All That Matters (Nightshade MC Book 3)

by Shannon Flagg

  Trina was in the fifth floor waiting room when they came down the hall. Obviously, she'd been waiting for them. Her scrubs had been swapped for a pair of low-rise jeans and a shirt that barely skimmed her navel. “Hey. I came up and you guys were gone.”

  “Someone got us in to see them,” Train replied. “And that someone wasn't you.” He didn't like people who promised things that they couldn't deliver.

  “That's why I was up here. My friend Chris just went on duty and she...”

  “Save it.” Train cut her off. He had no doubt she had a friend on the floor; she just didn't have the pull to get them into the room like Maggie did.

  “You're still going to take me home, right?” Trina lowered her voice into a purr and batted her eyelashes again.

  She probably thought that it was sexy, but to Train it just seemed desperate. “Wrong,” Train shook his head. He'd never had any intention of taking her home. Danny was the one who'd promised, so he could take her home.

  “If he doesn't want to take you home, I will,” Cane called out. “Maybe even take you for a drink first.”

  “That's the best offer that you're going to get,” Train said. “I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm out of here.”

  “Hold up, let me talk to you for a minute, Brother.” Danny motioned towards the elevator. “Let's go downstairs. I need a smoke.” They rode down together silently, remained that way until they were outside the hospital. “Do you want to tell me what that was about?”

  “What what was about?” Train took his cigarettes out and offered the pack to Danny.

  “You not wanting to take Trina home. Aren't you the one who used to talk about how great she was with her mouth?” Danny took and lit a cigarette.

  “I've had better,” Train replied. Immediately he recalled the sight of Meg kneeling in front of him for the first time. It had surprised the hell out of him when he realized what she was going to do. The memory of what she could do with her lips and tongue was enough to get him hard again. “What do you care if I didn't take her home?”

  “I don't really. It's just not like you. You good?” Danny looked concerned.

  “Yeah.” Train lit his cigarette and exhaled a stream of smoke. “I'm good.” And it was the truth. He was good. Everything was good.

  “What were you up to tonight before I called?” Danny asked.

  “I'd just got done watching a movie,” Train replied. Who he was watching it with was none of Danny's business. He had a strange feeling that this conversation was about to delve into his personal life. He had no interest in that conversation. “What were you doing?”

  “My wife,” Danny said with a grin. “Anyway, Amelia's got it in her head that she's going to have people over for a cookout.”

  “It's freezing outside,” Train pointed out.

  “She knows that it's freezing out. She says that we don't have to all be outside for someone to cook on the grill. And I assume that someone will be me. I don't want to tell her no. She went to the doctor the other day.”

  “What's wrong with her now?” Train asked. He'd never gotten along with Amelia. She'd always been a combative little bitch to him, ever since the first day that they met and he hadn't realized she was the one Danny kept going on about. He'd hit on her. She'd taken offense. Since that day they were more at each other's throats than not. Train enjoyed it. She did, too.

  “She's pregnant.” Danny took a long drag off of his cigarette. “About eight weeks. And you're part of the reason.”

  “I've never touched the bitch.” He held up his hands.

  Danny laughed. “Yeah, I know that. Don't call her a bitch. You're the one who got through to her after we lost the last kid. If you wouldn't have pushed her buttons that day...”

  “I didn't get her through shit.” Train tossed his cigarette.

  “Yeah, you did. Thank you, Brother.”

  “Whatever.” Train stuck his hand into his pocket, felt the cool metal of Meg's key. “I think it's time for me to head out.”

  “You sure you don't want to come to the house? I doubt anyone is going to get any sleep tonight.”

  “I'm not thinking about sleep,” Train regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth, because Danny's eyes widened with interest.

  “Who were you with? Claire? Always thought that the two of you might find something more than just fucking each other.”

  “There wasn't,” Train answered. “And I wasn't with Claire. I was at my neighbor's house.”

  “Neighbor? Wait, Meg?” Danny frowned.

  “What the fuck is that face about?” Train felt the anger he'd swallowed down about Danny taking the reins earlier resurface, along with the urge to punch him in the face.

  “Nothing. I just thought that Monroe was the one sniffing around her, not you. Or is it both of you? I've heard he's got some freak tendencies along the lines of yours.” Danny grinned.

  “She's not with Monroe. And he sure isn't sleeping with her.” Train stated facts.

  “Is she with you?” Danny asked. At Train's silence, a smile slid across his face. “Holy shit, you're into her for more than just getting off, aren't you?” He let out a laugh. “That's priceless. How many times have you called us idiots for getting involved? 'Poor bastards' is how you like to say it, right?”

  “You done?” Train asked.

  “No, probably not, but it can wait if she's waiting for you. Hey, you should bring her to Amelia's cookout thing. She's going to want to meet her. You might wanna warn your girl that my old lady hates you, though. Good luck explaining that.” Danny laughed again.

