Page 73 of Gunner

“About what?”

“I’m staying, and there might be another round in me.”

20

BEN

Gunner's smirk, Ben's scowl - I'm in love with contradictions.

After the deep rumble of Gunner’s voice last night, waking up to the silence in my bedroom felt unnatural. Considering I’d gotten up in the middle of the night to pee and had found him spooning me with his face pressed into my neck, the isolation left me disoriented.

The place next to me in bed was too empty.

Since Mason died, I’d slept alone for the past year and then some, so I shouldn’t have noticed, but Gunner’s presence filled the space with so much energy I was deeply aware of his absence.

With a groan, I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling. Sobriety was back with the daylight and, with it, a twisted feeling in my gut that last night I might have made the biggest mistake of my life.

Maybe if I’d woken up with Gunner still beside me, I wouldn’t have felt as nauseous. It would mean we were in this—heated sex and mistrust of each other—together. That whatever blowup would happen would affect both of us, not just me, but whatdid he stand to lose? His side would give him major props for fucking a cop—not just any cop, a police chief.

I can lose my job for this. Is his dick worth it?

I climbed out of bed and made my way gingerly to the bathroom. Whether or not he returned was moot, but I couldn’t regret last night. It’d been nice having another person around the house. When he wasn’t posturing and fucking with me, Gunner was even good company.

Despite his intentions, he’d needed more time to recover for round two last night, so he’d raided my fridge, initially showing interest in the casserole he’d found until I’d mentioned Asher had brought it over the day before. We’d argued when he’d claimed the dish accidentally slipped from his grasp and shattered on the floor. It had been a short-lived argument. His jealousy had taken me off guard, but trying to understand Gunner only hurt my head, so I had given up.

As I made my way downstairs, the house was quiet. Usually, Zeus would be at my door with his leash for me to take him on a short walk before I left for work, but his nails didn’t scrape the floor.

“Zeus!” I peeked into the living room, where I’d left him last night, but he wasn’t there. “Here, boy.”

He wasn’t in the kitchen either. Had Gunner left the door open when he went out? I checked the yard, my worry mounting when Zeus didn’t come. Zeus was a disciplined dog. He wouldn’t run off, even if Gunner had left the door open.

Shit, I couldn’t lose him. Heart pounding, I ran back up the stairs and put on some sweatpants and a shirt. I hopped over the fence to Asher’s and banged on the door.

“Asher, it’s me, Ben.”

“Just a minute.”

My heart sank. If Zeus had been inside, he would have heard me and been whining at the door already. He wasn’t here.

Asher opened the door, still dressed in his pajamas. “Good morning, Ben. What’s wrong?”

“Is Zeus here?”

Woof!

Zeus. I spun around. Gunner was hanging on to a leash attached to Zeus’s collar as they walked into my yard. Zeus’s tail wagged hard, and his loud, excited woofs woke up the still-sleepy neighborhood. Whatever Gunner said to him calmed him down, and he sat.

“Oh gosh, hot Daddy at nine o’clock,” Asher said. “That man’s delicious. Are you and he—”

“Yes,” I snapped.

Asher’s jaw dropped. “Well, then, I didn’t know you were the jealous type.”

“I am not.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Sorry, it’s just—I’ve been worried about Zeus. I didn’t mean to bother you. Sorry again.”

Shit, what had I done? If he figured out who Gunner was, that was one more person than we needed to know about our affair. Maybe the distance would make it difficult for him to recognize the notorious biker. Asher was an artist; it wasn’t like they traveled in the same circles.

“Hey, buddy.” I walked up to Zeus and scratched him, ignoring Gunner. My stomach felt queasy. He hadn’t left after all. He’d taken Zeus out for a walk. I was torn between this being one of the sweetest things ever and how much I was really trying not to like the man. He was phenomenal in the sack. That was all I needed from him.

---