Page 68 of Mile High With the Bikers
“Anyway, we're glad you're back and safe.” Opal gives my hair a ruffle and grins. “Besides, you need to help me plan the costume party, and we should go to the Roost and celebrate you being okay and stuff.”
I think I'm going to get a headache just thinking about the last time, but I smile and nod. Maybe next time will go better.
“Opal, what the fuck?” a frustrated Eagle yells from behind the couch.
She giggles. “I guess I did start something I didn’t finish.”
“Want a hand?” Cherry offers.
“Sure, babes. Don't be a stranger, Rory, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.” I say to their backs, as they're both strutting back to the guy who doesn’t know how lucky he’s about to get. Will I ever get over how wild this place is? Probably not, but I think I want to stick around so I can try.
Back in the room, I stretch out on the bed, closing my eyes and just existing for a moment, without having to worry about hacking computers, being shot at, being kidnapped—just me and the three men I’m starting to feel are mine.
Diesel slips in next to me, resting his big hand just up under my shirt, on my bare belly. “Fuck, if something had happened to you…” He doesn't complete the sentence, but he doesn't have to. I feel like that about him too. I put my hand down on top of his, tracing the veins on the back of it with my fingertips.
Bull gets on the bed on the other side. “So what's going to happen with Hermes now?”
I shrug. “Someone stepped on my dongle, so it’s on hold for now I guess. It's okay, though I've still got three really nice dongles here.” I put my hand on his crotch, unable to resist giving the lump there a little squeeze. It’s got to be one of the oldest geek jokes.
“You're playing with fire.” His growl is right in that sweet spot between a threat and a dirty promise.
I yank my hand back. “Still need to recover, but hold that thought for later.” Then I sigh as I give his question more serious thought. “I’m going to make sure we do what we should’ve done in the first place, publish our research as soon as we know how to advise people to protect their networks.”
I hear a soft snore and crawl over to Shrapnel, who’s stretched out with his arm over his head. He looks like hell, but I rest my cheek on his chest and put my hand over his heart, feeling the steady beat. Could I deal with forty years of it like Emily said?
I think I could, so long as it was the four of us.
“More important question.” Bull rolls closer so he can get his hand under the back of my shirt and slide his big hands up and down the center of my back. “What's your plan now? You're free to go anywhere you want. Hopefully, your daddy learned a lesson or two today, and either way I don't see you going back to being his flunky.”
I chuckle. “No, I don’t think I can keep working for him once this project is settled. I might start my own thing. I think he’d respect that, actually. I’d need somewhere to live, though. I don’t think I can go back to settling for a corner of his apartment.”
“Stay,” Diesel says, not hiding it in a joke or beating around the bush for once. “I want to see where this goes.”
Bull nods. “This place would be fucking lonely if it was just the three of us again.”
Shrapnel stirs, closing his hand over mine. There’s still dried blood around his nails.
“Really?” I’m almost afraid to believe that it’s true. That there are people who want me around just because I’m me. Friends and lovers who smile when they see me. Women who will hand me their babies and invite me in. Men who will put down their lives for me.
“Yeah, really.” Bull brings his hand all the way up to my neck, pulling me close to kiss me. “You can help me pick my next course. Maybe we can take it together.”
I nod, chest burning with a feeling I’m a little afraid to speak out loud.
Diesel nods. “Glad that’s settled.”
I put my head back down on Shrapnel's chest. “Keep me safe.”
And they do, while I doze off.
And when I wake up in the morning, they're all still there.
37
RORY
“Okay,Dad. That sounds like a good idea. Glad you're doing better, and thanks for letting us borrow the new jet. I'll do my best to bring it back in one piece this time.”
