Page 193 of Skate the Line

“Rhodes.” My name sounds like a prayer from her mouth. Her teeth sink into my shoulder, and she comes around my dick, making my knees grow weak.

Not being able to hold on for another second with her squeezing me like a vise grip, I pull out of her and come.

I can’t even stand.

Keeping a hold of her, I bring us both to the floor. She’s still tangled around me, and I don’t want to let her go.

“What are you doing to me, Sunshine?”

I’m in disbelief. Utter fucking disbelief.

I’m in my thirties, have been with multiple women, even having a child with one, and I have never felt so connected to someone in my entire life.

“The same thing you’re doing to me.”

Her quiet admittance stays with me through the rest of the night. I braid her damp hair and watch her fall asleep in my bed, knowing that if it were up to me, I’d have her in here with me every night from here on out.

Fifty-Seven

SUNNY

I rollover in bed and groan quietly. My back is tight, and I feel hungover, though I didn’t drink a drop of alcohol.

Thoughts of the wreck filter through, and my heart starts to race. I think of Rhodes, and my heart starts to race even faster.

I peek an eye open, and his room is basked in pretty sunlight. The bedroom door is open, and I stare at it, wondering where he and Ellie are.

Does she know I’m in his bed?

As a five-year-old, she probably will buy the excuse that he was watchingme because of the mild concussion, so I don’t worry too much.

What I should worry about is the feeling he gives me with a single look. Or about the butterflies in my stomach thinking about what we did in the shower.

“So there’s no lead at all?”

My attention is pulled at the sound of his voice floating in from the hallway.

I shush the butterflies and listen harder.

“Marco said that he saw the car head right for them, and according to the report, the tire marks show a direct line to their car, as if the car didn’t spin out of control and slam into them by accident.”

What does that mean?

“I know. It doesn’t make me feel…” Rhodes’s voice fades.

I lie in bed for a little longer and nibble on my lip. I go over the events after dinner, but nothing unusual stands out. It was a fluke accident. I’m just thankful we’re all okay, for the most part. I decide not to tell my nana, or else she’ll worry. But Ruby will be angry if I don’t tell her.

Sitting up in bed with a wince, I see my phone laying on the bedside table with a few cracks on the screen. Rhodes mentioned that he’d found it underneath the driver’s side seat when he went out to Marco’s car to make a report with the police while I was being discharged from the hospital.

I video chat Ruby and do a double-take at my face on the screen.

The thin cut on my face is red and inflamed, and I look beyond tired. The braid that Rhodes did for me is messy with tendrils popping out around my cheeks, and his shirt is three sizes two big.

“Hey, you—” Ruby’s face falls the second she sees me. “What the hell happened? Do not tell me that he found out where?—”

Her first thought goes to the last time I had a cut on my face, and I don’t blame her.

“No, no!” I stop her. “It was a car accident.”

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