Page 56 of Rook

His whole body tensed at that, and his hand tightened around my wrist, stilling my movements.

“Youhaveto?” he asked, head tipped to the side, watching me with something dark in his eyes. “What do you—” he started.

But it was right then that we heard it.

Footsteps on the stairs outside.

I flew away from him, expecting Nancy to come charging through the door.

I was so distracted by gathering my pants and panties and rushing into the bathroom that I didn’t even notice that it was too many footsteps to have been Nancy again.

It wasn’t until I had dragged my clothes back on that I noticed it was several male voices in the apartment.

I took an extra minute, trying to deep breathe some calm back into my system.

On the one hand, I was glad for the interruption. It seemed like Rook was about to do something that, so far, he’d been respectful enough not to do: ask about my past.

On the other, though, my stomach felt like it was in knots. Because whether it was right or not, sexual politics were… complicated for me. And the fact that things were now uneven was making me feel antsy.

In my life before, things had to be, well, even. Actually, if anything, women were the givers; men, the takers. And maybe if you had a good one, you got to have some pleasure here and there too. But it wasn’t necessary. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t thepoint.

And there were different sorts of consequences for you if you thought you could take without giving. Sometimes, it was as ‘simple’ as that man grabbing a clubwhore to do the job for him, all the while telling the club what a selfish bitch you were, how you didn’t know how to take care of your man. While you watched, heartsick and humiliated. And, yeah, sometimes, it was uglier than that. More…forceful than that.

So, I’d learned quickly to always be a giver. To never demand anything for myself. To never let my man get it up without putting it down, whether I wanted to or not.

Did I want to believe that there were men out in the world who weren’t like that? Ones who were selfless? Ones who cared about a woman’s feelings and her pleasure? Sure. But I’d also been around long enough to believe that chances were higher that most of them were like the men I’d known before. Especially bikers.

Besides that, though, there was the fact that things were complicated enough with Rook. I didn’t need anything else to worry about.

So I had to even things up.

Then just… put an end to it.

It wasn’t like it would be difficult for Rook to find another woman to take my place. I mean, he was gorgeous. And, yeah, the man knew what he was doing.

I shook those thoughts away and moved out of the bathroom, not wanting the club to think I was being rude or antisocial.

“Hey,” I said, giving Raff, Colter, and Coach a small smile as I moved into the kitchen.

The apartment was barely big enough for Rook and me. It felt downright claustrophobic with three huge bikers inside of it with us.

“There you are, you gorgeous thing,” Raff—ever the charmer—greeted me. “Maybe you can talk some sense into Rook.”

“About what?” I asked. I could feel Rook’s gaze on me, but I kept my own on his club brothers.

“He said you two can’t come party tonight because you have early plans tomorrow.”

“Oh, we have to drug test tomorrow,” I explained. “So we can’t drink,” I added. I mean, I could. Since I was technically not on parole and it was fully legal. But I wasn’t going to because I didn’t want to give Nancy anything she could use against us. That said, I didn’t want to sit alone in an apartment with Rook looking at me like he wanted to have a heart-to-heart, either. “But I’d be happy to come hang anyway. Steal some leftovers from the fridge.”

“Leftovers? Oh, honey baby,” Raff said, throwing his arm around my shoulders. “Detroit cooked for us.”

“Then I’m definitely in.”

“You hear that? Your girl is coming. You gotta come too,” Raff declared before dragging me toward the door before Rook could object.

“She needs her shoes,” Rook called as Raff kept pulling me out the door.

“Says who?” Raff asked, leaning down, and throwing me over his shoulder, his arm pinned on the backs of my thighs as he went down the steps.

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