Gorgon #2
“I thought that you hated me when I first got here,” she breathed.
She grabbed the soap and lathered up her hands, rubbing them all over his chest. He moaned at how good it felt.
No one had ever done anything like that for him before.
Having Kimi take care of him was new, but something that he’d be able to get used to.
“I was pissed that you were on my land, but as soon as I saw you, I felt some strange connection to you.” He shyly looked away from her, and she grabbed his face with her soapy hands, forcing him to look at her.
“You said that you heard your grandmother’s voice when you saw me,” she said.
“I understand how you feel because I felt that same connection. Maybe the fates want us together.” Gorgon had never believed in God, or any gods, really.
He never thought about fate being a part of his decision-making or life in any way until now.
But once Kimi stepped out of her car and onto his porch, that all changed for him.
His grandmother wanted him to find her, or her to find him, and he was sure that she was off in the universe laughing her ass off at the fact that he wanted Kimi as much as he did.
He was about to suggest that they finish their shower before the water went cold, and finish what they had started in his bed, when someone banged on his door. He didn’t have to hear Buck’s voice coming through the wooden barrier to know who it was. “Hurry the fuck up,” Buck shouted.
Kimi buried her head in his chest, as though hiding from Buck, even though he couldn’t see them. “I’ll be down in a minute,” he shouted back, wrapping his arms protectively around her.
“Do you think he knows that I’m in here with you?” she asked.
“Well, he did see me carrying you off like a fucking caveman, so I’m pretty sure that answers your question.
He tucked his finger under her chin, lifting her gaze to meet his.
“It doesn’t matter to me who knows about us, honey.
I want every one of my men to know that you’re mine now.
Because if any of them even thinks about touching you, I’ll break their fucking hands.
” She shivered against him, and he realized that the water was turning cold.
“Shit,” he grumbled. “Let’s get washed up and then, I need to get downstairs.
” She nodded, but he could see the disappointment in her eyes.
“Don’t worry, honey. We’ll have time for everything else I had planned for you later.
But if I don’t go down to talk to Buck, he’ll break down my fucking door.
” He soaped up her body and regretted not telling Buck to fuck off.
He knew that if his second in command was beating down his door, he’d have a good reason.
He just hoped that it was good enough to make Gorgon forget about how amazing Kimi felt in his hands—but he had a feeling that nothing could make him forget that.
When he finally got back downstairs, he found that the yard was mostly clear.
Gorgon stepped out onto the porch and pulled on his coat.
The cold usually didn’t bother him; it was easier to face than confronting Buck.
He was sure that his Vice Prez was going to have a million questions, and all of them would be about Kimi.
He couldn’t answer them, or maybe it was that he didn’t want to, but he didn’t know all the answers himself.
She was a mystery to him still, but one that he was trying to figure out with each passing day.
He heard her footsteps before he saw her.
She didn’t stomp around like the others and didn’t announce herself.
She simply appeared, as though she was made to be there.
Kimi wrapped her arms around him as she stepped out onto the porch.
“You shouldn’t be out here without a coat,” he said, kissing the top of her head.
“You shouldn’t be out here at all,” she shot back. “You should still be upstairs with me, naked in bed,” she breathed, making sure that no one was listening to them.
He almost smiled. “You always this pushy when it comes to sex?”
“No, and it surprises me as much as it probably does you,” she whispered. “I take it you haven’t found Buck yet,” she said.
“No, but he’s around. He’ll find me when he’s ready.” She looked around, and he noticed when her eyes searched the tree line, like his did every time he stepped outside. She was looking for any sign of Cole, and he hated that she was living with the fear that he might come back at any time.
Gorgon turned then, slow and deliberate. “He can’t hurt you. He might come back here, but I won’t let him get anywhere near you. You know that, right?” he asked.
Her jaw tightened. “You realize that’s not how people like him think, right? You humiliated him twice. You know what that means—he’ll come back here believing that he’ll get his revenge. I’m not worried about me; I’m worried about you and your men.”
