Page 38 of Replay
“Never thought I’d live to see the day.Didn’t think you had it in you, mate.”Rock Giant remarked affably.“Wait until I tell the guys.They’ll not believe me.”
“Is that really necessary?”It was Alle who’d spoken, stalling Rock Giant as he made to hop back over the fence.“Why do they need to know anything?Aren’t we entitled to a little privacy?”
“Well Spook’s seen all of us dozens of times.”
“But I haven’t.”
That caused his broad brow to furrow.Rock Giant considered himself something of a defender of women’s rights.Years of being Elspeth’s chief advocate had even honed him into a pretty effective one, but he didn’t always get it right straight away when left to reason it out for himself.
“I think I should have a say in who gets to ogle me while naked,” Alle continued.“And I’m not agreeing to anyone else appearing on this balcony.Two Black Halo members are more than plenty.Also, do you think you could avert your gaze a little, or at least look at my face while I’m speaking.”
“Sure,” he agreed.“Does that mean it’s okay if I look at the rest while you’re not speaking?”
Alle folded her arms across her chest.“Well, erm… That isn’t quite what I…”
Spook leaned in close to her ear.“Let him stay.”
“What?”She spun around to face him, shock turning her mouth into an oval.“You’re serious.Let him…” Alle shot a backwards glance over her shoulder at his band mate.“You mean like let him watch us?”
That wasn’t what he meant at all.
He’d just come.Wasn’t properly thinking straight.Or else he was thinking with more clarity than usual.Much of the usual baggage shoved into a convenient closet.“I was thinking, maybe more than that.He could help—”
“Help?I barely know him.”
She’d barely known him either when she’d first stripped and begged him to tan her arse.That hadn’t stopped her.Alle was single-minded in her determination when there was something she wanted.And sometimes, sometimes, so was he.“Paul, lose the shirt.”
“Waay-t.”Her gaze had followed his line of sight, over her shoulder to where Rock Giant was still poised as if he’d been rooted to the spot, his mouth quirked up on one side into an awkward, yet fascinated, grin.Even Alle clocked that he was gawping at the scratched and reddened flesh of her backside.Nor did Spook miss the way her head came up, and she stood a little taller, seeming to flaunt the marks like they were a row of gold stars on a sticker chart.
Proud and preening, that’s what she was.
And Paul’s response to that was risible.“What did you say?”he said after clearing his throat.
“The shirt,” Spook prompted.“Take it off, and then come here.It’s only fair that if you’re ogling Alle, she gets to do the same.”
“Sure thing.Right.I’m all for equality.”
One of the things that Spook admired about Rock Giant was that he was, basically, an easy-going, laidback teddy bear who took whatever was thrown at him without a break in his stride.Quirkiness?He enveloped like it was the norm.Spook supposed it was his normal.His childhood had definitely been atypical.No school.A home that was more often than not, a tepee, and parents that were dippy as shit in a flouncy, ethereal, absent-minded if well-meaning sort of way.The only time his ire got roused was when it came to Xane, and that was all really to do with Elspeth.Paul and Elspeth had been best friends forever, and he treated her like the little sister he’d never actually had.It made him her devoted knight, completely blind to her faults, but on the other hand – how often did you stumble across that sort of loyalty?
Spook valued loyalty.It was the primary reason he always forgave Xane when he acted like a prick.He’d never ever slipped up when it came to the things that really mattered.That was worth no end of trying his patience with endless rounds of sexual innuendos.Paul, at his core, adhered to a similar code of conduct.
The veranda not being very broad, Rock Giant covered the distance in a couple of long-legged strides.“I suppose you want me to take the rest off, too?Fair’s fair, and all that.”
“Alle?”Really, it was very much up to her.He couldn’t be… and shouldn’t be trusted to make that call.
Still pressed to him, he heard her swallow.Every inhalation now possessed an anticipatory judder to it.She didn’t know what was happening here, only that on some level she wanted it.And the more he read those signs off her skin, the easier it was to give in to what was being handed to him on a plate.
He touched her shoulder, and she startled.“Easy,” he soothed, feeling the flutter of her pulse where his lips grazed her throat.“There’s nothing to be afraid of.Nothing’s going to happen that you don’t want.Just say ‘Bubble butt’ if you want things to stop.”
Things – no specification.
She nodded, leaning into his body.Her skin was feverishly hot.“You’re not just suggesting I look, are you?”He noted that she kept her voice low in order to keep the conversation between the two of them.
“Alle, I’m not suggesting anything.”
“Then what is this?”
He smiled as he looked her in the eyes.“An opportunity.I can’t give you what you want right now, but he can.Of course, it’s your choice if you take it.You should know that it won’t upset me if you do.”
