Page 67 of Merciless
I pressed another kiss to his forehead. "I bet that pissed her off."
"It did." His fingers stroked the band of my ring. "When she finally left, I felt...lighter. Like I'd been carrying her on my shoulders all this time and didn't even realize it."
I curled my fingers around his, nuzzling him for another kiss. "I'm proud of you."
His mouth ghosted over mine in a soft huff of breath. "I love you."
Our kiss connected to the sound of a fast knock at the door and then Gunner's voice. "What's shakin', lovebirds?"
"Gun!" I had barely seen him since the fortress too. As the unofficial diplomat of the family, he'd been running around letting my parents, Reaper's parents, the club, and all our other friends and acquaintances know what happened and where we were.
I started to get up but my golden man motioned for me to stay where I was. "You look comfy, baby girl." He leaned over and kissed me, lingering and sweet, with a hand on my cheek.
"How is everyone? And why do you have your sleeping bag?" I noticed the rolled up bundle slung over his shoulder when he resumed standing.
"Everyone's good. Sending their well-wishes."
"Except Slick, that guy's a turd," Jandro cut in as he entered the room, also with his sleeping bag slung over his shoulder.
"What—"
"Ah, fuck you, VP." Slick walked in next, thankfullywithouta sleeping bag, but with a folded table under his arm. "Hey Mari," he greeted cheerily as he began setting the table up against the far wall.
"Did you grab mine?" Shadow's breath ruffled my hair as he asked Jandro the question.
"It's on my bike, I'll get it in a sec."
I stared at Shadow accusingly. "You're in on something behind my back?"
"It's no big thing, baby girl." Gunner set his and Jandro's sleeping bags on my cot. "We just decided that if you were gonna stay with Reaper twenty-four-seven, we might as well too."
"Guys, no."
"Si," Jandro argued. "None of us are sleeping in separate rooms again, unless under dire circumstances."
"Don't worry, I'm not staying the night," Slick called over, although he still had a little conspiratorial smile that he tried to hide.
I narrowed my eyes at Jandro. "Okay, so what are younottelling me?"
"Hey, we're not late, are we?" Noelle strode into the room next, Larkan following closely behind her.
This time, I did get off Shadow's lap to hug the woman I loved as a sister. "Oh, Noelle..."
"Slick! I thought you were gonna bring booze." She didn't seem to notice my somber mood, patting me on the back distractedly.
"Oh shit." Jandro's apprentice blushed.
"We brought a thirty-pack, will that be enough?"
I looked to the doorway again to see Tessa, Andrea, and all of their children spill into the room, which was now becomingverycrowded.
Shadow stood and handed his chair to the women who just walked in. "I don't know about the beer, but we definitely need more chairs." He went out into the hallway in an apparent search for more seating.
"Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?" Laughter was pouring out of me joyously now as I hugged Tessa and the kids. Andrea must have been recently discharged, but she already looked like her old self. She was bright-eyed, alert, rocking her new buzz cut, and glued to Tessa's side.
"Nothing's going on, really." Larkan was already fishing a beer out of the cooler. "Gun told us what happened, so we figured we'd give old Pres something worth waking up to." He passed me a beer. "A good old Steel Demons party."
"That’s…actually not an awful idea." I laughed, accepting the beer after a moment of hesitation. It was nine in the morning, but what else was I going to do besides wait by Reaper’s bedside?
