Fuck. If something has happened to either of them, there will be hell to pay.
As soon as I hit the top step, my chest unclinches as both of their voices hit my ears.
I find them both in Lexa's room, Everly laid out on the bed with her head propped up on the wall and Lexa in the chair with her feet up on the bed. They're both in their sleepwear with braided hair, like two friends having a slumber party instead of hiding from a rival gang.
"Dad," Everly says and begins to move from the bed.
I stop her with my hand raised. "Don't get up. I just wanted to make sure you two were all right. I called when I came in. Did you not hear me?"
Lexa looks at me with her big hazel eyes and mouth shaped like a perfect little circle. "I told you I thought I heard something."
Everly laughs. "We were talking to settle our nerves. I guess we were louder than we thought."
Part of me wants to pull Lexa into my arms and make sure she truly is okay. Another part wants to bend her over my knee and spank her until her ass cheeks turn pink for scaring me.
I focus back on Everly. "Did you find what I told you to find?"
She lifts the pillow at her side, and the steel grey of my Glock shines in the light. I can tell she's kept it hidden from Lexa, so I do the same. "I'll be back for it later," I tell my daughter.
"Where is everyone else?" Lexa asks. "Are they going to be safe tonight?"
It's hard to remember sometimes how new this lifestyle is to Lexa. That's the main reason I want her here, in my house, and not sitting in a club full of rough men and women who've become accustomed to accommodating them.
I like her better this way.
"They all know how to take care of themselves," Everly says with a smile. "Besides, what happened tonight was only a warning. And that's because the Devil's would rather scare us off than have to fight us. They know what would happen if they faced the Tempest Elite in battle."
I grin at Everly, thankful she's here to keep Lexa calm. "Check in with Kyle. He's worried."
"Already did. Kyle is staying at the clubhouse, but we agreed the baby is better off here in the quiet."
I tell her I agree and that if either of them need anything, I'll be downstairs for a while. Then I leave them to do their thing.
Every few minutes, laughter drifts downstairs. It's the only sound I hear other than the crickets chirping from outside while I sit and watch both the front and back of the house from the kitchen.
The security system I installed when I bought the place is top-notch and will catch any movement outside the house. But, I know I'm not going to sleep, knowing what happened to Lexa.
I couldn't comfort her with Everly in the room. I'm not even sure I would be of comfort after Cobra manhandled her. I drop my head in one hand and sit with my eyes closed, picturing Lexa pushing me away. Now that she knows what my lifestyle is like, she has every reason to decide, I am too much of a risk.
There's a noise from inside the house. The laughter has stopped, and everything is silent, except for light footsteps on the hardwood floors in the downstairs hallway.
It could be Everly coming to return my Glock now that Lexa has fallen asleep. But the figure that steps into the kitchen doorway isn't Everly's.
"You can't sleep either?" Lexa steps into the room but keeps her distance. She has on those tight little cloth shorts and the spaghetti strap top that shows off every curve of her body to perfection.
"I don't sleep much these days," I answer, trying to not undress her in my mind.
She steps closer. "After tonight, I can understand why." She reaches behind her back and pulls my Glock from the waistband of her shorts before putting it on the table between us. "Everly fell asleep with it loaded under her pillow. The safety is on, but I didn't feel comfortable with it so close to her and the baby."
I take it from the table and check the chamber. Sure enough, Lexa is right. "You knew she had it the whole time?"
Lexa sits in the chair next to mine. "My father was in the military. He taught me to shoot when I was five. I didn't want Everly to worry about me, so I didn't tell her I saw her take it from your room."
"She was doing what I told her to do," I add, checking the trigger safety and putting my Glock behind me on the kitchen counter. "I overreacted when I heard what happened to you and her tonight. You weren't really in danger."
She can tell I'm lying. I don't know how I know for sure, but the way she's studying me, I'm sure she's looking right through me. "You don't have to do that for me, Gunner. I let Everly get away with it because I knew she needed to feel useful, but you...why did that guy have it out for you?"
