Page 47 of Ink's Devil

What the hell am I thinking? I’m Ink, I’m a confirmed bachelor. Surely, I couldn’t see myself with a woman and kids in tow? That isn’t me. Is it?

I think of Mel, and how she looked before she lost her kid, that baby bump beginning to show. What would Beth look like? Would I find the same look of amazement and joy on my face that I’d witnessed on Pyro’s when Mel had announced she was pregnant again?

Does Beth even want kids?

As I lie here, each breath I breathe in carrying her scent, I realise why I’ve never wanted to spend the night with a woman before, it’s because they weren’t right, they weren’t Beth. I know right now I’d be happy to have her in my bed every night.

Tomorrow, we’ll have a talk. I need to find out where her head’s at, and whether she’s thinking along the same lines.

With thoughts I never expected in my head but also a feeling of contentment, my own eyes close and I follow her into sleep.

“Hey.” Feeling movement as she gets off of the bed, I stretch out my hand and pick up my phone, then glare. “It’s six am, babe.”

“Gym, I told you.”

Can’t deny she had. But at the ass crack of dawn?

“You want to do something later?” I try to sound nonchalant, but inside I’m crossing my fingers, hoping she’ll say yes. Now’s not the right time, but later I’ll broach with her, some of the thoughts I had last night. See if we can move this on, admit it’s not just sex.

“Tonight?”

I shrug. “Why not? Unless you’ve got to be home in case Connor turns up.”

She considers for a moment. “I can’t spend all my time sitting around waiting. If he doesn’t turn up, I could come back later on. If that’s what you’re asking.”

“You up for another party?” I wink at her.

She raises a brow. “Like I saw much of last night’s, you didn’t give me much of a chance before you dragged me back to your cave.”

“We could have stayed.” My eyebrows waggle suggestively.

“I don’t see myself taking part in a live porn show, Ink.”

“Never say never, doll.” I don’t mind a bit of exhibitionism myself. Hmm. The idea of thrusting into Beth while my brothers watched, all knowing she was mine and while they could look, they couldn’t touch, makes my cock hard. I palm it.

She ignores what I’m doing. “Right. I’m off. Er, thanks for last night, Ink.”

“Come here, doll.” I pull her to me and, ignoring the fact I haven’t yet brushed my teeth, meld my lips to hers and make sure she says goodbye properly. I place her hand on my cock, but she’s having no mercy.

“Save it for later,” she whispers with a wink.

And then, she’s gone.

I’m totally fucked. As soon as the door closes behind her, I realise I miss her.

I take care of my throbbing cock myself then wipe my chest clean with last night’s discarded tee, after which I go back to sleep. At a decent time, I awake and shower, regretting I’m washing away her unique perfume. Then at last I’m ready to face the day.

I see him as soon as I descend the metal stairs to the clubroom. “Cad!”

His pale as death face stares up at me, reminding me why we call him Cadaver. “What can I do for you?”

“Phil Foster. He lives in Denver. Dabbles in illegal shit. Can you try and dig up some info on him? See if you can find out exactly what he’s into?”

Cad bows his head for a moment and rubs red eyes which look sore from staring too long at a screen. “I can try if you don’t mind it going into the queue. Got some other shit I need to do first. It would be good to have a few more details.”

I can appreciate that. I nod. “I can probably get you more to work on. All I’ve got now is he was married to Beth’s mom, Patsy, until about eighteen years ago. His son, Connor, now lives with him. Before he moved to Denver, he lived here in Pueblo.”

“Okay. When I’ve got a moment, I’ll see what I can dig up. Presumably you don’t know if he’s a Philip, and whether that has one or two Ls?”

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