Chapter Nineteen
Perish
My bed smelled like her.
I stayed in bed embarrassingly late for that very reason, my mind replaying every touch, taste, sigh, cry, and shiver until my cock was rock-hard at just the memory of her.
Only when the voices got too loud in the common room did I force myself to get up, take a cold shower, and get dressed.
“Laz made breakfast,” Brooks said as he passed me with a plate.
I made my way in, and my fucking gaze immediately zeroed in on Gracie. With her bed-messy hair. She had her pink robe on over that little outfit from the night before but looked like she’d just gotten up.
“‘Morning,” I said, hoping none of the weird-ass skipping in my chest was clear in my voice.
“‘Morning,” she said. “Coffee?” she asked, since she was standing at the pot.
“Yeah,” I agreed, glad for an excuse to get close to her. “Let me guess,” she said, shooting me a little smirk. “You take it black.”
“Take it however,” I said with a shrug.
“Might not want to say that to her,” Croft warned. “She puts all kinds of shit in hers.”
“He’s not wrong,” Gracie admitted, passing me a mug, her fingers stroking mine in the process. The sensation was like a shiver down my spine. “And Cain picked up a whole rack of flavors,” she added, waving at the new additions.
“She told me our coffee here made her sad,” Cain said with a shrug as he took a plate from Laz.
A rumbling sound started in my chest, and I had to cough to cover it up.
The fuck was that?
Jealousy?
That Cain knew her coffee preferences and I didn’t? The fuck did that matter?
“Wanna hook me up with something?” Spike asked, passing her an empty mug.
My eyes narrowed at him.
But he wasn’t paying attention.
“Sure! Do you have preferences or do you want me to surprise you?”
“Just fuck me up,” Spike said, making Gracie let out a twinkling laugh.
My hand threatened to crush my mug.
Because everything in me was screaming that that was my smile and my laugh.
“You good?” Rune asked, making me look away from Spike and Gracie.
“Yeah. Just waiting for the sugar,” I said, shrugging it off.
Again, though, I felt like Rune was seeing shit he had no business seeing.
Luckily, though, he said nothing, just grabbed the hot sauce out of the cabinet and moved back out to the living room.
Spike finally stopped chatting up Gracie, took his coffee, and disappeared as well.
“Hey, Goose,” Lazarus said, making Gracie’s eyes squint with how big her smile was. “Still no bacon, right?” he asked as he started to make a plate for her.
“No bacon,” she confirmed.
“Why no bacon?” I asked, unable to help myself.
“Pigs are my favorite animal.”
“One of her asshole cousins told her when she was little that the little piggy that ‘went to the market’ was actually getting butchered. She cried for a week straight.”
“I did. I did that,” she agreed, taking her plate. “Though, to be fair, I cry over everything.”
Laz gave her a soft look. “It’s good to be soft in a hard world. Don’t ever lose that.” He turned back to pile up a much heavier plate for me. “You two might want to grab this table. It’s getting full out there,” he said, nodding toward the kitchen table.
We both shuffled our feet awkwardly but moved to sit down.
“So, uh, why pigs?” I asked.
“Have you ever seen a pig?” she asked. “Their noses and little oinks.”
“They’re kinda filthy.”
“They have no sweat glands! If they don’t stay wet, they can’t cool off. Birds are the same way. But they have access to enough water to bathe. Most pigs don’t.”
“You visit the pigs over at Kit and Ariah’s place?”
“Every chance I get.”
“You gonna get one?”
“A pig?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would I get a pig?”
“For a pet.”
“Oh, no, no. The whole ‘mini pig’ thing is mostly a myth. They’re more like a really dense medium-sized dog.”
“Don’t like dogs?”
“I love dogs. But I think I’d get a smaller dog if or when I get one.”
Eventually, Lazarus finished the last of the cooking and took a plate with him into the other room when he heard some of the other guys head outside.
Gracie’s shoulders relaxed when we were alone again. I liked that she felt at ease around me more than was probably normal.
She exhaled hard and shot round eyes at me.
“Did that feel awkward or was it just me?”
“It’s just us. For obvious reasons. They didn’t suspect anything.”
