Page 127 of That Girl is Trouble

I smile at my mean-faced biker, with his cold eyes and sharp lines, the tattoos I like to trace in the dark, the muscles my fingers like to explore, that softness he only has for me.

Two years. It’ll be torture.

But for Axe, I can do torture.

EPILOGUE

18 months later

Five deep breaths.

Five. I suck in a mouthful of air and force it into my chest. A loud buzz sounds out as the door in front of me clicks open. The guard to my right reaches for the handle. I let the breath drain from my lungs as my heart kicks up a notch. Two more doors.

Four. Another deep breath. I push down the irritation clawing at my chest, because there’s more waiting. Waiting for the door to unlock. Waiting for another guard to beckon me forward. Waiting for these assholes to quit their chit chat and let me the fuck out of here.

Three. The door opens as I breathe in. The crawling sensation under my skin recedes. The crushing push against my chest lessens.

Two. The last door. When it opens, it takes all my control not to sprint through it. I clamp down on the paper bag tucked under my arm filled with the few possessions I had coming in. The second I inhale that warm July air, the air free of bars or barbed wire or high fences, I want to run.

One. The last breath, but my heart is anything but calm when my feet hit the parking lot and the realization hits me. I’m finally on the other side of it. I’m finally getting what I’ve been craving for eighteen goddamn months.

Freedom.

Kat’s face comes into view first. My feet stop moving the moment we lock eyes. She grins, her face lighting up as she pushes off Preacher’s truck. She’s wearing a short-sleeved black and white plaid dress that dips low on her chest and sits high on her thighs, and I can’t stop fucking looking at her.

It’s not like I haven’t seen her all these months. The cement block I’ve called home for the past year and a half is only an hour’s drive from South Bay, but it’s different now. I’m out. There are no more tables separating us. No more visiting hours.

My hands twitch, desperate to touch her. That anticipation must be hitting her too, because she only gives me about a second to drop my shit and prepare before she’s lunging into my arms. She wraps her legs around my waist and clings to my neck. My whole body sags with relief the second I have her in my grasp. I bury my head in the crook of her neck, breathing in deep so I can take in her smell—her hair, her skin, and… I smile. Cherries.

“Fuck,” I rasp, pulling her in tighter. “Been fucking starving for this, Kitty. For you.”

She sighs into my neck, and my skin ignites at her breath on my ear. “God, me too,” she whispers. Her grip is a vise as she squeezes harder. I can hardly breathe as sobs rack her body. All I can do is cling tighter, pulling the breath out of her lungs like she’s doing to me.

After several cleansing breaths, Kat slides down my body and tugs into my chest, weaving her arms around my waist. I pull up her chin, my eyes dropping to those cherry lips. It’s the thing I missed most, I think. Her mouth. Her words. Her kiss. Tongue against mine, lips between my teeth, the noises she makes when I’m touching her. Fuck. Fuck, I missed that.

Last time, I didn’t have someone waiting for me like this. Last time I got out, all I wanted was to jump on the back of my bike and ride until I ran out of gas. But this time? All I want is her.

I hold her face a breath from mine and close my eyes, savouring the moment, the closeness. Fireworks pop off under my skin as our lips brush, and when I can’t stand the wait any longer, I finally take her mouth in mine.

Jesus fuck, I missed this.

Our kiss is rough and needy and almost painful. Lips crashing, tongues dancing, teeth against teeth. My hand finds her ass, and I squeeze hard, pulling her tighter, forcing our bodies to meld together. She whimpers into my mouth. The fucking sound alone sends a jolt right to my dick, and I deepen the kiss, desperate to feel her and touch her and do all the things I’ve been fucking dreaming about doing since I was thrown into this hellhole.

“Jesus. Will you two knock it off?” a woman’s voice cuts through the air.

I go still, reluctantly dragging my mouth away from Kat’s.

Triss glares at me, arms crossed, one eyebrow arched. “You saw each other, like, two days ago,” she says with an eye roll.

A deep growl rumbles up my chest. “Yeah? Two days ago, I couldn’t do this.” This time when I kiss her, I pull her up by her ass and guide her legs back around my waist. This time I don’t hold back. I kiss her the way I do when I’m about to get her naked. When I’m about to get lost between her thighs. When I’m about to claim her and fuck her exactly how I want. And Kat takes it perfectly. Her body responds in this sweet way that only encourages me to keep going, despite where we are, despite who’s watching.

Triss scoffs, but before I can smile in victory, Kat’s being ripped from my arms, and I’m being pulled into a firm hug. Graves claps his hand down hard on my back, and I return his embrace, fisting his leather jacket and pulling him tight against me.

“Good to see you, man,” Graves says as he releases me from his hold. “How you feelin’?”

“I’m good, brother,” I say with a grin, focus falling back on Kat. “Hungry.”

He chuckles. “Figured you’d say that. Thought we’d do lunch at the diner. I got pulled pork in the smoker for dinner tonight. How’s that sound?”

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