

“Because the old f*cker has super sperm?”

I slap backwards, grazing Max’s leg that he has half draped over me. “You know what I mean.”

Max sighs, his breath soft against my skin. “You’ve read about my mom?” he asks, and I swallow hard because I have.

Max’s mom had been raped as a young girl. It broke her mind. She spent her troubled life in and out of hospitals and being strung out on drugs. She got pregnant at the age of fourteen and had the baby—Max, while a resident in the state mental hospital because she tried to kill herself. I couldn’t even imagine how it would shape someone to know that the person who gave birth to them struggled with so much. What kind of scars would that inflict on you?

“I’ve read,” I whisper, like a guilty secret, wrapping my arm behind me and pulling him deeper into me, as if to protect him.

“I’m okay, Kitten,” he kind of laughs, like he knows what I’m doing. “It was a long time ago.”

“How did she and Marcum meet up?”

“Marcum is a horny bastard, until Cherry he never cared much where he stuck his dick.”

“But she was fourteen, Max,” I answer, and I can’t help the disgust that’s in my voice.

“That’s part of the reason he and I are just now starting to work through shit. He says he didn’t know how young she was, or what shape she was in. Said she out and out lied to him.”

I turn over to face him, fitting my body tight into him and kissing his chest, trying to ignore the tears that have started up yet again. “You believe him?”

Max lets out yet another sigh, this one louder and more disgusted than before. “Sometimes. Most days I guess. I’m not sure how much he would have cared about her situation, but I don’t think he would have touched jailbait. Who knows? Men are stupid when they think with their dick. I’ve managed to follow in the old man’s footsteps, despite trying like hell not too.”

I can’t argue with him, but I can’t help the way those words cut. Max must feel the change in me because he kisses his forehead. “Wasn’t talking about you, Kitten.” That’s nice, but then again what we’re doing isn’t exactly healthy. I let it go. I could second guess and go back and forth about Max forever. I do that enough already.

“Your file said your uncle raised you. Why didn’t Marcum?”

“He didn’t know about me. Bastard came into my shop one day wanting some ink for him and his boys. Said he heard I was good. One of the men who work in my shop mentioned my mom’s name. We’ve been feeling our way with each other ever since.

“Holy hell.”

Max laughs though it’s not a happy one. “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up, Kitten.”

“Your father needs to think about having it fixed, so his soldiers only shoot blanks,” I tell him, and my eyes are starting to grow heavy. The combination of multiple orgasms, crying, and the emotional talk with Max, combined with the warmth of his body is slowly dragging me toward sleep.

“Cherry is making him. We get settled out of the country; I’ll do it too. He reminded me recently we share the same DNA. That sure as hell can’t happen. We don’t need to take any more chances.”

My blood runs cool at his words. He’s right of course. I hadn’t even been thinking of that, and we’ve been going at it like rabbits. Max is always super careful though. He never takes me without protection. That’s a must for him. Every single time he makes sure he wears a condom. Except for that day one the beach.

“I need to go to sleep, Max. You’ve worn me out,” I murmur because I need to change the subject. I need to think about something else. Anything else.

“Sleep, Kitten. We have a lot of things to do to get ready and we leave in the next few weeks. I’m glad you’re going with me,” he answers.

“I am too…Night, Mad Max,” I whisper letting sleep claim me I try to shove my worry away. It was just one time, and it was nowhere near the right time of the month. I’m sure everything will be fine.

I’m sure…





28


Tess


Four more days. Four more days, and I will have officially skipped the border with Maxwell Kincaid. I’d ask myself what in the hell I’m thinking, but I know. Max is dark; there’s not a soft damn thing about him. If I made a list of pros and cons, there would be only one pro. I get more time with the man I love. The cons would be a mile long, but all of them together don’t equal what I’d have to gain. Four more days. With each day that passes, I’m surer of my decision. Unfortunately, that feeling of impending doom also increases. Tonight my panic is almost at the surface. I know Max can sense it. He keeps casting me these looks, and I keep trying to pretend I don’t see them.