Page 82 of Knight
“No one?” I asked hesitantly.
He shook his head, smiling wryly. “Burned all my bridges long before that day. Hell, I thought I was helping someone, even as I did all the wrong shit. That’s my problem. I don’t know when to fucking quit while I’m ahead.”
There was a dark edge to his tone that nagged at me. “Something happen with Tex today?”
“Not with him. With me, I guess. I’m just falling back into bad habits I don’t like.”
“Want to tell me?”
He slanted a look sideways. “I don’t know. I’d hate to ruin the attraction for you. Not much appealing about me telling you all my flaws.”
I shrugged. “It just makes you human, Knight. We’re all flawed.”
“Not you.” He gently turned my face toward him as he leaned in for a kiss.
“Especially me,” I murmured.
As hard as I tried to be perfect, I was always falling short.
He kissed me again, deeper, so that the flavor of my food mingled with the taste of him. I grabbed his T-shirt, pulling it up, and he helped me strip it off.
Then he laid me back on the sofa, blanketing my body as he kissed me again.
“You feel fucking perfect,” he said as he hiked my left leg up around his hip.
“But I’m not,” I said, pushing the issue even though it would be smarter to let him fuck it out of his system instead. “Tell me what happened. I won’t judge you. I promise.”
He rested his forehead against mine, eyes closing.
“Or not,” I said when he didn’t speak. “We’re just fucking around. I get it.”
His eyes snapped open. “What? That’s not?—”
I tugged him into another kiss, trying to dismiss the pang of hurt in my chest. I was the one who wanted,needed, to keep this casual. I shouldn’t have blurred the lines.
Knight drew back, sitting up and running his hands through his hair. “No, Aiden. It’s not like that.”
I pushed myself upright, face hot. “What’s not like what?”
“Maybe we’re not dating, but I don’t want you to feel like you can’t talk to me,” Knight said. “You’re not just some sex object to me.”
I grimaced. I hadn’t thought of it inthoseterms, exactly.
“I know that. You wouldn’t think that way.”
His eyes met mine. He lifted a hand to rub over his upper bicep, almost as if he was trying to erase the ink there. He cleared his throat. “Today, I found out Tex’s sister had a nasty ex giving her trouble. There was a good chance Tex was going to end up in a fight with this asshole, and he’d be sure to go back to prison, so I…” He lifted his fingers, displaying the serpent tattoo. “I used my affiliation with the Serpents to intimidate this guy into leaving Tex’s family alone.”
“Okay…” I waited for more, but it didn’t come. “Is that all?”
He blew out a breath. “I promised myself I wouldn’t be that guy anymore. The biker outlaw. The violent enforcer.” He rubbed his knuckles as if remembering all the ways they’d wreaked havoc. “But when I threatened that asshole, I felt like that guy again. And it scares me, because using those ties is one step away from being one of them again.”
“A pretty big step.” I took one of his hands and kissed his knuckles. “You didn’t hit this guy, right? Didn’t assault him?”
“Mostly just intimidated him.”
I nodded. “And if you hadn’t done that, what would have happened?”
“I don’t know. Most likely, he’d have eventually threatened or hurt Tex’s sister, and Tex would have lost his shit. Got sent back to prison.”