“Good,” she said, poking at her eggs.
“Eggs no good either?”
“Eggs are fine. They actually get the eggs from Kit and Ria now. And I know how well those sweet girls live, so there are no guilty feelings there. I’m just not super hungry.”
I felt like I could eat one of those cases of eggs. I’d burned some calories the night before.
She took her piece of toast with jelly then gestured toward her eggs. “Help yourself.”
“How’d you sleep?” I asked, forking some of the scrambled eggs off her plate.
“Not for a long time, but then pretty deeply. I never get up this late. But without the sun shining on me, it was hard to know it was time to get up.”
We made small talk as the guys drifted in and out, dropping their plates in the dishwasher then heading out to do whatever their task was for the day.
“Did anyone get in touch with Layna last night?” Gracie asked when a few of her cousins hung around to get fresh coffee after it brewed.
“Yeah,” Fallon said. “You were right. Her stubborn ass won’t come back. But we have no reason to think she’s at risk in Vegas, so we’re not worried about it. Just told her she has to check in three times a day. If she misses one, someone is on a plane.”
“Okay. Good. Now, whose shower is the cleanest?” Gracie asked.
“What’s wrong with the one in the basement?” Fallon asked.
“You can’t be serious,” Gracie said, shaking her head. “I can’t even raise my arms enough to shampoo my hair in that thing. Clearly, it was designed by a dude.”
No one had anything to say to that. It had been.
“Didn’t I see Spike with the cleaning cart?” Brooks asked.
“Yeah, he came out of Nave’s old room, so that one is probably the cleanest.”
And Nave had moved on from living at the club, so the room was unoccupied until someone else was assigned to it.
“Why am I staying in the basement if there is an empty room?” Gracie asked, narrowing her eyes at her cousin.
“Added layer of safety,” Fallon said with a shrug.
“Yeah, sure,” she said, shaking her head as she stood. “Well, I’m going to take a shower then.”
With that, she cleaned her place and went downstairs to get her things.
“What’s my job today?” I asked when she was gone.
“Keeping your ass inside and away from windows,” Fallon said.
“I could—”
“Think my instructions were pretty clear,” he said, nodding at Brooks, then the two men made their way out of the room.
I helped Laz clean up, then made my way back toward my room.
And fuck if it wasn’t the one right next to fucking Nave’s old one.
I could hear the shower running.
And damn if there was no one in the hall to see me when I paused outside that door.
Then, knowing I was being reckless, I moved inside, closed, and locked the door.
The bathroom door was cracked, hot steam drifting into the bedroom as I kicked off my shoes, pulled off my shirt, then finally, my pants, pausing only to grab a condom out of the pocket.
Had I stashed it there with the hopes of catching her alone again?
Sure did. Even after telling myself all night that it had to be a one-time thing.
Not wanting to give her a heart attack, I partially pushed open the bathroom door before knocking on it.
“Seriously?” she grumbled. “I’m naked in here.”
Clearly, she was expecting a cousin.
“Kinda counting on that,” I said.
I never saw a shower curtain snatch open so fast in my life.
Her shocked gaze was on my face for just a second before her hungry eyes raked over me.
There was a long pause on the foil in my hand. Then another one on my cock straining the material of my boker briefs.
A soft little whimper escaped her that had my cock twitching.
Then she straightened and pulled the curtain fully open in invitation.
I yanked down my underwear, then slid on the condom with her gaze on me the whole time.
Then I moved across the small space and stepped into the shower.
Reaching back, I slid the curtain closed.
I reached for her then, turning her and pulling her back against my chest.
There was no hesitation as my hands slid up her belly to cup her breasts, squeezing. My fingers circled, rolled, and pinched.
Gracie turned her head into my neck, her little gasps and whimpers making my cock twitch.
Her ass wiggled against my length, dragging a groan out of me.
“I didn’t think you’d come,” she said, her voice breathy.
“Were you thinking about me?” I asked, one hand moving down her belly.
Her head nodded.
“Yeah?” I asked. “Doing what? This?” My hand pressed between her thighs, and her little moan had my own desire ratcheting up.
