6. Meg #2
Neither of us looks away. Gray’s hand slides to the back of my neck, but he waits there, giving me the last inch.
I close it. His mouth comes down on mine, careful of the split in my lip but certain everywhere else.
I grip the front of his shirt and pull him closer.
He backs me against the opposite wall, his body shielding mine from the open end of the hallway while the clubhouse noise carries faintly below us.
When he lifts his head, his breath is warm against my mouth.
“Come with me.”
I glance at Ruby’s partly open door, then at my room across the hall, knowing that she’s safe and fast asleep. I take his hand. We cross the few steps together, and I close my door behind us.
EPILOGUE
SIX WEEKS LATER
Gray has one hand under my shirt and is kissing me when his phone vibrates against the kitchen counter.
He ignores it and carries on kissing me slowly. The second vibration rattles the keys beside the sink. The third is followed by three hard knocks on the front door.
“Tank,” I say against Gray’s mouth.
“Let’s ignore him.”
“I’m not sure my brother takes being ignored very well.”
Gray grips my ass and pulls me closer. The repaired house smells faintly of fresh paint, and afternoon sun lies across the new side door.
The locks have been upgraded once, not twice, because I stopped him before he turned the place into a bunker.
Ruby is at Emma’s birthday party. Gray has checked his phone four times since she left and only called Mrs. Carr once.
Progress comes in strange forms. The knock lands again.
“Gray,” Tank calls. “Kane says church moved to five.”
Gray lowers his forehead to mine. “I could shoot your brother right now.”
“Tessa would object.”
“Not for long.”
I fix my bra and pull down my shirt while he adjusts his jeans. Then he opens the door. Tank stands on the porch in his cut, looking deeply unimpressed.
“I’ve got a phone,” Gray says.
“You weren’t answering it.”
“I was busy.”
Tank looks past him, sees me beside the counter and grimaces. “I worked that out.”
“Did Kane actually send you?” I ask.
“No. I was passing, and his bike was here.” He looks at Gray. “Every brother. Five.”
“I heard you.”
Tank glances toward the empty hallway. “Ruby?”
“Emma’s for the afternoon.”
Tank jerks his chin toward the bikes. “You coming?”
“Yeah.”
Gray turns to me and catches the back of my neck. The kiss starts as a goodbye and turns into something deeper almost immediately, his other hand closing around my waist as he pulls me against him. By the time he lifts his head, I’ve forgotten Tank is standing there.
“Jesus Christ,” my brother mutters. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
“Nobody asked you to watch,” I say.
“Hard not to when you’re doing it right in front of me.”
Gray gives him a flat look. “Get on your bike.” Tank grins and walks away.
Gray brushes his thumb over my lower lip. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“You’d better.”
He kisses me once more, quick this time, then follows Tank toward the bikes. Six weeks ago, Tank would have put another fist through Gray’s mouth. Now he knocks, delivers messages and leaves without threatening anybody. For my brother, that’s practically a blessing.
My overnight bag sits beside his boots. I still keep my rental near Main Street for now.
Gray sleeps there often enough that his cut has a hook by my door and his coffee has taken over half a cupboard.
He hates my mattress and tells me that I should get rid of it.
I tell him I don’t feel like going to the expense of replacing a mattress, and his response is, “Then don’t bother.
” I think that’s his way of hinting we should move in together.
Ruby will be home from Emma’s party in half an hour. I make coffee and carry it to the back step. The new side door closes properly now, and the kitchen wall has been repainted. There’s no trace of the words Perdition left behind, but none of us has forgotten them. We don’t need to.
Gray knows what silence cost him. He doesn’t keep club trouble to himself anymore, and Kane no longer has to wonder where he stands.
He rides into church as one of Kane’s men now, not a brother waiting to see whether the new Kingdom Come will hold.
A car turns into the drive twenty minutes later.
Ruby climbs out with a goodie bag in one hand and the stuffed red panda tucked beneath her arm.
“Dad at church?” she asks.
“Yeah. He’ll be back before dinner.”
“Okay.”
She doesn’t look toward the road or ask whether I’m sure.
She carries her things inside and starts telling me about the birthday cake before the door closes behind us.
By the time Gray’s Harley comes back along the river road, Ruby and I are at the kitchen table sorting candy into piles of colors.
The engine cuts outside. A moment later, Gray walks in wearing his cut, the afternoon still clinging to the leather. Ruby looks up. “You’re late.”
“By three minutes.”
“Still late.” She shrugs.
He smiles and bends to kiss the top of her head, then comes around the table to me. His hand settles at the back of my neck before his mouth finds mine.
“You staying?” he asks.
My overnight bag is already beside his boots.
“Yeah, thought I might.”
Gray kisses me again, slower this time, while Ruby makes a disgusted sound over her candy. He smiles against my mouth. For a man who spent years keeping every part of his life separate, Gray looks entirely at home with us both.