She tries pulling away after a few seconds, but I bite her lip pulling her back to me. Her mouth tastes so fucking good that I’m not ready to stop yet.

Both of my hands tangle into the back of her hair as she moans into my mouth. “Sorry,” she says breathlessly. “I didn’t mean to kiss you.”

I yank back on her hair and suck her bottom lip into my mouth, before releasing it. “And I didn’t mean to kiss you back.”

Clenching my jaw, I release her hair and walk away. “Let’s get your tattoo cleaned up so you can get some rest.”

“Yeah,” she says softly. “Sounds like a good idea. I need to go home before work so I can shower and change my clothes. It’s already really late.”

I swallow hard, while cleaning her off and bandaging her up for the night, before sending her to my bed to get some sleep.

I keep myself busy for a while, cleaning up the rest of the stuff and organizing the inside of my desk.

I need to keep my distance right now, because the way I’m feeling from that unexpected kiss is not fucking good. It felt too damn good for me to be okay with it.

Flipping off the lights, I close the door and walk down the hall to my release room. I usually go in there to work out and release some stress . . . but not tonight. Guilt inside of my chest has me opening the desk in the back of the room and pulling out the box. I haven’t looked inside of it in months.

With my breath held, I open the box and pull out the letters and photographs that I kept from Olivia after she passed.

My heart aches so fucking bad as I take in her smiling face. She was always so happy and full of life, and it’s because of me that her life was stolen from her.

Her piercing green eyes stare back at me, making me feel so much guilt that I can’t breathe. Looking at these pictures make me feel like I’m suffocating, but there’s one that I can’t close the box without looking at.

With shaky hands, I find the picture that I’m looking for and my heart fucking stops in my chest. I’m broken and dead inside, missing the biggest part of me that I’ll never be able to hold, and there’s nothing that can bring me back from this.

I’m completely fucking lost . . .

Twenty Months Ago . . .

“SHIT! NOT HERE. NOT HERE . . . fuck, I’ll kill you Assholes.”

I make it halfway up the driveway, with my heart going crazy in my chest, before slowing my bike and jumping off in a hurry. I don’t want these fuckers to know that I’m here yet and give them the upper hand. I’ll do everything in my power to show these fuckers that they’ve messed with the wrong family.

Walking fast, I pull out my gun, squeezing it in my hand while fighting to catch my breath. The thought of them hurting her is making it hard for me to breathe and is scaring the shit out of me. I’ve never been so damn scared in my life. Losing her is the only thing that terrifies me. I can’t let that happen.

Protecting her is my job. She’s my fucking life and these assholes are fucking with my world by being here right now. That makes me want to rip their throats out.

Running up the steps, I hurriedly reach for the handle and turn. My whole body runs cold at the fact that it’s fucking locked. Olivia always leaves the door open for me, making it easier for when I get home. I’ve never given her a reason to have to lock it before, which means James and his guys have a reason to keep me out.

“Fucking shit!”

In a panic, I start searching through my leather jacket for the keys. I feel like I’m running out of time and it’s making me want to scream and kick this damn door down, but that gives them the chance to hear me coming and outgun me. I need to keep my cool.

Gripping the key, I shove it in the lock and turn it, leaving it hanging in the door as I open it and step inside.

The house is dark. Olivia hates the dark.

“Fuck!” I say under my breath, while walking through the house in search of Olivia. “I’m coming for you, baby. I’m here.”

The living room and the kitchen are empty, making me even more anxious to just get to her.

It’s not until I hear her scream of pain come from down the hall that I know exactly where she’s at: the family room. That sound is enough to make my world stop.

With my heart racing out of my chest, I take off running through the house, not caring anymore if they hear me. I need to get to her.

When I reach the end of the hall, I look over to the right to see one of James’ men walking out of the room, buckling up his jeans.

He looks up with wide eyes and mutters, “fuck,” while reaching for his gun.

Without hesitation, I aim my gun at his head and shoot, taking his fucking life, before rushing past his body and into the room.

Rage surges through me at the sight in front of me and no matter how many fucking breaths I take, I still can’t breathe.

James has Olivia against the wall with one hand on her neck and the other one covering her mouth as he pulls out of her and peers over his shoulder at me.

Olivia’s head is dangling to the side, lifeless, as if he went too far, and blood is dripping down her legs, but he’s too worked up at seeing me to realize that she’s no longer fighting him.

James’ other guy is standing beside him, struggling to pull his jeans up and reach for his gun.

James yells at his guy to shoot me, while trying to fix his own jeans and hold Olivia up at the same time. “Shoot him, Lou! Hurry the fuck up!”

My heart is in failure, seeing her like that. What have I done?

The second I really realize what they’ve done to her, I lose it, seeing red, and all I can think about is getting to Olivia and helping her. I don’t care the price; I’ll pay it.

“You’re dead, Motherfuckers! Enjoy your last fucking breath.”

I aim my gun at Lou, firing two bullets into his dick and one into his skull, before aiming at James’ leg and catching Olivia as he releases her and falls to the ground in pain, screaming.

“Ah . . . shit!” He grabs at his leg, while slapping the ground in agony.

Well fuck him! His pain will never compare to mine.

My heart stops and a cry of pain roars through me, as I cradle her body in my arms and fall down to the ground with her. I can’t feel her breathing and it hurts so fucking much. “Olivia,” I cry. “Baby, wake up. Open your fucking eyes. I’m here. I’m here.”

With my gun aimed at James, I grab Olivia’s face and squeeze it, shaking it in an attempt to wake her up. I lean my face next to her mouth to check for her breathing, but feel nothing. “Fucking breathe! Wake up! Please, baby! Please! Breathe, dammit. Breathe!”

A scream roars through me as I maneuver to my knees and attempt to give Olivia mouth to mouth. I hold her as closely as possible and press my mouth to hers, willing to give her all of my air. I’d give her my very last breath if it kept her from feeling any of this pain and kept her alive.

That’s when I hear James grunt and feel a knife stab into my thigh, cutting me three times as he fights to push it in deeper.

“Fuuuck!”

I pull away from Olivia and fight the knife out of James’ hand, stabbing it into his shoulder and twisting. “Does that feel good, Motherfucker!” I scream out. “Show me how much it fucking hurts?”

I push the knife in as far as it will go, making him scream out and grab at his knife. The further I push, the louder he screams.

This motherfucker needs to pay for taking Olivia from me. He needs to feel her pain.

Pulling the knife out of his arm, I lay Olivia down as gently as I can and kiss her lips for the last time. Feeling them cold against mine, drives me into a rage.