Page 24 of My Enemy Biker

"Soon?" I manage.

"Very soon." He adjusts his jeans. "That's a promise."

I get a blanket and pillow from the hall closet. Hand them over. He sets them on the couch but doesn't move to lie down.

"Go to bed, Anna."

"You'll be here in the morning?"

"I'll be here."

I go to my room, close the door, and lie in bed listening to him settle on the couch, the soft sounds of him getting situated.

My body is satisfied but still humming, still wanting more. Wanting to know what it feels like when he finally stops holding back.

Eventually I sleep.

Then I feel dawn light waking me. I hear movement in the kitchen, smell coffee brewing.

I pull on a hoodie over my tank top and pad out barefoot.

Cain's at my coffee maker. He's washed the blood spatter from his collar, I can see the fabric is still damp. Two mugs already sit on the counter.

He turns when he hears me.

"Morning."

"Hey."

He pours coffee into both mugs, hands me one. Black. He remembered.

We take them outside to the back porch, sit on the steps. The sun's just starting to break the horizon, turning everything pink and gold. Birds are loud in the trees. Otherwise it's silent.

I sip my coffee. He's looking out at the property line, at the access road we still haven't finalized paperwork for.

"What happens now?" I ask.

"Now I go to the clubhouse. Run the trap to verify the leak." He glances at me. "And we finish the easement agreement. Make it official."

"And this?" I gesture between us. "What do we call this?"

"Inevitable." He takes a drink of coffee. "You can fight it if you want. I'm done fighting it."

I think about the choice I keep making. Letting him in at midnight. Calling him instead of the sheriff. Washing blood from his hands without asking whose it was.

"I'm not fighting it either," I say.

His hand finds mine. Threads our fingers together. His knuckles are bruised purple, split skin scabbed over. Mine are clean. We don't match in any obvious way.

Somehow it works anyway.

"You should know," he says, still looking at the sunrise. "Marrow knows about you now. Knows you're connected to me. That makes you a target."

"I figured that out yesterday."

"It's going to get more dangerous before it's over."

"I know."