Eight
Skye
It took time—a lot of time—to get settled in around everyone.
Every single day I had the same group of people in my face, and it took more energy than I cared to admit adjusting to that.
I never complained to Hunter, but it was exhausting. It was just a different way of life, and I was so used to my solitude, it left me feeling lost. While the club treated one another like a family, I still felt very much like an outsider. Every while, I’d escape into my room or the bathroom and just sit in the silence, willing my anxiety to come down.
In these moments I missed Leo desperately. I missed his apartment and bed and the sweet silence. I missed waking up to his smiling face, his blue eyes staring deeply into mine. Maybe what he did, keeping me in that apartment, giving me small bouts of freedom outside to work, maybe that was okay after all. Maybe I had ballooned it in my head, and maybe it was what I needed. Except… I was certain it made me miserable, so now I was just confused with things.
I cried sometimes.
Because I never expected this to happen.
I didn’t stop to consider that adjusting to different surroundings was going to take so much out of me.
I needed to feel busy.
I stayed up one night for Hunter. He’d been spending his days going on short rides with Miles and the crew. Club business, and what have you. Same as Leo in a way, except Leo was “family obligations.”
I was starting to see the parallels.
He came back well into the night, entering the bedroom quietly so as not to disturb me. But I was wide awake and watching him move in the dark. He threw his clothes off, neatly arranging them on his dresser before escaping into the bathroom. He showered quickly, and when he emerged, he collapsed into bed and immediately wrapped his arm around me. He smelled clean, but there was a faint tobacco scent still in the air, probably from the clothes he’d taken off.
“Hunt,” I whispered.
“Did I wake you?” he asked contritely.
“No.” I shifted around so that I was facing him. I traced my fingers over his hardened face. “I can’t sleep.”
He kissed my fingers as they ran over his mouth. “What’s on your mind?”
“I miss working.”
I expected a reaction very much like Leo’s when I told him I needed out, but Hunter simply hummed. “You’re bored.”
“Not exactly.”
“You want to be busy then.”
I smiled, warmth flooding my chest. “So, you understand.”
“I can get you a job in the pub if you want to stay nearby. Or we can start knocking on doors—”
“Working at the bar would be great,” I cut in. “It would be similar to working at the marina. Plus, I’d get to really know everyone in the club.”
He bit my finger as I ran it back over his lips again. A sting shot up my index finger before he wrapped his warm tongue around it, sucking it gently.Fuck.“I’ll talk to Roy. We’ll get you set up.”
My heart picked up as he continued to suck my finger. I felt a deep pull at my centre, imagining his tongue there. “Thank you.”
He let go of my finger and laid flat on his back. “Get some sleep, Skye. I’ll get you started in the morning.”
I studied him in the dark. He seemed detached, his mind busy. It was unlike him to pull away so suddenly. We could spend hours talking (or fucking). I sensed something was amiss.
I scooted closer to him, pressing my front against his side. Then I wrapped my leg over his hips. I hated that my skin wasn’t pressed against his, that I had to wear these stupid lounge pants because it was always cold in the bedroom no matter what the thermostat was set to.
“Hunt,” I said, quietly.