  The sound grated Train's nerves. He got people who acted like assholes, he did it himself, but when Danny was an asshole, it was nails on a chalkboard. It always had been. Maybe part of it was Danny had reminded him of himself, a kid with junkie parents who managed to get out alive, and he hadn't liked the reminder. “I'll see you here in the morning.”

  “I'll text you with the time. Have fun,” Danny said with a chuckle.

  <#<#<#<#

  The house was quiet; he came in the back door. Train tried not to make any noise, so of course he ended up walking straight into the kitchen table. The sound didn't seem to have woken anyone; he didn't hear any other sound. Carefully, he made his way to the stairs with the light from his phone. On the way, he passed the thermostat and saw it was set at sixty degrees. No wonder it was freezing. He cranked it up to seventy and continued up to Meg's room.

  The door was shut but not locked. There was a box fan propped up on the dresser, blowing cool air towards the bed. Train thought that it was too cold, but Meg didn't seem bothered by it, at least the part of her that he could see. She shifted on the bed; one leg was out from underneath the covers, as was most of her upper body. Her legs were bare up to where the tee shirt skimmed the middle of her thighs.

  Train stood there for a while, watched her as she slept, before he took off his boots, stripped down to his bare skin and joined her on the bed. He got under the covers and immediately felt the warmth of Meg's body. He pulled the covers over both of them, pressed against her. She stirred again, went suddenly stiff when he pressed his lips to the exposed nape of her neck.

  She must have realized it was him; she relaxed against him. “You came back.” Her voice was thick with sleep. “You're cold.”

  “It's freezing in here.” Train kissed the back of her neck again. “You're going to have to warm me up.” He snagged the hem of her shirt. “Take this off. Body heat is best. It works the fastest.” She shifted against him, pulled the shirt off and tossed it.

  She lay back down, her back flush with his front. “Like this?”

  “Or like this,” Train let his hand skim over her hip. Her skin was soft, smooth and supple, his fingers caressed their way over her stomach and up to her tits. They really were great tits, round and heavy in his hand. Her nipple tightened against his fingers. Meg whimpered as she pushed back against him. “I'm warmer already.”

  “M
e too.” She purred the words and slid one of her legs over his. The move opened her to him, and he could certainly take the hint.

  Train slid his hand down her body, groaned as he realized she was already wet for him. He shifted his hips, the tip of his cock against her heat and his hand on her clit. He rubbed his fingers back and forth until Meg's hips started to twitch against them. His cock strained to get closer to her as the muscles in her stomach began to jump. “Come on. Come on.”

  Meg cried out, her head flew back and her hips flexed down hard on him. Train groaned as the tip of his cock slipped in her. Fuck! His mind screamed at him to stop, he was in her bare, but he stomped the thought down. Without the thin layer of latex between them, being inside of her was so intense he couldn't help but push further into her.

  “Yes. Yes. Oh.” She moaned the words and worked her hips with him. “Train!” He recognized her tone, knew she was close. He wanted to be buried inside of her when she came, to experience how her body would feel clenched around him. Train slid the last few inches inside of her with a grunt. He nearly came. She was so tight around him that he'd worry it was painful if she wasn't moaning like a porn star.

  Train moved them so that she was flat on her stomach and he was even deeper inside of her than before. He had to still his hips so he didn't come as her body tightened around him like a fist. He used his hands to spread her legs wider and then reached up to grab her wrists. “Train!”

  “Trust me.” He was consumed by the idea of her being immobilized while he fucked her. He bent her arms and held her wrists against the small of her back. Train slid nearly all the way out of her and then back in completely.

  Meg cried out. “Train!”

  “You want me to stop?” He slowed down in case she did.

  “No!” She all but shouted the word. “Don't stop. Don't.”

  Train didn't stop, not even when she came so hard that he thought she was going to squeeze him right out of her. She liked him holding her down and fucking her. It made him wonder what else she liked. He didn't expect that she'd be into everything that could get him off, he just wanted to know everything that she did.

  He felt a familiar tingle through his body and pulled out of her with regret. He released her wrists and took his cock in his own hand. He stroked himself fast and hard until he came all over her ass.

  “The next time, you don't have to pull out.” Meg turned over and smiled up at him. “I'm on the pill. And I'm clean. It'd be great if you are, too.”

  “I'm clean.” He reached out and grabbed her hands. Her wrists showed no sings of bruising, but he rubbed them anyway. “You good with me staying the night while the boys are here?”

  “Are you good with dealing with them in the morning? Leo's going to be thrilled. Joshua is going to be pissed.”

  “Yeah, I can see that.” Train let go of her wrists. “And I'm good with it if you are.”

  “I am.” Her voice was already sleepy again. Train shifted to lie down on the bed, and she moved next to him. “You liked that, holding me down?”