“Yes,” she whimpered as I found her clit. “And no,” she added, making my lips curve up.
“Maybe this?” I asked as I slid two fingers down and pressed them inside her.
“Yes,” she sighed, hips rocking, her pussy tightening around my fingers.
“Or did you have something else in mind?” I asked, teeth nipping her earlobe.
“Yes.”
I slid my fingers out and reached between us to fist my cock so I could guide it between her lips.
“Like this?” I asked, pressing against her.
Her only answer was a throaty moan as she pressed back, making me slip slightly inside of her.
My free hand slipped up to her mouth, knowing the acoustics were too good in the shower not to silence her, then I surged deep.
Her moan vibrated against my palm.
Her hand shot out, slapping the wall.
Then it moved, slipping back and behind my neck, holding onto me as I started to fuck her.
There was nothing slow or tentative about it.
We both needed it too much.
My hand slid down her stomach, pressing between her legs to tease her clit as I fucked her.
It wasn’t long before my other arm had to anchor around her midsection when her legs started to wobble and her pussy started to tighten around me until she was crying out, pulsing, coming hard, her whole body shaking.
I knew we didn’t have time to waste.
But I couldn’t be done with her just yet.
So as soon as I trusted her not to cry out, I turned her, backed her against the wall, grabbed her legs to wrap them around my lower back, then surged back inside her.
Slower, this time. But harder, too. Each thrust had her whole body jolting.
But her legs tightened.
Her hands gripped my arms.
Her eyes went molten.
It wasn’t long before she couldn’t keep her little moans in, having to lean forward to press her lips into my neck to muffle the sounds as I drove her up, up, up.
Until she was tensing, until her pussy was gripping my cock.
Then she came, body shuddering, crying against my neck.
I fucked her through it before planting deep and coming with her.
We untangled some time later, and while I dried off and cleaned up, she finished her shower and climbed out into the small bathroom with me.
“Don’t say it,” she whispered, reading my mind.
“Dunno what you’re talking about,” I lied.
“You were going to say we can’t do this again,” she said, reaching for her bottle of lotion, pumping some into her hands, and running the coconut scent up her arms.
Suddenly, I wanted to take that bottle and slather the liquid all over every inch of her myself.
But I had to stop giving in to these urges with Gracie.
“We can’t.”
“We can if we don’t get caught.”
“We’re gonna get caught eventually.”
Gracie sucked in a deep breath and stepped closer, her body just a breath from mine.
“Perish,” she said, voice soft. “This isn’t going to last forever.
Eventually, Cameron isn’t going to be a threat anymore.
And then… then I’m out of here. And we’ll go back to only seeing each other every month or two in passing.
And I just…” She sighed. “I just want to get as much as we both want from this while we can. Safely,” she added.
“I’d hate for you to be saved from being Cameron’s next victim to being murdered by my uncles. ”
To that, I let out a huff of a laugh.
“Your concern for my safety is fucking touching, baby.”
“I am worried. Which is why we can only keep doing this if we are careful. But… can’t we be? Just for a few more days?”
Some ugly part of me wanted to make some joke about how much she wanted my dick. But it felt wrong. Because some part of me knew that it wasn’t just that.
When I looked down at her and saw that sweet, open vulnerability in her blue eyes, I knew I wasn’t the only one who knew it was more than sex. For both of us.
“Okay,” I agreed.
“You don’t have to sound so grave about it!” she said, eyes rolling as she lifted a hand to playfully slap my chest. “It must be such a chore to sleep with m—”
She lost the end of that sentence as I grabbed her by the throat, my lips crashing on hers as I backed her up against the sink cabinet.
I kissed her long and deep.
The kind of kiss that didn’t have any expectations.
And that, well, that was a first for me.
It wasn’t until I heard a bike outside that I finally, regretfully, took a step back.
I watched her lashes flutter open, eyes all dreamy as she looked at me, lips a little puffy from mine.
“Okay,” I said, running a hand down the side of her face to cup her jaw. “Until you leave.”
She gave me a nod.
Then I turned and walked out to the bedroom to dress.
There was only one thought on my mind.
I never wanted her to leave.