by Lane Hart
“I think I would like to sleep in tomorrow,” I say, rather than drop the anvil on him now. “How about we do something tomorrow afternoon? We could go to that fifties show where they serve you dinner.”
“That sounds perfect,” Paul says, perking back up again. “Let me know when I should pick you up.”
“Okay,” I agree.
“Good night, Tessa. Sleep well,” he says with a smile.
“Good night,” I reply.
I wave goodbye to the prospects who wait to head down the stairs with Paul until I unlock and open my apartment door.
The living room is empty, the television off. Verek’s not in the kitchen either. I find him already curled up in bed in my dark room.
“Hey,” he says when he hears me come in.
“Sleeping already?”
“Tomorrow’s a big day. Thought it would get here faster if I slept through today,” Verek explains.
He doesn’t have to tell me that he’s nervous about getting his cut back.
“I’m really angry at Roman for taking your cut,” I tell him when I sit down on the edge of the mattress beside him and find his hand in the dark.
“It was just temporary,” he says, placing his palm on mine to give it a squeeze. “How was your date?” he asks, the last word more caustic than the others.
“Fine. We had lobster for dinner and then saw some stand-up comedians. They were pretty funny.”
“Oh yeah?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
“You going to see him again tomorrow?”
“Yes,” I reply while pulling my hand free to run my fingertips over Verek’s broad chest and down over his rippling abs. Not being able to see them in the darkness doesn’t mean I don’t recall exactly how good he looks without a shirt on. Every second I touch him has liquid warmth gathering in my belly.
“And what do you want to do tonight, sweetheart?” Verek asks, his voice deeper like he’s getting turned on too.
“I think…I’m going to get a shower,” I tell him.
“Do you want some company?”
“Maybe when I come out, if you’re still awake.” I let my fingers trail down his stomach through the small patch of hair, lower and lower until they find the outline of his thick shaft in his boxer briefs. Just the faintest brush of my fingernails on his cock has him getting hard.
“I feel like I just drank a pot of coffee,” he replies, making me laugh before I remove my hand from his bulge.
“I’ll be right back,” I say as I hurry to the bathroom to turn on the shower, letting it warm up while I get undressed. I don’t turn on the lights in here either, other than the one recessed light over the shower. I still don’t like to see my body in the mirror, not after the first time in the hospital. I still feel estranged from my flesh and bones, like they were too damaged to ever be repaired, even though logically I know that all of those painful cuts and bruises have long ago healed. In my mind, when I touch my breast, there’s still his scabbed-over bite marks, his upper and lower teeth’s indention in my skin like the bite of a vampire. There’s still an invisible black knot on my forehead from where I tried to get away and my face was slammed into the van’s floor. And there’s still the blood on the inside of my thighs from how many violent, painful times they ripped me open.
Pulling my hair up into a bun, I try to push all of those horrible memories away to quickly wash the day off and get back to Verek, who is my one escape – mentally and physically. I know he would never hurt me, especially now that I’ve told him about my many triggers.
After I’m good and clean, I dry off with a towel. That’s when I realize that I didn’t bring a change of clothes or my pajamas with me. Since I’m not ready to be completely naked with Verek just yet, I wrap my towel around my chest, tucking in one side to hold it in place before gathering up the courage to head back to the bedroom.
As soon as I come out, I notice that Verek’s turned on one of the bedside lamps, making me freeze since I was hoping the room would still be pitch-black.
“Hey,” he says, eyes widening when he takes in my lack of clothes starting at my bare legs and working his way up to my face. “That’s more skin than you’ve ever shown.”
“I forgot my pajamas,” I explain.
“I like it,” Verek replies. “Want to feel how much?” He throws back the covers, revealing the tenting in his boxer briefs. And suddenly, I’m okay with the extra light in the room because I get to see every inch of his amazing body. Well, mostly.
“Will you take those off?” I ask brazenly while staring at his package.
“As fast as humanly possible,” he responds, his fingers already grasping either side of the elastic waistband around his hips and tugging them down until his hard flesh pops free, then down his long legs until he kicks them off at the foot of the bed. “Now what?” he asks. Verek wraps his long fingers around his girth and gives his shaft a few lazy strokes up and down.
“I-I dunno,” I answer in awe while watching him jerking himself off.
“I have a few ideas. Come over here,” he says with a lift of his chin.
I’m certain I’ll want to do whatever he has in mind, that’s how much I trust him, so I wander over, gripping the top of my towel tightly to continue holding it in place.
When I’m standing beside the bed, Verek pats the outside of my right thigh with his free hand since the other is still busy, and says, “Lift this leg.”
Unsure what he means, I place my right knee on the mattress. “Like that?”
“Higher,” he says. As I lift my knee a few more inches, Verek slides his body underneath it until my knee is digging into his chest, which I know can’t be comfortable. I start to retreat, but he says, “Put it right here, sweetheart,” he says, tapping the space above his left shoulder. “You know what I want. Let me taste you?” He poses it as a question, asking if I’m okay with him putting his mouth on me. While I’m a little nervous about such an intimate act, I want it more than anything. I reposition my knee, turning my entire body toward Verek’s head. The bottom half of his face immediately disappears underneath the bottom of my towel, but his eyes are still on mine when I cry out. My left hand shoots out to grab the headboard at the first swipe of his wet tongue gliding through my pussy lips.
