28. Mia
When he said last night that I wasn’t leaving until I felt him between my legs all day, I thought he was joking—turns out, he meant it. My thighs ached and my pussy burned from all the exercise I’d got last night, exercise that I had been missing out on for years. I’d never been so wanton as I was last night, and my cheeks heated as I remembered how I’d taken control of the man, telling him in great detail where to put his mouth, how to use his dick.
God, he must think I’m a massive slut. I lay in his bed, the blanket kicked to the floor, the sheets tangled around my sore body, and threw my arm across my face, trying to hide from the shameful memories. He caught me masturbating! “Uh, someone please save me from myself,” I muttered to the empty room. Rex had risen before I’d even woken, but the evidence of our night together lay scattered around the floor. A used condom lay discarded in a corner, he’d missed that one when he had clearly tried to tidy up—the others plus the box filled the little trash can already.
We used a whole fucking box? No wonder I felt like I’d been on horseback for a week.
Climbing out of bed, I stepped carefully around the pile of clothes and blanket on the floor, before shutting myself in the bathroom.
Leaning over the sink, I stared bleary eyed at myself in the little mirror. My skin was chafed red from Rex’s stubble, and I’m sure I had those same rashes in other places that I couldn’t even see. Dark bruises sat above my collar bone and around my neck. That fucker had placed hickeys around my neck like a fucking chain. The ring of purple marks trailed down over my breasts, small bite marks covering my pale skin. It had felt amazing at the time, his hands palming my hips, pulling me back toward him, biting and sucking at my neck. I had even offered up more of myself for the sensation of feeling his mouth on me. I didn’t know the fucking arsehole was marking me like a… a damned teenager!
My shower was long and hot, the heat easing the tension in some muscles that I didn’t even know I had. My thighs quaked as I dried off and dragged on the loosest trousers—sans panties—I could find that wouldn’t rub against the sensitive skin, before heading out to check on my patient that I had completely forgotten about in my night time adventure.
The men huddled around Sly, the man awake and cracking jokes as if he didn’t have a hole in his shoulder and almost bleed out last night.
“Here she is, my favorite nurse,” he called out upon spotting me. Rex twisted and watched me walk slowly toward him, a satisfied smirk across his face.
He stalked forward, meeting me halfway, his arm wrapping around me, pulling me flush against him. My traitorous body wanted to relax into him, but I was aware of the eyes that followed us, locking onto our position. Mutters from around me had my cheeks heating as I thought about what they must be saying, before Rex planted a closed–mouth kiss on my lips, shockingly, no tongue this time. His dry lips were firm on mine, I closed my eyes and gave into the greeting.
“I told you I’d have you unable to walk properly,” he whispered softly in my ear, and my eyes shot open to find the infuriating man grinning down at me. “Don’t look like that, princess, you loved every minute of it.”
“What…”
His eyes fell to my neck and the amount of concealer I’d applied to cover the hickeys and he frowned, his fingers brushing gently against my skin. “You covered them.”
“Yes, Rex. I covered the ten hickeys you made that everyone can see,” I huffed. “There wasn’t even just one.” I wanted to shout at his lack of control, but I kept my voice to a whisper, trying to hide our conversation from his brothers.
“Of course there wasn’t just one, why would I put just one on you?”
“You… you mean you did this,” I pointed to my neck, “on purpose?”
Rex’s laugh was loud and had all of the men turning toward us. His head lowered to mine, I could see the happiness shining in his blue eyes. “Of course I did it on purpose, princess. I made it clear to everyone that you’re mine.”
“You could have just got a banner and held it up in bright red, it would have been less of a statement.”
His laughter was his only reply, his smile the biggest I’d ever seen it, and I didn’t know if it was because his best friend was awake or because of the most amazing sex I’d ever had? Hopefully a bit of both.
“Come on, Sly’s awake.” He pulled me forward, halting any question I had about his deliberate marking.
The men moved out of our way, creating a path to the patient. “Wendy, make princess some coffee, cream two sugars,” he ordered one of the women, her look of indignation didn’t stop her from getting off her stool and heading to the kitchen. I’d be careful about drinking whatever she gave me just in case it came with a healthy dose of saliva.
Sly was sitting propped up on tons of pillows, his arm supported against his chest in the same position I’d tied it in last night. The IV pole was tucked off in the corner, the armchair moved back to its place. Threads wasn’t in the crowd and I made a note to check on him afterward. His blood donation was helpful, but I worried about the quiet man with the arm full of scars.
“I guess I have you to thank for me being here, princess,” Sly muttered, a tired grin split his face. His eyes were bloodshot and dark circles rimmed his eyes, but he was alive.
“Well, I only stitched you up.” I sat beside him and untied the makeshift harness, peeling back the bandages and checking on my sutures. “They’re looking pretty good, just don’t go getting yourself shot again anytime soon and you should hopefully be up and about in no time.”
His face hardened, the silence swarming with tension. “You don’t have to worry about that, darlin’,” he gritted out, before looking over my shoulder. “It won’t be happening again.”
A gleam of something sinister glimmered in his eyes, it wasn’t a feature I’d come to associate with Sly. He was the laid-back one, the jokester, but right now, he had a look that reminded me of Kannon’s—darkness and secrets were hidden amongst the lighthearted visage, but which one was the real Sly?
After patching him back up, and giving him a dose of antibiotics, I left him to his rest. The men converged on him immediately. “Be careful with him,” I called out. “No moving him about, I don’t need those stitches popping open.”
“Don’t worry, Doc, we’ll take real good care of him,” Gauge replied, rubbing his hands together with glee.
