Page 53 of Daddy Issues

When I caught my breath, I kissed her, released my iron grip on her ass, and smacked it one time.

Kenna laughed. “Don’t make me wait so long next time.”

When I grunted, she socked me in the stomach. “I mean it. Don’t be so stubborn about something that feels so fucking good.”

That made me laugh. She was perfect. Fucking perfect.

“Crawl around and let me take you home before it gets too cold.”

She did as she was told, climbing around to the back of my bike and tucking the shirt around her before clinging to me.

I rolled back a little more and tossed the condom into the dumpster before adjusting my pants and firing up the bike.When I pulled out of the parking lot, I was ten times lighter than I’d been in years.

All this new shit I was feeling for Kenna was more dangerous than just a piece of ass. I was in serious trouble.

Kenna

Riding with Puck differed from riding with Ghost. The way he drove the bike was sexier, sleeker, and the way he wove his way through the desert was as unconscious as breathing.

I held on tight, my body still too hot from the sex to register the cool air. I wanted more of him, more of this, more of the things I had no right to ask for, but instead of letting go, I snuggled in and clung tighter.

Puck killed the engine and coasted the bike down David’s driveway. At the top, there were a few feet where the driveway dropped off. I didn’t need to remind him he’d turned in here before. He balanced the bike with one long leg, my stomach topsy-turvy for a breath, but he easily kept the machine upright and rolled over the gravel.

I’d seen several guys lose it there. But not Puck.

I was surprised that the lights from the living room glowed orange through the windows. David and Nadine hadn’t beenat the clubhouse. When they weren’t, they were usually in bed pretty early.

Sudden trepidation, not the alcohol, made it difficult to climb off the bike. When I wobbled, Puck took my hand in his, threading his fingers through mine and steadying me.

“You good?”

I’d mostly spilled my guts already in his kitchen. I needn’t explain more. “Coming home used to make me happy.” Then I swallowed hard and looked at the door.

When he stood on the bike, his leg halfway over the seat, I dropped his hand and waved him off. I didn’t need him acting like my boyfriend. That sort of obligation wasn’t something I’d hold him to.

Iwouldn’tbe my mother, love bombing someone the second I had sex with them.

“I’ll be fine. Thanks for the ride home.” I resisted the urge to hug him and walked to the house, not looking back. If I had, I’d have run back to him and thrown myself on the bike. Not because of the sex, but because I didn’t want to walk through that door.

My heart couldn’t afford Puck’s rejection if I did, so I didn’t.

As a teenager, David never had to wait up on me. There was never a reason to. When a kid who has never had a safe place to call home finally gets one, they are hard pressed to leave it. Probably why I’d spent so much time at the clubhouse—it was an extension of home.

I cowered like a naughty teen, doing something I shouldn’t as I opened the door and stepped through it. David was looking down at his feet on the couch, Nadine holding his hand and glaring at me.

On the coffee table was the ornate cardboard hat box where I’d been keeping my cash tips.

“Why do you have my stuff?” I panicked because it meant they’d been in my room. David would have seen where I was packing my stuff to move out. I hadn’t had a chance to break it to him. I’d never wanted to hurt him. Besides, I didn’t have a place lined up yet.

Nadine cleared her throat and pushed two little baggies forward on the table. One small with white powder, the other with a few pills in it. They’d been beneath the cash in that box for so long I’d forgotten they existed.

David looked up at me, his face drawn and his eyes sad. “You know how I feel about you doing this stuff, Kenna. Your mom…”

I glared past him at Nadine. She’d had to really dig, too, because that was all there was. “You went through my things, invaded my privacy?” Betrayal wasn’t so strange. I’d gotten used to it as a kid with Mom. But from David? I clutched at the space just under my breastbone, where the pain hit the hardest. It ripped through me, molten hot, burning everything in its wake.

A sob caught in my throat.

“You brought drugs into our home.” Nadine jutted her chin out. “Acting out at the clubhouse and whoring around is one thing, but this is unacceptable.”

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