She sounded more sober now, though she still couldn’t stand without swaying. She glanced back around the doorway and into the gloom inside.
“There might be spiders,” she said, looking back at me.
“I’m sure there are spiders, but it’s either you go in there or you go back to the party full of horny bikers.” I shrugged and gave another heavy sigh. “Your choice.”
“I hate bikers,” she mumbled, and finally pushed past me, almost tripping over some boxes on the ground. I grabbed her and stopped her from falling flat on her face and she mumbled a thanks. “It’s dark in here.”
“Your eyes will adjust,” I replied. Though it was really dark. I set her down on some boxes and stumbled over to one of the boarded-up windows. I gripped hold of the plywood that had been nailed across it and started to pull. The wood gave a creak and the nails came out with a squeak and a groan, allowing some light from outside to shine into the space.
She mumbled another thanks as I did the same to another window, and then I went back to her. I found some moth-eaten boxes and lay them on the ground so that she had something to lie on, at least. And she stared down at them and gave a dry laugh.
“I can’t believe this is my life.”
“You and me both,” I replied with a shake of my head. “You and me both.”
She let out a small laugh, which was way better than her crying, and I couldn’t help but smile back at her. “You’re not so bad when you smile,” she said, wiping some of the dampness from her cheeks.
“You’re fuckable when you’re not a crying mess,” I replied bluntly, and she inhaled sharply. “You gonna be all right now?” I asked, wanting—no, needing to get out of there. Something about her was making me feel all kinds of strange shit. She was vulnerable and innocent, despite being at the clubhouse to party.She reminded me of my past, and yet she looked like my future.I swallowed when she shook her head and looked like she was trying not to cry again. I sighed and sat down next to her, putting a heavy arm around her shoulders and pulling her against my chest.
She didn’t fight me, instead leaning into my body. I sighed again, something about this woman making me relax and I rested my chin gently on her head, her soft hair feeling good against my skin. My hand lazily stroked her arm as I tried to comfort her in some way. It wasn’t my thing—comfort or kindness, but I did my best. Though I had no idea why.
She didn’t cry, thank fuck, but she clung to me like her holding me was way more therapeutic than crying ever could be. In a strange sort of way, I felt the same.
Holding her was like coming home. She pulled me tighter, her face buried against my chest, and without thinking, I leaned down and kissed the top of her head, enjoying the feel of her soft, wavy hair under my lips way too fucking much.
I needed to get out of there, and yet I couldn’t let go of her.
We stayed that way for some time, her small body wrapped in my large one, our heat mingling and our scents joining, and it was the most intense experience of my life. I’d fucked many women. I’d filled women’s bodies with my fingers, my tongue, and my cock, and yet holding that woman, like that, was the most intimate thing I had ever done.
And suddenly it was I that was vulnerable.
I felt her shiver, and without thinking I let her go and I pulled off the shirt I was wearing and handed it to her. It wasn’t clean, but it was better than nothing, and I was fine in just my sweaty tee.
“Thanks,” she replied, her gaze never leaving mine as she put it on, and I swear to fucking God she shivered when she put it on and my scent draped itself around her small shoulders. She caught me by surprise and took my hand in hers and goddamn it, it was like our hands were made for each other. I frowned as I stared down at my hand, wrapped around her small one, our fingers entwined like vines, tangled in a complex way that made no fucking sense. Not here, not like this, not in my dark world.
This woman didn’t belong here with me. She belonged somewhere better. Somewhere that wasn’t filled with darkness.
“I shouldn’t have come here tonight,” she whispered.
“Probably not.”
“And yet I’m glad I did, Dillon.”
She tilted her face up to me and her lips parted, her doe eyes swallowing me up as they absorbed me and my soul like I was her air.
“Places like these are dangerous for women like you,” I rumbled out.
My heart was racing like I’d snorted coke, and I knew it was because of her. Nothing to do with drugs I didn’t take, or whiskey I tried to drown myself in. I could run for a thousand years, but I would never be as out of breath as I was when I looked at her.
“I know,” she mumbled, breaking our connection and looking away. “Is it weird that I’m still glad I came here though?”
I wanted to reach down and pull her face back to mine, but my hands were shaking too much, so instead I let the silence swallow us as we sat there in the dark, with a thousand thoughts running through my mind.
~ 7 ~
“My friend Katie,” she said, “she comes here a lot apparently, but she’s wild. She likes the danger. The sex, the drugs, and just about anything else that her parents wouldn’t approve of.”
I didn’t give a shit about Katie or her life. I just wanted to know more about this woman, hiding in the darkness in the middle of the night with me. It felt like I could hide there forever with her. I wished I could have.
