Girth (Marked Skulls MC Book 1)

by Savannah Rylan

Slowly, I straightened myself. I was too nervous to turn around and look at him now. I wasn’t sure what I would find. Was he going to be mad? Tired of me already? Did he want me to leave?

  After all, I was just a girl he’d picked up at a bar, right? Just because he vaguely knew me in high school didn’t really set me apart.

  I could still feel him inside me. I was sure my pussy was going to hurt the next day. Goosebumps still covered my skin.

  “Do you want some water?” I heard him ask. I had no choice but to look at him then.

  He was already in the process of putting on his clothes.

  “Sure, yeah,” I replied. When he turned to walk to the bar, I hurriedly put on my lingerie again. Nico was in his jeans, his chiseled torso glistened in the dim moody lighting of his living room.

  He brought me a glass of iced water and I drank from it.

  “I guess I should get going…” I said in a low whisper.

  Nico ran a hand through his thick hair and shrugged his shoulders.

  “You don’t have to go. I mean, you can stay if you want to,” he replied. I gulped, worried that I’d heard him wrong.

  Did he really want me to stay or was I just imagining this?

  “Maybe I’ll finish that beer,” I suggested and walked over to the coffee table to pick up the bottle again.

  Nico sat down on his couch, lifting up his glass of whisky.

  “Sit down, Kennedy, tell me about yourself. I feel like I need to get to know you,” he told me.

  I was literally weak in the knees. I didn’t think that was really physically possible, but it was happening to me!

  This was dangerous territory. Nico Rossi wanted to get to know me. I should have just left. Now when I had the chance, but how could I say no?

  Chapter 5

  Nico

  When I woke up the next morning, Kennedy was lying beside me. I sat up with a jerk, forgetting myself for a few moments.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up beside a woman. It was usually—fuck and goodbye. But last night was different. We had sex and after that, we spent some time talking.

  I realized that I liked watching Kennedy talk. She was lively and humorous and every time she laughed, it made something stir inside me. Eventually, she just fell asleep on the couch.

  I’d considered leaving her there and going to sleep in my bed. When I was about to leave the room, I’d changed my mind. I carried her to my bedroom and laid her down on the bed. She slept peacefully beside me. She was still sleeping now and I realized I’d been staring.

  I slipped out of my bed as quietly as possible. I didn’t want to wake her.

  Under any other situation, this would have been a problem for me. For starters, she had spent the night at my place. I had a strict rule regarding sleeping with women. They needed to go as soon as the act was done.

  Secondly, I had carried her to my bed. When I could have very easily left her sleeping on the couch.

  Thirdly, I was now finding myself in no rush to get rid of her.

  I put on a shirt and jeans and watched her some more as she slept. Her fiery red hair framed her face like a halo. It was spread out around her on the pillow. Her breasts heaved softly as she breathed. She was wearing her sexy lingerie, but that didn’t mean I’d forgotten what her breasts looked like underneath them.

  She was mostly covered by the blanket, but I pictured her naked again. My cock moved. I was hungry for her already.

  I turned from her with a jerk. I needed to focus. There was work to be done.

  I’d already pissed off my dad the previous night by not getting the job done like he asked. Now, if I didn’t go to the permits office downtown and acquire the permit we needed; he would be in a complete rage.

  This was not the kind of work I wanted to do. Greasing palms and surpassing red-tape was not the job I wanted, but my dad didn’t trust anyone else to do it. Always family; he repeated over and over again.

  So, shit work like this fell in my lap.

  The more construction our company undertook, the more money we could launder through the costs. Technically, that was our business. The construction of buildings itself was not as profitable as our real business was.

  Once I was dressed, I ran a hand through my hair and walked into my bathroom. I brushed, washed my face and shaved—all of which I did while staring at the mirror. I was assessing myself. Trying to figure out if something looked different about me.

