“I don’t know who he was,” she said, and when she said that, I couldn’t lie—I relaxed. If she didn’t know who he was, then odds were everything was fine. “But he was someone. He had to be someone. He was older, maybe my dad’s age. He had this air about him that… it’s hard to explain.”
What would someone her dad’s age be doing at a club near a college? I had to assume the oldest people that frequented placeslike that were teacher’s assistants and graduate students, not people who were in their forties.
And just like that, I was on high alert again.
“He never told me his name. He was covered in tattoos. The vibe I got off him, well, he reminded me of someone Lola would deal with. Or maybe Sylvester.” She paused. “A criminal, but I don’t know for sure.”
An older man, covered in tattoos, in a college club. Someone like that, of course Laina would be drawn to him.
“Was he doing anything fishy?”
“No, I don’t think so. He was standing on one of the balconies overlooking the rest of the club… just watching. He left right after I went up and talked to him, which makes me wonder if—” She quieted. “—if he was there for me.”
The possibility put me on edge immediately, and I couldn’t possibly hold onto the girl tighter than I already was. “Why would he have been there for you?” I admit, it was odd of him to leave right after she spoke to him, almost like he had been waiting for her to spot him.
There had to be another explanation. Maybe he was checking out the club, selling drugs, or something. Illegal shit went down all the time in clubs like that.
“I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I’m being watched.” She sighed. “I know it’s probably just leftover paranoia from everything that happened with Tessa, but… I can’t shake it.”
“I can’t speak for the others, but I haven’t seen anyone tailing us when we’re together.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. It’s all in my head.”
“He might’ve been a dealer or something. I wouldn’t think too much about him.” I moved a hand and cupped her chin, and though it took some maneuvering on our parts, my mouth found hers.
Was I happy to talk to her about another man? Of course not, but odds were she was putting too much weight on something that, ultimately, meant nothing. She’d been through so much, seen so much, that she automatically came up with her own conspiracy theories about everything. I couldn’t blame her, but I could help her take her mind off it.
Take my mind off it, too.
Truly, the only thing that mattered was her. Laina had become everything to me in such a short time, I couldn’t see my life ever returning to the way it was before. Such a lonely existence; life really was better when you shared it with someone… even if you shared that someone with two other guys.
As long as they never harmed a hair on her head, we’d be cool.
Laina hummed into the kiss, and when I pulled my mouth off hers, she murmured, “I missed you, Mike. I hate not seeing you every day.” She kissed me again, sucking on my bottom lip in a way that made certain parts of me rock hard.
One part, specifically. One part of me that had already been struggling the moment I pulled her onto my lap and she started tracing those shapes on my arms.
“Is it weird that I kind of miss how things were before?”
I shook my head once. “No. I miss seeing you more often, too.” I smoothed down her wavy pink and blue hair as she gazed up at me with those unnatural-colored contacts. “I think about you all the time.”
The grin she gave me after that told me she wanted to know more.
I didn’t often talk about my feelings. I didn’t often talk in general. Laina, though, brought it out of me left and right… and yet, still, there were three tiny words I’d never spoken to her. I don’t know why. It wasn’t like I didn’t love her. I did. I had for a long time. There was just something a little terrifying aboutthose three words, like I’d be admitting to myself, to her, and the world, that I could never be whole if she wasn’t by my side. Like I was inviting all of my enemies to try to take her from me, to hurt her and therefore hurt me.
“I—” I weaved my fingers through her hair, running my thumb along her cheek. Fuck. How could I be so lost in her, even now? Would that feeling ever go away, or was that what love was supposed to be?
“You…” she trailed off, trying to pull the words from me. She knew I wasn’t good at this sort of thing. All this time, she’d been so patient with me.
I wanted to say it. I did. I’d wanted to say it for a while, but the words just wouldn’t come out.
Instead, I ended up whispering, “I need you.”
If she was disappointed in my choice of words, she didn’t show it. She only grinned harder at me and whispered back, “Then take me, big guy. I’m all yours for the taking tonight.” No words had ever been truer. Tonight, she was all mine. No Kieran, no Fang. Just Laina and me.
And you know what? I was going to make the most of it.
I heaved her up into my arms as I stood, and the blanket fell off us in one smooth motion. I couldn’t wait to yank those sweats off her. There really was nothing better in the world than having Laina, naked, in my bed. Feeling her soft skin on mine, hearing her throaty moans while I was balls-deep in her. Fuck, she really did drive me crazy.
