I shake my head and grip his arm. “No. I’m not leaving you. I won’t go.” I grab onto him in fear of losing him. “I need to be here. What if someone hurts you?”

He waves his arm around for me to look around us. Maxine is still down on the ground crying and no one else is in sight. They all took off after the gun fire. “I will be okay. I will come home for you. I promise.”

I look into his eyes. “Promise?” I whisper.

He smiles weakly. “I would never lie to you.”

Realizing, I have no choice in the matter, I nod my head and agree. I just hope this isn’t goodbye . . .

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Kellan

Three months later . . .

Grabbing her by the hips, I boost her onto the first step of the ladder that leads to our special place and close the distance between our bodies. Damn, her body still feels good beneath mine. I want her to always feel safe in my hands. She’s my woman to take care of. We've been through a lot together, but each day I love her more than the day before. “Do you think you can handle this?” I whisper into her ear with a smile. “This is much simpler than the things we do in bed.” I lean in closer to her ear. “And far less dangerous.”

Laughing, she reaches back and slaps my arm before looking up the steps to the roof. It’s so dark outside, I’d be surprised if she can even see anything ahead of her, but she keeps staring anyways. “I’m positive I can handle this. If I can handle you in bed,” she smiles, “I can handle anything. I did do this once without you so I'm good with you behind me.” It pains me to hear of the time that I was gone and what it did to her, but it's done. All I can do is spend the rest of my life making it up to her and that's what I intend to do.

I press my mouth to her neck and nibble as I push her up the steps, by her ass. She squirms in my arms but doesn’t scream as I bite her. She just maneuvers her hand enough to grab my cock. Mmm . . . she’s good, but not now. My dick instantly reacts to her touch, stiffening against my tight zipper. I take a deep breath and whisper in her ear, “There will be plenty of time for that later. Right now, I just want to see you smile.”

She takes another step, getting closer to the top. My heart races with anticipation the closer we get. “Oh yeah. What is up here that’s going to make me smile?”

“The first spot we had sex,” I answer honestly. “I'm offended I have to remind you. I'll have to teach you a lesson later.” I love teasing her. “I kind of figured it’s our new special place and since it’s your birthday . . . well . . .”

We reach the top and I give her a quick boost to make sure she’s safe before everyone screams, “Surprise!”

I feel her jump back a bit as she screams, in surprise, but I push her forward as I step onto the roof behind her. Her laugh surrounds me as she takes in the sight before her and my heart swells.

I love this woman with every beat of my heart. She stuck it through with me even after what I put her through. That night, I thought I would lose her forever. Somehow, it only brought us closer. We chose not to speak about what happened with the police after she left with Tyler. Maxine had a lot of dirt on Cape and his men; enough to get her out of any real jail time and put his idiot goons in jail for a long time. We have both moved on from the past and I couldn’t be any happier. That incident will stay in the past forever.

Her hand hovers over her mouth in surprise as she looks around at our closest friends. Jen, Tyler, Zoe, Luna and even Kade decided to join. Kade, I wasn’t too sure about. We have our moments, but it's far from perfect. We’re not where I’d hoped to be by now, but we’re slowly getting there. We can stand to be in the same room together now and I even catch him laughing at my jokes sometimes. That hard-ass, always trying to play it off.

Jen throw her arms around Phoenix and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Happy birthday, love. You look so beautiful tonight.”

I asked her to wear one of her favorite outfits, but nothing too fancy, because I wanted to be sure she’d be comfortable making it up the ladder to the roof. She chose a pink silk low-cut blouse with ruffles and a pair of white skinny jeans. At least, I believe that’s what they’re called. What do I know? I'm a f**king man; a hard man and not a fashion savvy one. I know nothing about fashion, unlike pretty body Kade and I say that with love. The boy has mad style.

Kade walks over and hesitantly wraps his arms around Phoenix and places his face into the crook of her neck, squeezing her. “Happy birthday, gorgeous,” he whispers.

As much as I hate to see them that close, I set my feelings aside for the night and try to make the best of it. This is her night. She’s the f**king queen of my world and she gets whatever she wants tonight. In the end I know her heart is with me and in my bed she will be. Plus, after Kade came clean to her about Adric, she didn’t speak to him for weeks. Poor Bastard. That would kill me.

When they pull away from the hug, I lean in and kiss her on the mouth out of instinct. I need to show the world this is the love of my life and I am never giving her up to anyone. Even if that someone is still giving me dirty looks, like now.

She kisses me back with a smile. “What is all this? You didn’t have to throw me a party?” She kisses Tyler on the cheek as he gives her a quick hug. Then she turns back to me with a tear in her eye. “This is freakin’ awesome. I love you for doing this.”

Damn her. I almost have to stop myself from crying. She has my heart in the palm of her hand and I’ll let her hold it for as long as she’s willing.

“I love you,” I whisper against her mouth. “Now go enjoy our family and the overflowing buckets chicken.” I place my lips to her ear as she turns away. “Just save some for everyone else.” She slaps me and joins our friends by the food.

Damn! I love it when she’s rough.

There’s a table set up with drinks, food and my personal favorite, cupcakes. There is no party involving Phoenix without cupcakes. Dammit, now I have to adjust myself from the growing erection in my jeans. Cupcakes have changed my life. Soft music is playing from the stereo I brought up earlier. In the corner, is the same blanket we made love on, with Adric’s guitar resting on it exactly as it was that night. What she doesn’t know, is I have a little surprise for her. One that I have been working on for a few weeks now, with the help of Zoe. I’m not very romantic so I have no idea how this will go. I will probably make a fool of myself, but I’d do it over and over for her.