Zero Hour (A Prequel to Zero Tolerance)

by Autumn Jones Lake

  She has the nerve to roll her eyes. “I’m supposed to believe that?”

  “Believe whatever you want.” I stalk into the bathroom and just barely stop myself from slamming the door. I take a few seconds to clean up and calm the fuck down. No one twists me up the way she does. No one.

  When I emerge, a little more rational, she’s sitting in the bed with her knees drawn up, the sheet covering her right to her chin.

  “I’m sorry,” she says softly. “You’re the only…don’t worry. I haven’t been with anyone else in a long time. We’re good.”

  Any lingering anger disappears, and I pounce on the bed, ripping the sheet away from her and replacing it with my body. “Really?” I ask, drawing the word out until I get her to laugh.

  “Yeah, really. Don’t be so smug.” She reaches out and cups my cheek, her soft fingers brushing against my skin. “I think you’ve ruined me for any other man.”

  “Nothing wrong with that.” I move in closer for a kiss and she makes this little noise that sounds like either agreement—

  Or denial.

  I could get used to waking up with Lilly next to me.

  Even after the broken condom fiasco.

  She makes me think about all sorts of things I never considered before meeting her.

  But Lilly’s a tricky one. I try to talk to her about us moving from fuck buddies to serious couple, she shuts me down.

  Every fucking time.

  It’s annoying. And if she wasn’t the hottest fuck I’ve ever had as well as the smartest chick I’ve ever spent time with, I would have lost her number long time ago.

  Soft scratching at my bedroom door pulls me out of bed. The pups wriggle and dance their way into the room. After being displaced last night, it was a miracle they hadn’t howled or scratched at my door all night. “Uncle Sparky take care of you?” I whisper as I bend down to scratch behind their ears. “I owe you two extra cookies.”

  I throw a quick glance at Lilly—still sound asleep and slip on a pair of sweats before running the dogs downstairs and outside.

  A few guys are still up. Stash and Ravage are busy smoking dope in the living room. Dex is there too but seems to be halfway sober. Swan’s sort of passed out in his lap. I lift my chin at her. “She okay?”

  “Yeah,” he answers slowly.

  “You should have seen the show she put on in the champagne room last night,” Ravage says, wiggling his eyebrows or emphasis and earning a scowl from Dex.

  Great. Always has to be some complication around here.

  “Where’s Willow? She go home?” I ask.

  Stash raises his eyebrows and points to the basement door. “With Sparky.”

  “Really?” Man, I can’t wait to rib Willow this week at the club.

  Stash shrugs, but there’s a lingering smirk that makes me want to press him for details.

  “Oh my God, why are you guys up at this hour?” Trinity asks from the hallway. I turn and find her dressed to work out, an inexplicable smile stretched across her face.

  “What are you doing up so early? Shouldn’t you be exhausted from your maid of honor duties? Or from your man?” Ravage asks.

  “Watch it,” Wrath growls coming up behind her and yanking her against him. He leans down, whispering something in her ear that makes her laugh softly and smack his chest. Without saying anything else, she turns and heads back down the hall.

  “Why so grumpy?” I ask.

  Wrath grins. “Oh, I ain’t grumpy at all.”

  Intrigued, Ravage and Stash sit up. “What’s up, bro?” Ravage asks.

  “Nothing. Later.”

  With those cryptic words, Wrath turns and walks down the hall.

  “Something’s up with those two,” Ravage says.

  “Wow. You could be like a detective or something,” Stash snarks at him before lighting another joint and inhaling deep.

  “Fuck off.”

  “This has been fun, but I’ve got a hot, naked chick in my bed.”

  “Need some help with that?” Stash asks, just to be a dick.

  “No, ya fuck,” I growl at him.

  The two fuckwits have a good laugh. Dex just rolls his eyes. The pups jump up on the couch and settle into the cushions behind Swan.

  “Watch them?” I ask.

  “Yeah. No problem,” Ravage answers.

  I take the stairs two at a time and let out a breath when I find Lilly still sound asleep.

  Fuck, I like having her here.

  I slip into bed next to her and watch as she slowly wakes.

