Page 88 of False Start

“Life’s never been that easy for me.”

“Today it is.”

“Cain?”

At the sound of the nurse calling me—the same nurse who’d called my name before in this waiting room—I turned while keeping Mayhem in my arms, a knot in my chest making it hard to take a breath. “How is she?”

“She’s going to be fine. The doctor will be out in just a minute to fill you in,” she said with a reassuring smile.

“Thank you.” I squeezed Mayhem again and scrubbed my hand over my face. “She’s going to be fine. Jesus.”

“Well, no offense to him, but I was kind of hoping to take credit for this one,” Mayhem said with a relieved laugh as she peered up at me with her chin propped on my chest.

“The credit’s yours. I’m glad you came.” I framed her face with my hands and slid my fingers into her hair. “You’re exhausted.”

“I’m stressed.”

“And exhausted. You should go get some rest.” I dug my fingers into her scalp, enjoying the way her mouth fell open. Really enjoying the way she sank her teeth into her bottom lip.

She hummed, the vibration sinking into the pads of my fingers. “You get to boss me around on the track, not off it.”

“If that were true you never would have gone down to the house and found my sister.”

“On the track, Coach,” she said as her eyes narrowed to slits before sliding closed. “You tried to boss me around on the infield.”

Her pulse fluttered in the soft skin of her throat along the column of her neck and my mouth ran dry. “I’m glad you didn’t listen.”

“Me too,” she whispered.

I dragged my thumb over the edge of her jaw. The blood rushed through me, my heart kicking up a notch. This was what I wanted. To be touching her. Always touching her. “Lilith said you were sweet with her.”

She hissed, her head falling back farther. “Yeah, well, don’t tell anybody.”

“This is cozy,” Lana called from across the room.

“Shit.”

“What?” Mayhem blinked up at me, her eyes unfocused.

“Lana.”

Lana rolled over a knowing smirk on her face. “So this is the girlfriend everyone’s been talking about around town.”

“Don’t start shit, Lana,” I warned her even as I knew it would do no good. The girl—woman had always said exactly what she wanted to, when she wanted to.

“I’m Maisy,” she said with a smile, not doing one thing to dispute the girlfriend designation.

What the hell did that mean?

And if that was the case, why the hell did we have a kissing rule?

“Lana Bradley. Nice to finally meet you,” she said, shaking Mayhem’s hand as she turned her all too perceptive gaze on me. “And you…why the hell didn’t you tell me you have a banked track?”

“Sure, that would have been a brilliant idea.”

“Hey!” Lana said. “Just for that I want in. I’ve gotta see this.”

I sliced a hand through the air between us. “No way in hell.”

---