I sit back and brush my hand over my beard. I don't know where to begin or what details to leave out, so I keep my explanation simple. "Doc and Bear and I, along with a few of the members, all served together. We've been family for longer than the club. That time together creates an unbreakable bond."
A massive weight drops in my gut. I'd like to drop the conversation there, but Lexa is intently listening. I know I haven't answered her question, and she isn't going to let me off the hook. "Cobra was one of us. Overseas, he was with me in my unit."
"But he's not in Tempest Elite?" Lexa scoots closer until her knees bump into my thigh.
"He should have been. We were close, but that all ended when we returned home." That should be enough to satisfy her curiosity. I'm not digging up past ghosts tonight. Not even to comfort Lexa.
"Why?" Lexa drops her hand to my knee as if she's speaking to a girlfriend and not me. It's unsettling how comfortable she's become with me. How I've allowed her to get close, knowing we can never be anything more than Everly's father and Everly's friend.
"It's a lot to go into, and it's late."
Lexa leans in closer. "And neither of us is tired. I'm a good listener, Gunner. If you let me be."
I take a deep breath and blow it out in a sigh that has me sounding like a growling bear. "You don't know when to quit, do you?"
She smiles. "I do. I just choose not to when a friend needs me."
Fuck. Friends? That's not where my mind goes every time I see her walk down the stairs, drink coffee in my kitchen in the mornings, or sit in the passenger seat of my truck.
"We all returned with demons," I start and watch her reaction for clues of how she'll respond when she realizes I'm not the nice guy she thinks I am. "I've killed men, Lexa. Young men and old. So has almost every member of this group."
She's still watching me. Her eyes are a bit wider, but mostly unscathed by my confession.
"That was your job, Gunner. You didn't have a choice."
"There is always a choice," I breathe out on my next breath.
Her fingers wrap around my bicep. "You mean you feel guilty over killing or being killed? Gunner, you didn't have a choice. You have to know that."
I pull free from her arms and stand. "It wasn't always like that. Not for all of us." I walk over to the counter to keep some distance between us. "I was in charge of a group of men. They took their orders from me. Cobra was one of them. By the end of his tour, he'd stopped surviving and started looking for revenge."
Lexa is quiet. She glances away from me, and I know she's summing up what I'm not saying in that pretty head of hers.
She stands without speaking and closes in on me, keeping a shred of space between us. When her gaze lifts up and reaches mine, the tears in her eyes claw into my heart.
"If he lost his control, that has nothing to do with you, Gunner." Her fingers work up my cheek until it's resting in her palm. "Gunner. Do you hear me? You're not at fault for what anyone else did. That's his burden to bear."
"I quit blaming myself a long time ago. I had my brothers to keep me straight. But Cobra fell in with the wrong crowd, and our past disagreements pushed him even farther in with the Devils. I hate that he took that anger out on you."
Lexa's gaze drops, and I catch her chin with my finger and lift her face up to meet mine. "Don't do that."
"Do what?" she asks, her eyes still glistening as she searches my face.
"Don't feel sorry for me."
"I don't. But I might feel sorry for Cobra. Does that make me a bad person?"
I grin and laugh lightly, shaking my head. "No." I tilt her face up more, so my mouth hovers over hers. "That makes you human."
Our gaze locks before I tip her chin up all the way to my lips and I kiss her softly until a moan forms in her throat.
She wraps her arm around me, and without breaking our kiss, I lift her up and spin around to sit on the countertop. She's hungry for me, and I'm swallowing every sweet little noise that comes from her mouth.
Her hand slides under my shirt and runs along my. I'm lost in Lexa. Lost to the world. Taken to that place where what mattered so much to me minutes ago means nothing if I can't have this woman in my arms forever.
Lexa begins pulling up my shirt, and we break our kiss just long enough to pull my head through the collar. My hands go to the waist of her shorts and begin to work the fabric down. I search out her lips again and close my eyes just as the word Daddy drifts from the stairs to my ears.
