Page 38 of The Rocker

My back stiffened as a busty redhead ran her red-tipped fingernails up Walker’s chest and wrapped her other hand around his neck, trying to pull him down to her.

My vision turned red. I was surprised by how hard I was clutching my phone and the fact that I didn’t break it. Standing abruptly from the stool I was perched on, I walked to the front door, and the second I was outside, I took in a breath like I’d been holding it since I saw that woman touching Walker.

I moved by the crowd and down the sidewalk until I was far enough away, I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying. Resting the back of my head against the cool brick surface, I closed my eyes and tried to wipe away the images I’d just seen.

“Hey.” Strong and familiar arms pulled me into a hard chest that smelled of the breeze coming off the sea and smoke. I could have done without the latter as I buried my head between Walker’s pecs and sighed. “What are you doing out here?”

I trailed my hands down his back and rested my hands in the pockets of his dark jeans for only a moment before I pulled away and put some distance between us when I remembered there was an entire line of people who could see us only a handful of feet away.

Walker looked down at me with heavily furrowed brows. “What’s going on?”

I tipped my head toward the crowd and raised an eyebrow. Need I say more? What the hell was he thinking?

“I came outside to get some air. What are you doing out here?” I was sure the guys were wondering why he was not inside getting felt up.

“I followed you out when I saw you looked upset.” He moved to reach for me but dropped his hand. A deep frown formed before he demanded, “Tell me what’s really going on.”

Looking toward the door in case any of the other guys came out, or so I was telling myself, was the reason I couldn’t look at him, as I spoke with my hands clenched at my sides. “I didn’t like seeing all those women touching you.”

“And I didn’t like them touching me.” Reaching up, he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered a little longer than was required. I wanted so badly to lean into his touch, but I fought the urge. “The whole time, I was imagining it was you.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” I whispered, trying like hell to hide the hurt in my tone. Hiding what Walker was coming to mean to me was slowly killing me. I wasn’t sure how long we could last this way.

“Hey, it won’t be this way forever, and soon we’ll be able to stay in the same hotel room.”

“We’ll still have to hide it, but yeah, we should be able to stay the night with each other more than the occasional one we get now. I don’t like this sneaking around. I feel like we’re seconds away from getting caught with each passing day.”

“I know, Pen, I do, but I can’t let you go. When we weren’t together, it was like my world had become a black hole, and I don’t want to go back to that.” Ducking his head down until he was eye level with me, I was taken aback by the turmoil that was swirling in his charcoal eyes. “Tell me that’s not what you want.”

“It’s not what I want,” I whispered into the night, hoping the wind would hear the plea in my words and nothing bad would come of us.

“Alright,” he nodded. “I’m going to go back inside and try to wrangle the guys. I’ve had enough of this place.”

He moved to step away, but I caught his arm. “They’re not going to want to leave.”

“Maybe not, but I’ll tell them I’m not feeling well or whatever it takes to get them to leave. Why don’t you call us a car, and I’ll be back in a minute?”

It wasn’t easy finding an Uber that would fit all of us at one in the morning, but I managed. I watched on the app as the car got closer with no sign of the guys. A sigh of relief left me when I saw Walker come striding out until I saw he was alone. His steps were heavy as he walked toward me.

“Those assholes aren’t coming,” he gritted out, nostrils flaring. “You go on and head back to the hotel, and I’ll make sure they behave.”

“I can’t ask you to do my job.” I didn’t want to start down this slippery slope of Walker doing things for me because he was my… whatever he was. Turning to him, I meant to tell him we should go back inside. Instead, I said the one thing that was on my mind right at that moment. “What are we?”

Walker cocked his head, gazing down at me, and blinked a few times. “What do you mean, what are we?”

Oh God, did he really have no clue, or did he just want to hear the words come out of my mouth?

“What are we to each other? Are we lovers, friends with benefits, or…?”

Walker growled, clasping my hand in his and dragging me to where no one could see us from the side of the nightclub, and then pressed me up against the wall. “While yes, wearelovers, I seriously hope you were only kidding about the friends with benefits things.”

“Well, you didn’t let me finish talking before you went all alpha on me, growled, and dragged me away. I was thinking about this earlier. I don’t know what to call you.”

“Are you telling anyone about us?”

“I’m going to tell Stella. I plan to see her before we leave the country. I haven’t seen her in person in forever, and now that she’s finished moving, I’m going to see her.”

His hand clasped my jaw with his thumb rubbing along the edge as he pressed every fine inch of his body to mine. “I like that you want to tell her. Tell Stella I’m your boyfriend.”