I couldn’t.
I still cared about her.
I still cared too much about her. I didn’t want to let her know harm was potentially on the way.
So I didn’t say anything, like a fucking coward.
I slumped forward, closed my eyes, and waited for sleep to come. Callie was out before me. She probably thought tomorrow would bring more of the same, and who could blame her?
I knew better.
Great sex didn’t mean everything outside of sex had resolved itself.
If anything, shit with the Reapers and the King’s Men was going to get even more complicated.
Especially if the King’s Men figured out what was going on.
Callie
After a night like that, I was in no rush to go anywhere.
The morning light peered through our broken curtains—maintenance at the property was not exactly what anyone would call professional—but it did nothing to disrupt my good mood. If anything, the sunlight woke me up to a cheerful, happy mood. Ours was a marriage that was back on the right path.
I looked over to my right. Ash was sleeping so peacefully, so calmly. The last time I’d seen him sleep so restfully…it was probably in the first year of our marriage, and since we were technically going on year four, that was really saying something. I couldn’t even imagine what the past year sleep-wise must have been like for him, what with worrying about getting shot, getting found, or being noticed in any capacity.
I had my job in Phoenix I had to go back to on Monday. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered—what if we just said screw it and moved far away?
However threatening the King’s Men were, they could not have possibly been an international threat to our wellbeing and happiness. They were a gang—or a club, I remembered—not some replica of Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. What were they going to do, spend all their resources to hunt down one deserter?
Ash could find a job as a car mechanic anywhere. With my skills in sales, I could find a job anywhere. We could settle into a big city like New York or Chicago, or we could go the reverse route and live out in the quiet parts of the country, the South Carolinas and the Vermonts of America. Whatever we did, we could do life on our terms—not on the terms of some angry club that wanted to use and abuse Ash.
And then he stirred.
I sat up on my elbow, smiling, admiring his naked body. Even though he was under the covers, I knew he’d roll over and see my naked chest, and then I’d see his stiffening cock, and we’d be going at it just like we did last night. Yeah, life was good.
“Good morning, sexy,” I said. “Wanna do a round two?”
He grumbled, murmured, and looked over his shoulder. I saw a flicker in his eyes, and I thought that flicker might turn into something more.
And then he turned away.
“What time is it?” he said.
Hoping he just was struggling to awaken, I gave a lighthearted chuckle, though I could not erase the sting of concern from my voice.
“A little before ten. We—”
“Fuck!”
I immediately recoiled back.
“Babe? Is everything OK?”
He didn’t answer, getting out of bed and getting his clothes on. It should have been a seductive, erotic moment—he was naked, and he was in fucking fantastic shape. Hell, even his thick cock was still somewhat erect, perhaps from the moment when he saw me topless.
But he wasn’t focused on me. I’d barely gotten a look at him when he already had his jeans on.
“What’s going on? Ash? Talk to me.”
