how to pick up the pieces!”
“It’s done now, and everything went smoothly,” he says, even though that’s not the full truth. We still have one more stop to make.
“That’s what you think!” Roman yells. “If you had been patient, we could’ve done this right and made sure we all stay clear, especially Tessa! I don’t know if this was supposed to be some sort of romantic gesture or what, but you have royally fucked everything up, not to mention bailing on your goddamn job at the club last night!”
“I asked Leo to cover for me every night I’m gone. He was fine with that. And Tessa and I wanted to keep the heat off of the Kings. We’ll be on the road before anyone here is the wiser,” Verek says calmly.
“You’re done! You know that, right? Not only did you disobey my direct order, but you’re supposed to be running the nightclub! Get your ass back here now! Send your cut in with Tessa when you drop her off at my house, and then your dumb ass better not ever step foot in my city again!” Roman demands before the phone line goes silent.
Verek sits up and closes the old flip phone, then tosses the device down before he jumps up and makes a run for the bathroom.
I slap my hand over my own mouth when I hear him heaving over and over again. When the horrible sound finally stops, I yell, “Are you okay?”
“Getting a shower,” comes his muttered response just before I hear the water cut on.
Restless, I get up and turn the television on while he’s washing up, pacing around the small room, waiting for him to come out so I can see if he’s okay. Of course he’s not okay. After what we did, it made him physically ill!
Half an hour passes, then forty-five minutes while I grow more and more concerned, and yet the water still doesn’t cut off. Steam is steadily pouring out of the bathroom and into the room since Verek left the door open.
After it’s been an hour, I finally give in and go to check on him.
“Are you okay in here?” I ask when I see his profile through the clear, fogged-up shower curtain and try to tell my eyes to look away. But his body is just too perfect to not stare at. His palms are braced above his head flat against the shower while his head hangs between his strained biceps. There’s not an inch of fat on any part of him, just lean muscles down his front and backside, down to his round ass and strong legs.
At first, I think it’s the sight of him that has me roasting, but then I realize it’s the temperature in the bathroom.
“Verek?” I ask. “You think you’re almost done?”
“I-I don’t think I’ve started yet.”
What?
“You’ve been in here an hour, and the water temperature seems a little high.”
“I think it’s burning me,” he says calmly.
“Then turn it off!” I exclaim at him, but he doesn’t move.
Taking a deep breath, I march over and reach into the side of the curtain closest to the faucet and turn it back toward the middle. I wasn’t going to look at him, I swear I wasn’t, but there’s so much of him that it’s impossible not to. My eyes land immediately on the V carved into his hip bones before dropping to his thick cock hanging between his legs. Embarrassed by my gawking, I quickly lift my gaze to his chiseled abs that are even etched in his side, under his ribs. I take in his defined pecs a second as I make my eyes lift to his face. His sad eyes look more gray than blue in the fog of the shower and are looking right at me.
Finally, he moves. Removing his hands from the wall, he shoves them through his short, soaking wet hair and then turns his back to me, tilting his head back into the stream as he says, “Before…you couldn’t stand for me to touch you no matter how much I wanted to, but I knew it wasn’t my fault. Now, after what I did, I doubt if you’ll ever want to touch me. I hate that this is my fault.”
“After what you did?” I repeat, my voice hoarse either from his words or all the steam. “Verek, you’ve helped me, more than anyone! I owe you…everything,” I tell him, but he doesn’t acknowledge my words which is so infuriating.
That’s apparently