Page 64 of Rebel

My cock slipped free, and I carried her to my bedroom, fucking her one more time before we collapsed on the bed in a sweaty, panting heap.

“We should get back to the clubhouse.” Those words were like a bucket of ice water over my skin.

I nodded, watching her as she stood and took the sheet with her. “Yeah, we should grab Livvy and your things and come back here.”

Nikki froze for a second before she turned to face me. “This,” she motioned between us and the bed, “doesn’t change anything.”

“It could,” I insisted.

“Yeah maybe, but for how long? Sex wasn’t and isn’t our problem, Logan. Eventually the real world will intervene again, and we’ll be back here.”

“Here looks pretty fuckin’ good to me.”

She sighed heavily, annoyed with my arguing. “That post-orgasmic glow is playing tricks on you. The first fight we have, you’ll bring up how I kept your daughter from you and I’m not living my life like that.” Shaking her head, she dropped the sheet and took off towards the living room.

“Where are you going?” There was no need to answer because when I reached the living room, she was putting her bra back on. “Look Nikki, you’re right, I didn’t handle the news well about Livvy. I really did think we were close to becoming something really fuckin’ good, but I couldn’t see past my anger over all that I’d missed in her life.”

Nikki said nothing for a while, just carefully picked up each item of clothing and slipped it into place as if the past hour never fucking happened. “You would have missed it anyway Logan, because I had no way to contact you. Had I told you when I first ran into you in the desert, you still would have missed everything but the past few weeks, and nothing will change that. Not even sex.”

I knew all that, but much like she kept blaming me for not calling her, even if there was no one to actually blame, it was hard to get rid of years of pent up angst. “It was shitty of you to test me.”

“From your perspective, sure. But I was just protecting my daughter.”

“Our daughter,” I corrected her. “All the more reason for both of you to stay here.”

She shook her head. “Why is that necessary when you spend most of your days at the clubhouse?”

“Because it would make me fuckin’ feel better!” I hadn’t meant to yell at her, but dammit this woman was as infuriating as they came. “I would rest easier knowing you were safe here.”

She folded her arms. “Safer here than at the clubhouse?”

“Not necessarily, but it would make me feel better.” It was ridiculous, having this conversation when I was as naked as the day I was born.

She glared at me for a long time, gears churning behind her eyes, before her shoulders finally relaxed. “Yeah, fine. Whatever. We’ll stay here. For now.”

The tension I’d been holding left my body immediately and I nodded. “Okay. Good. Thank you.”

She gave a terse nod, her gaze blank but her posture said she wasn’t happy about the agreement.

“I’m gonna wash up and get dressed, then we can grab Livvy and your things.”

“I need water.” She didn’t move but I brushed it off as residual anger, knowing she’d like being here because it was a home, even though it wasn’therhome. There was a kitchen and privacy, so she’d feel like she wasn’t confined to one room.

I took a quick shower and put on fresh jeans and a t-shirt before I headed downstairs, leaving the bed messy and the room smelling like sex. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be the last time I had Nikki in my bed. “Hey, I was thinking about what we could do for dinner—” The words died on my tongue when I didn’t find Nikki in the kitchen.

Or the living room.

Her purse was gone, and her shoes were too.

Goddammit she left! I got a bad fucking feeling and stepped into my boots before rushing outside. Figuring that maybe she was close by, I looked up and down the street but there was no trace of her.

“Fuck!” The word came out on an anguished shout and my hands balled into angry fists. She’d left. Knowing the fucking danger she was in, she left anyway.

I would find her. Drag her back, if needed. And then I’d tell her what a fucking stupid move this was.

And then I would make her mine. For good.

Chapter Thirty-One

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