I threw my hands in the air, exasperated with the men who were even now helping Sly to his feet. “Don’t worry, princess, they’ll be careful. They’re taking him to his room to get more comfortable,” Rex said as he saw my worry.
“Oh, that’s good then…” Sly shuffled down the hall, a brother on either side of him, making sure he didn’t fall. A trail of barely dressed women followed after them, and I knew exactly what Gauge meant when he said they’ll take good care of him.
Deciding that it wasn’t my business, I looked around for my sister, but didn’t spot her in the common room. “Where’s Millie?”
“Kannon took her to town to get some supplies, she told him she was bored.” Rex rolled his eyes. “He jumped at the chance to take her out for some fresh air.”
“Is she ok out there? I mean…”
“She’s safe. Kannon wouldn’t let anything happen to her, besides it’s the middle of the day and they’re out in public,” Rex reassured me.
Millie was a grown up, and she had to make her own choices, albeit questionable choices recently. But I could only support her through whatever the outcomes were of those decisions, whether I liked them or not.
Although Kannon wouldn’t be a choice that I made for her, if being around the club had taught me anything since I’d been here, it was that they were loyal to a fault. Their brotherhood was something I envied growing up, not having that type of relationship with my own sister. Our bond felt more like a parent-child relationship, especially with our decade long age gap.
“And where the fuck were you?” Rex growled as the door opened. Sonic walked in with a grim face, his clothes were creased as if he’d just picked them up from the floor. “Our brother gets shot and you’re nowhere to be found!”
Rex’s anger was palpable. Instinctively, I placed my hand on his arm, trying to soothe the rage that was aimed at the other man.
“Watch who you’re talking to, I’m still your VP,” Sonic replied, his hand rubbing over his mohawk in frustration. “I just found out, I didn’t check my phone, and I rushed back as soon as I could.”
“That doesn’t answer where you were… Brother.”
“I know where he was.” Callahan stepped out of his office, the big man stern and commanding, and stalked toward his VP. “Did you get what you needed?” he asked, loud enough so that every man still left in the room could hear.
He made it clear to everyone that there was a reason he wasn’t here for Sly when he was shot, and no one could dispute that. Rex stood down, chagrin on his face as he stepped toward Sonic, his hand outstretched. The men did that weird hand shake back slap combo that often made me flinch at how hard the men whacked each other. But they shook it off, and were smiling in no time, as if nothing had happened and one hadn’t just been accused of negligence by the other.
Men!
Women held grudges, they were fucking mean, and they never let you forget it, even if they had a smile on their face. But men shook it out and forgot about it the next day—or in Rex and Sonic’s case, the next minute.
“Hey, VP, you’ve met Mia, right?” Rex wrapped his arm over my shoulders, tucking me into his side, it was a statement if I’ve ever seen one. Sonic clearly understood the message too, the corner of his lip tipped up in a one-sided smile when he watched Rex stake his claim in front of everyone.
“We haven’t officially met,” he held his hand out, “and I hear I have you to thank for fixing my brother up.”
I wasn’t used to this much appreciation. Back home, I’d get a ‘thanks’ and hopefully five minutes to rest my feet before moving on to the next patient. Sometimes, there was no gratitude at all, even if you spent days watching over a patient. I never let it bother me, considering this was the job I signed up for, but there was something about all of the recognition that had my chest puffing up. Every single brother, including Callahan, had approached me and thanked me for what I did for Sly last night, and… I really liked it.
“I just did my job.” Shaking his hand, I smiled back.
“Well, make sure Rex here shows you our appreciation.”
Rex snorted a laugh, and I glared at him, my cheeks flushing bright red.
“I have most definitely shown her how much I appreciate her.” He squeezed me against him, my eyes rolling at the underlying bragging in his grin.
Sonic’s return grin was knowing. “It’ll be nice to have someone as capable as you around.”
We both froze, our bodies pressed against each other, tension arising at Sonic’s suggestive comment. Was he implying that I was staying? Because that wasn’t something that was being taken into consideration, and I especially wasn’t staying just because Rex and I had had sex last night. He could lay all the hickeys on my body as much as he liked, he could wrap his arms around me and kiss me in front of his friends to make it clear whose bed I was in, but any long term plans to stay weren’t in the cards.
His eyes darted between us, noticing the tautness in our embrace, and Sonic’s smile turned more polite than anything. “Anyway, prez wants a meeting in ten to go over everything.” With a final nod toward me, he walked away to join Cal at the bar, who was nursing a large cup of something steaming, which reminded me that I never got my coffee from Wendy.
That bitch.
“You know it wouldn’t be so bad.” I faced Rex, having to crane my neck to look up at him. “Staying here, I mean. Your sister likes it here, and it wouldn’t be hard to change up your visa…”
“Don’t.” I held my hand up, covering his lips before he said something we might not be able to come back from. “Just… don’t. OK? Let’s call this for what it is, a holiday… fling or fun… or something, but I’m going home as soon as this dust has settled and I make sure Millie is either safe here or on that plane next to me.”
A cold glint lit his eyes, his arm falling away to hang loose beside him and he stepped back. His warmth left me and I didn’t like the icy glare that was directed my way, but my choices wouldn’t change no matter how much he hated them.
“That’s how it is, huh? A fling…”
“Rex, look…” I reached out, wanting to ease the coldness from him and bring back the Rex that touched me with such… care. He maneuvered out of my way, walking toward the door without a backward glance, and I had to watch him walk away from me.
Before he reached the door, it opened, the sunshine blinding behind the figure who stormed in.
Kannon and Millie rushed forward, my sister’s face was as white as a sheet and Kannon glared at everyone in his path. His face like thunder, he stalked toward Callahan at the bar. “We need to talk Prez.”