  Because I definitely felt different. I didn’t know what it was, but I’d been feeling it since the moment I met Kennedy the previous night. It was like she’d cast a spell on me or something.

  The sex was good. No, the sex was great. She had a beautifully feminine body and the way she moved when I was inside her, fucking blew my mind.

  But I’d had great sex before. I’d slept with sexy women before. What was it about Kennedy that set her apart?

  I dabbed a towel to my face to wipe off the shaving cream. What was going on with me?

  I couldn’t bother with a relationship right now. We had sex once, which was fine, but if we had sex again, on another night; then it would become a thing. A sort of habit which would be difficult to break.

  I was not in the space or the situation to start something serious at this moment. I needed to get my life sorted, figure this shit out with my dad. Having a woman in my life to think about would just end up complicating matters.

  I walked back to the bedroom and saw Kennedy sleeping on her side. I needed to leave, like right now! But I didn’t want to wake her up either. She looked so peaceful, so angelic while she slept. She was like a dangerous warrior princess who could snap off your head when she was awake—but slept like an adorable baby.

  I smiled and then quickly stifled that smile. I needed to stop having these thoughts about her.

  I rummaged about for a notepad and a pen. When I found them, I quickly wrote her a note and placed it on her jacket. It was lying on the floor beside her. I’d deposited all her clothes there the night before, after collecting them from the living room.

  I gave Kennedy one last look. I had to fight the gnawing urge to reach for her and touch her…kiss the tip of her nose.

  No!

  I needed to get a grip. I needed to treat last night like every other night with an attractive woman. Just because we had good sex didn’t mean it had to lead to something.

  I walked away from her. It wasn’t just good sex, I’d felt a connection too.

  I ignored that thought. I had a task to perform. My father’s orders. After that, I would have to figure out how to change my life around. Hopefully try and change the course of the family business.

  I left my apartment without locking it and made my way to the car. I couldn’t help thinking about what Kennedy would look like when she woke up.

  ***

  I arrived at the permits office, and when I walked in I was relieved to see Danny at the counter. I’d gotten to know Danny over the past few years. He was a cheerful enough easy-going fella who was sympathetic to the Rossi family.

  Either that or he was aware of what my father was capable of if he didn’t comply. One day, he might just get a call in the middle of the night from his brother to say their home had been raided. Or he might hear his cousin had lost a leg. Some Italian looking fellas had come and beaten them up.

  Whatever the reason for Danny’s friendliness was, he knew that whatever I was asking for, he could just easily give it to me and avoid trouble.

  “Nico, my man!” Danny greeted me. There were a couple of people waiting to speak with him, but he ignored the queue and waved at me. I walked right up to the counter. I was pretty sure I was getting cursed at by the people waiting.

  “Hey, man, how are you holding up?” I asked, pulling out the paper from my back pocket.

  “The Missus has the flu, nothing serious…but it gives me an excuse to stay out late. You know? I still don’t see a ring on your finger,” Danny chatted away cheerily as I handed him
the paper.

  There was a wad of cash hidden underneath the paper which I handed him. Danny took it and I saw his hand move quickly under his desk. He wasn’t even going to count it. Whatever the Rossi family was giving him for the job was going to be enough.

  “No ring. Not for the foreseeable future!” I remarked and Danny laughed, in his usual boisterous way.

  The sheet of paper consisted of a request for a planning permit. We had a new construction site under the radar. The quicker we could get started on it, the more money we could launder through the books. That was the plan.

  Usually, getting a permit for a construction like this would take weeks. Maybe even months. But Danny knew better than that.

  “Lucky man. Keep it simple for as long as you can. Trust me, Nico. I used to look like you before I got married,” Danny laughed. He was stamping the piece of paper with much gusto. Not even looking as he signed it.

  I laughed too. I couldn’t imagine Danny younger, or looking even remotely like me, but I indulged him.

  “What did you do? Consume your wife in that belly of yours?” I asked, when he handed me the permit back.