Lexa goes rigid in my arms, and I look over her shoulder. Everly is standing at the foot of the staircase, her eyes wide, her mouth open.
Fuck.
Lexa drops her head to my shoulder and holds me tight for a second before whispering "sorry" into my ear and pushing off the counter.
This isn't how I wanted Everly to find out about us. This isn't at all how tonight was supposed to go.
What am I supposed to do now?
Chapter 9
Lexa
I let my head drop onto Gunner's shoulder, and I close my eyes.
He's still holding me, for now. I'm waiting for the second he lets go. But he doesn't.
It's me that has to pull away.
"Gunner, I…" I trail off. I what? I'm sorry Everly caught us? I'm sorry I started this thing with him? I'm sorry I came downstairs tonight knowing exactly what I was doing?
It's the third sorry that sticks in my throat. No matter how hard I try, I can't spit the words out.
Gunner brushes my hair off my forehead with his thumb. He looks into my eyes, and my heart almost breaks.
"We both knew what we were doing. You don't have to be sorry."
"But I am." I pull out of his arms and begin pacing the kitchen floor. "I have to make this right. You and Everly are family. You two can't be mad at each other over me."
I thought Gunner would keep his distance too, but to my surprise, he pulls me back into his arms and holds me to his chest so tightly, I'm forced to lift my chin and look up at him.
"There is nothing wrong with being in love."
"What?" I stammer.
Am I in love? I hadn't thought about it until I heard the four letters that most people hold so dear cross Gunner's kiss-swollen lips.
"I said I love you, Lexa." He grins at me as if his magical smile can erase what just happened between him and Everly and I. "That's not going to change now that Everly knows the truth."
"Love me," I repeat, almost in disbelief. "How? It's been a few days. Not even a full week since we first met." I've had longer relationships with zits. I slap a mental hand over my face for that thought. But it's true.
This can't be love, can it?
"I do," he says. His gaze is so intense I can't seem to break it until he loosens his grip. "It may not have been very long, but I knew the second you walked in the bar that night that you were the one for me."
My lips part, and I can't stop the gasp that blows out from between them.
"I don't expect you to feel the same. At least not this fast." He runs his thumb over my cheek, and I melt. "You're young. You have your whole life in front of you. You don't want to be tied down to someone who's already as set in his ways as I am. But Lexa, if you did, I'd take you in a heartbeat."
I can't breathe. I can't think. My heart is pounding so hard I feel the pulse all the way down to my toes.
I want to rise up on my tiptoes and kiss him. I'm not sure I'm to the point of confessing my undying love, but I do know I want this man. I want him badly, and I'm scared as hell if I don't make a move he will be gone.
I'm about to close the gap between us and kiss him when Everly's face flashes behind my eyes, and I'm reminded of another woman wearing the same heart sickened expression.
I sink back down, so my feet are flat on the floor, and I push away from Gunner. It takes everything I have, but I do it because not so long ago, I was the girl with the broken heart. The circumstances may have been a bit different, but I know what Everly is feeling because when Donovan picked another woman over me, I felt it too.
I can't be the girl Gunner picks over his daughter. I don't want to cause the crack that fractures their relationship.
"Lexa?"
Gunner is studying me. He frowns and reaches his palm for my face, but I pull away before he can touch me.
"It's going to be okay," he says. His lips quiver and one corner lifts, but the other can't quite make a full smile.
He knows as well as I do, this won't be okay.
"I'm sorry," I whisper, hiding the break in my voice. "But I can't do this."
I give him one last longing look, memorizing his image as if for the last time before I turn for the stairs.
I stop at Everly's door, half expecting Gunner to be on my heels. He's not the type of guy who takes no for an answer, but he's not behind me.
I lay my forehead on the wall, and I listen for any signs Everly might still be awake. I need to talk to her now before I lose my nerve. But she doesn't make a sound, and I'm not going to wake her just to satisfy my guilty conscience.
