Page 124 of As Thick As Thieves

“Ethan called to check in just as we got home, so he’s talking to him.” That made me happy. Cruz and Ethan weren’t close anymore, but I knew it was important to Cruz to stay in contact. They’d been through a lot together as kids, and I knew Cruz worried that Ethan’s obsession with flirting with death was going to land him in the ground sooner rather than later.

I’d seen videos of him and his friends, and the guy was a fucking idiot on a motorcycle.

“Would you like to nap while he’s busy?” I asked as I nuzzled into her neck, placing kisses across her skin as she let out a content sigh.

“That sounds amazing. Five minutes won’t hurt, right? You’ll wake me up?” she asked as she draped a leg over my hip.

“Of course.” There was no chance in hell that we’d wake her up. She was exhausted.

Knox lifted his arm, resting his hand on her hip as she drifted off, and it didn’t take long for his breathing to even out as he fell asleep, too. I tried to stay awake to savor being between them like this, but I doubted I lasted more than five minutes before sleep dragged me under, too.

Cruz

Ethan was a fucking idiot. I’d spent hours on the damn phone with him, trying to convince him that his bike was a deathtrap, but he really didn’t give a shit about his safety.

“You worry too much. You do know you break into houses for a living, right? You like a rush, too,” he deadpanned as his motorcycle started in the background, making me huff.

“Yeah, but mine’s the thrill of taking shit that doesn’t belong to me, yours is mooning the Grim Reaper and asking him to fuck you in the ass, romance optional.”

“Damn, your girl made you kinky,” he chuckled, his voice dropping. “You’ll have to bring her out here so I can meet her sometime. If she’s important to you, she must be one hell of a girl.”

“You could say that again,” I smiled, glancing at the time with a cringe. We were supposed to meet Beckett at the track twenty minutes ago. “Hey, I need to go. It’s track night. Ride safely, okay?”

“Not a fucking chance, bro,” he laughed, and I rolled my eyes as he revved the hell out of his bike before cutting the call. Mom would hate that fucking thing so much if she was still here to see it.

I found Penn stumbling around the bathroom, frantically washing her face. “We’re late!”

I leaned against the wall, hearing the water running and knowing Drake or Knox was in here, possibly both. I was glad they were a lot more secure in their relationship now, and it showed when they did things on their own, then other times they’d spend time alone with Penn. They never made each other compete for attention, managing to balance it well between the three of them.

“Slow down. You obviously needed to rest,” I scolded, knowing from the crease mark on her cheek that she’d been sleeping. “I don’t even know where Stone is.”

“He’s in the kitchen with Will. I was just in there,” Knox called out from the shower stall, and I rolled my eyes when Drake cursed on a groan. They were worse than Logan, I swore to God. They didn’t get off of each other.

Penn slowed a little, and I stepped in behind her and grabbed the brush from the sink, starting to brush the knots out of her hair. “Want it in a braid?” I asked, knowing she liked it when I pampered her. I loved nothing more than fucking her, but I didn’t mind spending time with her like this. Just like Drake, Penn’s love language was affection, and I tried hard to take note of little things that would matter to her.

Brushing her hair didn’t seem like much, but I could tell it meant a lot to her by the way she eyed me in the mirror when she didn’t think I was paying attention. I held her entire world in the palm of my hand with this goddamn brush.

Knox and Drake finally finished whatever the fuck they were doing, both of them stepping out of the stall fully dressed, and once Penn’s hair was braided and she’d put some mascara on, we headed towards the kitchen in search of Stone.

He looked pissed as he spoke to Will about some newbie who’d fucked up and gotten arrested, meaning we had to cover shit up and bail them out, but we always let them sit in a cell overnight to try and teach them a lesson.

They’d gone against orders, so this was what happened.

Stone had no idea how much of a hold Penn had over him, he didn’t see it from our perspective, but the second she walked over to him to wrap her arms around his waist, the anger vanished from his features as well as his voice, his arm absently banding around her in return.

“I’ll call and let them know we’ll get him out in the morning. They can scare him a little so he doesn’t pull this shit again,” Stone grumbled, and Will smothered a smile when he noticed Stone’s change in attitude, too.

“Want me to handle it? You guys are already late,” he offered, and as much as Stone wasn’t good at handing things over to people, he was slowly accepting Will as someone he could trust to lead more. Will had good people skills, he had a backbone, but was polite about it, meaning handling cops was something he was good at.

“Fine. Make sure you tell them to give him some grief over it, though, and not to let him know he’s getting out tomorrow,” he ordered, turning to us. “Why are you all standing around? Get in the fucking car, we’re late.”

“Yes, boss,” I chuckled, walking out with the guys and chuckling under my breath as I heard Penn scold him for being a dick. Like the pushover for her that he was, the asshole grunted an apology and followed us outside with her tucked securely by his side.

Stone

“Shh, Princess,” I warned as she screamed behind my hand while I fucked her from behind against the cold, brick wall. Her pussy gripped my dick tightly as I thrusted three more times before spilling inside her, giving her a second to remember where we were before removing my hand from her mouth. She slumped against the wall, the sound of car engines and drunken laughter surrounding us in the dark. Fucking her behind the bathroom out in the open was stupid, but I hadn’t seen her all day, and I wasn’t going to make it until we got home.

I pulled out of her, straightening her panties and jeans before putting my dick away, not giving a fuck if someone copped an eyeful of that. They shouldn’t have been sneaking around behind the bathroom if that was the case. We were completely out of view, but anyone close by would’ve heard us.

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