Page 7

Abby

“What the fuck is going on in here?” Duke stands in the doorway with a grimace on his face that could scare away a death angel.

It’s been a while since we’ve been in the same room.

He’s aged a lot in a few years. Grey hair lines his temples and the front of his beard.

He’s gotten more jacked too, with biceps on top of his biceps, though that seems to be a prerequisite for these Chaos Brothers.

“Nothing. We’re playing cards,” I lie, holding up a stack of cards that I dug up out of the sheets as I was tossing on my clothes.

“You scream out when you’re playing cards?” Duke knows what he heard. He’s old enough to know what he heard.

“Yeah, I was excited. I had a handful of Aces. You’re messing up the game. What’s up?”

My brother stares down at me. “I’m messing up the game? You’re locked in a bedroom with my best friend. That’s weird. You don’t need to lock the door to play cards.”

“Sorry, man.” Hank stands from the bed and walks toward him, shoulders wide. “It wasn’t purposeful. We’re just keeping her mind off things while we wait for an update from the guys. You hear anything?”

“That’s what I’m here about.” He clears his throat. “You sent the guys out without my permission.”

“Do I need your permission?”

“I’m the president of the club, so I gather you do.”

“I’m the vice and it was an emergency. Anything could’ve happened tonight. You know there’s not much time after a kidnapping. Maci could be in trouble.”

Duke glances toward me with the stare of death, then drives it back toward Hank. “Anything else needs to go through me. Got it? We’re lying low. We’re not taking jobs. That was the plan.”

“Wait,” I turn toward my brother, “you’re not taking jobs right now?”

“We own a bike repair shop. That’s all that’s going on here. Don’t run your mouth all over town. You hear me?” He leans in a little as though he’s trying to intimidate me, but I’m so relaxed right now he could say just about anything and I’m pretty sure it would roll right off my shoulders.

Hank thinks otherwise.

“Okay,” Hank steps between us, his focus on Duke, “that’s enough. She’s had a rough night. We need to take it easy on her right now.”

“Now you’re her protector?” Duke shakes his head. “Thought that was my job.”

“Well, you’re not doing it lately, are you? Your head is somewhere else. I tried to get ahold of you about these bikers and this missing girl, but you weren’t answering my calls. Where were you all day?”

“Doing shit that’s none of your fuckin’ business. Don’t let me catch you locked in a room with my sister again.” Duke leans up off the door frame, heads down the hall, and out the front door again with a slam.

“This is why we can’t talk anymore. It’s a nightmare getting him to listen or understand anything. He’s not who he used to be.” I sit on the edge of the bed and stare up at Hank, who’s left the door wide open.

I want him to close it again. I want us to go back to touching each other. I want us to kiss and thrust and ride like we were. I want us to disappear into the realm we were in thirty minutes ago, and I never want to come out.

“That wasn’t the Duke I know either. Something is going on.” Hank leans down and kisses the top of my head. “You felt really good tonight, Sunny. Sorry it ended like that.”

“I don’t want you to go. Stay here with me tonight. He’s not here, and who knows when he’ll be back. He might not come back at all.”

“He’ll be back, and when he does, he’ll be checking this door. Trust me. He’s acting odd, but I know that guy cares about you. He’ll be making sure nothing is going on here.”

“Is anything going on here?” I stare up at him, desperate for his lips on mine again and again. Desperate for his warmth against my body. Desperate for whatever he’ll give me.

He kisses my head again. “How would we work that out?”

“I don’t know, but we could have fun trying.” I smile and wrap my arms around his waist, leaning my head against his stomach as I breathe him in.

“We could, and I’d love to finish what we started, but we should give it a second. You need a good night’s rest. I want to know you’re making this decision when you’re in the right headspace.”

I nod because he’s speaking responsibly, and I know how important responsible thinking is to a guy like Hank, but deep down, I want him to grab me and do dirty, filthy things again.

“I’ve gotta do some damage control with Ghost. You should lay down, and we’ll figure out the next step in the morning. Okay?”

“I’m supposed to work tomorrow morning. I have a nine to five at the record store.”

“Good.” He rubs his big hand over my cheek and pulls me up from the bed.

“You should go to work. You need to keep things as normal as possible. Whoever took Maci could be looking at you too. You don’t want to draw any attention to yourself.

I’ll stick around the area to keep an eye on you tomorrow and ask around to see if anyone saw anything weird tonight.

” He pulls me against his chest and stares down at me. “Everything will be okay, I promise.”

His comfort is genuine and warm, and truthfully, going to work sounds kind of nice. My job is simple, but I love it. There’s something soothing about unwrapping the records and categorizing them one by one while music plays in the background.

“Sounds good. You sure you can’t stay in here tonight?” I pout my lip playfully. “What if I have a bad dream?”

He growls low under his breath, checks behind him, then leans in for a kiss, savoring my bottom lip. “You have a bad dream… come get me. I’ll do what I can. Okay?”

“Okay,” I say with a grin, my stomach sinking as he walks out of the room and closes the door behind him.

I tug off my clothes and pull on the T-shirt he left for me earlier. It’s been washed and the scent of his body no longer lingers on it. Instead, it’s been replaced by something that smells more like soft rain or fresh cut grass.

Either way, his pillow still smells like him. I cuddle into the soft bed replaying everything that just happened.

I sat on his face. A spark of electricity rolls through me at the memory of his hands on my ass as I came.

What’s wrong with me? My friend went missing tonight and I’m playing fantasy life with a guy twenty years older than me.

I pick up my phone and pull up the text chain Maci and I have had going since we met at the record store.

Me: Don’t think I’m a terrible friend but your disappearance has somehow led me into bed with Hank.

Me: I sat on his face. I had no idea a beard could feel so good scrubbing and tickling everything.

I pause, wondering who could be reading this. Her captors, or maybe the police. Hell, my brother or his men after they find her. Shit, hopefully it’s just her.

Me: Please tell me you’re okay.

My stomach ties in knots as I watch the message sit on delivered. She’s usually so quick with responses.

Laying back on Hank’s pillow, I breathe in the scent of him that lingers on the fabric.

He’s so masculine. Everything about him.

His shaggy beard, the gruff way he talks, his big, sandpaper palms, his strength, his weight, his voice, the dark ink that streaks up and down his arms and across his neck.

Ugh… what the hell is happening to me and how will I ever keep any of this from my brother?