Page 152 of Ethan's Sky

There it is. Adrenaline dump.

I pull her into my chest and rest my chin on her head and let her get it all out.

“You’re not a bad friend. You were going through your own chaos and fighting to stay alive. I’m sure Violet won’t hold you trying to survive and protecting a teenage girl against you.”

“I still should’ve remembered to check on her.” She leans back, looking up at me with tears streaking her face. “How is she? Do we know what happened to her? How she got hurt?”

“I can’t really talk about it, baby. It’s club business.”

She steps back, but I keep my hold tight. I know she’s pissed. She hates those words. I hate keeping things from her too, but if what Hawk found out is true, Skyler doesn’t need to know a damn thing about anything. Plausible deniability has never been more important, especially with the possibility of a dirty cop being involved in our shit.

“I thought we agreed no more secrets?”

“We did, but you know that doesn’t include club business. I can’t betray Pres and the MC like that. And it’s not like Iwantto keep secrets from you. It’s for your safety, and to keep my ass out of jail – we hope.”

Skyler slaps my chest hard.

“Not funny, Ethan! You are not going to jail! I just got you back, you can’t go leaving me so soon.”

I take her mouth in a searing kiss. Our tongues sliding along each other, tasting, teasing, devouring. Skyler melts into me and I fuckinglove it.

“I’m not leaving you. Ever. I was just proving my point.”

She lets out a long-exaggerated sigh. “Can you at least tell me if Violet is, okay?”

“Yeah, baby. She’s fine. Declan said she had to get a few stiches and then he drove her back here to his place.”

“His place?” Her eyebrows damn near hit her hair line. “Who has Carter?”

“His still with Liz at the farm.”

Skyler’s lips curve upward into a mischievous smirk.

“Now. We have something else to discuss.” I walk her backward until the back of her knees hit the edge of the bed. She changed out of her dress and into one of my long-sleeved Henley’s and some tight-fitting black stretch pants.

I kick off my shoes and socks and rip my shirt off over my head, unbuttoning my jeans, but not ready to take them off yet. Skyler looked her fill with hooded eyes, licking her lips, her hands twisting the end of my shirt on her body.

Damn she looks good in my clothes.

“Take it off.” Skyler doesn’t hesitate, throwing my shirt to floor, maintaining eye contact with me the whole time. “All of it.” She makes quick work of stripping off her clothes, standing in front of me bare ass naked. My mouth waters at the sight of her.

Using my hands on her hips, I turn us so I’m sitting on the edge of the bed with Skyler standing between my legs.

“Over my lap.” She looks confused, but also intrigued. I’ve swatted her ass before, but this is going to be different. She needs to know how dead fucking serious I am about her safety and well-being.

Skyler hesitantly drapes herself over my lap.

“You seem to have something poking out of your jeans, baby. Want me to take care of it for you?” She’s playing games, trying to tease me, but she’s about to find out I’m not fucking playing.

“You will, after.”

“After, what?” My only answer is the palm of my hand coming down hard on her ass. “She yelped loud, and I quickly grab her panties from the floor, jostling her as I do. The panties are shoved into her mouth now, helping to quiet her moans.

I get back to peppering her cheeks with hard, repetitive swats. The sight of her ass turning from pink, to red, in a matter of seconds has my dick leaking precum in my jeans. I’m painfully hard and ready to give us both the release we need, but first we need to have a chat.

“You left Jake’s side at the arena.”Slap. Slap. Slap.

“I was trying to help Violet.”Slap.