Chapter 24 #3
Why wasn’t I shoving him away? I didn’t even realize my hand had lifted until my fingers trailed over his warm skin, his eyes flashing with heat for a second before he leaned down to brush his lips across my neck.
Such a simple touch shouldn’t have been a turn on, but I sucked in a sharp breath as his hand moved to my throat, his fingers very gently sliding across my tender skin as he pressed his mouth to my jaw right by my ear.
My hand slid up further to his chest, and he groaned as his lips and tongue teased my throat as if he was trying to kiss the bruises better.
His skin was so hard and warm under my palm, and it wasn’t until his hand dropped to my thigh that I snapped out of it.
“Stop,” I said quickly, making me cough, a little surprised that he responded immediately and pulled back. “We can’t.”
“Why not? You’re horny, I’m horny, that kind of feels like we can,” he said with a straight face as he studied me.
“Because there’s no way my guys would be okay with you fucking me on Hunter’s couch,” I huffed, my voice breaking and making him sigh.
“It’s probably better I don’t make you scream with that damaged throat anyway. Hang on, I’ll get you some water.”
He headed into the kitchen and returned with some water, handing it over so he could get dressed. My heartbeat was slamming inside my chest, and I sipped the water to try and cool myself down.
I could still feel his mouth on my throat, my eyes sliding to the very large tent in his boxers as he pulled jeans on and tucked himself into them. That surely wasn’t comfortable.
He vanished to the bathroom and my eyes widened when I heard him groan a few minutes later. Had he just gone and jerked off?
“Did you just do what I think you did?” I asked as he returned, and he raised an eyebrow.
“You think I want to walk around with a brick bent in my pants all day? Of course, I dealt with it.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, but the thought of him doing that with me in the other room kind of made my panties even more damp.
“Are we taking the bike to the warehouse?” I asked instead, making him nod.
“Yep. If you’re ready, let’s go.”
I’d combust if I had to press against him on the bike again, and I almost wished I could sneak off to deal with my horniness too, but there was no way I was doing that, so I agreed and followed him out to the garage to open the door for him.
I couldn’t exactly wear the jacket again, but I flinched when he offered me his.
“I can’t wear your crew jacket,” I hissed, and he rolled his eyes.
“Just put it on. You’re on the back of my bike, the jacket won’t make a difference in anyone’s assumptions.”
“But—”
“Put it on,” he sighed, forcing my arm into the sleeve and helping me with the other.
It was way too big, and a familiar memory hit me of wearing Skeeter’s. Something like a jacket shouldn’t have bothered me, but it stung to know how much things had changed.
I was suddenly crushed against Marco’s chest, his voice full of understanding.
“I’d say it gets easier, but it doesn’t. That prick kind of leaves a big hole in your chest. C’mon, shake it off and cry later.”
I nodded but hugged him back for a second to ground myself, then I pulled back and grabbed my helmet to get ready to leave. He climbed onto the bike so I could get on behind, then we headed straight to the warehouse without a problem.
Hunter was watching the cage as two guys trained, but he spoke the second we approached. “Have fun?”
At first, I thought he’d had a camera inside the house and had witnessed our moment on the couch, but Marco replied, reminding me about the murder. “Had a blast, actually. She’s coming with me more often.”
Hunter’s eyes finally slid to mine, his voice calm. “Did you ice your throat before running off to play assassin’s sidekick?” I winced, and he gave Marco a dirty look. “You had one job, asshole.”
“My bad,” Marco mumbled, genuinely looking apologetic about it. “I’ll go and—”
“She can sit in the office while you play in the cage. Go.”
“Can I stay down here?” I asked, taking a small step towards Marco, who backed me up.
“Let her watch, man. You know she likes violence.”
Hunter sighed like he was tired of us already. “Fine. Get her an ice pack out of the bar freezer, but she’s not to step foot inside that cage. Do you both understand?”
I nodded, and Marco mumbled a yes boss on his way to the freezer, returning with two ice packs for me. He made sure the jacket was zipped right up before tucking the ice packs into the front of it to rest against my throat.
“There, hands free. C’mon, I’ll put on a show for you,” he grinned, taking my hand and pulling me closer to the cage. He grabbed a chair on the way past, placing it close by and motioning for me to sit. “What do I get if I win? A kiss?”
“I’m not giving you—”
“No talking,” he tsked, leaning down and making sure the ice was in the right place. “Be a good girl and stay put. Don’t come in the cage if I zone out. You’re lucky I snapped out of it last time without hurting you.”
I narrowed my eyes on him and he tickled me under the chin before stepping back to tug his shirt over his head. He dropped it on my lap, giving me a wink on his way into the cage, and I watched as he got to work training some of the guys.
Some of them had potential, others would get killed in a death match within seconds.
Marco really was a weapon, his moves all thought out and calculated somehow even when he had less than a second to react. He was always two steps ahead of his opponent.
Since they were just training and no one was being punished, there thankfully wasn’t a lot of bloodshed this time, and when Marco decided he was done, he motioned for me to join him.
I’d been icing my neck so long the ice packs had gone warm, so I placed them on the chair as I stood and wandered inside. Hunter had gone upstairs to the office, so unless he was watching the cameras, he wouldn’t know.
“I’m not allowed in here,” I stated as I approached, his mouth curving into a smirk.
“You never do as you’re told, and neither do I. I saw you basically drooling to get in here, so I’ll show you some moves to help you take down people bigger than you. Sound good?”
I was surprised by his willingness to teach me, so I nodded and let him move my body how he wanted, keeping all the moves slow as he talked me through them all.
Faris was sitting at the bar watching us while Bobby talked his ear off, apparently done with the cleanup finally, and it was going well until I noticed Diesel and Brick talking to Hunter by the door.
I tripped over my own feet and Marco caught me, a frown on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you have a meeting with the Psychos?” I asked carefully, making him glance over to see what I was looking at.
Diesel was busy talking, but Brick was eyeing me with a blank look on his face.
He’d definitely noticed Marco’s jacket on me though, so there was no point in panicking and shoving it off me. That just made me look guilty.
“Not that I know of,” Marco replied with a shrug. “Come on, hands back up. We’ll go full force this time. I’ll come at you, and you try to take me down.”
I blew out a breath and got ready, knowing he was holding back a little when he jerked forward and made a move to grab me, but I focused on kicking his feet out from under him and knocked him back in the process, his body landing on the ground with an oomph.
“Nice one,” he wheezed, and I smirked when I realized I’d actually winded him.
“Get up, I want to do that again.”
“I bet you fucking do,” he grumbled, but he got to his feet and got into position again, ending up on his ass again.
This was fun.