“I’ll do that next.” I pinched Flick’s nipple between my thumb and index finger, tugging on it lightly. Her tongue snuck out between her slightly parted lips to dampen her kiss-abused lower lip.
The phone went dead in my ear and I snapped it shut before tossing it back on the nightstand.
“Trouble?” Flick murmured.
I grinned as I grasped her waist and rolled her onto her back. Her legs spread all too willingly and I thrust into her without bothering to make sure she was ready. I knew she was. My Flick was always ready for me. “No, love. No trouble at all.”
Something flickered in her eyes but she lowered her lashes to hide it before I could figure it out. Before I could ask her about it, she arched her back and shifted her hips, causing me to sink that much deeper into her soaking wet, tight-as-a-glove pussy. I lost all ability to think clearly as I took everything I wanted from her and gave it back times a million.
I didn’t know how much time passed. It could have been hours, or even days, but when I lifted my head after a release that had nearly caused me to black out, it was to find Flick smiling up at me as she stroked her fingers lovingly through my hair.
“Fuck, you’re so beautiful.” I stroked a finger down her soft cheek. Her lashes lowered and she leaned into my touch.
“I love you so damn much, Flick.”
Long, thick lashes snapped upward as her eyes widened. I saw a mixture of surprise and delight all too quickly followed by disbelief. “Did we fuck so hard that a few fuses overloaded? I thought for sure that you just said you love me.”
“I did.”
“Oh…” She swallowed hard once, twice. The third time she did it she pushed against my chest. Reluctantly I moved off of her. “I should get dressed. Aunt Mary is probably expecting me to have breakfast with her and I want to go over to the hospital to see how Gracie and Hawk are. Did he take the antibiotics?”
“Uncle Jack gave them to him,” I told her, watching her move around the room.
“Good,” she mumbled.
“Flick…”
“I’m going to shower,” she called over her shoulder as she picked up the clothes she’d worn the day before and went into the bathroom. The door shut behind her and I heard the distinct sound of the lock sliding into place.
I let her go, too hurt from her reaction to my confession of love to think clearly right then. What the hell? Why was she acting like this? I thought she would be happy that I’d finally told her I loved her.
Motherfucker. What the hell just happened? I had thought—hoped—that with me finally admitting that I loved that female, she would say the words back. In the beginning, before I’d ruined things between us, she used to tell me she loved me all the time. I knew she’d always wanted me to repeat the words, but I’d been too much of a chickenshit to give them to her.
Had she felt like this each time she had said those three little words and not gotten them back?
Rubbing at the ache that was burning in my chest with one hand, I reached for her pillow with the other and punched my frustration out on the damn thing.
~*~
It was just after nine when the cage Ciro had lent us pulled up in front of the hospital in Connecticut. A second one stopped right behind us just as I was getting out and reached in to help Flick out. She didn’t say a word as I kept hold of her hand and linked our fingers together before turning to face my brothers.
Colt shot Raider a dirty look before he turned his attention on us and smiled at Flick. “Morning.”
She returned his smile and I tried to hold on to my urge to punch my baby brother in the face. Colt looked more like me than our other siblings. Did she have a thing for him?
Clenching my jaw, I tugged her toward the hospital’s entrance without speaking to anyone. Flick didn’t try to pull her hand away and some of the pain in my chest eased a little. After her shower she had come out of the bathroom acting like nothing had happened. Like I hadn’t just puked out the words that had been churning in my gut for years. She’d smiled and kissed me and then gone downstairs to have breakfast with her aunt while I’d taken my own shower.
I had no idea what was going on inside her pretty little head, but if she thought that I was just going to tell her I loved her once, she was crazy. Now that I’d broken the seal and let those three little words free, I wanted to say them over and over again. I wanted to tell her every five seconds. Maybe if I said them often enough, that look of disbelief that had been in her blue eyes would disappear.
Maybe she would return the words and put me out of my misery.
Raider, Colt, and Matt got on the elevator with us and Matt punched in the correct floor. Hawk hadn’t answered his phone when I’d tried to call him that morning, but Uncle Jack had so I knew my brother was okay. He was just passed out in bed with Gracie. I didn’t know how he was going to take the news I’d gotten from Ciro, or what I’d learned from Jenkins when I’d called him after my shower earlier.
With four huge men on the elevator, Flick looked like a kid stuck between us. I pulled her close and wrapped my arm around her. Dropping a kiss on top of her head, I shot Colt a glare, letting him know exactly who she belonged to.
He rolled his eyes at me and smirked, but didn’t say a word as the elevator climbed higher.
Finally on the right floor, we stepped off and walked down the hall to the room where we’d left Hawk with Uncle Jack and Trigger to watch over Gracie. Matt took the lead with Raider behind him. I pushed Flick in front of me and let Colt bring up the rear. It wasn’t like we thought someone was going to pop out of one of the rooms and snatch her, but it had been beat into all our heads to take care of our females.