Page 15 of Complete Me
“I’m going to go back with Theo,” I whisper-yell, leaning inclose. “It’s time I get laid; I want this shit over with.” Because how many twenty-two-year-old virgins are there? Even if I’ve used my vibrator on myself plenty of times, it’s not the same and doesn’t count. I want to know what being with a real man is like and not a damn toy.
Blaire’s eyes get really big as she takes a step away from me. Weird. I lean back toward Theo to leave when, before I can even grasp what’s happening, Reid steps between us and squats down in front of me, picking me up like a caveman and tossing me over his shoulder. I screech loudly, and the sudden shift in gravity makes everything spin around me.
“Oh, no you don’t. Fuck that, Kins. You think I’m going to let you go home with some out-of-town stranger? Not fucking happening.”
“Screw you, Reid! Put me down!” I scream, my fists pounding into the hard mass of his back as he walks toward the exit of the bar with me over his shoulder like I’m some misbehaving, naughty child.
“Not a chance, sweetheart. You want to get me killed? Your brothers will have my ass six feet under by lunch tomorrow without breaking a sweat. Time to go home. Alone.”
“You’re just like my stupid overbearing brothers, you dick!” I scream. “Just let me get it over with!”
The chilly winter air hits me like a thousand knives as he stomps outside and to the side of the building, slowly dropping me to my feet, pressing me against the cold brick. His huge hands frame my face, feeling so warm against the unforgiving onslaught of the cold Washington winter air. Reid bends down significantly to be at my level, his emerald eyes piercing and genuinely concerned, but behind them, I swear I see desperation and feral possessiveness. I’ve seen it in the way Sawyer looks at Ivy. But that could be the alcohol talking because there’s no way Reid Knight is looking at me like that right now.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asks me.
“I just want it over with, Reid! I don’t want to be twenty-two and a virgin. No one will touch me, so if this dude will, he can have the damn thing!” His fingers tighten ever so slightly against my face, as if they involuntarily spasmed, before relaxing, his thumb swiping back and forth across my cheek.
“Your virginity is fucking precious, sweetheart. Don’t you dare just give that shit away. You’re trashed, and that’s not when we make huge decisions like this. It’s time to go back to Ivy’s.” His words come out softly, but there’s no confusing the demand in them. The low timbre of his voice is gravelly, like he’s trying hard to keep his composure. It sobers me quickly, and I stand there dazed and confused as Blaire walks over with my coat. Maybe he’s right, maybe I should wait for the right guy to come along. Too bad that won’t be him.
“My point . . . is that I’m used to people disappointing me out of fear of what my brothers will do. Or having fake relationships with women because they just want to get close to my brothers and use me as their way in.”
His face falls, his shoulders slumping, but his eyes never leave mine.
“I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel that way. That night, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I let you leave with someone you just met when I knew you had been drinking. Your brothers just want to protect you, and so do I. But like with everything in life, there should be balance. As far as tattooing you . . .” He pauses and releases a rough exhale while I wait impatiently for him to finish. “I’ll think about it. Okay?”
I want to snap at him like I would my brothers. Like I have in the past, when he’s pushed into territory that he shouldn’t be in. It’s no one’s job to protect me. I don’t need protection.When I look at his face, though, I’m met with such genuine care and concern that something stops me, my typical fight response retreating. He doesn’t deserve the wrath that I keep in spades for my brothers. Plus, he said he’d consider tattooing me, something I really want done. I could go somewhere else, and my sister-in-law, Hannah, said she would help me find an artist since Reid did all of hers, and up until this moment, he has been adamant that he isn’t doing it. But if I’m going to get a permanent piece of art on my body, I want the best. He just happens to be sitting in front of me and is best friends with dickhead number one.
“Thanks, Reid, I—” I’m interrupted by the front door chiming, but Reid doesn’t take his attention off me. His eyes are so serious as he looks at me, easily making me feel like the most important woman in the world, like everything around has disappeared, and I’m the center of his focus. It’s a heady feeling; one I’ve never truly been on the receiving end of from someone before. My heart does a funny thing in my chest, but I ignore it. This is just Reid. He’s close to my sister-in-law, Ivy, and has gone above and beyond with other women to make them feel comfortable and safe. He just has a way about him that makes you feel special and seen. It’s not like I actually am. Special, that is.
“You what, Kins?” he asks, urging me to go on as if he didn’t have his client waiting at reception. Something that should be more pressing and more important than listening to me ramble.
“Nothing,” I say with a smile. “You really don’t mind me watching you work?”
He looks at me for a silent moment, like he wants to press but is holding himself back, something I appreciate.
“I don’t mind at all. Neither will Rhys.”
I follow Reid out of his office and into the big room set upfor tattooing. He leads me to his station and pulls over a big chair for me.
“Need anything?” he asks, his voice a deep, gruff baritone that nearly growls out of him when he speaks. How is this man so masculine but sweet in equal measure?
“Nope,” I chirp, popping the ‘p.’ “I can always go upstairs if I’m a distraction or getting in the way.”
Reid’s eyes glance over my body in what would be a flattering, heated stare, but it’s more like he was checking to see if I would truly be a distraction.
“I’m gonna go grab him and I’ll be right back.”
Reid retreats from the room, pulling open the glass doors and leaving me alone as he moves to the small reception area. I take a second to look around at the artwork he’s framed around the shop, and make a mental note to ask if he was the one who created it all. He seems to really enjoy being an artist, and it shows.
I love being a kindergarten teacher, and I knew from a very young age that it was exactly what I wanted to do. Having summers off is a massive perk that I am one hundred percent for having, but I also miss the structure and routine of being in my classroom with all my students. Next year, I hope to have my niece, Charlotte, in my classroom. She’s such a smart little girl, and it would be so much fun to teach her.
I’m lost in thought and don’t hear the two gigantic beasts until they’re towering above me at Reid’s station. I look up from where I’m sitting cross-legged in the leather chair, and my mouth falls open slightly at the sight of the two of them next to each other.
The other man is Reid’s size, possibly bigger, which can’t be right since Reid is already the size of angry Hulk. I blink a few times, hoping the image of the two of them in front of mewill become clearer because there’s no way I’m seeing what I am.
Nope. Still barbarian sized men. Are they from Earth? Maybe they’re aliens. There’s no way two men this uncommonly large actually know each other. A convention for giants?
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
