Page 27 of Ink's Devil

“I thought you didn’t sleep with bitches.” She grins widely.

“I don’t,” I reply, placing my lips against her forehead, unable to resist saying with a chuckle. “Think you must have worn me out, babe. Didn’t have the energy to kick you out of bed.”

She pokes her finger into a gap between my ribs, making me oomph. “You didn’t, huh?”

I brush a lock of blue hair out of her face. For a second, I stare intensely into her eyes. “Or, maybe, I just like you right where you are.”

She snuggles against me. “I like being where I am too, Ink.” Nuzzling against my skin, she breathes in deeply. “Mmm, you smell nice.”

Nice?I smell of sex and sweat, hers and mine both. Perhaps she’s right. I’m not objecting to her odour either. Crazy.

“How many did we use this time?”

I laugh and leaning over check the wrappers on the floor. “Didn’t beat our record. Only five.”

She rolls over on her back, opening her legs in invitation. “Think we ought to rectify that?”

She doesn’t need to ask me twice.

“What have you got on today?” I ask her after we’ve dirtied the last condom and cleaned ourselves up in the shower.

“First, I’ll get a run in if it’s not too icy out there. Then just chores. Sundays I usually help mom around the house, do laundry, stuff like that. What about you?”

I grin. “Well I suppose I’ll need to put clean sheets on the bed.” She blushes delightfully. I grow serious looking at what kind of day I might have ahead, thinking of the implications of what happened last night, not with her, but our wasted trip out. Cad will have gone back over the footage, and will have analysed it all by now. If he’s found anything, the bets are we’ll be checking it out. But I can’t tell her that as it’s club business. “I reckon Demon will need to talk through some shit. Wouldn’t be surprised if he calls a meeting later. Hey, what’s that look for?” She’s biting her lip. “Come on, babe. Spit it out.”

“I, er, no. It sounds bad.”

“What?” I prompt, starting to worry now, rapidly running back over the conversation to see if there was something wrong with what I’d said.

Now her lips press together, and she looks away. Placing my hand under her chin, I turn her face back. “Tell me, babe.”

“I just wondered, I was…” Then it comes out in a rush. “I was wondering if you’d like to come around to mine, later. Mom does a great roast on the weekend, and she always cooks too much.” Her face goes red.

Meet her mom?“I’m not boyfriend material,” I tell her, wondering why the expected horror at the suggestion doesn’t materialise.

Her face falls. “I know. I’m sorry…”

“Look, Beth, I don’t know where this is going to go. Done a few things already with you that I haven’t done before.” I lean in and whisper the next right into her ear, “Used six condoms at a time for a start.” I pull back. “You’re the first civilian I’ve gone back to for seconds, let alone let spend the night. As long as you’re okay with just seeing where this goes, and not pushing for a commitment I don’t feel ready to make, if I’m free, I’ll come meet your mom and get fed.”

“I don’t know where this is going, either. And I promise, Mom won’t be planning a wedding, not yet.”

I shake my head but laugh. Her mom won’t be planning a wedding at all. Closest I’ll ever get is claiming a woman, that’s all I’d need to do, and Beth and I are nowhere near the place where I’d start thinking about that.

Claim Beth? It’s the nearest I’ve come to even thinking about making a woman mine. But that’s only one step removed from when hell freezes over to maybe when I consider getting a foreign-built bike.

I see her out to her car with a promise to call as soon as I know whether I’ll be able to make it later, then thoughtfully watch her drive off, wondering what the fuck I’m getting into. What is it about her that’s making me act out of character?I let her stay the night.

I even liked waking with her in my arms.

As I’m belatedly considering whether I should have made her a coffee or got her something to eat, and thinking I’m only one step above a Neanderthal, a voice brings me out of my thoughts.

“Did I just see that?” Lizard asks, putting his hands over his eyes, and then removing them. “I think I might be having fuckin’ hallucinations. I may have laid one on last night, but I didn’t think it was as much as that.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I round on him.

He shakes his head as if to clear it. “Yeah, I must be fuckin’ seeing things. You waving a bitch off in the morning? She was with you all night? Nah, my imagination must be playing up.”

I punch him in the stomach hard as I walk past him.

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