Page 80 of Obey

Maddox is giving me a goofy smile when I return to bed.

“Hi,” I say, setting the tissues onto his chest so I can undo the belt.

He starts giggling, and I give him a curious look. Subspace, maybe, only the laughter continues for a while.

“Okay, what’s so funny?” I ask him.

“You,” Maddox answers. “There’s cum on your beard.”

I reach up automatically, and I realize my mistake almost immediately. My hands weren’t exactly clean, and, judging my Maddox’s renewed laughter, I’ve only made it worse.

I roll my eyes and smile back. “There’s cum all over your chest, too. And…” I wipe my hand on his jaw. “Your face.”

He laughs again. “Yeah. It’s everywhere. It’s like we should shower or something.” He shakes his head. “If I can even walk. Fuck. We’re so gross.” Which he seems to think is hilarious.

I lie down next to him and reach for the sheet. It’s got very obvious mud and ash stains on it. “Ugh. We’ll have to offer to do laundry for Rebecca. I don’t want her to see this.” I pull the sheet over us anyway and drape an arm over Maddox’s chest.

I can practically feel the grime and sweat on us now. I tell myself it’s fine, we can shower in the morning.

After about five seconds, I groan in frustration. “I swear, I didn’t even notice how gross we were earlier. Now I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Oh, don’t lie,” he says, grinning at me. “You totally got off on being sweaty and filthy.”

I can’t argue with that, but now that we’re done, it feels like too much. It doesn’t help that we’re both hot from fucking, and the idea of a cool, relaxing shower is more appealing than just sleeping this off. “I’ll shower first,” I tell him. “And get new sheets for us.”

“Better you than me,” he says, closing his eyes. “I’ll just lie here until you get back.”

I get out of bed again, smiling at him. His breathing is already starting to even out.

I can’t believe I almost threw this away.

I can’t believe I thought I could keep hold of my hatred.

I don’t think I’m ready for confessions quite yet, but my gut knows that I’m not giving Maddox up. Our lives are bound to each other.

I’m never letting him go.

NINETEEN

MADDOX

“You don’t have to go yet,” Rebecca says, and I can practically hear the tears in her voice. “It’s no trouble having you here.”

Knives shuffles awkwardly and places the room key on the front desk counter. “We appreciate it, Rebecca, we really do, but we’ve got to take care of…”

He flounders, and I quickly finish, “...Work. There’s a lot of paperwork for us to catch up on.”

Knives nods. “Exactly. But you’ve got our contact info, and if anybody gives you trouble, just let us know. We’ll fly down here and take care of things.”

Rebecca still looks sad as she goes through the checkout procedure, but she nods. “I don’t know that I’d feel right asking some FBI agents to swoop in to save us.”

“We’re not FBI,” Knives quickly corrects.

This time, Rebecca gives us a knowing look. “Of course not. I swear, nobody will ever find out. Me and Hank will keep it a secret. I won’t even reveal it on my deathbed.”

I have to fight not to smirk at that. They’re so fucking wholesome. They’d probably feel terrible knowing that it wasn’t a government-sanctioned operation. If they knew exactly how we “drove out” Boar’s gang, they’d be horrified.

But they don’t need to know that. The fact is, they’ve helped us as much as we’ve helped them.

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