5. Gray #2
The distinction reaches somewhere sex can’t. I slide one hand behind her neck. “You have all of me.” Meg goes still above me. I don’t take it back or smooth the words into something safer.
“That’s terrifying,” she whispers.
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
She kisses me again and starts moving harder.
I let her. The need to roll her beneath me and take over the pace burns through every muscle.
I hold still and let her have her way. The first circle of my thumb makes her gasp, and I keep the pressure steady while she rides me.
Her body begins to tighten, soft warmth turning hard around my cock.
“Don’t look away,” she says.
“Wasn’t going to.”
Meg comes with her eyes on mine. Her mouth opens on a broken sound.
Her hips lose their rhythm, but I hold her steady and keep my thumb moving through every deep pulse.
When the tremors ease, I sit up. She wraps both arms around my shoulders.
I keep one hand behind her back, away from the scrape, and take her mouth while I thrust up slowly. Meg shudders.
“Too much?”
“No. More.”
I give her deep strokes, no impact and no race. The room fills with our breathing and the soft sound of skin meeting skin. Her mouth moves against my throat.
“I want this,” she says. “I want you.”
My whole body locks. Meg draws back enough to see me. No demand in her face. No fear that I won’t say it.
“I know this is fast,” she adds. “But I also know what I want.”
The truth has been sitting under everything since she walked into my kitchen. I love her. Her sharp mouth, her own life and the way she demands the truth before she offers trust.
“I’m in this too.”
The answer is rough and simple as her forehead touches mine.
I hold her closer and keep moving, every slow thrust more exposed than the roughest moment in my garage.
Meg clenches around me again. Her fingers dig into my shoulders.
The pressure turns unbearable. I come with her wrapped around me and my face against her neck, surrendering the last effort to stay separate. Neither of us moves for a while.
Then Meg slides from my lap. I lift the blanket, and she settles against my side, her head on my chest.
“You’re frowning,” she says.
“Thinking.”
“Well, that’s dangerous.”
“You’ll be sore later.”
“Totally worth it, though.”
I touch the loose hair at her shoulder. “Stay until morning.”
“I probably couldn’t get back to my room without someone seeing me anyway. Or worse still, without Tank seeing me.”
“Was going to tell him.”
“Were you?”
“Before Monday night.”
“That leaves a not very generous window.” She kisses my chest. “I’ll stay until five. Hopefully, no one will be around that early.”
For four hours, she sleeps in my arms while the compound stays armed around us.
At five twelve, the door opens. Meg has pulled on her shorts and shirt and I wear only jeans, no shoes.
We step into the corridor together just as Tank comes through the door at the far end.
Mud streaks his boots from the north road.
His cut is damp, his face tired and hard.
He looks at Meg, then the open door behind us and understanding lands.
“Not here,” I say.
“Garage.”
Meg steps between us. “Tank, come on. It’s five a.m.”
“Garage,” he repeats. “Meg, you stay here.”
“Like hell I will,” she replies in defiance.
We take the rear stairs and cross the yard.
Dawn has not cleared the trees. The garage is empty except for three bikes and the tools left ready for the run.
Tank closes the door behind him. Before I can register what’s happening, he hits me once.
The punch catches my mouth and turns my head.
I stay on my feet and don’t lift my hands to hit him back.
I just take what’s coming to me. Meg swears. “What the hell, Tank?”
He looks at her. “He knew better.”
“He knew you wouldn’t like it. That doesn’t mean you get a say.”
“He’s my closest brother.”
“And I’m your adult sister. Neither gives you ownership.”
Tank’s anger shifts toward me. “How long?”
“A week.”
“You had her in your room while the club is locked down?”
“I came to his room,” Meg says. “This is between Gray and me. You can be pissed he didn’t tell you. But you don’t get a vote in who I sleep with.”
Tank’s fists remain closed. Meg points at them. “You got one punch, and that’s enough.” His hands open.
“I’m going to check on Ruby,” Meg says. She looks at me. “Don’t confuse getting hit with earning forgiveness.”
“Wasn’t planning to.”
She leaves us in the garage. Tank and I stand beside the workbench while morning light fills the high windows.
“She’s casual to you?” he asks.
“No.”
“You use the kid to get close?”
The question makes my anger move for the first time.
“For fuck’s sake, Tank. You know me better than that.”
“No, I thought I knew you, Gray. I thought I knew where your lines were.”
Fair. I wipe blood from the corner of my mouth. “I’m not walking away from her if that’s what you think.” Tank looks at me, giving nothing away.
“I knew what crossing that line meant,” I continue. “I kept it from you because I knew you’d think I’d betrayed you.”
“You did.”
“I should’ve told you. But I didn’t use her, and I didn’t make this decision for her.”
Tank’s gaze stays hard.
“I tried that once,” I add. “She put me straight.”
His mouth almost moves despite himself.
“Ruby?”
“Meg wants me. Ruby cares about her, and I’m not pretending that part is simple.”
“If it falls apart?”