ICE
“Collins,babe. Close the fridge door and look at me.” I shouldn’t have even let her step away the moment I felt her shut down on me. Those were the wrong words, tellin’ her we needed to talk. This is not how I expected it to go. I’m new at this relationship shit. Thirty-four-years-old, didn’t have time for one. I was dedicated to the United States Marine Corp, taking on as many deployments as I could, and when I came home, I tied myself to the club. I’m not complaining in the least, but this territory is new for me, and from what Collins told me, it is to her, too. Fuck, before her, I figured settling down would never happen for me. I wasn’t thinking long-term. I sure as fuck wasn’t planning on this or the fact that having Collins around as much as I can makes me stop and think about the future. Things have been evolving slowly but surely. That’s why I want this talk.
“I’m okay. Let me get this done, then we’ll talk.” Looks like she’s not gonna give me the time I’m asking or come to me. That’s okay. I’ll go to her. Collins’ back is to me again. She’s dumping shit into the trash, not even opening it, just tossing it all out.
“Hey, look at me.” Not wanting to scare her, I try to gain her attention again. I can tell by her movements that she’s holding herself together. This shit right here, it shows me we’ve got a fuck ton of things to work on.
“Pax.” My arm bands around her waist, pulling her away from the task she was working on, moving the trash can out of the way, then closing the fridge door.
“I am not ending this. Soak that in, relish in that fact, it’s you and me. What we gotta talk about is something completely different. So, while I’m glad things went great for you, ecstatic even, we’ve been together four months; you may not know this, so I’m gonna make it plain as day. This is happenin’. In my eyes, you’re my Ol’ Lady, and I’m your Ol’ Man.” My lips brush beneath her ear, knowing that’s a spot Collins reacts to. Call me a dick, but I’m willing to use anything to my benefit.
“Well, not for nothing, Paxton, but it’s not like we’ve talked about long term.” She pushes her ass against my groin, feeling what her body does to me.
“You’re right, and this is where I need your eyes, Collins.” I breathe in her golden locks that are down for a change, in a riot of waves. The floral scent she uses for her hair, shit that litters my shower, assaults my senses. Christ, not sure of any man who would say this wasn’t rock solid even with half her shit at my place and half my shit at hers.
“You’d have to let me go in order to do that.” It’s then I realize that with my arm across her front, my groin to her ass, she really can’t move. That doesn’t mean I’m willing to let Collins go, even if it’s only for her to turn around.
“Not doin’ that, not with you in your head right now,” I grumble, loosening my arm and using my hand on her hip to turn her around, and once she’s in front of me, I see the emotion she was trying to hide from me. “Fuck, no need for tears. It’s time we tell our family there’s an us. It’s gonna suck. I’m gonna get shit. Your dad and uncles will lash out. I’ll take my licks because we should have told your pop, my Prez, from the very beginnin’. We’re too damn old to be sneakin’ around. Want you out of this place and at mine, want you wrapped around me at parties. One day, you’ll have my ring on your finger, if that’s what we want. Never talked about kids, but I’m not opposed to them either. We’ll take that one day at a time, but come tomorrow, while we have Church, I’m tellin’ it like it is.” I don’t give any room for Collins to have a say. It’s we come out and tell everyone or end this, and that’s a fuckin’ sinking feeling.
“Are you going to let me tell my father with you?” She arches her eyebrow. The range of emotions floats from sadness to elated to now, where Collins is looking to either protect me from her father, which ain’t fuckin’ happening, or throwing her sass at me.
“Nope, you can let your mom, Gigi, and Sedona know. Probably the other Ol’ Ladies, too, seein’ as how their men are gonna come home pissed as fuck.” I can see Collins is gearing up for an argument. I’ll let her have a say, but at the end of the day, she knows what it’s like more than most.
“I don’t like it, not at all. I know what happened to Massimo. The club can be Neanderthals, and who’s to say Dad won’t put a bullet in you? What does it even accomplish?” Collins rips away from my embrace. I could have held on to her, but the woman needs to pace when she’s on a tear. She is in one of my shirts, black, damn near threadbare, tits bouncing as she walks back and forth in the small galley kitchen, and I’d bet underneath, covering her pussy, is a pair of lace boy shorts. If I had it my way, I’d throw all of that lace away. All that shit does is make it longer until I can slide inside of her.
“I don’t like this, not at all. Not us telling the club because that needs to be done. The longer we hide, the worse it’s going to get, and all it would take is one look on that stupid app the club’s put on all our phones to locate the women, and the truth would explode. What I don’t like is you doing this alone. I don’t want you hurt. Not because of me.” She’s biting at her thumbnail when she finishes, too many fuckin’ steps away from me again.