Valentine's Novella by Tillie Cole
“Forever Property of Styx,” she read aloud and beamed a huge smile. Taking the back of her hand, she stroked her fingers down my cheek and said, “I have only ever loved one man, Styx, and that is you.”
I huffed a laugh. It was what she’d said to me all those weeks ago when she’d decided she wanted this life in my MC with me.
Lifting Mae’s shaking left hand, I slipped the ring on her slim finger and pulled it to my mouth.
“L-L-Love y-you,” I said quietly. Mae started to cry, curling herself against my chest.
“I never dreamed I could be so happy…” she trailed off and I smiled as I watched her hold her ring up in the air. “River?” she asked, and I ran my hand through her hair.
“Mmm?”
“I am barely able to wait until I am your wife.”
The words were what I wanted to hear, but there was a sad tone to her voice. Gently nudging her head with my shoulder, I forced her to look up.
“Wh-What’s wr-wr-wrong?”
Mae ducked her eyes. “I want my sisters to be happy first. I want them to be as happy as I am here, with you, on the outside.”
Her face told me she was worried I would be mad. It was the opposite. Half the reason I loved this woman like I did was because she was the most selfless person I’d ever met in my life.
“Th-Th-Then we w-w-wait,” I said, my stutter pushing through.
Mae’s eyes lit up. “Are you sure?”
Pulling back, my throat too tight to speak, I signed, “I’ve waited this long to have you, babe, what’s a few more months…”
*****
Without realizing it, we’d ridden an hour. Seeing the turn off for the familiar country road, I turned off, and ten minutes later, we arrived at the cabin.
Cutting off the engine, Mae sat back, removed her helmet, and stretched out her muscles. I heard her gasp in surprise.
“Styx, what is all of this?”
Mae got off the bike after me and I walked forward, leading us to the place I’d chosen, beside the lake. I nodded my head at what the prospects had put together. There was a pallet by the water and they’d lit the whole thing with lights. The roses and chocolates Beauty had bought were waiting on a flat rock nearby.
Yeah. I’d definitely look like a pussy after all this…
“Styx, why have you done all this?” Mae asked again, her eyes drifting over the gifts and blankets on the ground.
I turned around. “Val-Valentine’s D-D-Day.”
Mae frowned. “I’m afraid I do not know what that is?”
I stilled and closed my eyes. I was gonna fucking kill Beauty for this. She’d fucking set us up.
“Styx? What is Valentine’s Day?”
“February fourteenth. It’s a day for folks who are together. A day where the man shows the woman how much he loves her or some shit,” I signed.
Mae’s eyes grew huge. “And you brought me to where you proposed marriage?”
I shrugged.
Mae stepped closer. “Because you wanted me to know I was special to you. On this day when a man shows a woman how much he loves her?”
I shrugged again.
Mae stepped closer still until she was right before me. “And you brought me here?”
“It was the place I’d seen you most happy,” I signed. I knew I wouldn’t get my words out, not with all this soppy shit clogging my throat.
Mae’s hands lifted and she slowly pulled down the zipper on my jacket. “And the roses and chocolates? Are they also for me? For Valentine’s Day?”
I nodded my head, as she threw my jacket to the ground and lifted my shirt over my head. Mae sucked in a breath and ran her hand down my bare chest.
Eyes glazed, she moved to my jeans and unfastened the button, my cock already hard and waiting for her touch.
Unable to take anymore, I ripped her jacket, tank, jeans and bra off in record time, leaving my woman stood only in her panties.
“F-Fuck…” I hissed as I smashed my mouth to Mae’s, backing us round the fire the prospects had lit and down onto the pallet.
Feeling Mae shiver, I lifted the quilt and wrapped it around us. Mae’s hand opened my jeans, pulling out my dick. As I groaned into her mouth, her hand began stroking up and down my cock and I tore my lips from hers.
Mae worked me faster in her hand as I kissed down her neck and licked down to her tits. Sucking a nipple into my mouth, I ran my hands down to her panties and ripped them clean off.
Mae moaned as my fingers ran along her pussy. And as her hand built up speed, so did my hand against her clit, until Mae came apart in my arms. I held my breath as she released my dick, too close to coming myself.
“Styx…” she whispered as I lifted her slight frame. Slowly, I plunged my cock inside her, gritting my teeth at the feel.
Feeling her skin was cold, I wrapped the quilt around us and, holding Mae’s hips, ground her back and forth.
Mae’s hands cupped my cheeks, and she stared into my eyes.
The entire place was silent. Silent except for the sounds coming from us and the crackling of the fire.
