"But he has lost men?"
"Yes," I agreed, nodding. "There was a war. It got bloody. On both sides. Reign came out on top, but there was loss of life. He learned a lot since then, though. Shit he is going to teach your brother and his crew when he and some of the OG guys come down here to visit, to help things get set up."
"Well, that makes me feel marginally better," she said, accepting the helmet I held out toward her, one I had needed to stop and buy since I only had one.
She clipped it on, adjusted it, then climbed on behind me without another word.
I tried not to think of the way her body slid in close, her thighs slipping to the outside of mine, her breasts crushed to my back, her arms folding across my stomach, her face pressing into my shoulder.
Tried.
Failed.
Miserably.
"Hey, West," she called, sitting back slightly as I parked out front her building.
"Yeah, babe?" I asked, trying to focus on something—anything—else as her hands flattened and slid across my stomach, my ribs, then off.
"Why don't you come upstairs and find other ways to make me feel better?" she suggested, her hands planting on my thighs.
"Auggie..." I started, trying to find the will to say no, to turn her down again, despite the need coursing through my body.
"You don't have to say no. Or yes. Just follow me up," she explained, unclasping her helmet, holding onto my shoulders as she climbed off the bike, putting the helmet on the seat, then turning to walk back toward her building.
I didn't say no.
I didn't say yes.
But I climbed off my bike, I pulled off my helmet, and I followed her up.EIGHTGusHis hand grabbed me at the back of the neck, spinning me, slamming me back against the wall, his lips crashing down on mine, muffling the sound of the gasp at the sudden impact, at the unexpected closeness of him.
Because, quite frankly, I thought he was going to reject me once again.
For me, that would have been the end.
Even if that idea made my stomach feel oddly wobbly
I was not one for wobbly bellies over guys. As a rule.
Luckily, I didn't have to give up.
I just had to feel his lips crushing into mine, ensuring I would feel him there even hours later. His scruff was raking over my sensitive skin, likely leaving me red, beard-burned.
I couldn't find a single fuck to give about that, though, as his body pressed mine into the wall, as his legs nudged mine apart slightly so he could step closer, his hardness pressing against the juncture of my thighs.
Greedy, beyond caring about anything but the fulfillment of my need, my leg rose, cocked around his hip, pulling him flush against me, letting my hips do a shimmy that had him pressing me exactly where I needed him.
A rumbling growl vibrated through his chest and into mine as he muffled my moan with his lips.
"This is a public area," the voice of my holier-than-thou neighbor, Marie, chided as she made her way toward the front door.
While I wasn't exactly shy, I did tend to draw the line at public sex.
My leg dropped, my hand sinking into his arm, holding him to me as I started to inch us down the hallway, turning, slamming my back against the door, pushing it open, dragging West inside with me.
His lips broke from mine long enough to glance around, seeing the washing machines, the laundry carts, the table meant for folding that was just grimy enough that I refused to put my clean clothes on it, the couple of folding chairs.
"Yeah?" he asked, turning wicked eyes over at me, lips twitching.
"Yeah," I agreed, my hands sliding down his chest, grabbing at his belt buckle, working it free.
He took it before I could drop it to the ground, turning away from me, reaching up over his head to wrap it around the arm bar that made the door automatically close.
There was no lock on the door.
For, you know, safety reasons.
But, apparently, wrapping up the arm thingy would keep our escapades somewhat private.
Finished, he turned, his hands on me in a second flat, sliding down my belly to snag the hem of my shirt, dragging it upward, yanking it over my head, off my arms, tossing it to the side.
I barely had a second to register the chill of the overhead vent blowing on my bare skin before my body was crushed to his again, his lips moving down my neck as his hands glided down my back, sank into my ass, sank in hard, pull, pull, pulling me upward. To my tiptoes. Then off my feet entirely, sliding my body against his. My legs lifted, wrapping around his lower back as my arms went around his neck, holding on as he started moving, dropping me back down on top of a washing machine.