“Cassie,” I walk up behind her and put a hand on the side of her neck, pressing my chest against her back. She stops moving instantly. Her pulse is pounding a mile a minute. Leaning down so my mouth is near her ear, I inhale and exhale slowly.
After doing that a few times her pulse slows, and she leans against me. Mace watches, curiosity all over his face. Has he ever had a serious relationship with a woman? Not that I have much experience in that regard either, but I do tend to lean more toward the emotional side of myself. Even if I’m careful who I show it to.
“No one is going to make you do something you don’t want. And if we’re uncomfortable, it ends here.” I give Mace a pointed look. How do I convey she means a lot to me, and it’s a huge step for me to continue this, if it’s what Cassie wants to do? “I’m willing. It’s up to you two to decide what you want.”
I kiss Cassie’s neck, and she sucks in a breath but turns to watch as I grab my cut and walk out of the room. Those two need to talk more than I do, I’ve made it clear what I want.
It’s strange to see the clubhouse empty. I go grab my T-shirt which is folded up at the side of the sink. Once I’ve tugged it on, I catch my reflection in the mirror. This place isn’t exactly sparkling, to be expected when it’s used by men. There are streaks all over the mirror, which I hope is from hands rubbing off the steam after a shower.
Just to be safe, I wash my hands. Shrugging on my cut I walk out to the front of the clubhouse and look through the window. A couple of them spot me standing at the window and I recognize Chaos as he walks back to the door and comes inside.
“What the fuck? Are we allowed back in now?” he snaps.
I shrug. It’s not my clubhouse. And Cassie is fully dressed. He stands aside and I walk out and head over to my bike. Everyone has gone back inside and Cassie comes out a few minutes later.
“Any trouble?” I ask.
“No.” She takes the helmet off the bike.
“It is over?” I lift a brow as she deftly puts on the helmet without my help.
Her mouth is covered but her eyes are on mine. “No. Let’s go. I need to get back to work.”
We get on the bike and without looking back or acknowledging anyone, I pull onto the road. We make good time to the gym, and I stop beside Cassie’s Mercedes. She hands me the helmet and leans forward to use the side mirror to fix her hair.
She might have washed up at Mace’s compound but not enough that I can’t smell the scent of us, all of us, all over her.
“When do you need to see King?” I ask, taking off my helmet so it’s easier to talk to her.
She blows out a breath. “Soon. But I want to wait and see if we hear anything first. And I want to know what happened with Marshall.”
“That was bad news.”
“For him more than anything,” she shakes that thought off. “Mace said he’ll look into it.”
“You and him are okay?”
“That is probably something I should be asking you.”
“It’s not like any of us has experience with this kind of thing. I meant it, sweetheart, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
“I appreciate that. We should talk more, about what happened at the carnival and where we go next, before we go to King.”
“Sounds good,” I try to hide the smile, again, and fail. Cassie tries to fight it too, but she doesn’t manage either. Before I can second-guess myself, I grab her hip and pull her closer to the bike, pressing against my side. She doesn’t stop me when I kiss her.
I can’t help wondering if Mace did the same thing before she left the clubhouse. In typical Cassie fashion she allows it, our tongues touching all too briefly, then steps away showing she is the one in control. It does nothing to hide how flustered she is.
We pull out of the lot and turn in opposite directions.
Things are changing, our paths are merging and I’m not mad that a third road is opening up too.
When I get back, I head back to the garage to get on with some work. I wasn’t expecting to be gone so long and have a lotto catch up on, reluctantly leaving the Buick again to work on actual paying customers problems.
The next few days are much the same. I don’t hear anything from Cassie or Mace. Every night before I go to bed, I run through two things, my conversation with Liz, and what happened at Mace’s compound.
I haven’t spoken to King, I can only assume Cassie is keeping him updated. I’ve left the whole Marshall thing alone for now too but it’s all getting to me, I’m in a strange kind of limbo here.
I’ve stayed at my house the last couple of nights, the nightmares and intrusive thoughts are fading. I thought going back to the carnival might have brought up bad memories, but it never happened. I finish off the beer and toss the empty into my recycle box, then head upstairs to my room.
