Page 38 of Brand
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Cami
The room was closing in on me. There was a huge TV but I couldn’t take the noise. I tried to leave it on with the volume on mute, but the flickering lights bouncing off the walls only made me flashback to earlier. So I sat there with the small lamp next to the bed as the only source of light. My back was pressed so hard against the wooden headboard, that the skin along my spine started to sting.
Sketch tucked me away in this room. He left only telling me that I should wash up. And that he was sure Brand wouldn’t mind if I borrowed something to wear. So, I’d taken a shower. I was desperate to wash this day away, only it didn’t really work like I’d hoped. I contemplated putting my clothes back on. It took me a good long few minutes of going back and forth with myself before I gave in and gingerly rummaged through Brand’s dresser. I gave in not only because I wanted to get rid of anything that reminded me of what had happened the last few hours, but also because I just needed his scent around me. As crazy as it might have seemed, it comforted me and gave me some small amount of relief from the anger and fear that gripped me.
Then I crashed. Not as in I slept. No, I mean the adrenaline wore off and everything hit me hard. The tears were there, filling up my eyes, but I was too much in shock to let them fall. I’d been shot at. Brand had been taken away. I had hidden possible evidence. I mean, I didn’t know for sure, but come on, why else would he have tucked the gun away. I didn’t want to think about that. What was done, was done.
Oh, God!
Brand had been shot. Even if he hadn’t seemed like it was a big deal, I thought it was. I was worried sick about him. The seconds ticked on, taunting me, laughing at me, for what a fool I’d been. Foolish at first to think that what I had felt between Brand and me was nothing more than my desperate brain. Foolish that I thought he was gay and those little moments when I’d caught him staring at me in a daze meant nothing. And stupidly, completely foolish to think that I could go back to anything else after that kiss. It was just one kiss. One dumb lock of the lips. It hadn’t lasted nearly as long as I wished it had. But oh, sweet baby Jesus, did it imprint itself on my soul.
In that moment, nothing else about about him mattered. Not the fact that he was in a motorcycle club. That he was possibly on the wrong side of the law, because at the moment when he kissed me I didn’t know for sure. And honestly, I didn’t really know now, but I was a smart enough girl to catch onto the signs and read between the lines that hadn’t even been said.
Then it was over, and I found myself caring about those things far too much. And not in the way a normal person would. All I wanted to do was protect him and his club. I wanted to do anything and everything to find the answers to the things I felt in my gut were wrong. I wanted to save him.
I needed him. I didn’t know it before and it all seemed to be happening so fast, but Ineededhim. Maybe it had been there all along and the circumstances of the things I’d led myself to believe held me back. Kept me from realizing how I felt.
None of that mattered now.
The door opened unexpectedly and my eyes snapped in that direction. His beautiful eyes landed on mine and instantly his face softened. I didn’t think. I didn’t hold back. I didn’t care if I looked like a desperate fool.
My legs unfolded from my chest and in a blink, I crashed into his hard body.
“Shhh,” he whispered as his arms circled around me and held me tightly. “It’s okay.”
That was when the stupid tears fell. I couldn’t help it. I tried to speak but the words fell out of my mouth in a jumbled language.
“Cami.” His tone had a chuckle to it and I wanted to hit him for thinking anything about this was funny. His big, rough hands framed my face and tilted it until I was looking into his beautiful chocolate eyes. With one hand he swiped the hair away from my face and gently tucked it behind my ear. “I’m fine. But I won’t lie, I kind of like the idea that you were worried about me.” His lips twitched as if he was holding back a smile.
“It’s stupid, I know. I can’t explain…” My words trailed off and for once I was glad my brain had cut my mouth off from the crashing runaway train of word vomit. I blew out a hard breath, just happy that he was here. “Your shoulder. Shit. And they took you away…I-I hated that.”
“And I hated that you had to see all that.” His eyes turned sad for a moment. “I’m sorry I put you in danger. I’ll never forgive myself for that. Cami…”
“Don’t,” I all but screamed. I’d had hours to think and I’m sure he’d had the same. And I thought about a lot during that time. At the end of it all, I knew with full certainty that I didn’t want him to push me away, and so I wasn’t even going to let him try. “I get it. You and I are from completely different worlds. But I…I can’t help but feel that there is something here. I don’t want you to let me go.”
“My world can be messy. You deserve better.”
“I like messy. I like life full of color. If I wanted bland and boring, I wouldn’t have ever walked into your shop. I wouldn’t have ever stood there and all but begged for you to teach me. I sure asfuckwouldn’t have offered to scrub toilets for you.”
“You just said ‘fuck.’” He sounded way too amused to be taking what I was saying seriously.
“Yeah, well,” I said as I ran my fingers through my tangled hair. “I guess getting shot at will do that to me.”
“Not going to lie, I think your cuss word filter is cute as hell.” There was that stupid twinkle in his eyes.
I only had a second to get lost in it before his lips descended onto mine. I welcomed the kiss. I wanted it. I needed it more than anything right then, or maybe ever. My hand fisted his shirt as I pushed up onto my toes.
“I knew there was something about you that day you walked into my shop. I didn’t know why you kept clinging to my thoughts, but I didn’t mind it one bit,” he said as his lips grazed the tender flesh of my neck. I wanted to tell him that it had been the same for me but my brain had gone into shutdown mode. “You were all I could think about while I was sitting in that holding cell. That kiss…I repeated it over and over again in my mind.”
His fingers slipped inside the neck of the shirt I was wearing.Hisshirt. Slowly he inched the fabric away, exposing my shoulder, his lips trailing right behind.
There was nothing outside of this room. No danger. No club. There wasn’t even the concept of time right then. Everything stood still for us in that room, and I wanted all that he had to offer.
“You smell like me,” he breathed against my skin.
“I, um, used your shower and your soap.”Could I be any more awkward?
