Edge of Midnight (McClouds & Friends #4)(112)

His penis rose up again, indefatigable. She gazed at it, impressed. He shrugged, gave her a what-do-you-want-from-me look, and closed his eyes. Well, fine. If he could ignore it, so could she.

She stepped into the tub, sank down and wound her legs around his. “So did you get your ya-yas out? Do you feel better now?”

He opened one eye. “Fucking you definitely helped,” he said blandly. “Do you mean, am I going apeshit? I don’t know, Liv. That kite was a dirty trick. I swear to God, it was the exact same image.”

“I believe you. But maybe Kev saw the image somewhere else.”

“Our father never let us off that place, except to go to town for supplies,” Sean said. “It’s not likely he would have seen it elsewhere.”

“That kite cannot have anything to do with Kev,” she persisted gently. “You do know that, right?” She waited. “Don’t you?”

“Yeah.” He covered his eyes. “I just wish I could make it stop.”

“Make what stop?”

“This feeling.” He shook his head. “It was a twin thing. When one of us was in trouble, the other one knew it. It was like an itch, inside my mind. Fire ants, crawling through my nerves.”

“Brr,” she murmured. “Sounds uncomfortable.”

“Yeah. Anyhow, you’d figure that when he died, the feeling would die with him, right?”

She felt a shivery rush of goose bumps. “You mean…it didn’t?”

He closed his eyes, shook his head. “I feel it all the time. Not so much now as in the beginning. It drove me stark raving nuts the first few years. I had to distract myself by pulling crazy shit like jumping out of airplanes, blowing up buildings, getting tortured by warlords. That was what it took.” He leaned back against the tub, staring up at the ceiling. “They say people still feel pain and itching in limbs that have been amputated. Phantom pain. I guess that’s what I’ve got.”

“I’m sorry it hurts, but I envy you. I have good friends, but I’ve never been as close to anyone as what you’re describing.”

A faint frown creased his brow. “Guess what? You are now, babe.”

She blinked at him. “Hmm?”

“How do you think I knew to come after you? I woke out of a sound sleep full of adrenaline right before T-Rex stopped your car.”

Her mouth opened, closed, opened again. “Ah—I—”

“Get used to it.” There was a possessive gleam in his eyes. “You can’t hide anything from me.”

“I have nothing to hide,” she said. “Not from you. You always get uptight when I say things like this, but that makes me feel…safe.”

Predictably, his smile faded. “Oh, God. Don’t jinx me, babe.”

“Why are you so twitchy about that?” she asked crabbily. “I couldn’t imagine a guy more protective or vigilant or heroic than you.”

“My father was, too,” he said. “But my mom wasn’t safe with him.”

“Tell me.”

“He didn’t hit her. Fuck, no. Dad would sooner have drowned himself than hit a woman. She was everything to him. But he f*cked up. Kept her up there, pregnant, in the winter. Impassable roads. She paid the price.”

Tears stung her eyes. She blinked them away. “That’s terribly sad, but I don’t see what that has to do with us,” she said cautiously.

“Look at us, Liv. I’m doing the same thing to you that my dad did to her. I whisked you away, hid you, decided I’m the only one on earth who can keep you safe. Where have I heard this song before?”

She shook her head. “No. It’s not like that.”

He shrugged. “I’m scared shitless those bastards will get you if you go back to your folks. I don’t think the cops have the resources to protect you, either. They’re spread too thin to intercept anybody as focused as T-Rex. That’s my gut instinct, but I can’t trust it completely. Not after watching what happened to my dad.”

“You put all the responsibility for what happened on your dad,” she said. “What about your mom? Did she have any opinions?”

His shrug was eloquent. “You didn’t know my dad.”

“No, but I know you. Besides, you’re my responsibility now, too.”

His eyes widened. “Hell of a responsibility. Ask my brothers.”

“High maintenance,” she teased. “Like a Ferrari. Or a fighter jet.”

“Speaking of high maintenance…” He leaned forward, and grasped her hips, pulling until she straddled him. He prodded the head of his penis against her, and let her sink down, enveloping him. “I’ve got a part that needs some focused attention.”

She wiggled in his grasp, giggling. “But I’m exhausted.”

“So rest.” A lazy grin made his dimple deepen. “You don’t have to do a thing. But if we’re going to lie around reminiscing and telling secrets, I’d just as soon do it with my cock shoved way up inside you.”

She wiggled around him. “You can converse in this condition?”

“Best condition there is. Hugged and kissed by the princess’s tight, cushy *. I can’t believe how good it feels.”

“I can’t think a coherent thought,” she confessed, shivering.