“Baby,” Mae murmured as I pressed against her clit with my finger. “I am going to… I am going to…” Mae’s eyes closed as she came. Mae gasped for breath as her orgasm ripped through her.
She was so damn tight, her pussy contracting and clamping down on my cock. Mae’s hips worked faster as she drew out her orgasm for as long as she could. But when she clawed at my back and latched her lips onto my neck, sucking real hard, I fucking came apart too.
Mae’s tits pressed against my chest as I slowly worked us down, then I laid back on the blanket, Mae still flush to my front.
We stared into the flames of the fire as I ran my fingers down her spine. Mae traced the tattoos on my arms, then lifted her head up and slowly kissed my lips.
Releasing her lips, she smiled. “I love you, River. I love how you cherish me like this.”
“L-L-Love you too, b-babe,” I replied and Mae lay back onto my chest.
Nothing was said for a while, until Mae asked, “Styx?”
“Mmm?”
“Are we staying at this cabin all night?”
“Mmmhmm…” I murmured back.
“Good, because I want to do nothing but be alone with you.”
I smiled as she sighed in happiness and I heard her breathing evening out. “Styx?” she murmured sleepily.
“Mmm…?”
“I love Valentine’s Day…”
Then my woman fell asleep.
Linking her left hand through mine, I stared at the ring glistening on her finger and looked up to the black sky filled with stars.
She wanted to wait for her sisters to be happy before we married.
Lilah was fucking married to Ky and was now the happiest bitch I’d ever seen.
That only left Madds.
Closing my eyes, I sent a silent request to Hades…
Fucking find someone for Maddie quick, so I can hurry the fuck up and finally marry my wolf eyed reason for breathing…
Part III
Thank you for caring
Maddie
I had been sitting here at my window all night watching the moon… watching the stars in the sky, wondering what the world outside was like.
I liked it in my room, here in Mae and Styx’s new home. I felt safe just sitting at the window watching the birds fly in the sky… watching the fluffy white clouds roll by… and watching Flame pacing on the lawn just below the window seat where I spent my days.
He was out there now, walking back and forth. Eleven steps to the right and eleven steps to the left. Never more than eleven steps. Sometimes he would hold a knife, cutting at his arms eleven times before taking a rest, and other times he would scratch—eleven times—at his skin or pull—eleven times— at his strangely-styled hair.
Always eleven times. I always wondered why?
Flame fascinated
Of late, I found myself watching him more than I ought to.
And sometimes Flame would look up at my window… and sometimes our eyes would meet. When that happened, his almost-black eyes meeting my green, he would cease his walking… he would cease all his cutting, his scratching and the pulling of his hair.
When our eyes met, he did nothing but stare…
I did not like it when Flame hurt himself. It made something inside of me cry. So I tried to hold his gaze as long as possible.
I did not want him to feel pain. I wanted him safe.
I knew what it was like to feel real pain … and I did not want that for him… especially not for Flame.
I wanted Flame to find real peace…to finally be at peace with himself.
Too busy counting Flame’s eleven paces on the lawn, his eyes firmly fixed on the ground, I did not hear the sound of footsteps on the stairs. It was only when there was a knock at my door that I jumped and gripped at my chest in fear.
When I said nothing, another knock sounded at my door and my whole body began to shake. I did not like the sound of a knock at my door. It frightened me… made me think of when I was back in the comm—
“Maddie? Darlin’? You okay?”
My hands trembled on hearing the voice beyond the door, but I breathed slowly knowing that it was Beauty.
“Yes,” I answered quietly, closely watching the doorknob as it began to turn.
Beauty’s smiling face was the first thing I saw. She walked into my room holding a small red heart-shaped box in her hands.
I stayed still and watched her every move.
“I wanted to give you these, darlin’. I didn’t want Valentine’s Day to go by and for you to not get a gift.”
Beauty placed the box on my bed, and I craned my neck to see what it contained. The label read: ‘Luxury Chocolates’.
I did not understand why Beauty was giving me chocolates.
“You know what Valentine’s Day is, sweets?” Beauty asked, and folded her arms across her chest, leaning on my set of drawers.
I shook my head. Valentine’s Day? I had never heard of such a day.
“It’s a day to be all romantic,” she explained, but I knew my face remained blank.
Beauty clearly saw this in my vacant expression and slowly stated, “It’s a day when you show that one person who is special to you that you care.”
I stared at the chocolates and, holding my shaking hands together so Beauty would not see me tremble, asked, “And… you give ‘luxury chocolates’ to someone who makes you feel special? To show them that you care about them too?”
