Page 35 of The Chief
Everything inside me rebelled at the sight of the fearful creature now in front of me. My Jynx was a fucking hell cat. She’d been ballsy enough to leave a bullet for my Clan Boss. Sliced my arm. Stabbed me in the thigh. She even tried to garrote me. This version didn’t fit with what I knew about her since she’d forced her way into my orbit.
“Okay, Jynx.”
Wordlessly, she watched me take the keys for the cuffs out of my pocket and insert it into the lock on her wrist. As soon as the metal bracelet fell from her skin, she drew in a deep breath and let it out, her body shaking subtly. Those seafoam-flecked eyes of hers met mine, and they held gratitude for a brief second before they fell to the bed.
Her reaction was unsettling. I wanted to rewind the clock to just before I came back into the room. But if there was one thing I knew, it was that you couldn’t turn back time, no matter how much you wished. Moving slowly, I gathered one of the many pillows on my bed and placed it vertically down the middle, adding another and another until I’d created a pillow wall. Molly watched me the whole time, her teeth pulling her bottom lip into her mouth.
“I’m going to have to lock the door.” I said, my voice gentle.
Her head bobbed.
I was also going to sleep with my gun beneath my pillow, but I didn’t add that part. She was tiptoeing along a knife blade right now, and I had no idea what waited for her over the edge. Turning, I walked to the door and pulled out another key, twisting it in the lock. As I hit the light switch, the room fell into darkness, and a whimper escaped her. Walking to the bathroom, I flipped the switch then pulled the door almost closed, allowing a sliver of yellow-gold light to march across the rug covering the stone floor. Its advance was stopped by the end of the bed and cast the room in a light dim enough to sleep, but we were also now able to see in the darkness.
Moving to my side of the bed, I stared at Molly on the other side of the pillow wall. She still chewed on her bottom lip like the action soothed her.
“Get in,” I told her.
To my surprise, she did, crawling under the quilt and pulling it up to her chin. She peered at me with wide blue eyes, her breaths coming quickly through her mouth. Fuck me, there was some trauma there, but a small part of me—okay, a big fucking part of me—was happy she’d chosen to trust me.
“Are you comfortable?”
She nodded, the cotton rustling in the near-darkness.
“Good.” I sat on the edge of the bed, pulling my gun from the holster on my ankle and sliding it under the pillow. Normally, I slept naked, but tonight I would remain in my clothes. Not for any sort of modesty or for Molly’s benefit, but rather because if she tried to kill me, I wanted to be able to defend myself fully clothed.
Stretching out on the mattress, I pulled the quilt over my body. The pillow wall between us was high enough I could barely see the outline of Molly’s head on the other side. Her breathing was still choppy as we both laid there, caught in our own heads as the minutes ticked past.
“You should get some sleep,” I told her.
She said nothing, but the longer we laid there, the more her breathing eased. It had grown so slow, I thought she’d drifted off until two words broke the silence.
“Thank you.”
I grunted. “For what?”
“For removing the cuff and keeping a light on. I don’t like to sleep in pitch dark rooms.”
“Why’s that?”
She shook her head. Well, this conversation was clearly done. Shifting to keep her in my line of sight, I let the sound of her even breaths fill my ears.
It had only taken her a matter of minutes to fall asleep after thanking me, something I could only blame on sheer exhaustion caused by the highs and lows of the day. However, I was wide awake and curious about her reaction earlier, wanting to know whether it was so extreme because of the cuffs, or whether it was the combination of the bed as well.
I knew intimacy wasn’t the issue, since we’d fucked just fine without a panic attack. I’d even wrapped my hands around her neck in anger without her experiencing such an extreme response, though for the first time in my life, I was ashamed at my lack of control. But I had reacted without thought, pure emotion driving me. Hearing I’d been the second fucking choiceagainhad me looking through a haze of red. Deep down, I didn’t want to hurt her, but she’d pushed me to the edge.
Shoving away the pillow wall slightly, I let my eyes wander across her hair, her face, her neck. The shadow of my fingermarks were appearing, marring her perfect skin. The warmth of her body caressed my palm as I reached across and laid my hand around her neck once more. It fit perfectly under her jaw and spanned the length of her neck. My pinkie finger swept across her collarbone, and her mouth parted in a soft sigh. My eyes darted to her face to see whether she’d woken, but she was still asleep.
Feeling bolder, I inched the quilt down to her waist and stared at her in my hoodie. Fuck, seeing her in my clothes made me feel some type of way, but there was still too much fabric covering her. Carefully, I slid my hand under the hem and rucked up the thick fabric. Molly didn’t move or make a sound as I worked to expose her lean body to me. With one final push, I revealed her small breasts.
My dick twitched, thickening against the front of my sweats.
Her nipples peaked in the cold air, but she still didn’t stir.
She must’ve been in a deep sleep, and I wondered how far I could go. Wondered whether I could show her I wasn’t just a one fuck and done kind of man. That I could take my time when it was on my side.
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