Page 31 of Her Crew

Tye looks back at me before sliding out of the seat. He waits for me to smile before he gets out. I like that he checked in on me. I could have been hit by a car in front of my mother, and she’d have just shrugged and kept walking. Or worse, fussed at me for drawing attention to us.

But I’m safe now. I need to keep reminding myself of that.

Ace and I were the last two to climb into the van, and we’re the last two out now. I climb off his lap, and he grabs my arm and tugs me backward. He gestures toward his lap with his eyes, and I look down. A dark splotch stands out on the front of his jeans. Insecurity immediately washes over me. It looks like I peed on him. I didn’t, but I’m sure everyone else will think I did if they see the large, damp area.

“How will you hide that?” I whisper.

“I don’t want to hide it.”

“They already think I’m a feral mess. I don’t want them to think I’m not housebroken as well.”

“I thought we moved on from caring about what people think?”

“Well, yeah, other people. Not these people. Not the people I essentially live with and see on a daily fucking basis.”

“Don’t worry your pretty head, Tegan.” He offers that deadly smirk, so I let it go.

We climb out of the van, and he leans against the metal and pulls out a cigarette. He shamelessly lights the tip and inhales the thick smoke. His hand hangs at his side as a cloud billows from the stick. Despite the dark stain coating the front of his pants, he exudes confidence. It feels so risky and unnecessary, but somehow so fucking sexy.

Anxiety eats away at me, but no one seems to notice the wet spot. Maybe it’s because it’s dark in this parking lot. Half the lights are out, and the rest flicker in their death throes.

Stacks hands keys to everyone else, and they scatter off with their bags. He hands our key to Alec. Though he’s allowing me to room with Alec, he still wants to keep it secret from the rest of the crew. I worry Stacks will notice the front of Alec’s pants, and I don’t think I take a breath until he ambles off to his room.

Ace puts out his cigarette, and we grab our bags and head to our room. An upside-down seven hangs on our door, and it feels like a bad omen. Despite the failing exterior, the interior is much nicer than the last motel. A king-sized bed sits in the middle of the room, and I drop my bag onto it. Before I can drop myself onto the mattress, Alec pulls me against him.

“I like wearing the evidence of our little sin on my pants,” he says as his mouth falls to my neck.

“You don’t need to be so brazen with it. You’re going to get us in trouble.”

“Trouble finds me, pup.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t need it finding me as well. Aside from you and Tye, everyone hates me, and I don’t want to make it worse.”

Without answering me, his hand goes to the crotch of my pants. A low growl rumbles his chest as he grazes the wet spot.

“I have to ask you something I should have asked before now,” he says, lifting my chin with a firm hand. “Are you on birth control?”

“That does seem like something you should have asked before you came inside me.”

“Hey, watch the sass,” he says with that sinful smirk.

“Yes, I have an implant. My mom didn’t want me getting knocked up by her boyfriends.”

Ace’s face tightens, and his smirk falls. Yeah, maybe that wasn’t the moment to say the second half of that. But then his expression softens.

“I love that you talk about your trauma. We all have a lot of it, but you’re the first who talks so candidly about that kind of pain. My kind of pain.” He pushes me onto the bed before his hands ride down my body. He works off my pants, taking my underwear with them. “I’m glad you’re on birth control, because you’re going to be filled and stuffed regularly.”

“Wait, wait,” I say as he drops between my legs and spreads them with his strong arms.

“I told you, Tegan. You get to feel this piercing on your clit,” he growls before diving between my thighs. Oh god. I’ve never felt such a thing.

“I’ve never had this done to me,” I say, a wavering moan leaving my lips on an exhale.

“Gotten cleaned up with someone’s tongue?”

I slam my eyes shut as his piercing rakes my clit, sending a pleasurable jolt through my body with each passing stroke. “I’ve never had someone’s mouth on me.”

He sits up on his knees and looks at me, and it’s a feral fucking sight. Like a lion taking a moment before he dives back into the kill. “I’m the first one to eat your pussy?”