Chapter 32
Charlie had remained in the doorway while Reeze watched the pickup disappear around the corner.
She had heard enough of his conversation with Molly to understand what was really eating at him, and it wasn’t Lotta, the school or even the fact that his daughter had got into another fight.
It was the fear that Molly had seen more than he ever wanted her to see and had already begun carrying things that should never have ended up on a child’s shoulders.
She walked out into the yard and stopped beside him without crowding him. Reeze barely reacted, but she could see his jaw working as he continued staring at the empty road.
“She notices more than you think.”
“I know.” The answer came quietly, and Charlie slipped her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she remained beside him.
“And she’s eight.”
That made him look at her.
“She thinks some of this is her fault.”
“It isn’t.”
“No, but she’s still eight. Sometimes it isn’t enough that we adults know how things really are.”
Reeze ran a hand through his hair and looked back towards the road.
It was the same restless movement she had seen him make countless times throughout the day, but there was no anger left in it now.
Only weariness. “I can’t be everywhere,” he said after a moment.
“I can’t keep everyone safe all the fucking time. ”
“No.”
“But I want to.” The simple admission silenced her.
Around them, the club grounds continued as though nothing particularly important had happened.
Mark and some of the Assholes were still standing by the van, an engine started somewhere inside the garage, and voices and laughter drifted out from the clubhouse.
Everything seemed to demand something from Reeze at once, and Charlie found herself wondering whether anyone ever stopped to ask what it cost him to keep trying to be everywhere at the same time.
When he finally turned towards her, the change was small but unmistakable. His gaze stopped wandering and settled on her, and the hand that had just been dragged through his hair came up to the back of her neck instead.
His thumb moved slowly over her skin as he stood looking at her. “I need you.”
Charlie drew a breath. It wasn’t a romantic declaration, not even a particularly gentle one. It sounded more like something he had finally forced himself to say aloud after carrying far too much on his own. She never had the chance to answer before he kissed her.
There was no hesitation in the kiss and very little restraint.
He pulled her against him as though he could shut the rest of the world out for a moment simply by holding her tightly enough, and Charlie let him.
She could feel the tension still running through him beneath her hands, his entire body seemingly refusing to accept that Molly was safe with her grandmother and that he didn’t have to solve every fucking problem this very second.
“Reeze…” she murmured when his mouth finally left hers.
He rested his forehead against hers but didn’t answer. Maybe there was nothing to say.
For the first time since she had known him, he didn’t even seem to be trying to hold everything together. He was content simply to stand there with his arms around her.
That lasted until he backed her against the concrete wall beside the garage.
The cold surface hit her back as his hands slid beneath her thighs and lifted her, her legs immediately closing around his hips.
His mouth came down on hers again, hard and hungry, before moving along her jaw and down her neck, his teeth leaving red marks against her skin.
Charlie clung to his shoulders as he pushed up her skirt and dragged her knickers down, and when he drove into her, the groan that tore from him echoed between the walls.
There was nothing gentle about it.
It was raw, urgent and almost desperate, his hips driving hard against hers while his hands held her firmly in place.
Charlie’s nails dug into his shoulders and her gasps turned into cries as every thrust sent another shock through her body.
His mouth found hers again, then her throat, teeth scraping over sensitive skin while curses spilled against her ear and he drove into her harder.
The sounds around them disappeared beneath their breathing, her cries and the slap of their bodies as he took her against the wall.
When her orgasm hit, it tore through her hard enough to leave her legs trembling around his hips, and Reeze followed moments later, his entire body tightening against hers.
For several seconds neither of them moved.
They remained pressed against the wall, breathless and sweaty, before finally beginning to straighten their clothes, Charlie unable to stop the small laugh that escaped her.
A whistle came from somewhere across the yard.
“Two minutes!” Mark shouted.
“Three!” someone from Assholes immediately countered, followed by a burst of laughter.
Charlie felt Reeze stiffen against her before a laugh escaped him too.
He muttered something she couldn’t make out but made no attempt to move, and when Charlie looked over his shoulder, she spotted Billy leaning against a car with his arms folded and a grin visible from several metres away.
Jesse stood nearby shaking his head while Rollo, to her astonishment, appeared to be holding money.
