Page 46 of Phantom
His lips found mine in the moon-illuminated darkness, and my heart leaped up. If I had any stamina left, I might have tried to get us going again, but my legs were already sore. We’d done enough for tonight, and now that I knew he was staying, we had plenty of time.
Outside, a new band started playing, one of my favorite lesser-known bands from Hoppa. “Hey, wanna head to the party?”
“You expect me to dance after this?” Colin yelped.
“Maybe just sway?” I started to sit up, and my back screamed at me. “Oof, yeah. Definitely just swaying.”
He grinned and placed a hand on my cheek. “We can do whatever you want.”
Despite what both of our bodies were attempting, we managed to avoid falling back into each other again long enough to get dressed and then, slowly and carefully, descended the ladder to the clubhouse. The desert air was much cooler now that the sun had set, but the rager roared on despite that. Hand in hand, we walked back around to the front of the clubhouse, only stopping when I glanced toward the door and remembered Lockjaw.
“Oh, let me check on my dog,” I said.
Colin released me, and I skipped over and opened up the clubhouse door. All the bliss I felt ran away when I saw Taylor sitting on the couch, petting a sleeping Lockjaw. I glanced up toward the wall that divided the bulk of the clubhouse from the loft. Though the ceilings were high and there was a lot of distance between the couch that Taylor was sitting on and where Colin and I were in the loft, I had no awareness of just how loud we’d been or if it could be heard from where he was.
“Hey,” I greeted. “I was just coming to get Lockjaw.” I had planned to get Lockjaw some food and water and leave him behind, but I had no idea what Taylor might do.
“He’s pretty comfortable,” he replied. “Why don’t you just leave him here with me?”
“No.” My head was shaking before I could stop it. “He probably wants to get out. Pee and stuff.” I smacked my leg. “Come, Lockjaw.” Lockjaw immediately hopped to attention and tried to jump off the couch, but Taylor held him down. Lockjaw struggled against Taylor’s hold, even snapping at Taylor’s hand to try and get free so that he could come to me. “Taylor, let him go.”
Tears were already filling my eyes when Taylor lifted his arm, allowing Lockjaw to jump off the couch and rush over to me. I didn’t give Taylor another look, only led Lockjaw back out the door. By the time I got to Colin, I was sobbing.
“Tess?” Colin rushed forward, but his attempts to grab me failed when I crouched to wrap my arms around Lockjaw. Colin knelt next to me and put his hand on my back. “What happened?”
“He definitely heard us,” I said. “I thought he was gonna hurt Lockjaw.” My mind tortured me, showing me images of Lockjaw and Colin cut up into pieces like Adley. “I’m afraid he’s gonna hurt you.” I hugged Lockjaw close, and he licked my face.
“Taylor?” Colin asked, and I nodded. He wrapped an arm around me and one around Lockjaw and pulled us close to him. “I told you already. I’m not afraid of him.”
“You may not be,” I sniffled, “but I am.”
Chapter Seventeen
Phantom
All the mornings previous to that one, waking up alone either in my bed back in Rumble, in some shitty motel while I was on the run, or even in Tess’ guest bed didn’t even come close to the feeling of waking up in Tess’ bed next to her. My arms were curled around her stomach, holding her close to me, and the smell of her coconut shampoo and the lingering scents of her sweet perfume wrapped around me and made me lightheaded in the best way.
She still had her eyes closed and was breathing in and out softly. There wasn’t a thing in the world I wouldn’t do for her. The night before was playing on repeat in my head, and not just the amazing lovemaking, but how quickly we left MiD after Taylor freaked her out about Lockjaw. My eyes drifted down to where the dog was curled at the foot of the bed, also snoozing away. For the fact that he was a dog, I’d grown quite attached to him, too. The way Tess panicked was understandable, and I was more than happy to bring her back home early and make love to her until Taylor’s threats were far away from her mind. I just wished I could protect them permanently. Keep them out of his insane clutches.
After giving Tess a gentle kiss on the shoulder, I flipped back the covers on the bed and started to climb out. At first, I just sat up, but then I stood, being followed almost immediately by Lockjaw, who stirred and hopped down in response to my movements.
I crouched down and scratched Lockjaw’s ears. “Morning, buddy.” He stretched, sticking his butt in the air first as he stretched backward, then leaned forward, craning his neck up. “Want some breakfast?”
Lockjaw sprang into action and was out the bedroom door before I even stood back up. My neck cracked as I twisted my head to either side, and my back followed suit. Comfortable though the bed was, running around with Nick the whole day prior and then going at it with Tess more times than I could count after finally opening those flood gates had left my body more than a little sore. Baths weren’t really my thing, but one might be in order to get my muscles back in line.
With a sigh, I took a step toward the doorway to go and get breakfast started, but my arm was snatched, and my weight gave as I was dragged back into the bed. Tess crawled until she was on top of me and kissed me before speaking.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked, a sultry huskiness to her voice.
“Iwasgoing to go get breakfast started.”
She lifted her satin, spaghetti-strap pajama top off and tossed it to the side. “Breakfast is right here.”
There wasn’t a world or parallel universe in which I would complain about that. I braced my hand on Tess’ back and flipped her over until she was between the bed and me, and her hands were a flurry of movements over my already bare chest and stomach while we made out in earnest.
It’d been such a long time since I’d done something without the fear of rushing or what came next. Even though it was just a morning romp, I didn’t worry about getting to breakfast, rushing off to Hoppa’s to meet with the club, or anything that didn’t involve drinking in as much of Tess and her beautiful body as I could.
When we’d finally finished, Tess started to laugh. It was a sweet sound, and I couldn’t help but join in.
