I glanced down at Drew. His ear was over my heart as my hand ran through his hair repetitively. Neither one of us really cared that our clothes were strewn over the gym equipment, or that we were lying on a dusty old mat now slightly damp with our sweat. I think knowing someone could come strolling in at any minute added to the atmosphere that hung around us, heady and satisfied.
It was always in the afterglow of a disagreement that I found my love for him swelling in my chest. After all the words we’d flung at one another, after the cleansing of emotional overflow, we were still just us. We’d chosen to fixwhatever was broken and fight to make things work.
“Drew?” I said, shimmying under him, my legs tangling into a tighter knot with his. “You awake?”
“Hmm,” he hummed in response.
“Does this count as part of my new strength training?”
“Not exactly, but I like the idea of this being your reward for working hard after every session,” he mumbled.
“I like that plan,” I said, glancing around the room. “I don’t think that leg press thing is supposed to be used like that, though.”
“Wait until you see what I can do with a jump rope.” I felt his lazy grin against my skin.
I smiled up at the ceiling tiles and peeled my butt from the material under me. The separation felt like trying to rip off a band-aid. The sweat had welded me to the damn thing. I knew that our bubble would burst soon and our time alone would be interrupted, so I was making the most of this while I could. Having felt the disappointment roll from Deeks when he’d picked me up, I had no doubt I had some music to face when I walked back into The Hut. I was pretty sure I owed Howard Sutton a huge apology, too.
Drew hadn’t taken the news well, and Sutton had probably earned the sharper end of Drew’s anger. Sutton was a physical being for Drew to aim all his rage at. The one thing I repeatedly tripped over in this new life of mine was that my mistakes often implicated the people I now shared my home with. My family had grown, and I had to take all of them into account. Hurt Drew, and I hurt them, and if someone from outside hurt me, that hurt them, too. There was an order to those unspoken rules I was still figuring out, but I took the glares and head shakes on the chin and tried to do better thenext time. The upside to this was that happiness also had a rolling effect through the group, so I tended to lean more in that direction when I could.
“I should go and make dinner to amend for my many mistakes,” I said quietly. “I’m sure I’m keeping you from something as well.”
Drew ran his hand over my stomach before he pressed a kiss to it and looked up at me. “I’ve still to kill Sutton, so I suppose I could get on with that.”
“That was my fault. My fuck up. He told me to tell you.” I pushed my hands through his hair to keep the contact constant. I wasn’t quite willing to let him go.
He slid farther up until his face was closer to mine. “I’m messing with you. I already choked him once. He’s suffered enough.”
I pushed up to kiss him, unable to stop myself. Lifting one hand, I cupped his cheek and deepened the kiss, his tongue sneaking into my mouth hungrily. I couldn’t have explained my reaction to anyone had they asked, but it made sense to me. It was like that wordminewhen he uttered it with that much possessiveness in his tone. His acquisitiveness turned me inside out. To be wanted and desired with that much intensity was a high you couldn’t get from any drug, and I was a slave to it.
“Stop beating up our allies,” I whispered against his lips. “It makes the locals nervous.”
“The world runs better for me when I keep people on their toes.” He smiled, his eyes flickering up to mine lazily. “I don’t want them thinking I’ve gone soft.”
“I don’t think anyone would be stupid enough to be that complacent, baby.” He shifted against me, his eyes flashingwhen the door opened and slapped against the wall behind it with a crack. Drew’s body covered mine instantly, more for my modesty than because he was ignoring the interruption.
Glancing up at the door, I could see Jedd’s widened eyes aimed in our direction, his lips curling into a smirk filled with mirth.
“It’s Jedd,” I mumbled, hiding my face in Drew’s shoulder.
Drew’s arms sealed me in, his legs working to conceal any part of me he could as he looked up at Jedd and offered him a charming grin. “Not a good time, brother.”
“No kidding.” Jedd folded his arms across his chest, making no attempt to leave.
“Ayda is in training.”
“I won’t ask what for.”
“Best not.” Drew scrunched his face up and offered Jedd a sarcastic, flat smile. “Catch you later?”
“Try not to make it too long. We could have a situation.”
Drew tensed around me, the already steel case he was keeping me in becoming unmovable. “What kind of situation?”
Jedd reached up to scratch the back of his neck, glancing my way as if he wasn’t sure he should be speaking in front of me.
“Someone in Rusty’s place is mouthing off about Ayda. Some kid called Jacob? Janette just phoned and spoke to Harry.”
“Shit,” was my grand contribution to the conversation.
