“Breathtaking,” I finish for her.

She laughs and releases me. I do the same. Then she looks down at her stomach and the mess that I’ve made. “Shower?” she asks.

Somehow, even after everything it has been through, my dick still responds at the thought.

“Just a shower,” she warns. “And cuddles after...”

I raise my eyebrows.

“You have to stay now. You can’t give a girl a world-shattering orgasm and just leave.”

MADISON

People do crazy things when they feel like the clock is ticking too fast, or too slow, or not ticking at all.

13

KY

DOCTOR AROMA SMIRKS, eyeing me while she kicks her foot back and forth. “How’s that self-pleasuring going for you?”

I laugh once. “I’m getting a little help in that department, actually.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I mean, we’re not sleeping together, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“That’s not the be all and end all of a relationship, though.”

“Hey...calm down. I didn’t say anything about a relationship.”

She smiles. “Well, let me ask you a question then.”

“Sure.”

“Would it hurt you to lose her?”

I shrug, even though I know the truth. “Maybe,” I lie.

She smiles again, eying my sideways. “Maybe it’s a good thing. You and her. Maybe it’s a start.”

“A start?”

“To you realizing that your existence isn’t worthless. That you have something to lose. And it starts with her, but it doesn’t have to end there, Ky. You have a lot to lose. You just don’t know it yet.”

***

You know what’s better than waking up in bed with Madison? Nothing. Not a goddamn thing.

She rolls over and lazily throws her arm over my stomach when my alarm goes off. “Make it stop.”

I sit up, looking around her dim bedroom for my phone. “Where the hell is my phone?”

“Ignore it.”

I finally find the flashing light of my phone in the pocket of my jeans, discarded on the floor from last night. “I need to go train.”

She wraps both arms around me now, pulling me back down. “Skip it,” she mumbles, her eyes still closed.

I kiss her quickly. “I can’t.”

She grunts in response and lets me get up. “I’ll be back in a few hours. Your place or mine?”

She smiles, her face half smeared into the pillow. “We’ll find each other,” she says. “We always do.”

Leaving Madison in bed is hard. Too hard. I get dressed and just stand at the foot of her bed watching her sleep. She sighs sleepily when I kiss her goodbye and rolls over to her stomach, her head pillowed by her folded arms. “Hurry back,” she whispers.

And I kiss her again.

***

“So here’s what you need to do,” Jax says.

I’d called him on the way to the gym because he said he had a plan.

“Drop your phone on the table next to his when you get a chance and just accidentally pick up his and go through it.”

I laugh. “That’s your plan?”

“Dude. I can’t get authorization on anything here. The guys in the precinct—they kind of hate me.”

That gets my attention. “What do you mean they hate you? Are they causing shit for you?”

“Calm down, Captain Combative. I’m a big boy now, I can take care of myself.”

The tension leaves my shoulders.

He continues, “It’s just that I’m young—the youngest that’s ever made detective. All the old timers—even Serge—they don’t want to listen to a punk like me.”

“That’s...fair, I guess.”

“I know he’s there at the moment, and you said you guys had the same phone, so just try it. What harm can it do?”

“He could kick my ass.”

“You can take it.”

“This is a shit plan.”

“Try. That’s all I’m asking.”

“Am I looking for something in particular?”

“No. I’d be surprised if it weren’t pin-locked. Just try.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Laters.”

I step into the gym and bump fists with Tiny standing next to the door. I look him up and down jokingly. “You’re here a lot. Ever think of maybe doing more than just standing at the door?” I tap his stomach with the back of my hand.

His lips press together, trying to hide his smile.

“Serious, though. You could stand to lose a few.”

He runs his hands down his gut, a slow smirk pulling on his lips. “And get rid of the lady magnet?” He releases a chuckle from deep in his throat. “The ladies love it! More bounce per ounce.”

“More fun per ton.”

He lets out an all-consuming laugh that has his entire body jiggling.

“Yo,” I start, then look behind me at DeLuca sitting at his regular table, phone and laptop in front of him. I turn back to Tiny. “You want to grab some burgers after this?”

His eyes widen and he licks his lips.

“Tiny!” DeLuca shouts. We both face him. He’s on his feet now, shaking his head at Tiny. He’s annoyed, and I’m glad—because I’m getting to him—right in his head.

“Nah, bro,” Tiny says. “Can’t mix business with pleasure.”

“Got it.”

I step away from him, not wanting to get him in more shit. I have a soft spot for Tiny. Given any other situation—I think we could be friends.

I stop next to DeLuca. “Sorry man,” I lie. “I didn’t mean any disrespect.” I glance down at his phone sitting on the table, unlocked and on the home screen. I point to Tiny, hoping his gaze will follow. When it does, I drop my phone next to his. “I’m just trying to entertain him, you know? He seems like a good guy.”

DeLuca clears his throat before looking up at me. “He is a good guy. He’s also my guy.”

“Like I said—”

“Yo, Boss Man!” Tiny calls out. “You have a visitor.” He jerks his head to a blonde standing by the door.

DeLuca swears under his breath and pushes off the seat. Then he makes his way over to her.

Perfect.

I turn my back, blocking them from seeing my hand now on his phone. I peek over my shoulder—but DeLuca and Blondy are deep in heated whispers.

The home screen on his phone is in another language. I tap the phone icon and go to recent calls. All the names are numbers—like a code of some kind.

“Just tell her to fuck off next time!” DeLuca yells.

I drop the phone back on the table and swiftly make my way to the row of chairs against the back wall. I’ve just stripped off my shirt when DeLuca speaks from behind me. “A word, Parker?”

I turn to him—but his expression, just like his words, are calm.

Too fucking calm.

He jerks his head to the change room.

Fuck. “Sure.”

He leads me to the room and once we’re both in and the door is locked, I’m pinned to the wall—his forearm in my throat. “How fucking stupid do you think I am?”