Chapter 27
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
WRATH
Gliding my fingertips up the center of her back, feeling her soft skin, I close my eyes as I allow myself to just enjoy the moment.
I don’t know when she’s going to start asking me questions, because clearly, Alex has some major issues with me and the club, so I have no doubt she’s got some comments about that as well.
After we fucked, I ditched my clothes and climbed into bed with her. This studio is fucking ridiculous, the bed being in the wide open like this, but I have to admit her bed is cozy as fuck.
“You spend a mint on this mattress?” I ask.
She doesn’t say anything immediately, but then I feel her shift against me. Her palm is flat against my chest, and she applies pressure, no doubt sitting up slightly. Opening my eyes, I look up at her, my lips twitching into a smirk.
“It wasn’t cheap. It was my first purchase when I finally made enough to pay rent and groceries and was able to put a little away for savings. Why?”
My fingers dance up her spine again, curling around her neck. Because her dark hair is right there and it’s so fucking close I can feel it against the back of my hand, I decide to tangle my fingers in the soft strands.
Tugging her head back slightly, I watch as her neck arches; it’s sexy as fuck. I am so fucking lost to the column of her neck, to the hollow of her throat, that I almost forget to answer her.
“Because it’s comfortable as fuck, babe,” I grunt.
She laughs softly. “I’m glad you like something about my place.”
Her words are obviously a dig, even if she wants to play them off as a joke.
I know they aren’t. Releasing her hair, I wrap my arms around her and pull her closer to me.
Holding back the moan at the way her tits press against my chest, I try really fucking hard not to roll her over and start fucking her again.
Not only am I unsure if I could physically go again, but I also don’t want her to think I’m trying to distract her from a conversation. So I decide, conversation first, fucking second. This time, she’s going to ride me, though. I want a fucking show.
“I like your place, Haze. It’s small, and it’s in the hood. But it’s comfortable. I am concerned about your safety.”
She stares at me, blinking, as if she cannot believe I’m saying this to her, which is almost comical and sad at the same time.
It has me wondering whether anyone has been concerned about her safety before.
Maybe Alex has been, but doesn’t mention it, and that’s why he stays close by. He seems protective of his cousin.
“It’s the hood because it’s all I’ve been able to afford. I moved out the day I graduated high school and never looked back, but that meant I didn’t have money or credit. This was the only place that allowed me to move in.”
“And now that you’re almost thirty?” I ask.
She frowns, her gaze searching mine. “You know how old I am?” she asks.
I snort. “Haze,” I begin. “Elodie Langley, twenty-nine, born here in Boulder City. Dad unknown. Mom is alive, but you don’t have a relationship with her because she’s been on drugs your whole life, same with Alex’s mom. Considering they’re sisters, guess it runs in that family.
“Alex has lived with you on and off because your mom might have been a crackwhore, but she at least always kept a roof over your head, unlike his mother. You have a sister named Maren, who is thirty-one, married, and has two kids. You’re close, but not that close. Trauma does that sometimes.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have said all of that out loud. It’s the quiet part, but I looked into her before I hired her. I had to know who I was bringing into my club. It wasn’t difficult to find any of that information because most of it was public.
“My dad isn’t unknown,” she whispers.
“No?” I ask. “Didn’t see him listed anywhere.”
She hums, clearing her throat once. “Well, he didn’t want to be associated with her for obvious reasons,” she begins.
“But he was her dealer. He went to prison a few times. He lives in Vegas now. Maren and I do not have the same father. Hers has been in her life since the beginning, probably the only reason she’s less fucked up than me and was able to meet, marry, and have children with a decent man. ”
“You saying she had a better chance? Being born to the same mom? Sometimes people with the same mother and father can have vastly different outcomes.” I should fucking know.
My own sister turned out to be a lot like Elodie’s mother—a crack whore, hooked on shit.
She couldn’t ever get off, fucked herself up so goddamn badly that there was no fucking hope.
And I’d hoped for decades that she would come back, that she would rise up, that she would marry Dare and make a good old lady.
That she would just be my big sister, Kaitlin, again.
Elodie laughs softly, though it doesn’t sound like she finds anything about this conversation funny. I’m thinking I should have just fucked her instead of asking her about her mattress. Now I’m thinking about Kaitlin, and I try pretty fucking hard not to think about her as a general self-rule.
Elodie doesn’t even realize all the shit I’m working through, too, in this simple conversation, and as she continues, her nails gently digging into the flesh of my chest, she jerks my focus off my own thoughts and onto her.
“I was about to say something, but the look on your face tells me you’re a million miles away,” she whispers.
I should probably tell her what, or rather who, I’m thinking about, but I don’t feel like it’s the time. Hardly anyone, aside from Dare and a few of the guys my age down at the club, even knows who Kaitlin is. Talking about her makes me feel some kind of way, and I’m not ready for that.
At least not right now.
“Maren had a better chance and a better life than I did. Her father saved her in more ways than one. She didn’t always live with me, but she was always good to me and always loved me.
She’s always there for me, the way a sister should be, and she really didn’t have to be.
I wouldn’t have blamed her at all if she didn’t want to have any contact.
Life isn’t always about the mom and dad you have, Coast. Sometimes it’s about you, too.
Sometimes it’s about ensuring that you don’t become something, and sometimes it’s one wrong choice with no idea of how to get out. ”
Food for fucking thought if I ever heard it.
I cup her cheek, and as I slide my thumb across her bottom lip, I don’t shift my gaze away from hers. Being vulnerable, having deep conversations, it’s not something I’ve ever done before.
Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about it.
But I like being in this bed, being beside Elodie, so if a couple of deep conversations is what it takes to keep this, then I guess I’ll have to do that.
“I’m getting you out of the hood, babe,” I announce. Her eyes widen, but I shift my thumb so it’s pressed against the center of her lips to keep her from talking. “No questions asked, and I won’t be answering them, either. You and Alex are moving.”