“Nothing.” My shoulder hitches in a half-assed shrug. “Unless he hurts her.”
“Do you think he will?”
“I don’t normally put much faith in people,” I confess. “But Briar is the most loyal man I’ve ever met.”
“But you were willing to kill him?”
“My sister is off-limits. He knew that going in.” Unfamiliar calmness washes over me, and I know it has everything to do with just sitting here talking to her. No expectations. No disappointment in unmet needs. I close my knife and toss it onto her bedside table. “The cost of betrayal is death. That’s how it works in the club.”
“Yet, he’s still alive.” I don’t respond. It’s her exact conclusion that may also compromise our club. “Are you regretting it?”
“Regretting what?” My eyes find hers again.
“Letting him live.”
“Not yet.” Her body sags, the tension she’s had since I arrived finally leaving her body. “But it hasn’t been twenty-four hours, and the day is young."
“The sun is setting,” she counters. “How long are you going to stay?”
Her voice is heavy and sleep-filled, and when she yawns my jaw tightens with the effort not to mirror her.
“It’s a mistake to think I’ll ever leave.”
Unbidden, my jaw unhinges and a small yawn escapes. She smiles, eyes focused on my mouth long enough that my cock begins to thicken, but too soon she looks away. Her eyes flutter, lids heavy.
“Lock the door when you go.”
Her mumbled words fade away at the end. I don’t know if she has grown comfortable enough with me here to fall asleep, or if her injuries have exhausted her to the point that she couldn’t stay awake even if she tried.
If she’s smart, it would be the latter, but it doesn’t stop me from hoping it’s the former.
Her breathing is calm at first, but quickly grows more ragged, so I shove the blankets away and help her lie down. With her head flat and chin no longer tucked into her chest, she breathes easier. Comfortable or not, falling asleep while I’m still here is dangerous, and I realize just how true that is when it takes a long moment of staring at her naked legs before I’m able to pull the blanket back over her body.
She snuggles deeper when the warmth of her covers surrounds her, and I watch as her hand slides across the mattress. If I were some romantic asshole with hearts and fucking flowers dancing around in my head, I’d let myself wonder if she’s reaching for me.
I’m not. All it makes me want to do is prick the tip of her finger with my knife to see if she draws back into her body or if she’ll press it harder against the blade.
Although I know I should walk out and let her sleep, I busy myself with putting the soup back in its original container and popping it in the fridge so she can have it later. The sun has set, and that means things will be livening up back at the clubhouse. The liquor will be flowing, and club whores will be walking around with their tits and asses out; every hole they have ready to be fucked.
The girls back at the clubhouse have been a staple in my life since I was thirteen, an avenue to visit when I need a release and nothing more, yet the prospect of doing that tonight doesn’t even make my dick twitch. The promise of warm lips wrapped around my cock, or Legs’s blood dripping from my knife doesn’t stir a damn thing. I’ve never even envisioned what it would be like going home and not carrying a bottle of whiskey and woman to fuck back to my bed, but that’s been exactly what I’ve done much too often recently.
It has to be her fault. Consequently, it makes me want to wake Kaci up and shake her for ruining whores for me. I’m only ever reminded I even have a cock these days when she’s near, or I’m alone imagining the silky canvas of her unmarred, virgin skin and the tip of my knife running across it.
Now I’m hard.
“Fuck,” I hiss and run heavy, unforgiving hands over my face and the top of my head.
Leaving now isn’t an option. Convincing myself she’s going to wake up in an hour or so in pain and will need more Aleve, I settle beside her, closer than I was before and stare at the muted TV.
I’m lying to myself again when she reaches for me, and her hand settles on my thigh. Something funny happens on the TV, I reason with myself. That’s the only reason my lips turn up in a grin.
***
I don’t realize I’m asleep until a pained groan makes my eyes jolt open.
“Kaci?”
The TV turned off automatically at some point, and the only light filtering inside her apartment is from the curtain less window.