Page 34 of Static

"Hey, hey," I soothed. "There's no reason to be sorry." My arms wrapped around her and I held her close, grasping the back of her head and moving it so that her ear was pressed against my chest. I knew she was listening to the steady thumping of my heart and some of the tension drained out of her. I stroked her hair as I continued. "These things happen. It wasn't your fault." I wasn't honestly even sure what she was upset about yet, but that didn't matter right now.

Her breathing was jerky as she continued quietly crying. I let her get it all out, holding her and murmuring words I wouldn't remember in the morning. Eventually, the tears stopped and she pulled back, knuckling away the last of them. "Feeling better?"

She nodded, and I noticed a faint blush working its way into her cheeks. It was time to finish getting her dressed. I grabbed the panties and stepped back half a step so I could put them on over her feet. She groaned and I looked up. She had her eyes squeezed closed. "This is so embarrassing. I'd do it myself, but I feel so...out of it, I'm not sure I can," she admitted.

"Don't be embarrassed, Baby Girl." I didn't bother to explain that I planned to bury my face between those sexy legs of hers the moment she let me. It wouldn't help the situation. It wasn't easy, but I tried to remain as passive about the situation as I could as I eased the scrap of cloth up her thighs. "Arch."

She did, huffing out a breath as she complied.

"How about this," I offered as I settled the material on her hips. "Once you're feeling better you can undress and redress me."

Her laugh was soft as I repeated the process with her pajama pants. "Careful," she warned, "or I might take you up on that."

I'd let her do whatever the fuck she wanted to with my body. Mostly. I might have a few boundaries, but they were things I was sure her innocent mind wouldn't ever come up with in the first place.

"Anytime, Sugar." I scooped her into my arms and settled her back into her bed. I wrapped one of the damp towels around my waist. Grabbing the bottle of sleeping pills, I brought them with me. "I'll be right back."

She just blinked at me, her eyes still glassy as she watched me go.

I hated seeing her like this. She was usually so full of life and vibrant. Even after the attack her smile lit up the room. I knew she was struggling. I could always read it on her face, but it didn't change the fact that she was such a presence around here. Opening the bedroom door, I went out into the living room and smiled down at Sean and Grace. They were asleep on the couch. Grace's head was resting on Sean's shoulder. I picked her up and cuddled her close to my chest. "Sean."

He jerked awake, worried eyes meeting mine. His eyes didn't look like a nine-year-old's at that moment. They were so filled with concern, I got a glimpse of the kind of man he was going to grow into. Gwen had done a hell of a job raising him so far.

"Come on."

He followed me into the bedroom. I sat Grace down at her Mom's side and she curled into the warmth of her mother's embrace. Sean climbed in on the other side. He studied his mother's face, but didn't say anything. He seemed to realize she wasn't completely with it and just needed comfort. He needed that, too.

Gwen's eyes met mine. "Would you stay?"

"Yeah, let me go get some dry clothes so I don't get everything wet." I left her towel in the little kitchen and walked down the hall in my underwear, not really caring until Lock and Toxic came stumbling up the stairs. At least my dick had finally settled down and I didn't have to worry about that.

Lock paused, eyebrows shooting up as he balanced an extremely drunk Toxic under one shoulder. "Do I want to know?"

"It's not what you think," I told him.

"Just don't let Ricochet catch you coming out of his sister's room in your skivvies," he said, shaking his head. "I swear to Christ it's like herding cats," he muttered as he dragged Toxic away.

I wasn't sure how our president ended up pulling the short straw and having to take care of all the drunk men downstairs, but he wasn't one to bitch. Much. He just rolled up his sleeves and pitched in. Most of us had been drinking pretty heavily all day as we waited for what was coming later tonight. And most of us were going to end up regretting it.

I tossed the pills into my garbage can, then ditched the wet boxer briefs and pulled on a new pair and a set of gray sweat pants. Since there were going to be kids in the bed, I also put on a dry t-shirt. The kids were already asleep by the time I got back and Gwen wedged Grace between her and Sean so I'd have a side to sleep on. Crawling onto the bed, I wrapped an arm around her.

She laid her head on my shoulder and asked in a sleepy voice. "Will you wake me if I have another bad dream?"

"Of course," I told her, turning my head and brushing my lips against her head.

"Thanks for helping me, Static."

Jesus. If I didn't realize before that I was in love with this woman, I'd know it without a doubt now.

CHAPTER 14

Gwen

Iburied my face in my hands as I sat at my kitchen table the next morning. My steaming mug of coffee was only half gone and was helping to make me feel human again. Never again. Never again was I trying sleeping pills. I only remembered bits and pieces of what happened last night, but I woke up with Static curled up behind me in bed, his hardness pressed against my butt.

He'd woken up and mumbled something about putting the kids back in their beds so Grace stopped kicking everyone. She was a thrasher while she slept, so that made sense. He never ended up coming back to bed, so I figured he had club business to take care of. That was fine, it meant I didn't have to face him in the morning light.

The flash of me sitting on my bathroom counter with my breasts out while he dried me off entered my mind and I groaned into my palms.

---