Craving Cecilia (The Aces' Sons 6)

I didn’t reply.

“She’s in the bathroom next to your room,” Farrah said with a sigh. “You might be able to catch her, if you hurry.”

She left me standing in the hallway by myself, turning her words over and over in my head. Logically, I knew that Cecilia could’ve gone to the police. They would have protected her as much as they could. I also knew, in my gut, that Farrah was right. No one would protect Cecilia more diligently or wholeheartedly than the Aces—not even my own team. She was one of them, for better or worse, and they protected their own.

As I turned on my heel and headed for the bathroom, I thought about the times when I’d gone to the club, knowing that I was welcome, no matter what. The way they’d paid for my medical bills when my mom couldn’t—not only after the shooting, but before that, too. Amy and Brenna had taken me to get almost all of my vaccinations growing up. I grimaced, remembering the time I’d ended up in the hospital at fourteen. Cam had driven up to Salem, where I was living with my mom, and beat the shit out of my dealer—ensuring that he’d never sell mushrooms laced with poison again. They’d even taken care of those hospital bills.

“It’s me,” I said, opening the door to the steam-filled bathroom. I stepped inside and closed it behind me as Cecilia poked her head out from behind the glass shower door.

“Everything okay?” she asked, her eyebrows rising as I stripped off my t-shirt.

“Room in there for two?” I asked. The question was rhetorical, and I didn’t wait for an answer as I toed off my boots and stripped off the rest of my clothes.

She was still healing, and I needed to keep my head on straight for the shit we were facing, but there was no way in hell that either of us was leaving that bathroom until I felt her skin against mine. Enjoying Cecilia naked and wet wasn’t an opportunity I was willing to let pass—not anymore.

“Are you bigger?” she asked, pressing her lips together to keep from grinning as she stared at my dick. “Because I don’t remember you looking like that.”

“You know just the words to make a man feel ten feet tall,” I replied, climbing into the shower. “Or two inches tall—depending on the situation.”

“I’ve always excelled orally,” she replied in mock seriousness.

I couldn’t have stopped the laugh that came from deep in my throat. Reaching out, I slid my hands into her hair, gripping her skull in my palms. Jesus, she was so tiny compared to me. Her bruises were gone, and Forrest had removed the stitches across her ribs, but I’d never forget the way she’d looked when I’d found her that night—her face swollen and her shirt covered in blood. I’d mostly been able to put it into the back of my mind, she didn’t need me losing my shit every time I looked at her—but Jesus. The human body was so fucking fragile. Having her bare in front of me, slender and dainty, reminded me of that in glaring Technicolor.

“We can come up with a different way,” I said, running my lips down the bridge of her nose.

“I just want to get it over with,” she replied, her hands coming up to rest on my chest. “I can’t keep waiting for the next shoe to drop.”

“I’ll finish it,” I promised, pressing my forehead against hers. “You stay here, and I’ll take care of it.”

“If you thought that would work, you’d already be gone,” she said. Sliding her hands up my chest, she softly scratched her nails through my chest hair, up over my shoulders and down my arms, her hands finally coming to a stop wrapped around my forearms. “It’s going to be okay.”

“I got a bad feeling about it,” I replied, breaking my own rule about saying that type of shit right before things got messy. “Don’t do it, Cec.”

“I have to,” she said simply. “I promise, I’ll stay out of the way. I’ll be fine.”

“There’s no way to know that,” I spat, letting go of her to run my fingers through my hair. “You’ve seen how fast shit can go bad.”

Cecilia’s expression darkened. Before she opened her mouth, I knew she’d moved beyond trying to calm me and I braced.

“I do know,” she said, raising her chin. “We weren’t ready, and we didn’t see it coming. I can’t live my life waiting for that to happen the next time I let my guard down. I won’t.”

“I’d never make you,” I shot back. “There’s other ways to finish this.”

“Today?” she asked. “Because if I do this, Olive is safe today.”

I inhaled sharply, fury making every muscle in my body tense. I breathed in once, then twice, but it didn’t calm me enough to stop the urge to slam the side of my fist against the wall of the shower.