Page 73 of Oh, Hell No

Brushing my fingers over her forehead to get the hair out of her lashes, I whispered, “Mine.” Even if she wasn’t awake to hear it. Her subconscious needed to get on board too. We had some hurdles to overcome.

When she forgave me for the shit I’d done, we would have to work on her accepting that she was going to require security at the school with her and she was moving in with me. The apartment needed to go. She would be more comfortable in my bed anyway.

“Oz,” she whispered, but her eyes didn’t open. Her face turned and nuzzled my chest.

I grinned. “Easy, darlin’,” I said softly. “You’ll wake up with my cock inside you.”

The thought of it had me already stiffening.

Thirty-Three

Winslet

Talking to Perry on the other side of glass was as depressing this time as it had been last time.

On either side of his face were thin white scars, covered by the beard he’d grown since being in there. When I had first seen them, they were much worse, but they were fresh. They’d healed better than I’d expected. He wouldn’t talk about it when I asked him about them, so I had let it go.

Marley had teared up on me, then sniffled and cried on the ride back home, which didn’t help the mood seeing him like that had put me in.

He hadn’t even served two full months yet, and he had the potential to serve eight years.

Another question he refused to answer was why he had done it. I just couldn’t get that. It was so unlike him.

This morning, I had woken up with a note from Oz on thepillow beside me. He had said he had to get to work, and I wondered what that meant exactly. What did he consider work? One of the many things I didn’t know about Oz Savelle. I was pretty sure I was falling in love and was already obsessed with him, but there was so much about each other’s lives we didn’t know.

Anyway, he had said to call him when I was ready and he’d come get me. That piqued my curiosity, but I had plans to go with Marley to see Perry, so after debating if I should text or call to tell him that, I went with texting him. My phone rang instantly.

There were a lot of voices in the background, but he went somewhere and closed the door, silencing it. He had explained Saturdays and Sundays during football season were heavy workdays for him. But when I was home and wanted to see him, he’d bring what he needed with him and work from here. The betting. He had people betting on games. Illegal bets.

Things I had known, but we hadn’t really talked about that since everything had changed with us. Would I be able to openly date him and not lose my job? I wasn’t gambling, but could I date someone who did? I was going to guess it would be an issue.

I enjoyed my job, but if I had to choose, I would find a teaching job at a public school. My job had been my life, but that was all before Oz. He’d been changing everything for me since day one. Remembering last night, I knew I would put having that above all else.

I drank a glass of water, trying to get in a better mood before I called Oz. Seeing him would help this funk I was in, and I knew that, but the fact that Perry was in prison because Oz had helped find him and put him there wouldn’t change. It was easy not to attach the two most of the time. Seeing Perry, however, had reminded me. Stirred up some anger, which I guessed wasn’t fair to Oz because he’d been wronged, but the hard wiring in me toprotect my brother remained.

I had failed this time. And I was mad at Perry too. It was his bad decisions that had put him there, but Oz had helped find him. Frustrated, I set the glass in the sink and glared at my phone like this was all its fault.

Oz made me happy. Ridiculously on-cloud-nine happy. Perry was my brother. I loved him. We’d been through it all together. Until now. He was behind bars alone.

Would I ever work this out in my head? Make it balance? How would I even begin to explain to my brother that I was sleeping with the man who had put him in prison? Worse, what happened if I fell in love with Oz? Because from the way it looked right now, my heart was heading in that direction and did not care if I was on board or not.

The doorbell rang, and I swung my head over to look at it barely a full second before I headed to open it. I knew who it was, and even with the Perry crap weighing on me, I wanted to see his face. I might not have called him yet, but his coming to me made all the flutters, flips, and tingles ignite.

I unlocked the bolt, then opened it. And Oz was there. The sight of him was like a blast of wind, carrying all the other things weighing on me far away and leaving only him.

“You didn’t call me,” he said, walking inside as I stepped back so he could come in.

“I was going to,” I told him.

Grabbing the belt around my waist, he tugged me to him. “But you waited.”

How did he know that?

His head lowered, and he brushed his lips against mine, then ran the tip of his tongue along my bottom one. They parted, and it slipped inside. All was right with my world. I sank into him, running my hands up his biceps, then over his shoulders.

The skirt of my sundress began to rise as he used his fingers totug it up slowly. Once it was high enough, his hands covered my bottom. When his rough palms met my bare skin, he slapped my left cheek and pulled back to look down at me.

“Not only did you wear this sexy little dress, but a damn G-string to a prison,” he scowled.

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