Page 46 of DOG Part 2
“You didn’t get enough of hanging on to me on back of my bike, did you?” Kane answered.
Geez. I was sure to be engaging in a lot of eye-rolling with this guy.
We got inside the house through the kitchen. Wow. It looked as if it hadn’t been decorated since the seventies. It was a bit like my grandmother’s house before she passed, complete with pastel-colored appliances, tiled wood floors, plug-in candlesticks, crocheted dining table placemats covers, and decorative porcelain ashtrays. I could have walked into a time capsule and just didn’t realize it.
The living room was similar. It had all the necessary furniture, but was devoid of art or anything else that normally showed a personal touch. The rest of the men came inside behind us, and tramped through the kitchen to get to us.
“Does anyone normally live here?” I asked.
“We make it looklike someone lives here year round,” said the guy with unruly brown hair, Big Tom I think. “It’s one of the club members’ job to keep it that way. He keeps a truck parked out back, moves it every once in a while, does yard work, talks to the neighbors. The usual stuff.”
“Your neighbors are not suspicious?” I found it hard to believe.
“People in this neighborhood mind their own business,” Kane answered in a conversation-ending tone, and pointed down the hall. “The bathroom is down that way. It’s attached to the master bedroom at the end of the hall, which you can have. The rest of us will take the other bedrooms and the couches.”
“I’ve got dibs on a bed,” the one called Skate said, moving quickly towards the closest door. “Speed trumps rank tonight, brothers.”
I watched him leave, taking note of the leisurely way he moved and the tightness of his ass. When I turned slightly to shuck my backpack off my shoulders, Kane was looking at me. I turned to him. He was sporting a venomous scowl on his face.
“What?”
He didn’t answer, so I smirked and flounced away, edging down the hallway. I felt my way into the darkness. The master bedroom wasn’t half bad. There was no shag carpet and no floral patterned bedding, at least. The pillows and the comforter looked semi-new, and the floor was a nice, polished wood. The attached bathroom was small but clean, and the first thing I did was strip my clothes off and turn the shower on as hot as I could take it.
I stayed underneath the water for a long time, inhaling the steam and wishing the shower could wash away the chaos and shock and tragedy of the past few days. I was still trying not to think too much. The numbness was setting in, and I felt I needed to stay numb. This was not the time to get pulled down into a hole of self-pity. What had happened couldn’t be changed. Mom was dead, and I was here, in a random safe house that no one really lived in, with five bikers.
One or two of those men happened to be irresistibly hot.
I got dressed in the only pair of pajamas I’d brought, and settled onto the bed, looking around the room while I towel-dried my hair. The bedside clock said that it was nearly one in the morning. I didn’t feel tired at all, my limbs instead full of a sensation that couldn’t be pinpointed. Nervousness? Fear?
A soft knock on the door made me self-conscious.
“Yes?” I asked as I pulled a knitted blanket over my legs. These pajamas were short shorts I’d had since freshman year in high school, and they didn’t exactly cover up much anymore.
“It’s Kane.”
I swallowed hard. “Come in.”
He opened the door hesitantly, hanging back with his hand on the knob.
“You can come in,” I repeated. It was odd to see him waiting for my approval to do something. I’d pegged him as the kind of guy who was always working hard to show his status. Or maybe that was just the way he was in front of the other members of the club.
“I’m sorry about all of this,” he said, walking over to the bed and sitting just a foot away.
I’m not sure why, but I said, “It’s not your fault.” I glanced at him and then looked away quickly. That softness in his eyes was something new. It was way too much to handle. God, he was so hot. That hour on the back of his bike had my body practically humming, his presence alone making me come alive in a way I never had before.
What would he do if I made a move? Kane was not my usual type, and yet that heat couldn’t be denied. I had a thought. Suppose I was to have sex with him. It would only be one time. Hell, maybe it would even be good for me. It would get my mind off of the horrible circumstances of my life. Not only that, it would show Kane I was just as capable of calling the shots as he was.
The temptation to reach over and grab his face or his crotch were still building up when he turned to me.
“Your dad just wants to protect you.”
I sighed. This was so not the conversation I’d been looking for. “He’s done a shitty job of it so far. Just ask my mother…”
Dammit.
I was still in denial.
Surprisingly, Kane pursed his lips and nodded. “That’s a legit reaction.”