“Don’t look at them,” Reeze muttered.
“Bit difficult when they’re taking bets.”
“Idiots.”
“You seem to know quite a lot of them.”
He gave her a look before kissing her again, perhaps mostly to shut her up, although it did absolutely nothing about the audience.
“Fuck me, brother,” Billy called. “Do we need to build a privacy screen or will sunglasses do?”
Reeze lifted his head. “Shut the fuck up.”
“You owe me forty,” Rollo told Jesse. “I told you he wouldn’t last more than four minutes when he’s pissed off.”
Heat flooded Charlie’s cheeks, but she wasn’t about to give them the satisfaction of watching her run for cover. Reeze tugged her shirt back into place where it had ridden up over her hip and rested his hand at the nape of her neck as he turned towards the others.
“Are you finished?”
“For now,” Billy replied cheerfully. “Until next time.”
Rollo pocketed the money. “Next time, do it behind a fucking door. We’re trying to plan a war here.”
“Then plan faster.”
Reeze took Charlie’s hand and started towards the clubhouse, but she made it only a few steps before stopping and turning back towards the men in the yard.
“Under four minutes?”
Silence lasted perhaps half a second. Then the yard exploded with laughter.
Billy threw both hands into the air. “I said three!”
Charlie leaned back against Reeze. “Then you’d better start betting higher next time.”
Mark nearly choked on his beer and even Jesse looked impressed. Reeze himself blinked at her as though joining in had been the last thing he expected. That only amused her more. She let her hand slide over his chest and met his gaze.
“Or you could all stop staring if you can’t handle the show.”
Another roar of laughter went through the group. “She’s fucking better than you, Reeze!”
“Shut up.”
The words came automatically, but there was no hiding the smile pulling at the corner of his mouth this time. When he bent towards her ear, he came close enough that nobody else could hear him.
“You surprised me.”
“Good.”
The low laugh she got in response warmed her far more than all the shouting behind them.
Charlie had been aware of the looks ever since she first came to the club. People had assessed her, tried to work her out and sometimes looked at her as though she were something Reeze had dragged in and they hadn’t yet decided what to do with.
The curiosity was still there now, but something had changed.
She hadn’t run when the reality behind the cuts had begun revealing itself, and she certainly wasn’t going to start running because a collection of overgrown idiots had seen her having sex with the man she wanted.
Maybe that was why she noticed Nathalie’s stare the moment they walked inside.
She stood behind the bar with a glass in her hand, watching Charlie cross the room. Amanda stood beside her with her arms folded and looked no friendlier.
When Charlie and Reeze came closer, Nathalie pursed her lips.
“So we’re doing that in the middle of the yard now?”
The tone was almost joking. The look wasn’t.
Charlie stopped. “Seems popular.”
Amanda snorted. “Popular? It was cheap.”
Reeze went still beside her, but Charlie didn’t need his help and had no intention of hiding behind him simply because two women had decided to be rude.
“Cheap?”
Nathalie leaned over the bar. “You’ve been here two days and you’re already hanging off the club’s Master at Arms.”
Charlie couldn’t help smiling. “Hanging off him? He seems to be managing pretty well on his own.”
Amanda rolled her eyes. “You know exactly what you’re doing.”
“Yes,” Charlie replied calmly. “Actually, I do.”
That brought Nathalie out from behind the bar. She walked around the counter while Amanda stepped closer from the other side, and Charlie had just enough time to think that the whole thing was becoming ridiculous before Nathalie stopped in front of her.
“You don’t know how things work here.”
“Then you’re welcome to explain it.”
“The men here aren’t like the ones in town,” Amanda said. “They’re not toys you pick up because you want attention.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow. “Did anyone say they were?”
Nathalie took the final step and stopped close enough for Charlie to smell her perfume.
“You walk in here acting like you own the place just because Reeze can’t keep his hands off you.”
Reeze moved behind her.
“Nathalie—”
“Stay out of it.”
Nathalie didn’t even look at him, and Charlie saw something darken in Reeze’s expression. If it had been anyone else, she might have let him intervene, but this wasn’t his fight. Not yet. Amanda stepped closer. “Everyone knows how women like you work.”
The cold that went through Charlie had nothing to do with fear. “Women like me?”