Page 19 of Iron

“Rarely.”

“Why?”

“That is none of your concern,” she told me in a tone that bordered on agitated. “You’re calling me at this hour, I’m guessing you don’t sleep much either.”

She had a point. Though it wasn’t such a normal thing for me.

“I’m blaming you for that one,” I told her with a small, low chuckle.

“I don’t see why. I satisfied you.” Her tone was matter-of-fact about it, not like she was smug or braggin’.

“You did, Pet. You know that.”

“Then how can you not getting any sleep be my fault?”

“Because I can’t stop thinkin’ about you,” I told her honestly.

“Then that’s your fault and not mine.”

“Tell me somethin’,” I said scratching my beard. “Why tonight?”

“Why tonight, what?” I heard the tiny huff of breath after she spoke.

“Why did you let me touch you tonight? Did you think you owed me for something or are we taking a step forward with this whole thing?”

“I don’t see where we would need to…take a step forward.” I could tell she was confused by my question. “And why would I owe you something?”

I let out a long breath. Sometimes, talking to Petra could be like talking to a brick wall. She wasn’t stubborn or hardheaded, she just couldn’t understand things if you didn’t spell them out. And on top of that, there were times she didn’t even know the reasons why she did things. It wasn’t something she’d told me. I didn’t think she was aware of it herself.

“When you saw me sittin’ at that table, what went through your mind?” I asked figuring that if I took it back a bunch of steps then maybe I could get somewhere.

“I’m not used to seeing you out. We have never talked about what we should do if that happened. I wasn’t really sure what I should do.”

I believed her. Petra was nothing if not honest with her words. Now, whether or not she knew what that meant, I was a little unsure of that.

“So if that should happen again, what should we do?” I asked her because maybe I could use some direction here too.

There was a pause. When Petra paused it meant that she didn’t know how to answer.

“How about this,” I said thinkin’ it was better to give her a direction to go in. “You could treat me just like any other person you know. A tiny nod of acknowledgment or some shit. Like I saw you give Connor O’Shay. And I’ll do the same.”

“Okay,” she agreed.

“Okay,” I parroted and my head gave a firm nod even if she couldn’t see it. “Then it won’t happen again. And you won’t feel like you need to owe me again.”

Why the fuck was I giving that up?

I could have kicked myself right then.

“I didn’t want you to think I don’t respect you,” she told me and there was a hint of something I couldn’t explain in her tone. It had me sittin’ quiet for a few beats. “Iron?”

“I’m here, babe.” Another beat went by and I wondered if I should tell her what was running through my mind. “Liked bein’ able to touch you, Pet. Liked bein’ able to lay you out and fuck you.”

There was a strangled noise that rang out through the speaker into my ear.

“Liked knowing that my fuckin’ you made you come hard,” I went on.

“If that is all you needed to know in order to ease your mind, then—”

“Liked feelin’ your lips on mine,” I kept going on not giving one damn that I was cutting her off.

“Get some sleep, Iron. I think that’s for the best right now.”

With that, the line went dead.

I tossed my phone back on the nightstand. A hiss escaped my lips as I rolled onto to my back.

But I was still fucking smiling.