Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“Cake!” Swiss’s voice boomed from the kitchen and tore the moment apart.
I scuttled back. Elden’s lips clamped together.
I gave him one last look before moving to the kitchen where everyone had gathered for the cake. Elden stood behind me. Much too close. His hands found the hem of my dress. Crept up it until his palm was flat on the skin of my ass. It stayed there the entire time we sang my brother happy birthday.
Because, it seemed, Elden was done hiding things.
We weren’t just playing with fire now. It had been set and was readying to blow with the direction of the wind.
It remained to be seen if it would burn everything to the ground.
Chapter Eighteen
“You’re not pushing me away,” I pointed out as we laid in his bed. I’d gone back to the club, slipping out with Elden after Declan had shoved his face in the cake.
We’d gone straight to his room where Elden had torn my sundress off me and spent a long time making me forget about everything but our bodies moving together.
Then I washed my face, complaining about the poor options I had in regard to skincare and brushed my teeth with him standing beside me. It felt surreal to be standing at a sink with Elden, wearing his tee, pregnant with his baby, brushing my teeth. It also felt right.
But a small voice was telling me to run. Telling me that something was going to happen to rip apart this fantasy.
I tried my best to quiet that voice as we climbed into bed, and he immediately yanked me to his chest.
It was probably much too risky for us to be sleeping together at the club. My mother knew, yes. Swiss did not. And he was apt to notice that I was not at his home in my bedroom.
Sure, I’d been at the club plenty during my visits. Partying, hanging out with my friends here. Sleeping with Elden. Or more accurately, slipping off to fuck in his room when everyone was too drunk to notice.
But I’d never slept over.
Elden held me tighter to his chest after I spoke. “Why in the fuck would I be pushing you away?”
“My mom’s little speech today.” I toyed with the comforter. “Everything she said about the club, brotherhood.”
Elden stiffened for just a moment, then he moved so he was on top of me, bracing himself on the bed so he was hovering.
He trailed a finger down my cheek. “Not anything I haven’t thought a million times over since the beginning.”
“I guess,” I sighed. “But was it different hearing it out loud, knowing there’s no escape from that now? Not knowing what will happen with the club?”
“Nope,” he continued caressing my face. “Swiss is my brother,” he agreed. “And yeah, if I’d just fucked you, treated you like some club girl and nothing else, he’d be entitled to put a bullet in my brain.”
My stomach dropped at the mere thought.
“But,” he continued. “I knew that if I was going to touch you, it was never going to be a fuck. Knew that from the very beginning. And now you’re carrying my baby. Now you’re my woman.” His finger went to my lips just as I parted them to argue. “And I know that you’ve got a lot of ideas about what that means. And fuck, maybe those ideas are right for your generation. Or with a different man. In a different club. But to me, it means something. And my words aren’t meant to make you feel smaller, make you feel like you’re not your own. You’re just mine too. And, baby, before you talk about equality, I’m yours too.”
Although I did want to argue, I couldn’t. Not really.
“I don’t know what I want yet,” I admitted. “With us.”
“Don’t recall asking you to make any decisions,” he leaned down to place a soft kiss against my lips. “But I’ll tell you one thing, I’m gonna be sleeping next to my woman. However the fuck we work that out, I’ll be doing it. And I’m not sneaking around. I’ll talk to Swiss first thing tomorrow.”
All of those squishy feelings disappeared, replaced with panic. “You should let me do it,” I said quickly. “Or my mom. He’s not going to hurt either of us.”
Elden’s brows furrowed. “Not gonna hide behind you or your mother, Violet. And I’ve already disrespected him enough by not going to him the second I knew you were it. Gonna do the respectable thing. The honorable thing.”
“When did you know I was yours?” I asked. That was not the portion of the conversation I should’ve been latching onto. I should’ve been trying to convince Elden to abandon his stupid bro code and just let the women handle it. But I knew that would be fighting a losing battle.
“The second you asked me to kiss you on the rooftop.”