Page 63 of The Games We Play

Her eyes flash back to mine. “We stop seeing each other?”

I shake my head. “No. You and I leave town. Go set up somewhere else. We’ll transfer to Allentown. You can teach, and I’ll join the chapter there. No one dictates how we live our lives.”

Three little lines wrinkle on her forehead. “They aren’t going to stop trying. Cillian certainly won’t.” There is a weight to her words I don’t understand. Perhaps she doesn’t believe we can sort this out.

“Trust me. I can navigate our way through this, I promise.”

Iris brushes her lips across mine. “Okay. How do we do this?”

And a plan begins to formulate in my mind.

We end up staying later than we realize at the cottage because we deal with medical shit. She puts in a request to her doctor’s office to get a prescription of the pill. And we both get tested before I drive us home at a leisurely pace, just because I like the feel of her on my bike and I’m not ready to give her up yet.

It’s dark when I pull up on her driveway. I miss the warmth of her behind me as soon as she slips off. After tugging her to me, I remove her helmet, then my own. “Lips, little chick.”

She grins as she kisses me softly. “Thank you for a lovely weekend.”

“You sure you don’t want company?” I glance up at her house, then run my hand over her ass cheeks before squeezing them firmly. “I’mreallygood company.”

“You are highly distracting company,” she mutters, even as she tilts her head so I can kiss the side of her neck.

“I feel like that’s a positive.”

Finally, she playfully shoves me away. “I have laundry, and food prep for the week, and lesson plans, and—”

“Okay, okay. I’ll go home alone and cook my own dinner.”

“You’re not mad, are you?” she asks.

I place my hands on her hips and shake her gently. “Just messing with you. I get it. You need time to rest that pussy of mine and can’t say it due to that sentence problem you’ve got.”

Her mouth opens, and then she screws up her face. “You are the worst.”

But she kisses me anyway when I pull her close. I take her keys from her hand and lead her inside.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Security check. Stay here.”

“Are you going to speak to King tonight?” she asks as I check the kitchen.

“Thought I told you to stay near the door. And no. They’ll all be halfway to hammered at this point. I need to see him when he’s sober. Less chance of him accidentally killing me.”

“Will it really be that bad?” she asks, draping her hands over my shoulders.

For her sake, I smile. “I’m just teasing. But it’s the kind of conversation where sober heads prevail. By the time you finish school tomorrow, I’ll have spoken to him. You ever carried a gun, Iris?”

She scrunches up her nose. “God, no.”

I laugh. “We need to fix that. At least have one at home so you can protect yourself. For tonight, use hairspray with a lighter. Hammer. Large knife. Put something next to your bed.”

She salutes me, and I can’t help but smile. “Yes, sir.”

I place my thumb on her lower lip, nudging it open. “I like hearingsirfrom your lips. Get some rest, little chick.” I steal another kiss, then see myself out.

A cool wind blows along her street, and I look up at the moon. There’s a dark ring around it, and something makes the hairs on my neck stand on end. Maybe I’m imagining things, but I swear I hear the hum of a bike disappear in the distance.

I glance back up at her house, wondering if I should insist on staying.