Page 45 of Dark As Coal

I wanted to be on that space right above his heart that he’s left bare.

I felt a tingle between my legs as I watched his back move, the tattoo twisting and turning with the movements. Recalling a few nights ago when I pressed kisses up and down his back as I rubbed out the muscle knots in his back.

“Coal?” I called softly.

He stopped what he was doing, which was pulling his boots on, and looked at me.

“Thank you for being quiet, but you move and I’m up. You don’t have to be quiet.”

He winked at me, telling me he appreciated the sentiment, and then finished pulling his boots on.

Once that was done, he strode over to me, pressed his lips to mine, and whispered, “Love you, Soulshine. Be careful going to work. See you later.”

I nodded and smiled. “Love you too, Coal baby.”

***

“Coal? Who do you think is going to win?” Priest asked.

Coal didn’t say a word but pointed at the Falcon’s logo.

“Fucker. Why do you always pick the underdog?”

Coal shrugged but didn’t say anything.

Asher leaned down and whispered in Coal’s ear, “You got that man pissing blood yet?”

Coal’s hand tightened on my thigh, it was almost imperceptibly, but I felt it.

I knew what Coal did for the club.

How could I not when it was me that watched him strip out of the bloody clothes, place them in a black garbage bag, and then carry them out to the pit, Whit had started.

Once Coal nodded at Asher, he looked up, locked his eyes with mine, and lifted his brow.

I shrugged, took a pull from my beer, and said, “The only man’s cock I want to suck is the one that removes filth from this earth. It’s makes me sleep better.”

The entire room went quiet. So quiet if a bike started, it would have broken the sound barrier.

And then very slowly, clapping started to fill up the room.

Piney cackled then, “Hot damn, that was a mic drop if I’ve ever heard one.”

Something happened then, and it was something that it took me a beat to realize what it was.

Coal removed his hand from my thigh, got up, and walked outside.

The girls looked at me with pity in their eyes, but they didn’t need to feel that way.

I learned that when Coal started to feel more than he could handle, he disappeared for five minutes.

I started the countdown in my head.

Four minutes and forty-five seconds later, Coal came walking through the door, locked eyes with mine, then retook his chair, tagged his beer, took a pull, and at the same time he put his hand back on my thigh. And squeezed.

I winked at him, I got you, Coal Baby.”

He locked eyes with mine, and even though he never shied from telling me loved me, I could see it blazing in those steel-gray eyes of his.

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