Page 15 of Protecting Her Secrets

I hold my breath as I show her what buttons to push, and then I all but hightail it out the bathroom door. “There are fresh towels in that cabinet. Feel free to use whatever’s in there. It all smells like man.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. Should we try that soup again for dinner since we didn’t eat it for lunch?”

“Sure, but after that, we need to talk. Like, really talk.”

“Okay.” I leave her to it and head downstairs to hang all the wet shit, pausing when the old pipes creak the second Skylar turns on the water to fill the tub. Immediately, my mind goes to what she’s doing up there. She’s probably stripping down right this second and lowering herself into the water, where she’ll get all slippery and wet.

My cleaning lady, Rose, who I only employ during my working months, helped me decorate the bathroom. She insisted I needed these decorative jars of bubble bath, colorful salts, and bath bombs—whatever the hell those are. They’ve sat unused this whole time, but now, I wonder if Skylar’s soaking in them.

She’d look so sexy climbing out of that tub with bubbles stuck to her naked body. From what little I’ve seen, she has changed since I saw her last, and it’s all for the better. She was hot at twenty-one, but now, she’s luscious. There’s more meat on her bones, making her curves more pronounced. I’ll be using the image of her in her black panties and bra as spank bank material for a long time to come.

“Fuck!” I curse when my cock grows painfully hard. Sprocket rushes over, as if to ask if I’m okay. I huff. “Just be glad you got your potatoes whacked off and won’t ever have to know the pain of blue balls.”

He stares at me quizzically as I scrub a hand down my face. I can’t do this. I can’t be snowed in with her. If the emotional pain doesn’t kill me, surely, the inability to act on my sexual desires will. Pulling my cell out of my back pocket, I dial up Wilder.

“Hey, how’s it going?” he answers.

“So, I’m married,” I say without preamble.

“Your wife told us.”

“Are you the reason she’s showering in my bathroom right now?”

“I might’ve had something to do with that, but in my defense, I told her it was a bad idea.”

“Yeah, well, she didn’t listen. Her car crashed halfway up the mountain, and now, she’s stuck here for who knows how long.”

“When did you get married? And why didn’t you tell any of us?”

“This is going to sound corny as fuck, but I fell in love when I was a freshman in high school. We dated all the way until Iwas a senior in college. Actually, I only had one semester left before graduation. If you can believe it, I was studying to be an accountant. And not even the spicy kind. The boring kind.”

“Honestly, that tracks.”

“Yeah, well, I wanted to be able to give Skylar a normal life, since neither of us had that growing up. The problem was, her family sucks.”

“Are they Jehovah's Witnesses? I heard they’re kind of a buzz kill.”

“What? No.” I narrow my brows and shake my head. “They’re bikers, likeSons of Anarchy, only in real life. Her dad’s the president. He’s this big, scary-looking motherfucker?—”

“You’re a big, scary motherfucker.” Out of all my friends, I’m the tallest and most outwardly muscular, since I deal with my stress by bench pressing heavy things.

“I wasn’t back then; I was skinny, and life hadn’t punched me in the balls yet, so I was generally happy.”

“I can’t picture that either.”

“Fuck off.”

His friend chuckles but, thankfully, moves on. “Okay, so her dad’s an outlaw biker. What does that have to do with you?”

“He’ll only allow his daughter to marry someone if they’re part of the club.”

“Hold on. Time out. What do you mean ‘allow,’ and why didn’t you just join the club?”

“They are the most sexist wastes of space ever. The women have no rights and are only there to cook, clean, and spread their legs. Not my words, his,” I say, remembering the one and only conversation I had with the man. “But despite how much I hated everything they stood for, I loved her and would’ve prospected in a heartbeat. I would’ve done anything if it meant I got to wake up to her every morning.”

“I had no idea you were such a sap.”

---