  “I think you know I did, seems like you did, too.” He traced his fingers down her arm. Had he been wrong? Had she not liked it? “Meg, if you don't like something, you've got to tell me or I won't know.” The images that had formed in his mind earlier, the things that they could do, suddenly no longer seemed a possibility. Would vanilla sex be enough for him?

  “I liked it,” she cuddled closer to him. “I didn't think I would. At first, I was a little scared.” Her voice shook slightly but she cleared her throat. “And then I wasn't.”

  “All you've ever got to say is stop. Any way that you want to say it, stop, no, get the fuck off, whatever.” He pressed his lips to the back of her neck.

  “Promise?” Her voice shook ever so slightly. Train realized that somewhere along the line, someone hadn't stopped when she said no, and he wanted to tear their faces off.

  “I promise.” Train nuzzled his face against her neck. “I'm an asshole sometimes, Meg. Anyone will tell you that, but I'm never going to force you into anything. That's not saying I probably won't fuck this up, because I'm good at fucking things up.”

  “I'm good at that, too.” She laughed a little. “Don't we make a pair?”

  “Yeah, I'm thinking that we do.” Train pressed his lips to her shoulder. “And I think that I've figured out a solution for your lack of a job. Caroline's going to need some help with things, she broke her wrist in the wreck.”

  “Wreck? What wreck?” She turned her head towards him.

  “Her and Buster got hit by some old lady who had some kind of fit. The hospital is keeping them overnight for observation,” he replied.

  “Is that where you went? Why didn't you say something sooner?”

  “When I left, I thought it was club stuff. I didn't think about much of anything but you after I got back here.” Train stroked her arm. “But since Caroline is going to need an extra hand, I figured you could maybe help her out while you look for something else. I'll make it happen.”

  “Okay,” she said simply. It was the last thing that she said before her breathing became slow and rhythmic. Train laid his head down on the pillows next to hers, listened to the sound of her breathing, felt her chest rise and fall with each exhale.

  If he'd felt overwhelmed when he was bare inside of her, he didn't have a word for what this feeling was. In all his years, he'd done his best to avoid any real connection with a woman. He got it, got off and got out. He didn't cuddle. He didn't spend the fucking night. This wasn't him. He wasn't built for the ready-made fucking family experience, yet here he was.

  Train lay there for as long as he could before he let the voices in his head drive him out. Meg didn't stir when he slid out of the bed, remained unaware as he dressed. It was a shitty thing to do, to leave her bed in the middle of the night, but the knowledge didn't stop him. He felt the key in his pocket, took it out and looked at it.

  After a moment of hesitation, he left it on the dresser before he made his way out of the room.

  <#<#<#<#

  Train pushed Caroline's wheelchair and did his best not to laugh at the sight of Buster being pushed by Ace. Ace was less successful with not laughing. Train was pretty sure that Buster was going to beat the shit out of him for it. “Alright, enough.” Buster was out of the chair the moment they cleared the doors. “You stay put,” he ordered Caroline. “Someone give me the keys. I'm going to drive us home, and we're going to need a few days downtime.”

  “Jobs are scheduled to the end of next week, so we're good on the Nightshade Construction front.” Caroline let Train wheel her to the curb. “The bakery can stay closed for now. I'll have to hire someone.”

  “Meg's looking for work. I told her I'd talk to you about having her help you out.” Train stopped the chair next to his truck and tossed the keys to Buster. “Maybe you should call her.”

  “You could just tell her to meet me at the bakery on Tuesday.” Caroline got to her feet, turned to grin at him. “I heard you were hanging out with her last night. I'm sorry that our accident pulled you away from your night.”

  “No big deal. And you should call her.” Train looked away from her. “How'd you hear that anyway? Let me guess, Amelia?” Of course Danny would have run back to her, run his mouth, which meant that he'd run it to everyone. Just great.

  “Wait, why won't you tell her? What did you do, Train?” She sighed dramatically.

  He met her gaze until she looked away. “I didn't do anything. Just call her if you want her help. Now go home, get some rest or whatever. I'll get the truck later. If you need anything, call me and I'll get it done.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Need me to put you in the truck?”

  “I think that might piss Buster off,” She grinned. “And we're going to talk about this whole Meg thing later.”

  “No, we're not.”

  Chapter Eight

  Meg checked her phone as she approached the school. It had been nearly an hour since the secret
ary had called her to tell her that she was needed in the principal's office immediately. What the hell had Joshua done now? She wasn't sure she wanted to know. The sight of the police cars parked in front of the main entrance made her stomach turn. What the hell had he done?

  She took the stairs two at a time, all but sprinted down the hall to the office. The secretary was on her feet immediately. “Where's Joshua? What happened?” There were a million different worst-case scenarios rushing through her mind. Lately, Joshua had been really out of control, more angry than she'd ever seen him.