Chapter 21 ~ #3
My arms wrap around his neck and I stand on my tippy toes in order to reach him. While Alec may be shorter than my other guys, he’s still a giant to me.
I’ve learnt over the last few weeks that Alec is the perfect gentleman. He doesn’t make any moves without my permission. I told him he didn’t need to ask to hold my hand or kiss me and that I’d tell him otherwise but so far that hasn’t stopped him. I love that he does though.
Alec’s tongue slips in to dance playfully with mine. I moan softly, my hands sliding through his soft locks at the nape of his neck.
“You. Are. Very. Distracting.” Alec tells me between kisses. I smile against his lips, unable to keep a straight face.
His head drops to my neck when he kisses me there, nibbling on my sensitive skin. He exhales before reluctantly pulling back.
“You’re pretty distracting too,” I inform him. My arms uncurl from around his neck, allowing him to stand upright. My hands rest flat on his shirt-covered chest.
Like all the guys, Alec and I have gotten closer since my birthday. We read together every night. If we’re in separate rooms, one of us will text the other and I’ll read until my bed mates make me put down my kindle.
“Is there anything you want to do before we leave tomorrow?” Alec rests his forehead on mine.
Thinking about his question, someone comes to mind. Someone whom I wouldn’t have lasted as long as I did at Cattle Creek without them.
A smile traces my lips and I nod. “There’s someone I need to say goodbye to.”
. . .
Alec ~
“Here,” Rory directs me and I pull into the street. I park in front of a modern one story house with a Jeep out the front.
Mase leans between the front seats, his blond-brown strands falling over his blue eyes as he surveys the street. “Do you want us to come with you, Angel?”
Some kids playing basketball outside one of the houses stop and look at the car. They watch us for a bit before going back to their game.
We took Jace’s mustang. It’s a little more under the radar than Dom’s RAM and we didn’t want to take Rory’s Hilux in case it got noticed.
I must have missed Rory’s response because she and Mason push open their doors. I get out with them.
Two teenagers sitting on the grass get up when we walk up the porch steps. The guy’s arm curls around the waist of his girlfriend when he sees me looking around the neighbourhood. He’s not looking at me with hostility but he’s cautious.
Rory knocks on the door and I lift my hand in a short wave to the teenagers. The rest of the kids have gone back to playing.
The girl lifts her hand in response. She turns and murmurs something to the guy who simply nods at me. He focuses more on Rory, I notice.
The door opens and I turn back to face who I believe is Cattle Creek’s librarian.
“Rory!” She pulls Rory into a tight embrace. She steps back and puts her hands on Rory’s cheeks, looking up and down her.
“You nearly scared me to death,” she admonishes.
“Sorry, Lindsey,” Rory says, sounding guilty.
The librarian looks over Rory’s shoulder and sees Mason and I standing there.
“You better come in.” Lindsey steps aside, letting us walk into her house.
Mase and I follow Rory into the kitchen, Lindsey coming in behind us.
“So, is this a tea or tequila conversation, Rory?” Lindsey asks, leaning back against the counter so she can study me and my brother.
“No, I am not doing shots with you ever again, Lindsey.” Rory shakes her head.
She’s young, mid twenties maybe. She’s got long blonde hair and blue eyes with a sweet, honeyed voice.
Lindsey points at me suddenly. “Molecular Biology: Woes and Foes.”
I frown, wondering why that sounds familiar. Rory clues me in.
“Linds remembers people by the first book they borrow from the library,” she explains.
That was weeks ago. Huh.
“Seen my brother lately?” Lindsey asks Rory.
She nods, taking a seat at the counter. “Few days ago. Came to warn me to get out of town. Apparently Marcus has them coming after me,” Rory says so casually you’d think they were talking about the weather.
Wait. Did she just say her brother? A few days ago…
Her brother is Drake King?! Drake doesn’t have a sister—isn’t supposed to have a sister. Yet, clearly he does.
“Yeah, I heard that too. I thought maybe you’d left already when your teachers told me you were homeschooling.” Lindsey seems to decide that this is a tea conversation because she fills the kettle.
“I saw Cal out the front. The girl looks…sweet?” Rory phrased it like a question.
Lindsey cracks a smile. “She is. She knows who we are so we’ll see what happens. She’s scared of me but apparently Rowan’s a teddy bear.”
Rory laughs, melodically. “No one thinks Rowan’s a teddy bear. Well, I do but he’s the most intimidating out of all your guys.”
“Right?!” Lindsey throws her hands up and they laugh.
When they settle down, Lindsey gestures to Mason and I. “Who’s the eye candy?”
“Sorry, we should have introduced ourselves. I’m Alec and that’s Mason. We’re Rory’s…” I trail off, not knowing what to say.
“They’re my boyfriends,” Rory says softly.
