Chapter Twenty-Nine
Harley
I was collapsed on the bed, too wiped out to even care that the wet spot under me was growing cold against my skin – the head of my dick must have poked free of the jock without me noticing - when I noticed a shift in Scott's demeanor. He was still right next to me, our hips pressed together, but he seemed stiff and there was a chasm between us that I wasn't sure how to bridge.
As we lay there in the silence, I replayed everything we had done. Had I been too demanding? Too eager? Too…something? He'd seemed to enjoy it – certainly hadn't complained during the act – but after…
When I couldn't take it anymore, I took a deep breath.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"What?" Scott was obviously startled as his head swiveled toward my face. "No, of course not." His eyes softened and he laid his palm on my chest. "You were perfect." When I didn't respond, he sighed. "The condom broke."
I couldn't help but laugh. "Really? That's all?" When he didn't laugh with me, I nudged his shoulder with my own. "I mean, we're both clean, aren't we?"
Scott drew in a deep breath and released it slowly, relaxing next to me. "Yeah, baby. Of course we are." He burrowed one arm under my body and rolled me over on top of him. "I didn't mean to freak you out."
I spread my legs, letting them fall to cradle Scott's and snuggled closer. "I'm not, really. You got so distant that I thought maybe it wasn't good for you."
"Silly." Scott stroked my head and then smoothed his hand down my back. Then, with a wry chuckle, "You made me come so hard that I blew through the condom and you didn't think it was good?"
I laughed with him, rubbing my face against his chest hair. "I guess I should get up and fix you actual food, hm?"
Scott tightened his arms around me. "Soon. For now, I just want to hold you."
~*~
"So, what's our plan?" I set the plate holding both of our food in Scott's lap and crawled back under the cover with him, leaning against the wall. In retrospect, I probably should have asked more questions when he suggested that we sneak out of the hospital and run, but, honestly, I felt so safe with him that it really had seemed like a no-brainer. After that first time at the cliff's edge, I hadn't even had an episode when he was with me.
As corny as it sounds, he was my safe place.
My anchor.
"Well," Scott wolfed down half of the first sandwich in two bites. "I didn't tell that damned detective, but I'm guessing he was right that you were at the club trying to find out what happened to you."
It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway.
"So I thought that we'd take another run at tracking down the men you were chatting with. See what they know."
"Really?" The potato chip I'd put in my mouth turned to sawdust and I had to take a drink to wash it down. "You're not mad at me for that?"
"For what?" The rest of the sandwich was demolished. "Talking to other men?"
"Well, yeah," I tried to keep from cringing but failed. "I really wasn't going to hook up with him, I swear."
"I know." Scott looked at me curiously. "Har, it never even occurred to me that you were."
The breath I didn't realize I was holding escaped in a rush and I laughed, nearly giddy with relief.
"That said," Scott set the empty plate aside and tugged me onto his lap, "I would really prefer it if you never took that kind of risk again." He nuzzled into my neck. "You can tell me anything, Har, and I'll always have your back. When I saw all those creeps swarming you.." he trailed off, sucking lightly on the tender skin behind my ear. "Please don't scare me like that again."
A familiar panicky feeling crept over me, making me think I'd pronounced myself cured of the episodes too soon.
"Hey, hey, none of that, Harley," Scott crooned into my ear, holding one of my hands to his chest and stroking my back firmly with the other. "Deep breaths. Stay here with me, baby."
I tried to match my breaths to his and quickly noticed that same increase in the scent that was so totally him.
"I'm not mad at you, Har," he continued to murmur softly in my ear. "I never was."
When the fear began to dissipate, he brushed his nose over the back of my neck. "That's better."
"Sorry," I mumbled, staring down at the blanket and wishing for the millionth time that I wasn't so fucked up. It wasn't like I could really expect Scott to put up with my issues indefinitely.
"Of course you can."
"Huh?" I jerked my head up.
"Expect me to stick around," he clarified, leaving me wondering if I'd spoken out loud. "I'm not leaving you. I told you that." Scott pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. "You're stuck with me."
The fear was slowly being replaced by a warm internal glow and my body just sort of melted against his chest, as I inhaled the scent of his skin.
"Anyway," Scott switched back to the previous topic as if we'd never left it, "I think it makes more sense to go back to the area where you were living with Zade."
"Aren't we running from them?"
Scott laughed. "No. We just needed a little head start and now we've got it."
"Why do you think we should go back there?"
"Well," Scott said thoughtfully. "The Oh! Club is a chain and dating sites usually use an algorithm to help match members with people close by. So there's a good chance that we were actually at the wrong club the other night. The people that we're looking for might be at a different location. One closer to where your profile says you live."
I tilted my head back and stared into his eyes.
"What?"
I couldn't help but laugh. "With all those professionals working on this case, how is it that none of them came to that conclusion?"
Scott shrugged self-consciously. "Just lucky, I guess."
"I don't think so," I disagreed, leaning forward to plant my lips hard on his. "Scary smart is a little more like it." Suddenly eager to be on the road, I grabbed my pants from where I had tossed them on the floor earlier and yanked them on over the sticky jock. "Well, let's go, Alpha. We're burning moonlight!"
When Scott didn't respond, I turned to find him watching me with an odd expression. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, really," he said swiftly. "But that's the second time you've called me Alpha. How come?"
Was it? Although, I could swear I remembered him referring to himself that way the day I'd snuck in to use his laptop and ended up sitting on his face.
"That's right, baby. Let your Alpha in."
A shiver ran through me as I recalled the pleasure that had followed his words.
I shrugged. "Dunno. Is Big Daddy better?"
Scott snorted out a laugh and shook his head, reaching for his own discarded jeans.
"Gods, no. Let's hit the road."