She wrapped herself around me softly. “I’m glad you listened.”
“I love you, Aria.”
The words came forth so effortlessly that I knew I could never regret them. Even if she didn’t feel the same way. Even if this wasn’t meant for us, I’d never be able to look back on them with anything but a smile.
However, when she pressed herself up and gazed into my eyes, the most glorious thing happened.
Something I knew I’d never forget so long as I lived.
“I love you too, Bender. I love you so much.”
And I knew, then and there, that I’d never take another woman into my life the way I had taken her.
TWENTY-SIX
ARIA
Bender hissed in pain. “Come on now, Goose. Seriously?”
He chuckled as he swiped at Bender’s stitches with alcohol wipes. “We have to make sure it doesn’t get infected, otherwise we have to fuck with the hospital for antibiotics.”
“And we don’t want to do that,” Fangs said as he stood in the doorway.
“Just a few more,” I said as I threaded my fingers through Bender’s.
“Ugh,” he groaned.
It had been about a week or so since Bender had suffered his injuries at the nightclub ambush. He’d suffered a mild concussion that kept him in bed for a few days, and other than the bruising from head to toe that kept him sore all day, every day, the stitches in his side were healing nicely.
“All right,” Goose said as he placed a fresh set of gauze over them, “I’ll see you for another cleaning this evening.”
“Great,” Bender murmured.
I leaned forward and kissed his temple. “You did good, handsome.”
He grinned. “Thanks, gorgeous.”
During the past few days while taking care of him at the clubhouse, I’d had a chance to reflect on what I wanted to do with my life. Now that I wasn’t tied down to a job, I had this sort of freedom that I’d never had before. Whenever Bender’s pain meds knocked him out, I found myself back at the women’s shelter. I listened to their stories and held them while they cried. I recorded their sentiments and tried to stomach my nausea while they told their stories.
And I decided that their stories deserved to be heard by the world.
“I think I’m going to write that book we were talking about,” I said as I climbed into bed with him.
He threaded his arm beneath my neck. “I think you should if the girls are okay with it. People need to understand how this kind of thing happens. How it’s so easy to set up sex trafficking in any city or town. Especially the smaller ones.”
I nodded. “I’ve gotten the okay from some of the girls. Of course, a few of them don’t want to participate, and I completely understand that.”
“Good, good.”
“And I think that, with their stories, I can really help educate men and women about the signs. There are so many similarities in their stories. Similarities in personality traits that are preyed on by men like the Devil’s Rage. The knowledge will help everyone, and it needs to be out there.”
He kissed my forehead. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
I reached into my pocket. “I’m going to call Nadia. I think she’ll want to be involved with it somehow.”
“That’s a good idea. I’m going to try and get some rest.”
I kissed his temple. “Yes, yes. Please, do that. I’ll be right back, okay? I’m just going to step into the hallway for a second.”
