was going on. I wanted him to be able to lean on me for anything, not just in sex.
“Don’t keep those messages from me, okay?” I said.
“I haven’t been,” Heath said. “I told you and Blade both.”
“I know, but I want to know when you get new ones, okay? Not only for your safety, but because I don’t want you to have to deal with that alone.”
Heath huffed an incredulous little laugh, but he looked a little shy. “It’s just a few emails. It’s not a big deal.”
“Does it scare you, though, getting them?” I asked.
Heath wrinkled his nose. “A little.”
“Then it’s a big deal to me.” More than a big deal. It was like a calling, to keep Heath safe, to protect him, to make sure he was happy and secure and not in danger.
“Why?” Heath tilted his face up toward mine. “Because they’re ex-Liberty?”
“No, but that does add insult to injury,” I said.
Heath’s face was so open, gazing up at me like he would take whatever I wanted to give him. And I wanted to give him everything.
“It’s a big deal because I care about you. And I don’t want you to deal with your fear alone,” I said. It felt good to say it out loud—like a little bit of the tense pressure in my chest was uncurling.
Heath’s mouth dropped open a little bit in shock. “What?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit. “What? Is that so surprising?”
“Yes!” he said, then seemed to think better of it, scrunching his face up in embarrassment. “I mean, no? I mean—sort of?”
He was so fucking sweet. I leaned down and captured his lips in a slow, lingering kiss. Heath sighed into it, opening his mouth against mine, his small hand skating over my chest to rest at my ribcage. Then, suddenly, like he was remembering something timely and important, he pulled away.
I raised my eyebrows curiously at him.
“I care about you, too,” he said, and even in the moonlight I could see his cheeks flush. “If that wasn’t obvious.”
“I like hearing it,” I said, and kissed him again.
Care wasn’t a strong enough word. Holding Heath in my arms, I knew the feeling I felt now—protective, warm, and overwhelming—was more than care.
But even if I was nearly ready to say it, I wasn’t sure if Heath was ready to hear it. All of this was so new to him, and I didn’t want to put any extra pressure on his shoulders by giving him words he’d feel obligated to do something about. So I’d show him, first—I’d take Ryder and his cronies out of the equation. In whatever way necessary.
I just had to get to them first.
24
Heath
On Monday, the day after we returned from Monterey, I spent the morning at Stella’s, half working on the books, and half distracting Dante from his job, which he pretended to grumble about but didn’t stop him from stealing kisses pressed to my cheek, jaw, lips, neck. He rode home with me in the afternoon, and we spent the afternoon with Raven as he set up a program to try to scrape the locations of the emails I’d gotten—after another stern talking to by Raven, Jazz, and Blade about not withholding information—but none of the IP addresses turned up any usable information. Even Rebel said that none of his contacts had turned up any sightings of the ex-Liberty guys, but they were still keeping their eyes out.
On Tuesday after my class on campus, Dante took me to dinner, and then pressed me against the wall of his bedroom and took me apart with his mouth.
On Wednesday, we sparred during his self-defense lesson, and he wore that fucking skin-tight shirt again, driving me to distraction and a hard-on that led us to frantic handjobs in the locker room after the rest of the club members had gone upstairs. Afterward, Blade asked Dante to stay and help decide on new enforcement patrols for the Crew and Hell’s Ankhor to both run, to keep eyes out for Baxter, Ryder, and Trip, and I couldn’t help laughing at him from afar as he sat in his sticky shorts, trying to act like every single person there didn’t know what we’d just been up to.
On Thursday, Dante picked me up from the college campus, loading up my bike in the bed of his huge truck, and I stayed over at his place—after informing Blade where I was by text, of course, who was grudgingly understanding. Dante laid me out