Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
The men wear leather… the women don’t wear much it seems.
“Who is that?” the woman at the door asks, tugging at her tube top. If you can call it that. It’s more like one of those strips they tie around your arm when getting your blood drawn.
“That’s my girl,” Skull says and moves to block her view of me before he adds, “Get lost, Heidi. You’re not welcome here.”
There’s sputtering on the other side of Skull’s massive body, but I can’t see a single thing, except a pair of legs that must be five feet long and a pair of heels that make my ankles scream from looking at them.
I don’t know what he says to her, but she spins on those spikes and struts away.
He closes the door. Not slams, but closes it and presses his forehead against it.
After heaving a great sigh, he mutters. “Fucking hell.”
For whatever reason, I walk to where he’s leaning against the door. “Was she your…girlfriend?”
I stumble over the word.
“No. Never.” He turns his head, keeping his forehead against the door, but looking down at me. “I didn’t ever have girlfriends.”
“But she seemed…”
“I fucked her.”
This stings like a slap. “Oh. I mean… I guess I can understand. She’s got great legs. But are you still…together?”
He whirls around and crushes me to his chest, burying his nose in my hair. “I’m sorry.”
This doesn’t feel like a slap now, it feels like a knife plunging into my chest.
“You should just take me home, Skull, if you’re involved.”
He makes a pained sound and scoops me off of my feet.
Skull carries me to the bed and settles against the headboard, cradling me in between his big thighs.
“I need to tell you some things.”
The way he sounds, I’m not sure I want to hear. “You don’t have to tell me anything. This was nice of you, but if you’re seeing a girl, then I don’t belong here.”
“I was a player,” he blurts, frowning.
“Like soccer?”
He groans and looks at the ceiling. “God, you’re fucking sweet. No, Angel. I’m talking about fucking women. A lot of them.”
My nose scrunches as I stare into his concerned gaze. “How many?”
“I lost count.”
Oh.
“Was that fun?” I hear myself ask.
“At the time it was. Now it feels like it was the stupidest fucking thing ever because it’s going to cause me to lose a chance at you falling in love with me.”
His palm cradles my face, warm and calloused, and his thumb brushes over my cheek. “And that’s what I want more than anything right now. I’ve already fallen in love with you, Sunshine.”
I stare because, wow. What am I supposed to say to that?
“You don’t have to say that to try to sleep with me.”
He goes rigid. “I would never say something like that to try to sleep with you. I’m not trying to sleep with you.”
A pinching sensation spreads behind my sternum. Confusion blooming like a painful bruise.
“That makes sense,” I say, unable to hide the sadness in my voice. “Why would you want to sleep with me when you could have someone that looks like a Sports Illustrated model? A questionably dressed one, but the body of one nonetheless.”
“Fuck, Katie. Don’t you know what you are?”
I stare at him as I shake my head. “Homely? Boring?”
He growls at me as his mouth crushes into my lips, breathing the word, “You look like mine.”
When I gasp, he strokes his tongue into my mouth.