And now it would be even harder to leave her.
Now, he didn’t even know if he could.
Chapter Eight
How careless could she be? Kong had been warning her about the danger they’d be in if they got caught, and what did she do? Begged shamelessly for him to mark her.
A whimper clawed its way up the back of her throat as she pulled another wad of paper towels from the dispenser in the bathroom. Kong hadn’t been lying about them being a mess. Her shoulders and chest were smeared with a mixture of hers and Kong’s blood, and it had taken her a good while to shimmy out of her torn up fishnets and clean up her legs.
Her sex pulsed at the memory of him between her thighs, and she stifled a smile. That had been incredible. He’d been sexy and barely in control, stroking into her like he couldn’t stop. For as long as she lived, she would never look at that office the same way. Jake was going to kill her for breaking the grizzly bear snow globe she’d gotten him as a gag gift over Christmas, but she would replace it. Maybe with a gorilla snow globe.
“Come on,” she muttered as the wad of paper towels refused to absorb any of the sticky crimson around the thin straps of her Sammy’s work tank top.
A soft knock sounded at the door. That would be Jake wondering where the crap she’d gone off to when they were so busy. “Just a second!”
“Layla? It’s me, Georgia. Can I come in?” Georgia was Jason’s mate and one of the newest members of the Gray Backs. She was also a newly Turned bear, and Layla didn’t know if Georgia could handle the scent of blood that even her dulled human senses were picking up.
“Uhh.” Layla stared at her blanched reflection in the bathroom mirror. She hadn’t managed to get the puncture holes of her bite mark to stop bleeding yet, and now she’d painted her skin with gore. “I’ll be a few more minutes.”
Georgia lowered her voice. “Kong sent me.”
Layla flew to the door and pulled it open by inches. Georgia stood there all wild curly hair, freckles standing out, and a sympathetic grin on her full, glossed lips as she held up a serious looking first-aid kit.
“Oh, thank God,” Layla said on a relieved breath.
Georgia slid into the bathroom and locked the deadbolt behind her. “Jake is handling the front fine. Willa told him and half the damned bar you got your period. Barney looked nauseous. Take off your shirt.”
“But I have to wear it. It’s part of the uniform.”
“You smell like fresh meat and Kong,” Georgia said, popping the top to the first-aid kit on the counter. “Kirk is drunk as a skunk, but he’ll smell you the second you go back in there.”
Layla did as she was told and peeled her shirt over her head. “What about Kong? He’s bleeding, too. Oh my God, Georgia, I lost my mind and bit him.” In a horrified voice, she repeated the last embarrassing part. “Bit. Him. Like an animal.”
A grin transformed Georgia’s face as she pulled open a pack of cloths and began cleaning Layla’s skin. “You want to know a secret?”
Layla nodded, feeling sick at the memory of how Kong’s blood had tasted trickling into her mouth.
“I bit Jason, too.”
“You did?”
Georgia nodded and wet the rags, then began scrubbing her again. “He had another mate before me. One who died, but she was horrible to him. I hated her mark on him, so I made my own. I was human at the time.”
Layla snorted. “Georgia, what is wrong with us?”
“Not a damn thing. Your instincts kick up when you fall in love with a shifter, Layla. And Kong is fine. He’s strutting around like a proud rooster, actually. He’s already cleaned up and mostly healed, and his shirt is covering your mark. He’s just worried about you.”
Layla’s sigh released a hundred pounds of weight off her shoulders. “He’s proud?”
“Hell yeah, girl. He just bought the entire bar a round of drinks. And it’s not just as a distraction either. I haven’t seen Kong smile this much in months. I knew something had been eating away at him, but I didn’t know it was you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you. Now all his words of wisdom for everyone make sense. He was in love with you and couldn’t take his own advice because of his people. All he could do was make sure his friends didn’t waste opportunities to be with the people they cared about. Hold this,” she ordered, pressing a wad of gauze over the four puncture marks near the base of her neck.
Layla held it down hard as Georgia began scrubbing the blood from Layla’s shirt under the sink water. When she was done, Georgia pulled her own black cotton shirt off and handed it to Layla. “Put that on. Jason’s already waiting out back to take me home. I’m stealing your shirt for now.”