  “I’m not going to lie to you, man. Happiness added the extra pounds. What can I say? I wasn’t happy before I met Ethel. And now, I can’t stop eating,” he remarked.

  I was still laughing as I left the office. Danny had a strange sense of humor, but at least he’d taken my mind off Kennedy.

  I jumped back in my car. The job was done. It was easy as pie. Now I had to go back and face my father.

  Chapter 6

  Kennedy

  When I woke up, there was sunlight streaming in through the window. For a few moments, I was disoriented and unsure of where I was. I knew I wasn’t in my own bed.

  Then, images of the previous night flashed through my mind.

  The bar. The girls. Nico in his tight cotton t-shirt. His apartment. The sweaty hot sex!

  I sat up, looking around with a heaving chest. Nico was nowhere in sight and I was in his room. This had to be his bedroom, even though I didn’t remember actually seeing it before. How had I landed up here?

  There was a dull aching throb at the back of my head. I had too much to drink.

  The last thing I remembered was Nico and I in his living room. We’d both partially dressed into our clothes…well, sort of. I was still in my lingerie.

  Nico brought me more beers, while he drank his whisky. I was flushed in the afterglow of that sexual experience. My biggest teenage fantasy had just come true. Most surprising of all, Nico still wanted me there in his apartment. For some reason, he wasn’t in a rush to send me off.

  I didn’t know Nico that well, but from the impression I had of him—I always thought he would be a one-night-stand kinda guy. Not the kind who wanted to talk to the girl after he had sex with her.

  Maybe it was different because we used to know each other in school? Or vaguely know each other.

  We’d spent some time talking. I remembered laughing a lot, discussing old mutual friends from school. We spoke about that house party, and how embarrassed I’d gotten when he kissed me. That was what I remembered.

  I couldn’t recall how or when I’d drifted off to sleep. Had he carried me here to his bedroom? That was definitely what it looked like.

  I looked over and saw his side of the bed. It seemed like someone had been sleeping there. I reached for it, and I could feel the warmth. He’d been lying there not too long ago. Was he still in the apartment?

  “Hello?” I called out, pulling the covers up high over my body. In the light of day, I was more self-conscious than I’d been the night before. There was no reply. It seemed like I was all alone here.

  “Nico?” I tried again, but I heard nothing.

  Had he just left his apartment with me sleeping in his bed? It was a Sunday morning, what work could he possibly have?

  I swung my legs over the bed and that was when my eyes fell on the note. It was lying neatly on my leather jacket on the floor.

  I picked it up and read it breathlessly.

  Hi. Sorry I had to leave in a rush. Business beckoned. If you’re up for it, we could have dinner tonight? Luigi’s downtown makes a mean seafood linguine.

  I read the note again and again. There was nothing too personal about it. Nothing that would betray that Nico and I had extremely hot sex the night before. It could have been a note to a friend.

  Nonetheless, to me it spelt that he wanted to see me again.

  I had a smile on my face as I changed into my clothes. I used his bathroom to wash my face and tidy up before leaving the apartment. He hadn’t left me any instructions, so I just shut the door behind me.

  I’d called for an Uber already and as I made my way downstairs, I texted Ava.

  Drop everything you’re doing and meet me at the Mall. I need a new dress for a hot date tonight!

  ***

  Ava was flicking through the dresses on the rack. We’d been to several stores already and I still hadn’t found the perfect dress. The one I wanted to wear tonight to Luigi’s.

  “And you met this guy at the bar last night?” she asked.

  I hadn’t given her too many details. Most importantly, I’d left out the part that the guy in question was also someone she would recognize. Everyone in school knew Nico Rossi. He was the guy all the girls wanted to be with. The one who ignored all their advances.

  I’d never even told Ava about the kiss. I didn’t think she would believe me and besides, I was too ashamed. How was I supposed to explain that he didn’t have sex with me because he wanted to go on a date first? And then he’d mysteriously disappeared. That would have sounded like a story too farfetched for even Ava to buy.

