I feel his muscles loosen underneath me—although not his erection. Damian swings my feet into his lap and leans back, and I feel his, too, on the side of my ankle. He presses it into me, briefly, holding my feet in place, and then lets go with a grunt, the friction tiny and obscene.
But as I relax, I start to feel heavy, like if I stay pinned here much longer I’ll melt into the cushions and never get up again. “I should go up,” I say after a while, my voice raspy with sleepiness.
Jake makes a soft protesting sound against my hair. “You don’t have to move.”
“I know.” I push a hand against his thigh, levering myself upright. “But we have an early morning, right?”
Wyatt nods, gives me a smile. God, he’s handsome, I think.
I stand up and pick the pieces of my clothes up off the floor. Damian follows me to his feet.
“In that case,” he says, a bitten-back laugh in his tone. “I’m heading straight to my bedroom, too.”
“Yup,” says Jake, grinning from the couch. “Me too.”
Wyatt huffs a quiet breath, like he’s in on whatever the joke is. He hauls himself out of the chair carefully.
“Same here,” he says. “I’m going to get into the shower for ten to fifteen minutes.”
Jake rises and presses a soft kiss to the top of my head. “Thanks in advance for the sweet dreams, sexy Maxie,” he says.
Damian makes a low sound of agreement in his throat. “You are so fucking incredible,” he growls, kissing me on the lips. I can taste myself on his skin. “I’ll be thinking about that for a while,” he promises.
I pull on my pants, drag my t-shirt down over my head, and reach to hug Wyatt good night. He catches my upper arms before I can squeeze his ribs, and bends down to kiss me instead. His mouth is sweet, rough, and so perfectly him I almost fold in his arms. “Love you, sweetheart,” he says, low and deep, just for me. “Thank you for that.”
I blink. Why am I being thanked? But I smile.
I don’t know how long any of this lasts, but for now at least…I’m the luckiest girl in the world.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
WE ROLL UP to the clubhouse the next day in two vehicles.
“Last chance to turn around,” Jake says over the cheap walkie-talkie we each have in our cars. “No refunds.”
I grin and pick up the device. I’m playing with it too much. It’s stupidly fun. “Roger that,” I answer. “The eagle has landed. Over and out.”
“Ask him if he’s killed the cameras,” Wyatt tells me, eyes on the road.
I press the button again. “Did you kill the cameras? Marshall wants to know. Ten-four.”
Wyatt’s mouth twitches. “You’re terrible at this.”
Static crackles, then Jake. “Working on it.”
I glance at Wyatt. “That means no.”
“It means,” Jake says through the device, patience thin but amused, “I’m about to jack in, but I don’t know what I’m walking into. Best case, I loop the exterior cams and freeze a clean five-minute window. Worst case, I kill the upload and wipe today’s timestamped chunk before it goes anywhere useful.”
I can hear Ryder’s voice at Jake’s end. “You see anything weird, you pull the plug.”
“Boss says be careful out there,” Jake says. A burst of static, then a click as he shuts the walkie off.
Wyatt and I approach the entrance in Damian’s truck. Jake, Damian, and Ryder park in a clearing down the road. Jake’sposted up in Damian’s back seat with a laptop and a hotspot, trying to get access to Silas’s surveillance cameras. And Ryder and Damian are just waiting—ready to jump in if everything goes to shit and Wyatt calls them in.
It’s a fiercely cold October day, but the sun is blazing, not a cloud in the sky. It’s the type of weather that makes anything look beautiful—except the clubhouse. As it looms into view, my heart sinks lower and lower. It’s the weight of all those memories there, almost all of them bad. My palms are sweating.
Wyatt parks the truck out front and we get out. I can’t help but flick a glance to the treeline for any sign of Ryder, Jake or Damian. Some reassurance that they’re there. But there’s just the dark line of trees. Beside me, Wyatt seems stiffer. More contained, like he’s buttoned something up inside. This is the subtle difference in him as “Ryan Porter.” He’s in role.
