Page 38 of Cries of Cassie

"How the fuck do you know there's a charity ride this weekend?" Maddy growls at me while pinning Parker with a nasty glare.

Parker holds his hands up in surrender. The hint of mischievousness in his eyes endears me to him a bit more. His hovering around the garage all afternoon was kind of cute, and I openly appreciated it. I mean, he's hot as fuck even if he needs his hair mussed up a bit. His attitude is growing on me as well. I don't think there's any point in trying to find the soft, gooey center everyone knows he has, because it comes out in his own way.

Plus, I love all the warning glares he gives the other men when they're too close to me or checking me out. I have a feeling he will follow me everywhere from here on out because the prospects really pissed him off.

I think some of them have a death wish.

"I didn't tell her." Parker leans back in his chair and threads his hands behind his head. Jesus. "Are you forgetting she has all the brothers at the garage wrapped around her bright red nails?"

That finally gets Maddy to look at me. He's always loved when my nails are red and wrapped around his cock. I'll need to thank Kimmy for doing my nails yesterday.

In an attempt to tease him out of his bad mood, I bring my thumb to my lower lip and suck on it just enough to make him growl. Before I can hum and arch my chest, the office door bursts open, and I swear I almost throw the fuck up.

"Holy shit!" I gasp, shoving out of my chair so fast I trip over Parker's legs and go tumbling right into his lap. To my surprise, he doesn't throw me off him. Instead, he pulls my back to his chest and wraps his hand around my throat to calm me down.

"Easy now," Parker whispers in my ear. "You want to be here, then you'll need to be okay with this version too."

By this version, he means Ripley's face and shirt spattered with blood and who knows what else. What seriously confuses me is the slight cock of Ripley’s head and concerned way he watches me.

Koa slips in behind Ripley and smiles at me. The closer he gets to me, the more I notice the blood on his neck and cheek too. I throw my hand up to stop his pursuit because there's no way he's about to kiss me with blood all over him.

Parker's fingers tighten a bit on my throat. "He's watching," he whispers, and I snap my gaze to see Maddy frowning at me. "Now's your chance to prove you can handle us. If not, he'll whip the martyr right out of his heart and push you away again just so you can be the sweet little woman he seems to think you are."

"Kitty, are you okay?"

My eyes ping-pong between the three men all looking at me with expressions varying from concerned to resigned. My attempt at wiggling out of Parker's hold is futile, so I do what they don't expect and completely relax my body into his.

Koa and Ripley stomped in here covered in blood, Maddy’s pissed at me for knowing club stuff, and the one holding me has been hostile toward me since I moved in. The best thing I can do to prove myself is offer them my trust in a very charged, possibly dangerous moment.

"Someone want to tell me why you didn't shower before coming in here?" I wonder instead of asking the burning question in my mind. What did they do and to whom?

"Shit!" Ripley scrubs his hands down his face and turns away. "I didn't think. Fuck, I scared you!"

I think I'm the only one who realizes Parker's laughing. If it weren't for the soft bounce of his chest and the puffs of air against my temple, I wouldn't know. It makes me want to be this close to him all the time so I can read him more easily.

Ripley continues mumbling to himself, ramping up into panic territory. "Ripley—" I start, but he's quick to cut me off.

"No no no, it's too soon for her to leave. How could I scare her already? I'm not a bad guy. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not!"

My heart cracks right down the middle for the man breaking in front of me. "Parker, let me up please." With a final squeeze on my throat, he helps me to stand. "Koa, can you get me a few wet rags?"

I don't spare anyone but Ripley my attention as I approach him. My gut twists with anxiety, not because I'm scared of him, but because I've never seen him as anything but his calm, intense self.

"Cassie," Maddy says my name softly as his chair creaks. Please don't force me to stop.

Parker knows me better than I thought he did, because he moves between Maddy and me to stop him. "She's just fine, Mads. Give her space to show you."

I swear my heart warms so much that his belief in me mends the break I felt for Ripley's fear of scaring me off. The good news for them is I don't scare easily. I just need my stalker man to take a breath and realize I haven't run.

Hissed arguing behind me fades away as I approach the gentle killer. I'm under no illusion that Ripley hasn’t killed people, but I don't think he's murdered without reason. I'd bet my heart on him taking down the bad guys.

Ripley spirals. "I don't want to lose her. I just got her. Hers. I'm fucking hers."

Don't fucking cry, woman. Never in a million years would I have thought an MC president would be panicking over me. Maddox sure made it look easy to leave me in the dust until his needs brought him back.

Nope. He's not important right now. My sweet psycho Ripley is.

Koa shifts back into the room and waits by the wall with the rags I asked for. Now it's just up to me to calm him down. To reassure Ripley.