“Good.” Gent stepped aside, and she inched closer to the stairs, but froze when she felt his arm brush against hers. “You know, I’m usually partial to a woman screaming out my name, but there is something to be said about the sweet moan of pleasure.” He tauntingly hummed. “I like it.”
Her body temperature rose twenty degrees.
“See you later, darlin’.”
Fucking Gent!
****
Wraith had no intention of telling Cleo the real reason why they’d shut down the motel. Until things could be verified, it would remain club business. Still, it was her job and he expected to field more questions once they arrived at the large park.
Thankfully, she’d become distracted almost immediately. She pulled the helmet off, shook out her hair, and looked up with a huge smile.
“I’ve never been here before.”
It didn’t surprise him. Aside from a few adventures with Knox, it was rare Cleo ever left Killcreek or the neighboring towns. It was all done in the name of her safety, but he was seeing the true effects of being denied freedom.
This was all new territory for him. Wraith didn’t date. He never had. One or two nights with random women was how he liked it. No connection, no commitment. Until Cleo.
She scanned the park and he could feel her excitement radiating. “Do you come here a lot?”
He’d driven by a few times but hadn’t stopped. He never had a reason until today.
“Figured we’d check it out together.”
Her eyes softened, and it was clear she liked that response. They walked in silence for a good bit. The park was bigger than he’d expected, with walking trails in the back. Oddly, there weren’t many people hanging around. Of the few, they steered clear of them. It had more to do with him than Cleo but she didn’t seem to notice.
Cleo passed him, rushing forward near the edge of the rocks. The view wasn’t anything spectacular, but she seemed at ease and taking it all in.
“We used to have a park near my house. Nothing like this but it was pretty. Quiet too.”
Cleo didn’t talk about her past. At least not to him. In fairness, he’d never really given her the opportunity. In his effort to keep her safe and protected, he’d wasted time not getting to know her on a deeper level. He was going to change that.
“You go there a lot?”
“Yep,” she whispered, losing her smile. She dropped to her ass, taking a seat on a rock with her feet dangling off the cliff.
It wasn’t a huge drop, but Wraith wouldn’t take any chances. Never with Cleo. He sat next to her, leaving a small gap, and looked out over the land. She’d opened up the subject, though he figured she had no intention of continuing.
“You ever miss home?”
She stilled and slowly looked over. The corner of her mouth pulled down into a severe frown. She’d lost the glimmer in her eyes that had shone when they’d arrived at the park. Wraith knew her past, none of it good. But he’d always gotten it secondhand from Knox, or what he’d witnessed himself. Cleo never talked about it. When she’d talked about her neighbor and childhood friend at the bar, it was the first time she’d ever brought up her past.
“No.”
Wraith should’ve let it go. “How come you never left?”
The corner of her mouth curled, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“What?” he asked.
“Knox told you?”
He’d shared a lot with the club. Cleo’s life had been a daily ritual of physical, verbal, and mental abuse at the hands of her mother and stepfather. And it had been an ongoing cycle for years. Knox only exposed her personal trauma to prove he had a good enough reason to bring Cleo to Killcreek. They’d always had strict rules about non-members staying at the clubhouse. It had never happened, especially a woman for an extended period of time. The exception was made only after Knox broke it all down for the club.
“Told me a little.”
It was a lie.I know everything.
