Page 106 of Midnight Racers

I sat staring out the window, lost in my own thoughts, when a light tap to the open door drew my attention. Flynn stood propped up against the doorframe, his hair messy, and his facial hair a little more than the scruff it normally was, but he looked fantastic.

“I believe you need a chauffeur,” he said with that lopsided grin that always made my pulse race.

“Mum is coming back to pick me up,” I replied, kicking myself for my response.

“I told her I would come and collect you since she’s still tired and dealing with her own injuries after the crash.”

Shame flooded me. I’d been feeling so sorry for myself, I forgot Mum had been in the crash as well. Her car would have been written off after the tumble down that slope.

“I—” I cleared my throat. “I never thought about that.”

His eyes met mine. “That seems to be a bit of a problem lately. Your dad has been staying with her and driving her to the hospital to be with you.”

My lips formed an ‘O’ but no word emerged. He was right, I’d been so stuck in my own head, I’d been selfish.

I pushed myself to standing, my muscles complaining at the movement. Flynn prowled across the room and took my arm, leading me out. By the time I got to his Range Rover near the door, I was exhausted, sweat trickling down my back. The hum of the engine and the movement of the car lulled me into a nap, only realising too late that we were nowhere near Mum’s house, and that we were nearly at Flynn’s home.

“Flynn, you need to take me home.”

“I am taking you home, Charlotte. If you had bothered to pay attention the last time you were here, you would know that.”

“All my stuff is at Mum’s house,” I argued.

“No, it’s all back here, including the cat who enjoys judging me.” He glanced at me briefly. “Where it should be.”

“Flynn—”

“We’ll discuss this when we get home,” he said with a finality that made me turn to stare out the window.

What the hell had happened when I was in hospital and why did I feel like I was to blame?

***

Chapter Thirty-Two

Flynn

Charlotte scowled and turned to stare out the window in silence. She reminded me of that ferocious, evil chihuahua that used to live in the same village as my grandparents when I was young. It had typical small dog syndrome, biting everyone, and then being laughed at because it was cute with its sharp teeth and bug eyes. It was a psychopath in a fur coat with a nasty attitude and a killer instinct.

She was plotting a way of escaping, and that was not happening, not now or in the future.

I warned her when we first got together that I didn’t give up what I claimed. Charlotte was mine and mine alone to protect and care for. There was nowhere in this world she could go that I wouldn’t follow her and bring her back to where she belonged.

In my bed, preferably under me, with my dick lodged balls-deep in her.

“I’m going to phone Mum when we get to your house, and Dad can come and pick me up,” Charlotte muttered, as if trying to convince herself of her plan.

“That’s not how this works, Charlotte,” I replied, my hands clenching around the steering wheel. “You grow the fuck up, act like an adult, and leave your parents alone.”

Her head snapped around, her eyes wide, and her mouth open. She blinked once and continued to gawk at me. “You can’t speak to me like that.”

“I think you’ll find that I can and I am.” She was the most impossible person I had ever met in my life. She infuriated me to the point of driving me to the brink of insanity. There were times I wished I could hate her and walk away, but she was the only woman who had managed to touch my cold, useless heart and make me feel.

Her jaw tightened in her familiar gesture of defiance and stubbornness.

“I really hope our baby doesn’t inherit this attitude,” I said. “One of you is bad enough, two would drive me bonkers.”

I pretended not to notice her eyes narrowing on me. “You cannot bring our baby into this.”

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