Sexy.
If I thought Hayes was attractive the night I met him, he’s even more so when he’s caring for our daughter.
I shake that thought from my head. It won’t do us any good. We aren’t even sharing a bedroom, so clearly, he’s drawing a line.
If only it were easier to accept that.
When I stop at the gate, I wait for a sensor to swing it open. A red light pulses on one of the posts, but the gate doesn’t budge. I'm about to get out of my car to see if I can open it manually when the sound of a motorcycle approaching comes from behind.
My heart jumps. I spin around looking for Hayes, but it’s Venom who pulls up beside me.
He peels off his helmet, climbing off his bike. “Can I help you with something?”
“I need to run a couple of errands, but the gate won’t open. Do you know how to open it manually?”
Venom's eyebrows pinch as his gaze moves from me to the clubhouse. “Does Soul know you're headed somewhere?”
“He's busy. He's always busy, actually.” I nervously bite my bottom lip. “I don’t want to interrupt him over diapers when I can grab them on my own.”
I shrug, trying to play it off, while failing miserably.
I know it's a risk to leave the compound, especially given my uncle probably has eyes surrounding this place as we speak. But I'm already a burden without adding more demands to the list of things I need. So if this is what I have to do to get groceries and diapers, then I'm not going to bother Hayes about it.
Venom pulls out his phone, not taking his eyes off me as he dials someone. His black hair breezes as he brings it to his ear. With his T-shirt sleeves rolled up, I get a glimpse of the snake tattooed up his arm, winding all the way down it, to the open mouth and fangs on the back of his hand. Maybe that’s why they call him Venom.
While he’s been nothing but a gentleman to me, I have no doubt he’s lethal.
A muffled voice comes from the other end of the line, and I know it’s Hayes by the grit in his tone.
“Yeah, she's here… She said she needed to grab a couple things from in town… Diapers…” Venom listens while Hayes says something.
There's something about the vibration of Hayes’s voice that has my belly tumbling. The skin on the back of my neck prickles. It’s like my body was designed to respond to him. A magnetic pulse I can’t escape.
I really wish he felt the same.
My only night of sex led to Charlie, and I’m beginning to wonder if that’s all I’m going to get.
For a while, that didn’t matter. Between my rough pregnancy and healing from birth, sex was the farthest thing from my mind. But now, time has passed. And ever since a doctor came to the compound yesterday for mybelated six-week-postpartum checkup and cleared me for sex, sex is all I can think about. Especially when Hayes is the only person my body seems to want, and I can’t escape him in the tight quarters of his house.
“Got it.” Venom hangs up the phone, tucking it into his pocket. “Soul wants to see you at the clubhouse.”
“I’m fine—”
“Sorry.” Venom cuts me off, shrugging. "Boss’s orders."
I grumble, ignoring the amused smirk that tugs at the corner of his mouth at my irritation. I know leaving is a risk, but I’m not a child who needs a babysitter. This is overbearing. Irritating. And there’s nothing I can do about it.
Climbing into my car, I slam the door shut a little harder than necessary and start the engine. I could hit the gas and break through the gate, refusing to play into Hayes’s overprotective behavior, but then where would that leave Charlie?
Or my car for that matter?
My only choice is to turn the car around and head toward the clubhouse.
When I reach the lot, I park beside the long line of motorcycles. Between the rooms inside and the bunkhouse in the back, I have no idea how many members live on the property, but someone always seems to be roaming around.
The clubhouse is quieter today than the first time I was here, but there are still people lingering everywhere. A few guys sit at the bar up front, taking shots at midday.Others are playing darts. Some sit outside in the sun with girls on their laps.
I continue through the clubhouse, not finding Hayes as I enter the large bar at the back. Light streams in through glass doors, framing an endless desert.
