All of his weight presses down on me like a heavy blanket before he climbs off and lays down beside me on his back. I roll to my side to face him like he’s the sun and I want to be as close to him as possible.
“That was…” I try to find the words to describe being with him but there aren’t any. “It’s been so long since I…but it was never like that,” I tell him as I run my fingertips up and down his smooth, muscular chest that’s still rising and falling rapidly as I cuddle up to his uninjured side.
“It was…different,” he says.
“Different?” I repeat since I can’t tell by the tone of his voice if he means that in a good way or a bad way, making me feel suddenly self-conscious.
“Better,” he amends. He throws his arm around me and his fingers play with my hair. “The best ever.”
That makes me smile. “Best ever? I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“Not that I can remember,” he replies. “And right now, I’m having a hard time remembering any woman I was with before you.”
I smile even wider but don’t press him further since my ego is satisfied with his words.
We lay there together, listening to the rain pounding on the windows and roof outside. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here with him. For a moment, I wonder if he’s trying to figure out a way to leave, so I decide to just ask him instead of wonder.
“Do you want to stay the night since it’s raining and messy out?”
“I would stay even if it was beautiful and sunny out,” he says.
“Good.”
“Nash probably won’t like me being here with you, but I don’t really give a shit.”
“Me either,” I agree. He holds me to him a little tighter and then kisses the top of my head.
I wait for him to say more; and when he doesn’t, I decide to ask what I’m dying to know. “Hey, Phillip?”
“Yeah, angel?” he asks while brushing my hair over my shoulder and running his fingers through it.
“How violent is the MC?”
“Why?”
“Just wondering what sort of things you all do. I mean, I knew you were not saints when people shot at you and almost killed you.”
“The shooting was a misunderstanding with the Irish. It’s all worked out now.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“But it’s not the first time the MC got violent, right?”
“God, no.”
“I assumed as much,” I say, and then I can’t help but ask the question still on my mind from earlier tonight. “Did Nash kill someone?”
Phillip’s hand freezes in mid stroke, then falls to cup my shoulder. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Because you’re his friend and you’re in the MC together.”
“Please don’t make me answer that question.”
“Why not?” I push myself up to look down at his face.
“Because if I answer honestly, then you might ask me the same question. I don’t want to lie to you. I don’t think I could even if I wanted to.”
“I don’t want you to lie to me either. Could you please just tell me the truth? Earlier tonight, when I was confronting Nash, I mentioned that I would always want to know my brother, unless he was a serial killer. It was a joke, but then he told me I should leave and stay away.”
“Oh. Are you going to stay away from him?” he asks, his brown eyes sad because he thinks that if he answers truthfully about Nash that I may not want to be around him either.
“Should I?” I ask. “None of the guys in the MC that I’ve met made me nervous or scared, like I should worry about them hurting me.”
“None of us would hurt you.”
“Then answer the question, for you and Nash,” I tell him.
He stares at my face for several long seconds, and I expect him to say no. But then his large hand cups the back of my head and pushes it back down so my cheek is against his chest. “I’ll tell you, but I don’t want to see the disgust on your face when you find out the truth.” His other hand wraps around my back, pressing me to him. “I’m not sure I could let you go even if you try to leave either.”
“Okay,” I agree since I’m not sure if I would be able to leave his arms no matter what he says, which is a scary thought since we haven’t known each other that long and tonight’s the first night we’ve slept together. I shouldn’t feel so close to him so soon, but I’m not sure my heart had a choice in the matter.
“Devlin is another member of the MC. I think you met him,” Phillip says. “He had just started dating this girl, Jetta, and then we found out that her brother had some gambling debt with the MC.”
“Oh my god! You killed her brother?” I ask and try to lift my head. His strong hand won’t let me.
“No, no. That asshole is still alive, I swear,” Phillip says. “Just listen to the whole story without jumping to any conclusions, okay?”
“I’ll try,” I agree.
“Jetta paid off her brother Sean’s debt, but the idiot got in deeper with a bad guy, a man known for drug trafficking and sex trafficking. So, Sean made a deal with the bad guy – his debt would be paid off if he could have a night with Jetta. We don’t think he ever intended to give her back after one night, and we didn’t give him the chance. The MC went in and got her out, killing the bad guy and all but one of his guards and the chef. Dev and Jetta are engaged, so are Silas and the chef. Malcolm is married to the bad guy’s daughter and they have a daughter together, so it worked out for everyone in the
