Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Legs
I stir when Midas tugs me into his arms.
“Where’ve you been?”
He pauses for a second before answering. “Club business.” I bite my lip, knowing he just lied to me, and feel myself breaking. He curses.
“That’s a lie. It’s not club business. I’m just looking into something and not ready to share it with you yet. Can you wait a little longer for an explanation?”
I roll over to face him, not that I can see him in the darkness of the room. “Yeah, that’s fine. I just don’t want you to lie to me. I know you can’t tell me everything, and I don’t expect you to, but I don’t want any more lies between us.”
He presses his lips to my forehead. “Deal.
“Any more news on Tina?”
“She’s stable for now, but there was a lot of damage done to her liver and kidneys. I don’t know much else. I’m not sure the doctors do yet. It’s mostly a case of waiting and seeing.”
“This motherfucker needs to just die already,” I snarl, making him chuckle.
“You won’t get any arguments from me. Did Powers feed you?”
“Yeah, he got me some pasta and garlic knots. I’m just glad the sickness seems to have calmed down. I’d have been sad if I’d thrown that up.”
I feel him grin. “I’d have bought you more.”
I groan. “I’m going to end up the size of a house.”
“That just means there’s more of you to love.”
I swallow, not sure what to say to that. I mean, it’s nice to hear, of course. I’m just not sure how much I trust his words. I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but when you’ve been burned before, you learn quickly to stop putting your fingers in the flames.
He strokes my arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps in his wake. I feel my body tingle in response before his hand moves to my hip and then sneaks under the hem of the T-shirt I’m wearing, which has ridden up.
His T-shirt.
Part of me is embarrassed that I put it on when I have my own things to wear, but I try to ignore the voice in my head calling me an idiot. It’s just a damn T-shirt, after all.
His large hand moves around to cup my stomach. “How has little monster been tonight?” My breath hitches at his question, which both soothes the cracks in my heart and creates new ones.
“Active.” To prove my point, they kick Midas’s hand in response.
“That never gets old,” he whispers in awe.
“I know.”
We lie there in silence as the baby twirls and spins like an extra on Dancing with the Stars before my eyes get heavy once more.
When I wake up next, I do it with a scream on my lips. Midas’s head is between my legs, his mouth sucking and licking every inch of my dripping pussy. He teases me until I’m sobbing before he finally relents and lets me come, licking me clean afterward like he’s scared to miss a drop.
When I come down from my high, he’s wiping me up. The look he’s giving me tells me he’d rather be doing it all over again.
“I’m not sure my legs will work.”
“I’ll have to carry you then.”
“You can’t carry me around all day.”
“Watch me. Ah, shit.”
I snort at that.
“Alright, smart ass. I can’t today because I have something else I need to take care of. I’m going to feed you, fuck you, and deliver you to Powers. Unless you’d rather chill up here today.”
“No, I like working. Keeps my brain busy.”
“Alright. Well, I won’t be gone as long as I was yesterday, but I probably won’t be back before the shop closes. Can I take you to dinner afterward?”
I sit up and tug the blanket up to cover myself. “Like on a date?”
“Yeah, on a date.”
I swallow, nervous and unsure. “I’ve never been on a date before.”
Now it’s his turn to look surprised. He leans down and kisses me stupid. Though I’m still desperately holding parts of myself back, it still feels like sand pouring through a timer, making me feel like any minute now, everything will catch up to us.
“There, now I got our date kiss out of the way. You don’t have to be nervous.”
I blink up at him before I crack up laughing. “You just ate me for breakfast, and your giant dick has touched places inside me no man has gone before. I think it’s safe to assume I’m a sure thing, even when I’m mad at you. A few kisses don’t scare me.”
He drags his nose down over mine. “Liar. You can handle sex. That was never the issue between us. But intimacy is a whole other thing. I’m not going to fuck you after our dates. I don’t want that to be what you’re focusing on all night.”
“Wait, you said dates. So, more than one?”
“Fuck yes, and if you give me a real shot, I want to do this until we’re old and gray. We can find a sitter for our kid, but you are the kind of woman who deserves to be wooed, and I’m smart enough to be the one to do it.”
“You know it was never about that, right? I don’t need expensive dinners and fancy things to measure how much you love me. I only needed you. Your time, your smiles, your love.”
“And you’ll have all that. But you deserve much more than that, and I refuse to let you settle for mediocre.”
“Good thing I’m not standing up. I might have swooned.”
