Page 13 of Storm

“Of course I would. Now do we have a deal?” he asks, letting go of my hair and stepping back. He holds his hand out to me, and I hesitate to take it. It’s just sex. Not like it means anything.

“Deal.”

Chapter 5

Storm

It wasn’t just about the sex. That wasn’t what I was thinking. It was more about her safety than anything else. If she’s hellbent on taking them out, like I think she is, she isn’t doing it alone. I saw the look in her eyes, and I know the pain of losing someone you love. I’ve been there, and I’ve felt that. That’s not a pain that goes away.

She starts to walk past me when I slap a hand on her bikini-covered ass. She yelps and spins to face me, eyeing me like I’m in the wrong. Hell, she just agreed to this shit with me.

“You’re not going to be doing that. My uncle will see you,” she hisses at me.

“And? You think I give a shit about your uncle?”

“You should. He’s your brother.”

“Yeah, but he isn’t part of the deal, now is he?” I wink at her. I know I’m getting under her skin. I can see the look in her eyes. She didn’t want to take this deal to begin with, but she had no choice, or I’d have told her uncle. Now that I think about it? I probably wouldn’t have because I don’t know her enough to give a shit. I remember her from when we were younger. I remember her dad, too. He was a good man who didn’t deserve to die the way he did. What they did to him was unthinkable, but it was when they left him for her to find? That’s what the fucked up part was. Kenzee didn’t find him, thankfully. I did. And that moment, that little piece of time, has lingered in my goddamn head since the day I saw it. There are some things that you can never escape, never get away from, and that’s one of them.

“So you want to make this public?” She asks, resting her hands on her hips as she glares at me.

“No. Not really, anyway. I don’t need your uncle jumpin’ all over my ass over you but I wouldn’t be against it.”

“Then how does this work?”

“You have a place, yeah? We don’t need to be seen at the clubhouse.” I see her swallow hard as she averts her eyes from me. I narrow my eyes and step in closer, lifting her chin with my fingers and forcing her to look at me. “What’s that look?”

“I’ve…there’s never been a man in my new place. It’s my place. Not somewhere I bring people.”

“You don’t live in the same house do you?” I ask, needing to hear what she has to say.

“No. I couldn’t stay there. In fact, not long after you went to prison, I burned it down.” Fuck, I hadn’t known that.

“That’s what needed to happen, yeah?” She nods her head, stepping back so that my hand leaves her face.

“I couldn’t be there. I couldn’t see it anymore.”

“You lit the match?”

Now, a dark smirk crosses her face.

“Of course I did. It was my past, my trauma. I needed it gone one way or another. My uncle wanted to sell the fucking place, but I couldn’t see letting someone else live there after what happened.” I nod my head.

“That makes sense.”

“Anyway, I got a new place. I don’t take people there, not even my uncle has been there,” she adds.

“So I guess you’re sneakin’ in and out of my room at the clubhouse.”

“Like a teenager?” She asks, nearly rolling her eyes like one. I chuckle and nod my head.

“Or the walk of shame. Your choice.”

“I’m not doing that. I’ll have to make a fucking exception to my no house guests rule.”

“Don’t do me any favors. I couldn’t care less if your uncle knew I was fuckin’ the club princess or not,” I remind her.

“Well, I care. And we’re not fucking at the clubhouse.”