Raging Hard(131)
“Lincoln.” I pulled away slightly, looking at his face. “You’re on parole. You could go back to jail.”
He shook his head. “Fuck jail. I’d break a thousand skulls to keep you safe if I had to.”
I smiled. “That’s like poetry.”
My joke seemed to soften something inside him, and his grin peeked through the mask of rage.
“What can I say? I’m a big softie.”
I sighed. “Come on, let’s sit down. Your legs must be killing you.”
“I’m fine. We should keep going, make sure the cameras don’t find us.”
I pulled away and tugged his hand, pulling him over to a bench. I sat down and he followed, stretching his legs out and wincing.
“I think Jess is probably busy making sure you didn’t kill one of her crew.”
“That’s fair. Did they get it on film?”
“Yeah. I think. I’m not sure.”
He cursed. “She’s going to use that against me, you can be damn sure.”
“But he was attacking me.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
He laughed. “I know that too. But a judge might not see it that way.”
“Lincoln.” I moved closer to him. “What were you doing out there?”
“I saw you leave. I wanted to talk. I don’t know. I wanted to explain.”
“Explain what?”
“The stupid date thing.” He paused and massaged his right knee. “It was Jules’s idea. I didn’t really think about it.”
“The date? Who cares about that?”
“You looked like you did.”
I blushed. “I was just tired.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I saw your face when that girl went up onstage.”
“Fine. Okay? Fine. I was a little jealous.”
He laughed. “A little? You stormed out of there.”
I looked at him, a little annoyed. “What do you want from me?”
“Admit you fucking want me.”
He was suddenly so close, his body warm and strong, and I didn’t want to pull away.
“You know that I do,” I whispered.
“Then enough with this bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit,” I said more forcefully. “If we keep doing whatever this is, it could mean your entire career.”
“You think I care about that?”
“I don’t want to compromise what you’ve built.”
He sighed, taking my chin in his hand and turning my face to look deep into his grass-after-rain colored eyes. “I’m already deeply fucking compromised.”
Then he kissed me. And like the first time and every time after, it rocketed through my whole body, sending shivers down my spine. It was only a kiss, a simple, boring kiss, but with Lincoln it was so much more.
After a second, we pulled away, the tingle still lingering on the thin skin of my lips.
“What are we going to do?” I said softly.
“Let me deal with it.”
“I won’t be the reason you lose everything you worked for.”
He grinned. “You already might be.”
I smacked his chest. “Don’t be an ass.”
“Just being real, Brie baby.”
“What do you think’s happening back there?”
“Probably taking him to the hospital.”
“He was drunk. Really drunk.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yeah. Breath reeked of it.”
“What a piece of shit.”
We lapsed into silence for a second and watched the few scattered people walking along the sidewalk. It was comfortable there, even though my heart wouldn’t stop hammering. I couldn’t tell if it was the lingering adrenaline from my run-in with Brent the psycho rapist, or if I just always felt that way when Lincoln was so close to me.
“I feel like I keep asking this,” I said. “But what now?”
“I don’t know. Not sure I really care.”
“You don’t have a plan?”
He laughed. “Nope, no plan. Not yet at least.”
“This thing with Brent is serious.”
“I know. I’ll deal with whatever happens. But let’s just sit here for now.”
I sighed and looked up at his face. He looked calm, almost happy, even though his whole life might be over. I couldn’t imagine what I would do if he got sent off to prison. It wouldn’t be some easy, minimum-security thing either, I figured. It would be serious prison.
But he didn’t seem to care. And his calm made me calm.
“Fine. Let’s stay here,” I said.
He looked down at me, this wicked grin spreading across his face. “And when we get back, I’m going to make you come harder than you’ve ever come before.”