Brooks shakes his head. “No, that wasn’t long enough ago. He’s been like,” he waves his hand all around indicating my entire being, “this for far longer than that.”
I glance at Jessa, but she just has a knowing smile on her face. “I’m not telling you who. It doesn’t matter,” my voice is firm.
Aiden pouts, “We don’t get to meet her?” He shakes his head in admonishment, “That’s cold, man.”
I shrug one shoulder. “You’ll meet her eventually, but it’s new and I’m not going to do anything to fuck it up. She’s just settling down with us.”
Brooks perks up and I replay the words in my head and try not to grimace. There’s a lot of fucking interest in his voice, “Us?”
I sigh and run my hand through my hair. Fucking hell. I could tune him out, but I have my doubts it would be enough.
“Holy shit, he did say ‘us’,” Aiden picks up the baton and runs with it. “What’s up with that, Kill. Us? As in more than one of you? Are you in a thing like Cy, Kent and Gabriel are?”
Everyone in the shop knows Cy and his friends. They’ve heard about the unconventional relationship he’s in. I clench my jaw, wanting to scream at them, but knowing I can’t. I should cut off the conversation right here and now, but I’m also not ashamed of my relationship with Edison.
“Yeah,” I sigh. I rake my fingers through my hair again. “It’s this guy, Jude, who I met because he’s also obsessed with our girl,” I smile a little at the thought of just how obsessed and the way it brought us together, “Coyle and me. With her.”
I look up to find the four of them staring at me with various levels of interest in their gazes. I flip them off, not giving a fuck about their judgement.
Aiden breathes out, “Hot.”
I chuckle and shake my head at him, both in admonishment and gratefulness because he has a way of cutting through the tension. When I look over, Jessa is no longer facing us and, instead, is looking intently at the computer. Interesting.
Brooks’ eyes soften as he looks at me. “Are you happy?”
A big smile grows on my face, one I couldn’t shake even if I wanted to. “I am,” it’s a simple answer, but it’s enough.
He nods slowly as if the wheels in his head are still turning. He snaps his fingers a few times as if something is on the tip of his tongue. “That woman, the little one with the rose tattoo on her shoulder.”
My jaw falls open and Cameron barks out a laugh at my reaction, which is totally not like him. I sputter for a moment, not wanting to deny it, but also not wanting them to give me more shit about it. I’ve always asked our crew not to mix business with pleasure and, for the most part, it’s worked out. We’re a business first and we’ve all lived by that.
Before I can decide to do anything, the bell above the door goes off, heralding the time for this subject to be dropped. When I see who has stepped in, my heart starts racing because she’s here. My little one. She’s back in my shop.
I shoot to my feet and catch the knowing smiles on the faces of my friends as I move toward my girl. I don’t give a flying fuck who is watching, and I know they all are, as I cup Edison’s cheeks in my palms and kiss her like I haven’t seen her in far too long. It might have just been this morning, but it was too long for me.
“Hi, little one, I missed you,” I murmur against her lips and feel them tip up in a smile. When I pull back, I look down into her brown eyes, not caring about anything but her. “What are you doing here?”
She shrugs one shoulder, “I figured I’d stop in and see you.” She arches an eyebrow in challenge, “Let’s call it reverse stalking.”
I throw my head back and laugh before I press my forehead against hers and whisper, “I think you don’t understand exactly how this stalking thing works.”
She giggles and I kiss her forehead, her nose, and her lips, softly this time, even though I want to deepen it very fucking badly. I tug her deeper into my shop and officially introduce her to Jessa, Aiden, Brooks, and Cameron. They all give her polite smiles, but I can see how much they want to know more. Well, except Cameron who just watches us stoically for a moment before going back to work.
I tug Edison behind me and into one of the private rooms. The moment the door shuts, I spin us and pin her against the door, letting out a groan when she jumps a little and I catch her. The feeling of her wrapping her legs around my waist makes me want to strip her and fuck her right here.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold off or not. I’m going to try, but damn, it’s not going to be easy.
My voice is earnest, “Is everything okay?”
She doesn’t seem upset or like something is bothering her, but I need to know anyway. I’ll always be worried about her. I’ll always want to make sure she’s okay.
Her tone is full of amusement, “I’m just fine, Kill.” She runs her fingers through my hair. “Don’t worry so much.”
I make a humming sound, but don’t tell her how I won’t be able to stop worrying about her. It’s one of my many jobs, along with making sure she’s happy and pleasured.
Instead of spewing all my fears and insecurities, I kiss her hard and pour all those feelings into it. She clings to me as I kiss her, matching my movements like a dance we’ve always known the steps to. When I rock the hard ridge of my cock against her center, she moans into my mouth.
Fuck.