Page 62 of Bristol

“I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, baby. I’m okay,” I say, holding up a hand for her to just give me a minute.

The stinging that’s left in the wake of where she tapped my arm feels like bees stinging me continuously in one spot. The sweat that gathered on my skin in the midst of our rendezvous has started to burn my ribs.

Bristol looks at me helplessly from the couch and I smile at her the best I can. I don’t want her to know that this shit hurts.

She gets up and kisses my forehead before disappearing into our room. She comes back a few moments later with a wet washcloth. She very gently cleans me up, making sure she doesn’t touch any of my burnt skin in the process.

I stare at her beautiful body as she walks away, taking in the massive tattoo that covers her back now. That’s going to take some getting used to. Who the fuck gets a whole back piece for their first tattoo?

She comes back into the living room and puts her clothes back on. I stand and pull my shorts on then sit next to her on the couch. I reach to pull her into my side and she hesitates, staring at me.

“It’s okay, baby. This is my good side.”

She leans into me softly, almost as if she doesn’t trust that this side is okay either. I laugh at her hesitation, but I also appreciate it.

“So, tell me about this tattoo.”

“There isn’t a lot to tell. It took three sessions, and I went to Kendra’s tattoo guy. She brought me every time and she even got some new ink while we were there, too.”

“It’s sexy as hell.”

“Thank you.”

“What else happened while I was gone?”

She presses a finger to her chin and looks up as if she’s pondering in deep thought.

“Hmm. Let me think. I became an almost-millionaire. All of my money is cleared in my bank account and now I’m your sugar mama,” she nudges her shoulder into my side and raises her brows twice at me.

“Oh, hell yeah. I’ve never had one of those before. Does that count as a first?”

She rolls her eyes. “If you’ve never had one, then you’re damn right it counts.”

“Anything else?”

She shakes her head. “Nope. That’s about it. Kendra picked me up from my last session and brought me to you and I’ve been with you since. So, you want to tell me what happened?”

“Ahh. Well…” I trail off, trying to think of what to say.

“I know some of it. Reaper said you were trying to track down Patrick and an explosion went off and you saved some innocent people but got trapped in the basement because of, and I quote, ‘his wide ass fucking shoulders’.”

I laugh at Reaper’s words. Asshole.

“That’s pretty much it.”

She eyes me curiously, goes to say something, but stops.

“Okay.”

I don’t press to ask what she was going to say. If she’s accepting what I told her, I’m not pushing the issue.

“It’s bike night tonight. I was going to roll out and head there by myself because I wasn’t going to wake you, but I decided that was rude and I didn’t want to spend another second away from you right now.”

“We can go. I was texting Kendra earlier and most of the ol’ladies are going to be there so I’ll be entertained while you go catch up with the guys.”

“You know me so well.”

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