“Too much?” Verek asks while his lips leave wet kisses on the inside of my thigh.
“Not enough,” I tell him truthfully, my previous inhibitions already miles away.
I feel his chuckle against my sensitive flesh before his tongue strikes again, turning my one planted leg to Jell-O. With it trembling, I place my other knee above Verek’s right shoulder so that I’m straddling his face. His groan of approval vibrates through me in the most delicious way as I notice his arm moving from the corner of my eye, cords of muscles contracting with every little movement. He’s still fisting his cock, his hand moving faster and faster with the same enthusiasm as the tip of his tongue stroking back and forth over my swollen bundle of nerves.
“Oooh, yes!” I moan as my head falls back and my hips start to buck, taking control of the situation without my permission. A tidal wave of arousal hits me embarrassingly fast as Verek sucks on my clit. I drench his face as I start to convulse on top of him. I’m holding on to the headboard so hard the entire bed is shaking. “Yes! Verek! Please!” I scream as I come so hard and for so long that it feels like I’m being thrown into another decade.
“Mm…mmm…mmmmm!” Verek groans are muffled as he thrusts his hips and comes in his hand, sounding like he’s devouring the most delicious thing he’s ever put in his mouth. Never before have I ever felt so sexy and wanted. It’s…empowering.
When it feels like every drop of energy has been drained from me, I roll over onto the empty side of the bed before I suffocate Verek.
Both of us lie there, gasping and panting, recovering for several long minutes.
“That…” Verek starts. “Was definitely worth waiting for.”
“Yeah?” I ask wi
th a grin.
“Oh yeah. At least for me,” he adds.
“For me too,” I agree. “It was incredible. Possibly the best moment of my life.”
Both of us laugh at that, even though I’m not exaggerating.
“I better clean up my mess,” Verek says before he’s rolling out of bed, heading for the bathroom.
I lie there and enjoy the blissful afterglow, my towel still in place until he comes back and puts his boxer briefs back on.
“I think I could cuddle you tonight without any poking,” he says when he slides under the covers.
“Okay,” I easily agree, not uptight or worried about anything at the moment. I barely have the energy to roll to my side, deciding to sleep in the towel tonight. “Cuddle me until we fall asleep.”
My eyes are already closing when the front of Verek’s body presses against my back, his heat warming my cooling skin. He places a soft kiss on my shoulder and says, “Good night, sweetheart.”
“Good night,” I reply.
And before I fall asleep, I think to myself that I would love to do this with Verek every night.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Verek
* * *
“I now call this meeting to order,” Winston says with a grin as he lowers the gavel a little too eagerly onto the Savage Kings table in the chapel Monday afternoon. “The first item on the agenda is a vote on reinstating Verek’s full membership.”
“Should he be in here while we’re voting?” Marcus asks.
“You worried I’ll kick your ass if you vote no?” I question him.
“Hell no,” he huffs.
“Then what’s the problem?” I mutter as he shrugs a shoulder.
“Have you learned how to follow orders instead of doing whatever the fuck you want to do?” Marcus asks.
“I’ll follow fucking orders,” I assure him, the part about unless they’re stupid or ridiculous going unspoken.
“Let’s get this over with. All in favor of reinstating Verek’s membership?” Winston asks, followed by his vote of “Aye.”
I hold my breath as he goes around the table, waiting for each person to give their approval, until we come to Marcus, the final vote.
He narrows his eyes at me and then grins. “Aye, shithead.”
Winston drops the gavel hard enough to break it. “Then it’s unanimous. Welcome back!” He picks up the leather cut that’s lying beside him and tosses it to me.
“Thanks, guys. I’m glad to be back.”
“You ready to get back to work at Fluid?” Cannon asks. “Conrad and I have enough on our plates with the shop.”
“Uh, I’m not sure. Maybe we should wait and see what Roman says,” I hedge. “Can’t Hugo and Abel handle the club this week?”
“I don’t know shit about running a business,” Hugo says.
“Me either,” Abel seconds. “So unless you want us to run it into the ground, you should probably ask someone else.”
“Nolan?” I ask.
“Still on probation. Ain’t supposed to be around drugs or alcohol,” he says.
“Fuck.”
“What’s your problem?” Cannon asks. “I thought you loved that place.”
“I did,” I agree. “I do.”
How the fuck am I supposed to tell them that I’m not entirely sure I can be in that environment and not have the urge to fuck another woman? I didn’t while I was working there the two months while Tessa was in the treatment facility, or the six months I was in Florida, but who knows if I can actually be loyal forever. If Tessa was there, if she came with me to Fluid, I wouldn’t have that concern. But she doesn’t want to step foot in the place again.
“Then I don’t see why you can’t just go by for a few hours every night to make sure things are running smoothly until Roman gets back, starting tonight,” Winston says. Without waiting for my agreement, he slams the gavel again, the power definitely going to his head. “It’s decided. Any other business?”