I slide my forehead off the wall and head to my room, shutting the door behind me. I'm tired, but I know I won't sleep. Not until I can clear the air with Everly. Instead, I lay down and pull the covers up over me until I'm hidden under them like a coward, and I cry.
Despite all that has happened in this one night, I can't get my mind off the man sitting downstairs at the kitchen table who confessed his love for me. How fucked up is my life that the one guy I know will always treat me right is off-limits.
Gunner
I waited at home this morning for Everly or Lexa to wake up. After only a couple of hours of sleep and enough coffee to wire an elephant, I gave up on either of them leaving their bedrooms.
I'm not the kind of guy who is in tune with his feelings, so I can't begin to understand what happened last night beyond Lexa, turning me down in favor of my daughter.
I don't fault her for that. If anything, that single act of kindness makes me want her even more. The pain in her eyes registered when she pulled away from me, and it took all I had not to chase her down. But, Lexa is a strong woman with an empathetic heart, and pushing her would only cause her more pain.
I can't be the one who makes her hurt any more than she always is. Fuck, I shouldn't have allowed this to happen in the first place.
"Everly okay?"
I looked behind me as I dismount my bike in the club parking lot to find Kyle standing next to his Harley. He looks like he hasn't had much sleep either and he's wearing the same jeans and club tee-shirt from last night.
"Did you sleep here?" I ask.
He laughs harshly. "If you can call what I did sleeping. Everly texted me after midnight that everything was fine but never sent another word after that."
"She was tired." I head for the front door and motion for him to follow. Getting Lexa off my mind will be hard enough, but talking about Everly only reminds me of the call I need to make later today. The one where I apologize for hurting her friend. "Any news about the Devils?"
Kyle follows behind me into the clubhouse. "Only a few calls from witnesses at Hawk's place. Some of the customers want to know if there's going to be trouble in town."
"And Bear took care of it?"
Kyle steps in front of me and nods. "He assured them any trouble will be taken to Devil's te
rritory."
"Good. Hopefully, that's a promise we can keep."
Kyle steps in my way. "Bear has patrols out and will keep them up twenty-four hours a day until things settle down. What was Everly upset about last night?"
I look into my son-in-law's eyes and see the anger mixed with concern. "She was fine by the time I got home."
"She always texts me back, Gunner. Are you sure everything is okay?"
I sigh deeply. Kyle's hanging by a thread thinking something is wrong between him and Everly, the soon to be mother of his first child. I have to let him off the hook. I pull him out of the lobby area and into the hallways leading to the kitchen. "She's pissed, but it's not at you."
Kyle wraps his arms over his chest and glares at me. "Then what's wrong? Why is she upset?"
"Because." I run my hand over my face. "She found Lexa and I kissing in the kitchen last night."
Kyle's expression doesn't break. "And?"
I give him a second to think about his question before I answer. "And they are friends, Kyle. And I'm at least twenty years older than Lexa."
Kyle's stance eases. "Everly's talked about hooking Lexa up since the day she got here. You're as good as they get. That can't be why she's pissed."
I shake my head. "I might be good enough to be her old man, but let's face it, I'll always be the guy who knocked Everly's mother up then left her."
Kyle stalls before he adds, "Have you talked to Everly about this?"
"Not yet. She wasn't awake when I left. And I don't want you upsetting her by bringing it up. As soon as both she and Lexa are ready, I want to be the one to speak to them."
"Fine." Kyle uncrosses his arms. "But I can't go much longer with Everly not talking to me, pissed at you or not. Besides, if you ask me, it's about time you settled down."
"No one's asking you," I respond. It's harsh, but I want to end this conversation before someone overhears.
Kyle throws his hands in the air. "Fine. Just let me know when you've talked to Everly so I can get my wife back in my bed."
Gunner: Tempest Elite MC Book #3 Page 7