I look at her surprised. Mase just grins. He plants a kiss on her cheek and she blushes.
That’s the first time she’s called us that.
“Just them?” Lindsey focuses on Rory who shakes her head.
“Mase’s twin Maverick, Luc, Dominic and Jace are back at Luc’s grandmother’s house on Belford street,” Rory tells her.
Lindsey’s eyes gleam with amusement. “Fallon’s gonna freak.”
“You are the only people who bet how many partners someone is going to get.” Rory shakes her head in mock disappointment.
“How did you find out about that? Ahhhh, Ethan told you. He just can’t keep his mouth shut. You know, I bribed him with some really hot—“
“Oi! I don’t wanna hear about that!” Rory puts her hands over her ears as she speaks.
“Don’t want to hear about what?” I turn to my left as the teenager from outside the house strolling in.
“Where’s the girl?” Rory asks him. “I wanted to meet her.”
“No fu-freaking way,” Cal I’m assuming relents when Lindsey shoots him a glare.
“Mum does a good enough job keeping Ocean away from the house after she opened the door and pointed a .22 at her,” Cal informs Rory.
They do some complicated handshake before ending it with a fist bump.
“You pointed a .22 at some poor girl?” Rory says amused.
“I thought she was Drake. I’m pissed at him.” Lindsey rolls her eyes. Rory goes to question her but pauses and tilts her head.
The sound of multiple motorbikes roaring fills the street.
“Huh, they’re early.” Lindsey walks over to the window and peeks out the blinds.
I subconsciously inch closer to Rory. My hand drifts to the gun resting on my hip, covered by my hoodie.
From the corner of my eye, Mase moves to stand behind Rory, his hands resting on her shoulders. To anyone else, it would just seem like a normal ‘need to have my hands on my girl’ situation but not now. He’s covering Rory with his body, in case something’s about to go down.
“Cal, do you want to make Rory, myself and Rory’s men a hot chocolate, please?” Lindsey ruffles Cal’s hair and he rolls his eyes.
“Mum,” he whines, “leave my hair alone. What’s taking Dad so long? He’ll back me up.”
“What’s Mum done?” A deep baritone voice comes from a mountain of a man who steps in the door and immediately gets told to take off his biker boots.
“Nothing,” Lindsey shoots back at the same time Cal says, “she touched my hair.”
A gasp comes from behind the mountain and a blue haired storm blows through pushing him out of the way.
“Linds, our son is a man now, you cannot touch his hair. He had it perfectly styled by the time I left this morning.” A no less intimidating man sweeps Lindsey off her feet, kissing her deeply.
“Ewww.” Cal and Rory groan unanimously.
My lips twitch in an attempt to hold back my grin.
“Rowan, get the fuck out of the doorway.” Someone growls. The mountain or Rowan, I’m assuming, wisely moves out of the doorway where he was untying his shoelaces. Another other built and need I say, super fucking hot man comes in the door.
“What are you doing home early?” Lindsey questions.
“Cal called when Rory got here.” The guy wraps his arm around Lindsey’s shoulders. “We were in the area and thought we’d stop in.”
I realise my hand still hasn’t moved off my gun when Rory places her hand on my arm.
“It’s alright, Alec.” She murmurs low enough for only myself and maybe Mason to hear. I slowly remove my hand, hesitantly.
“You’re James Hunt’s kid. The hacker.”
My eyes flick up as the three other men join Lindsey. I realise it wasn’t any of them who spoke but the one who was already there.
The other three come to attention as the bright blue haired fella with brown eyes stares at me.
“Alec,” I relent, looking briefly across at Rory who seems puzzled.
“Nice work on the Magiver conviction.” Cookie Monster dips his head to me in appreciation. “They nearly put us on it but we had our hands full with another case.”
“No one is supposed to know that was me.” I don’t bother trying to deny it. If they know who I am, about Magiver, then they already have all the facts.
“We keep track of all security threats and you happen to be a pretty fucking big one.” Rowan crosses his arms, narrowing his dark eyes on me. “What are you doing with Aurora?”
“Rowan,” Rory scolds.
“It’s okay, Sunshine,” I murmur. Rowan just grunts.
Cal sets cups of hot chocolate in front of Rory, Mase and I.
“Thank you,” we chorus.
“So, you know who Alec is, yet we don’t know who you are,” Mase says a little edgy.
“We also know who you are, Mason Lawson. That’s a bit of a mouthful, don’t you reckon?” Someone else pipes up.
“That’s enough.” The one person who’s stayed quiet speaks up. They speak in a low voice that commands the room.
Oh, fuck.
The Ghost steps out from behind Lindsey who smiles up at him. His short hair cut reveals the burn scars covering half his face and one cloudy eye.
How the hell didn’t I see him come in?