  “Yeah, exactly. Anyway, the point is that we had the hottest sex!” I exclaimed, picking out a beige lacey cocktail dress. I put it back on the rack immediately after. I needed this dress to stand out.

  Ava was watching me keenly. She’d never seen me this excited about a date before.

  “How hot was the sex exactly? I mean, look at you. You’re blushing right now!” Ava said, placing a hand on her slender hip.

  I knew I was blushing. My cheeks were burning up. I was tempted to tell her who it was. That it was our high school hottie-Nico Rossi. That I’d slept in his bed the previous night.

  Even though Ava was my best friend and I usually told her everything, I hesitated to tell her about Nico. For some reason, I wanted it to remain a secret a little longer. It was exciting to think that nobody else knew who I was sleeping with. Besides, I was pretty certain that nothing would come of it.

  Maybe dinner tonight was just a way for him to make up for the dinner he’d missed six years ago. I was sure that Nico was not the relationship sort of guy. This wasn’t going to lead to anything serious.

  And then what would Ava think of me?

  “I’ve never seen you fuss over a dress before!” she declared, when I pulled out a classic black dress.

  I took it to the full-length mirror in the store and stood in front of it. I was holding the dress to myself, while Ava stood behind me.

  “What do you think of this?” I asked her.

  Ava met my eyes in the mirror.

  “Kenni, you’re ignoring my questions. I’m trying to get you to spit it out. Is this guy special?”

  I whipped around to her, beginning to feel frustrated. Yes, Nico was special, because he was straight out of my teenage dreams. But it was nothing more than that. We were keeping it casual…not that there was anything going on between us in the first place.

  “What are you talking about? I’m just going on a date with a guy I met last night! You go on dates like every night of the week!”

  “Exactly! And when you go for a date, you don’t spend more than a minute deciding what to wear,” Ava snapped. I scoffed, rolled my eyes and looked away from her.

  “All I’m saying is that there’s nothing wrong with admitting that this guy is special somehow. I’m going to be happy for you i
f he is,” she had thrown her arms around my neck now and was hugging me tightly.

  We were still in front of the mirror, she was holding me and we swayed together. I had the dress held to my body. It was a lovely dress, but simple. I still wasn’t sure what to wear tonight.

  “It’s just a date, Ava. It’s our first one…I don’t even know what it is. You know me, I just want to keep things light and casual,” I replied to her finally.

  Ava sighed and peeled herself off me.

  “Suit yourself. You are only hurting you, by not admitting that maybe this guy’s struck a chord,” she declared.

  I watched as she walked back down the aisle of clothes and pulled out a silk navy cocktail dress.

  “This one. This is what you should wear,” Ava said, holding up the dress.

  It was perfect, it was beautiful. I knew I needed Ava for this!

  I smiled as I snatched the dress away from her and stepped into the trial room. As I put on the dress, I was thinking about Nico again.

  I wasn’t sure what was making me keep him a secret from my best friend. Maybe it was because I’d never told her about the kiss from six years ago? Whatever it was, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret for too long.

  If I slept with Nico again, I would have to tell Ava. I just wasn’t sure how she would react to it. Nico had been gone from our lives for a long time.

  Chapter 7

  Nico

  I parked my car next to my father’s at the build site. He was there already, and I didn’t have a good feeling about going to speak with him today.

  With the permit in hand, I made my way to where I could see him standing.

  He was speaking to one of the contractors. Their voices were inaudible so I figured they were discussing something underhand.

  When I joined them, they stopped talking.

  “Where have you been?” dad asked, turning to me. There was a growl in his voice, and the other man sensed trouble and stepped away.

  “I’ve been in the permits office,” I replied firmly and held up the piece of paper. Dad snatched it out of my hand and looked over it quickly.