“I know that the next time he comes back here, it won’t be to talk. Which is why you’re staying where I can protect you. Don’t worry about my men and me. We can take care of ourselves.”
Her eyes flashed, a spark that made his blood heat despite the cold. “You think I’m just going to hide behind you while you play executioner?”
He stepped closer, and she didn’t move back. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “That’s exactly what I think.”
The wind howled around them, whipping snow into curling ghosts. She shook her head, wrapping her arms around him tighter. “You can’t control everything.”
“I don’t try to control it,” he said. “I survive it. You learn to tell the difference after a while.”
She let out a breath that was half laugh, half exhaustion. “Maybe that’s our problem.”
Gorgon’s mouth twitched. “Our problem?”
Her gaze lifted, locking with his. “I didn’t say I’m not part of any of this.”
For a heartbeat, neither of them moved. He could feel it—the pull between reason and something older and heavier.
He wanted to tell her to go back inside, to pretend that nothing had happened between them.
But he wasn’t a good liar, and she was too good at hearing the truth in everything he didn’t say.
He meant it when he told her that she was his now.
Hell, he demanded that she say it back to him.
But making her his only complicated everything around them, and they both knew it.
He reached up, almost without thinking, and brushed the snow from her hair. She went still. “Gorgon,” she said softly. “I can feel that you want to push me away. What are you trying to do?”
His hand stayed in her hair. “I’m trying to stay away from you.”
“Because that’s working so well,” she said, her voice trembling.
His answer was quiet but honest. “No. It isn’t working for me.
No matter how many times I tell myself that you’re a bad idea, I can’t help but look for you.
When you’re not around, I can’t stop thinking about you.
It’s crazy how much I think about you, honey.
” Inside, a door slammed, making her jump, as laughter echoed faintly through the clubhouse.
The club was slowly falling back into rhythm, but his world had tightened to this small circle of breath and snow and her eyes on his.
He stepped closer until there wasn’t enough cold between them to hide behind. The air smelled like her—cedar, warmth, fear, something else that felt too much like home. “You think this ends any better if I let you walk away?” he asked.
“I think it ends worse if you let me stay,” she replied, but she didn’t sound convinced.
“Maybe, but I’ve made peace with things being worse, because I can’t seem to live without you, honey.
” He reached out, his hand finding the back of her neck, not rough, just claiming a space that already belonged to him, whether she liked it or not.
She didn’t flinch. That was the beginning and the end of every argument right there.
Her breath hitched, and she whispered, “People around you always end up paying for your choices, don’t they?”
He looked down at her, voice quiet enough that only she could hear it.
“If they do, it’s because I saved them first.” The wind shifted then, carrying the sound of tires on distant snow.
He knew it wasn’t the SUV—too light, too quick—but it reminded him that every second he stood there was another second the world outside planned its next move.
Still, he didn’t step back. “You should go inside,” he said finally.
“So should you,” she challenged.
He huffed something like a laugh. “If I go in there, Buck’s going to start asking questions.”
Her lips parted—not a smile, not yet, but it might’ve become one if the world were different. “Maybe you should tell him the truth then,” she said.
“And what truth is that?” he whispered.
“That you picked a fight with a ghost and started losing the second you let me stay.”
He studied her for a long time, then nodded once.
“You might be right. Thing about ghosts, though—they never leave quietly.” When she finally turned away and went back inside, Gorgon stayed outside until he could no longer tell where the snow ended, and the smoke from his cigarette began.
He didn’t light another. Didn’t need to.
The ache in him burned hot enough on its own.
Cole would come back. The club would stand ready.
And when it happened, Gorgon would do what he did best—end things before they began.
But as he looked up at the soft light bleeding through Kimi’s window, for the first time in years, he hesitated to define what ending things meant.
Because what if this wasn’t something to end at all?
What if, for the first time, it was something that had finally started?