Beauty’s face broke out in a huge smile. “Yes, darlin’!”
My eyebrows pulled down. “Why?”
Beauty shrugged. “Hell if I know, sweets. I reap the benefits once a year and don’t complain!”
The red box caught my eye again. “Then why give it to me? We are not ‘romantic’.”
Beauty sighed. “Because I care about you, girl. All of us here do. I simply wanted to show you that, in my own little way.”
Beauty seemed to want me to say something else in return, but I did not know what to say. After minutes of awkward silence, she moved from my set of drawers toward the door.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, darlin’,” she said, and quietly left me alone.
Casting a glance down to the lawn, I saw that Flame was pulling at his hair and talking to himself. Seeing the box on my bed, I placed my feet on the cool wooden floor and crossed the room to study it.
The box was indeed in the shape of a heart. I placed my hand over my chest to feel the beating of my heart.
The chocolates were for someone who made you feel special… who you felt in your heart.
Beauty had said you give someone Luxury Chocolates to show that you care, or to thank them for caring for you.
I stared at the wooden wall of my room, then moved to the small white writing desk beside my bed. Taking a pen and a sheet of paper, I quickly scribbled a note.
Picking up the box of chocolates, I walked to my door and took a deep breath.
My hand shook as I gently turned the doorknob, but I really wanted to do this. I had to do this.
Creeping quietly across the hallway and down the stairs, I tiptoed past the living room where Beauty and her husband were sitting watching television.
Arriving at the back door, I unlatched the lock and opened the door, the cool evening breeze immediately hit my face.
Steeling my nerves, I walked round the porch, the wood groaning under my feet.
That noise made me freeze. At that very moment Flame came into view… he had moved toward the noise, his knife held high…
But he stilled when he saw it was me.
I felt like I could not breathe.
Our gazes were locked. But my heart skipped a beat when his dark eyes appeared red and tired.
Had he not been sleeping?
Hearing the chocolates rattling in the box due to my trembling hands, I tiptoed forward, then forward once more, until Flame stood only a few feet away.
Flame lowered his knife. I could see his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down in his throat. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but no words escaped his lips.
Bravely, bending down, I placed the box of chocolates on the floor and pushed them slowly to his feet. Flame did not look down, he kept staring into my eyes.
As I straightened, I tried to smile, but nerves had me running back inside, where I quickly shut the door.
Hearing a noise, Beauty came running through. “Maddie? You okay?”
Tank came behind her. Nodding my head, I ran to my room. Taking a seat at my window, I watched Flame stare down at the box.
Then I held my breath, patiently waiting to see what he would do next…
*****
Flame
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…
I counted my heartbeat. It was too fast.
Too fast.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…
My eyes were stinging. My head jerked and twitched. All I could do was stare at this box. This red box. The red box at my feet.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…
This box from Maddie… Maddie…
She’d been here. She’d come outside. She’d looked at me. She’d smiled at me.
She’d smiled at me.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…
You needed to see her, you wanted to see her, my mind told me over and over again.
I did. But now I couldn’t move. She’d been right there, in front of me. And I couldn’t fucking move!
The box. She gave you a box, my mind pushed again. What’s in the red box?
My eyes were blinking, stinging, blurring. I reached down and picked up the red box.
My head twitched yet again.
It’s in the shape of a heart. Maddie gave you her heart, my mind explained.
And there was a note… a note written by her hand…
Read it. You have to read it.
I lifted the pink sheet of paper and opened it as gently as I could.
Don’t break it. You can’t tear it. Maddie wrote something to you.
I blinked the sting of no sleep from my eyes and read the short note.
“Flame,
Thank you for caring.”
My heart… my heartbeat was too fast again as I read her words…
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, te
I closed my eyes. My heart was beating too fast.
Too fast because of Maddie.
“Flame,
Thank you for caring.”
“Flame,
Thank you for caring.”
She’d thanked me for caring. She’d given me candy for caring… and this note. She’d written me a note.
She’d written me a motherfucking note…
Maddie thanked me for caring…
No fucker had ever thanked me for shit… except her. For slaughtering that Moses cunt… for caring…
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…
Look up… Look up, my mind ordered.
I clutched the red box to my chest. I was extra careful not to break it. Icouldn’t break it…
I looked up.
Maddie was at her window. Her hand pressed against the glass, watching…
Watching me.
Smiling at me.
Maddie was at the window.
Her eyes met mine.
Maddie…
My Maddie…
My head twitched and my hands shook again… I wanted to speak. I wanted to tell her…
… Thank you for caring too…
The end
Tillie Cole, Valentine's Novella