Chapter 24
The decision still hung between them, not as something romantic or beautiful, but as the raw and uncomfortable truth it actually was.
Charlie had made her choice and she wasn’t going to run, and as Reeze pulled her closer, she saw something pass through his eyes that she couldn’t quite put a name to.
Then he kissed her.
The kiss carried traces of the whole damn day: the argument between them, Dennis, the blood in the car park and all the words that had been spoken, along with almost as many that had been left somewhere along the way.
Charlie responded without hesitation, sliding one hand into his hair while feeling how tense he still was beneath her.
“You should take it easy,” she murmured against his mouth, pulling back just enough to look at him.
He still looked as though he had been run over by a freight train.
The bruising around his eye had darkened even further, the dressing across his forehead did very little to improve the overall impression, and she felt the careful breath he drew when she accidentally shifted against his battered ribs.
Reeze merely shook his head and pulled her back.
“Billy’s going to have a breakdown if he sees you.”
“Billy has a breakdown over everything.”
“He might actually have a point this time.”
“Doubtful.”
Charlie couldn’t help smiling. There was something almost absurd about sitting there discussing Billy’s potential breakdown after everything that had happened, but perhaps that was exactly what she needed. Something ordinary in the middle of everything else.
She ran her fingers through Reeze’s hair and felt him close his eyes, and only then did she realise that this wasn’t really about sex, or even about the kisses.
He was holding her because he needed to.
As though the warmth of her body against his was the only proof he trusted right now that she was genuinely still there.
Outside, the clubhouse continued living its own life.
Someone laughed loudly near the garage, somebody else shouted something that was immediately answered by a chorus of insults, and a moment later an engine rumbled to life.
Charlie no longer knew whether it belonged to someone from Wallhalla or Assholes, and she didn’t particularly care.
“You’re crazy,” she said softly.
Reeze opened one eye.
“I’ve heard that before.”
“I’m beginning to understand why.”
“And yet you’re still here.”
“Apparently I’m not much better.”
The tired smile that pulled at his mouth tightened the bruising around his eye, and Charlie leaned her forehead against his.
The problems hadn’t disappeared simply because they had finished talking. Dennis was still out there, the club would still be the club when they woke the following morning, and she strongly suspected that her new life was going to contain considerably more trouble than the old one ever had.
But right now, Reeze was here.
Alive and warm, his arms around her and his heart beating steadily beneath her hand.
After a moment, his head dropped against her shoulder and she felt some of the tension finally begin to leave his body.
“You’re mine,” he murmured against her skin.
There was nothing harsh or demanding in the words. If anything, he sounded as though he was still trying to understand that she had genuinely chosen him while knowing what she was choosing.
This time, however, Charlie was the one who took control.
Reeze was injured and she knew perfectly well that if she left it to him, the idiot would probably forget that minor detail altogether. She shifted until she was straddling him, her fingers travelling slowly down his chest as she felt his body tighten beneath her touch.
Then she bent down and kissed him hard, teeth catching briefly against his lower lip as her hair fell around them like a curtain.
Her hands moved over him, carefully at first where his ribs were bruised, then lower across his stomach until she found him already hard beneath her touch.
Reeze drew a sharp breath, his hands immediately moving towards her hips, but Charlie caught one of them and pushed it back against the mattress.
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“No?”
“You’re injured.”
“I’m not dead.”
“I noticed.”
The corner of his mouth twitched, but he let her have her way.
For once.
Charlie took her time, enjoying the frustration building in his expression almost as much as the heat spreading through her own body. When she finally lowered herself onto him, she did it slowly, a long breath escaping her as she adjusted to him before beginning to move.
Reeze’s hands settled on her hips, but he didn’t try to take control. Perhaps because his ribs wouldn’t allow it, or perhaps because he understood that she needed this to be hers.
Either way, Charlie set the pace.
She moved over him with steady, deliberate strokes, leaning forward when she wanted him deeper and sitting back when she wanted to watch him. Sweat began to shine across his skin and his breathing grew rougher beneath her, his fingers tightening against her hips whenever she changed the rhythm.
Every movement belonged to her.
Every choice.
And after everything that had happened that day, there was something almost fiercely liberating about it.
She felt the tension building until there was no room left for Dennis, the club, the blood in the car park or anything else beyond the man beneath her and the pleasure winding tighter through her body.
When it finally broke, it did so hard enough to tear a cry from her throat. Charlie tightened around him, trembling as the orgasm rolled through her, and Reeze followed moments later, his body going rigid beneath hers before slowly relaxing again.
Charlie collapsed carefully against his chest, both of them breathless and slick with sweat, and for a long while neither of them made any attempt to speak.
Eventually, Reeze’s arm closed around her and pulled her a little closer.
That seemed to be enough.
At least until reality, as usual, decided they had enjoyed quite enough peace.
The door flew open with a bang.
“For fuck’s sake, Reeze!”
Charlie jerked so violently she nearly headbutted him as Rollo’s voice filled the room.
“If you’re finished repopulating the municipality, perhaps we can work out how the fuck we’re going to survive the week?”
Reeze closed his eyes.
For several seconds, he looked as though he was seriously considering murder.
“Have you never heard of knocking?”
“I knocked on reason. Nobody answered.”
Rollo remained in the doorway, his gaze travelling over the two of them, the very obvious situation and finally Reeze’s collection of dressings and bruises.
“You’re still fucking bleeding.”
“I’m still alive.”
“That’s more luck than judgement.”
Charlie pulled the covers higher, unable to decide whether she wanted to laugh or disappear underneath them entirely. Rollo, on the other hand, appeared completely unconcerned by the fact that he had just barged into what had very obviously been a private moment.
“We’ve got twenty men in the garage, two cops playing cowboys and a lawyer who’s already billing us like he fucking owns the place. You’re the Master at Arms. Stop thinking with your dick and start using your brain.”
Reeze dragged a hand over his face and sighed.
“Give me two minutes.”
“You’ve got one.”
Rollo disappeared and slammed the door behind him.
Charlie waited until his footsteps had faded along the corridor before looking at Reeze.
“Repopulating the municipality?”
“Don’t.”
She started laughing.
“Oh, I’m definitely saying something.”
“Charlie.”
“I just think it’s good to know we have a social responsibility.”
Reeze stared at her for several seconds before the corner of his mouth betrayed him.
“You’re starting to fit in here far too well.”
“That’s more or less what you wanted, isn’t it?”
He looked at her for a moment, and the last traces of irritation disappeared from his eyes before he leaned forward and kissed her. This time it was soft, without any of the desperation that had been there before.
When he pulled away, he sighed and started getting up.
“This is what you chose.”
Charlie pulled the covers around herself and smiled at him.
“I know.”
“You can still change your mind.”
“I don’t run,” she reminded him.
That stopped him for a moment.
Then the small smile returned.
“No. Apparently you fucking don’t.”
He pulled on his jeans, picked up his cut and headed for the door, returning to the reality waiting for him on the other side.
Charlie remained where she was, listening as his footsteps disappeared along the corridor.
Then Rollo’s voice thundered through the clubhouse.
“That was more than a fucking minute!”
Whatever Reeze shouted back was lost beneath the explosion of laughter that followed.
Charlie pulled the covers over her face and started laughing again.