He laughs, kissing the tip of my nose before he gets up, sweeps me into his arms, and carries me to the bathroom. “Get yourself ready, and I’ll order some breakfast. You fancy anything in particular?”
“Hmmm… bagels with cream cheese or cinnamon rolls.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He kisses me again before tapping my ass and nudges me into the bathroom.
I finally snap out of my haze. I lean on the counter and stare at myself in the mirror. “Don’t judge me,” I snap at my reflection. “I have stupid hormones, and my boobs ache, and honest to god, I’m horny all the damn time.”
My reflection doesn’t answer, but she stares back at me mockingly. I can see in her eyes what she’s thinking. This is all a game. He’s buttering me up to get what he wants, but then he’ll drop me again like a hot potato and crush me.
The truth is, he might. Hell, he more than likely will, but I find it nearly impossible not to give it one last shot. Yes, it could be my downfall. But what if it’s not? What if we make it all the way, despite the odds?
I flip myself off and go about my business. By the time I’m washed and dressed, Midas is ready for me.
“Food is being delivered downstairs. I made sure there was enough for Powers, too, spoiled bastard.”
I huff out a laugh at that. The prospect works damn hard, so I don’t think I’d call him spoiled. “Sounds like a plan. Let me just grab my phone.”
I look around for it but frown when I find nothing. I thought I’d plugged it in to charge last night, but neither the charger nor the phone is there. I blow out a frustrated breath.
“Everything okay?”
“I can’t find my cell phone.”
He helps me look, but after another five minutes, I throw my hands in the air and curse.
“I bet I left it at the clubhouse.”
“I’ve gotta head over there later anyway, so I’ll ask if anyone has seen it.”
“Okay, thank you. I’m turning into such a space cadet.”
“You’re growing a human. I think you should cut yourself some slack.”
“Maybe,” I grumble as he leads me downstairs to the shop, where Powers greets us both.
“As you can’t find your cell, I’ll message Powers if there are any issues, or you can call me on the landline, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be back for our date.” He leans down and kisses me. “Be good.”
“I’m always good.” I sigh as I watch him leave. I plonk myself down in one of the chairs and pout before Powers hands me a bagel spread with cream cheese. “Thanks.”
“You okay?”
“Just trying to figure out what Midas Mc Sneaky pants is up to.”
He chokes on his bagel before wiping his mouth. “What do you mean?”
“He’s being kinda secretive, and he took my cell phone.”
“Are you sure you didn’t lose it?”
“I’m sure. I just don’t know why he took it or where he’s going today. I bet he comes back with it though. I gave him a nice out by pretending I left it at the clubhouse.”
“You don’t seem all that pissed,” he hedges.
I shrug. “At a guess, he’s having G put spyware or tracking on it. Gotta up his stalking game somehow.”
“I don’t know who’s more nuts, him or you.”
I look over at him as I swallow my next bite of food. “We’re normal when we’re apart, but when we’re together, we’re like bleach and vinegar.” I tag on when he frowns, “Toxic as fuck,”
“Wait, if it’s that bad, why do you guys want to be together at all?”
“Because we’re also explosive in all the best possible ways. I don’t know what to tell you, Powers. If I were an outsider looking in, I’d tell myself to run for the hills. But I know I’m not faultless in this. And the only time I like running is when he chases me.” I blow out a deep sigh.
“He’ll hurt me again. But I’ll hurt him too.
And then, if we can get our acts together, we’ll heal each other.
There is no one else that can do it, for him or for me.
It’s Midas, or it’s nobody. For a little while, I thought being alone would be better.
And yeah, in some way, it was, but there was always a hole where he should be.
It never shrunk and never felt less gargantuan with time.
It felt like a huge void in my life that I had to pretend wasn’t there while not falling into it.
And now he’s back, all I want to do is kiss him.
It feels like I’m stuck in the world’s most fucked-up game of Chutes and Ladders, and we’ve been forced to go all the way back to the beginning of the game and start over.
Neither of us is going to win. We’ll have to start over half a dozen times at least because we’re making it up as we go along.
But if we lose, at least we’ll lose together. ”
“So what you’re saying is prepare for fireworks.”
“See, I knew you were a smart prospect.”
By the time I’m all prettied up for my date, I’m a nervous wreck, which is ridiculous. I know Midas, and he’s not going to do anything to upset me, especially not now. So why my stomach feels like I swallowed a swarm of bees, I don’t know.