Page 38 of Tormented By Regret

“You're delirious,” I placed her hand back into the water and she chuckled, amused. The sound made me smile, and with it came the relief that she'd be okay.

After a little while, I removed the soaked sheet, and then I slowly helped her step out of the tub. She shook as I went to get a towel, and when I returned, she stood naked before me. My cock reacted instantly, and I ignored it. Instead, I wrapped her up in the towel and took my time drying every inch of her. When I reached her breasts, she smiled up at me and I froze.

“Touch me,” she whispered, covering her breast with one of my hands.

“You're still cold,” I stated, concerned.

“Haven't you ever heard of body warmth?”

I knew exactly where she was going with this. Damn temptress.

I continued to ignore her as I wrapped her up in the towel and lifted her into my arms. Taking her back into the dark bedroom, I slid her into the sheets while she continued to shiver.

“Don't go. Please,” she begged.

I frowned, knowing this was not going how I planned, but I couldn't see her shaking like that and not do anything about it. I removed my shirt, discarded my pants and quickly tucked myself alongside her. I jumped at her touch, and the coolness of it made my body react. I started to shake but I didn’t pull away, her naked body against mine felt too damn perfect.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered against my neck.

“Why are you sorry?” I stroked her hair gently, still fascinated by its glow.

“Because I'm a pain in the ass. I don't mean to be one,” her voice was strained with that same pain I’d sometimes see in her eyes.

“I know that, Whisper. You're my pretty lunatic, I thought we'd established that.”

I cradled her, stroking her back as we talked. I won't tell you I wasn’t hard for her, if I could, I would have sunk into her right then and there, but it wasn’t the right time. Besides, I was hard, not because I was horny, but because our conversation, her nearness, her whispers made me hard. It was a different kind of excitement. There was this unspoken need to feel her pressed against me like this and it scared the shit out of me. It scared me because it felt too much like being home.

“I'll do better,” she whispered sleepily, snuggling into my chest and all I thought of in that moment, was how I needed to protect this woman with my life. She was mine to protect, even if it scared her to be. She was mine alone.

POWERTRAIN

We arrived in New Orleans at midnight. We'd been riding since sunrise and Whisper still wasn’t fully recuperated. She was having night terrors, and we decided to leave early since she couldn’t sleep. She wore my jacket as I sped through sixty-six; cutting across the hidden path that led to the clubhouse. The lights were all on and the brothers were gathered at the bar. Their motorcycles were lined up one after the other. Some of the prospects were hanging around on the porch, the smell of weed drifted off one of them. They all looked at Whisper and I quickly planted my hand on her back and gave them the look. A look that said, touch her and you die. I didn't care who the fuck you were. They all got the message as they quickly turned their heads and went about their business.

As soon as we walked in, shit got really quiet. You could barely hear a pin drop as we stepped inside. “Whisper!” Macabre practically flew out of his chair and came at us. I was expecting him to knock me out, instead he grabbed his sister by the arm yanking her to him.

“Goddamnit!” He hugged her tight. “You gave me a fucking heart attack.”

“I'm okay, Macabre,” she said weakly, her voice muffled by his jacket.

“Hey brother, lay off the girl, she's still not a hundred percent man.” I quickly let him know.

“You're still getting fevers?” He cradled her face as he gave her a once over.

“Dreams,” she whispered.

“Are they bad?”

“I'm not sure. But they scare me. I’m not able to see dad anymore.”

“Wait, you see things in your dreams?” I asked, wondering what the hell that was about.

Macabre answered or her. “The raven shows her things. Premonitions. She still hasn’t homed in on those powers though. They tend to drive her a little crazy and she has nightmares.”

She hid herself away from me and I wanted to hold her and reassure her that I accepted her the way she was. But I couldn’t, not without paying the consequences, and until I knew what they were I’d have to stay away from her.

“Spectre is fine, Whisper,” Jameson stepped out of the shadows, and I stiffened. If he didn't rip me of my colors, I was sure as fuck getting a beating. Well, deserved, of course.

“He's out doing some reconnaissance work for me, but he'll be home soon.”

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