“Ah, just one small thing,” Conrad speaks up and says, so much quieter than his brother. “Chief Bailey came by the dealership the other day. He needs a favor.”
“From us?” Winston asks.
“Yes.”
“Why the fuck does he think we’ll do him a favor?” Winston grumbles.
“He sounded pretty desperate. Something about trouble with his daughter.”
“His daughter? What’s that got to do with us?” Winston asks.
“I think he wants us to go pick her up from her college and bring her home.”
“Why can’t he do it?” Cannon asks.
“Guess he’s tried, and she won’t leave with him.”
“He wants us to go and take his daughter by force,” I say in understanding. “No fucking thank you. I won’t be any part of some kidnapping plan, even for the police chief.”
“Verek’s right. We don’t kidnap women,” Winston says.
“Maybe we could persuade her,” Conrad says. “Think of all the leverage it would give us over the chief if we do this.”
“Fine. You can go if you want, but I won’t send anyone else who doesn’t want to go,” Winston tells him.
“Okay, I’ll go,” Conrad agrees.
“Ha! Good luck,” Winston tells him before slamming the gavel down and declaring, “Meeting fucking adjourned.”
As soon as I push my chair back and stand up, I’m shoving my arms through my cut, glad to have the weight of the leather back.
“You coming with me?” Conrad asks his twin.
“Hell no. That’s all on you, bro,” Cannon chuckles before turning to me. “So how are things going with your girl?” he asks before I escape the chapel with everyone else.
“Good, I guess,” I reply with a sigh. “Honestly, I don’t know what the fuck is going on between us.”
“She still seeing the fiancé?”
“Yep. But then she sees me at night.”
“Sees you as in your birthday suit?” he asks with a grin.
“Something like that.”
“She messing around with the fiancé too?”
“No, I don’t think so. As far as the prospects have seen while shadowing them, she hasn’t touched him, not even once.”
“Then you don’t have anything to worry about, right?” Cannon says cheerfully with a pat on my back.
“Who knows. For the short term, probably not, but what happens down the road?” I ask.
“What do you want to happen down the road?”
“I don’t know. It’s just, I never thought about a long-term relationship before. All I’m certain of is that I don’t want to hurt her. She’s been through enough pain for one lifetime.”
“Then don’t hurt her,” Cannon says simply.
“I already have once, the night we met,” I remark, hating myself for going home with someone else when I should’ve gone after Tessa.
“Then don’t do it again.”
“Not sure it’s that easy. I’ve lived a fucked-up life, growing up with a perpetual bachelor for a father and no mother,” I explain. “I’ve never seen a healthy relationship before Roman and Charlotte’s, and Winston and Zoe’s. But Roman stalked Charlotte and watched out for her for years, so he was already in it for the long haul before she met him. And with Winston, well, he was a grumpy bastard who wanted his stepsister for fifteen years before they got together. Me on the other hand, I’ve been with so many women I lost count and have never once had a girlfriend. I’ve never even taken a woman out on a fucking date before! So how can I be good for Tessa as a boyfriend or husband when I have no clue what I’m doing? She deserves dates and romance and love.”
“Being with Tessa could definitely be a challenge,” Cannon agrees as he strokes his stubbly chin. “Especially now that your dick has apparently turned into a vagina. Not sure if she’s into girl-on-girl action. You should probably ask her before things go any further.”
“Fuck you,” I tell him as I flash him my middle finger.
&
nbsp; “Dude, seriously, I think you’re overthinking this like a chick would be doing instead of just going with the flow.”
“That’s your advice? Wait it out? Go with the flow?” I huff in annoyance.
“Yep.”
“I don’t even know why I’m talking to you about this. You’re worse than me when it comes to one-night stands!”
“This is true,” Cannon agrees with a chuckle. “But look at that! You’re already figuring out the do’s and don’ts of dating! Don’t ask another playboy for advice on not being a playboy.”
Shaking my head, I leave his happy ass standing there and walk off to try and find something to distract me until Tessa gets home from her date with Paul.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Tessa
* * *
The fifties show was fun, and I didn’t even have any panicky thoughts about being in another crowded room with strangers. When the lights dimmed, I got a little nervous, but then the singing started, and I relaxed. The chicken dinner was decent too, and I would’ve loved to have seconds of the chocolate mousse pie.
These dates with Paul have been good for me. Just not as good as the nights with Verek.
I’m not sure how many times I replayed having his mouth on me throughout the day, but it was impossible not to think about it.
My mind has gone into the gutter yet again when Paul says, “So does that sound okay with you?”
“What’s that?” I ask since I missed whatever he suggested as we stepped out of the elevator on the second floor with the two prospects, my heels too painful for us to take the stairs.
“The beach tomorrow? It’s going to be sunny, and by lunchtime the temperature will be in the sixties.”
“Sure, it sounds like it’s going to be a beautiful winter day. I’ll see if Verek wants to come too,” I say before I even consider how rude it is to invite the other man I’m seeing. Really the only man I’m seeing.