  “Morning.”

  She gives me an uncertain look before stretching.

  “How long have you been up?” she asks in her sexy-morning-husky voice.

  “Few minutes. Had to run the dogs out.”

  She picks her head up and looks around. “Where are they?”

  “Downstairs.”

  “Sorry. You didn’t have to kick them out because of me. I like dogs.”

  In a sweet gesture that I don’t think she gives much thought to, she leans in and kisses my forehead before tossing the covers back. I admire her naked ass all the way to the bathroom and wait for her to come back.

  She returns wearing one of my T-shirts.

  “I can’t vouch for how clean that is if you picked it up off the bathroom floor,” I warn her.

  Her nose wrinkles and she pulls at the shirt to smell it. “It smells good. Like you.”

  She jumps on the bed and crawls back under the covers, snuggling up to me.

  This is nice.

  Real nice. I could totally get used to this.

  Maybe it’s time to stop fucking around and be straight with her. No more jokes or half-ass attempts. Real shit.

  And when she says no, I’ll fuck her until she says yes.

  Lilly

  I hate how much I liked waking up in Z’s arms. I like my independence. Sleeping in my own bed. Not having to worry about impressing someone twenty-four-seven.

  But I really like Z. I’m comfortable around him. Something I never expected.

  He’s so warm and hard against me, I wriggle, trying to get closer. Not because I’m cold, but because I like how he feels. How this feels.

  Tipping my head back, I catch him staring at me with an intensity I’ve never seen. Not sexual.

  Something’s on Z’s mind. On the outside he seems calm, but I see his pulse at his neck fluttering. I reach over and place my hand over his heart. It’s racing.

  “What’s on your mind, Z? You look like you’re about to have a stroke.”

  He doesn’t even crack a smile at my idiotic teasing.

  “Last night. Remember how we both admitted we’ve only been seeing each other?”

  “Uh, I don’t think that’s what we said.” He keeps staring at me until I fidget. “We said we hadn’t fucked anyone else besides each other.”

  “Same thing,” he growls, clearly frustrated with me.

  But it’s a lie. I’ve dated a bunch of guys in between seeing Z. I just haven’t wanted to sleep with a single one. None of them. Try as I might to find someone else, my lady bits were on strike when it came to anyone other than this intense, sexy beast of a man.

  “How about we officially only see each other.” He doesn’t really phrase it as a question. His voice never wavers and his eyes never leave my face, but he’s so strained. So serious. And I have the feeling it’s killing him not to declare I’m his. Like a caveman.

  “You want me to be your girlfriend, Z?” I ask, just so I know we’re both on the same page.

  “I’m a little old for girlfriends, Lilly.” He closes his eyes and when he opens them he’s staring somewhere over my shoulder. “But we can start there if that’s easier for you.”

  Wow. I don’t know what else to think. My mind keeps repeating wowwowowow. “How does that look? You work in a strip club. You live here. Have girls around just to service you when you’re feeling randy. You’re on the road a lot. How…?”

  The hardenin
g of his expression makes me lose track of my own words.

  “You never said anything about Crystal Ball before,” he finally says.

  “You never wanted to be a couple before.”

  “Bullshit,” he mutters.

  “I didn’t say no. I’m asking questions.”

  “Fine. You want me to quit my job?”

  Shit, do I? It seems unfair. I probably get hit on more often working at the legislature than he does in a strip club.

  “No. That’s not fair. Either I trust you or I don’t.”

  He turns then, surprise written all over his face. Guess he didn’t expect that answer.

  “You want me to move out of the clubhouse?”

  “Don’t you have to live here?”

  “No. Some of the guys live off-campus,” he says with a smirk, as if I’d spoken my frat-house comment out loud last night.

  “But you’re happy here.”

  He doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t have to. I saw with my own eyes last night how at ease he is here. How much he likes being around the guys he considers his family.

  “If anyone should move, it’s me. You’re here. My job’s down in Empire…the commute—”

  “I come before your job. That’s a start,” he says dryly.

  There’s a lot of noise, shouting and banging around in the hallway. Nothing alarming. Just the guys waking up and being guys. Z grinds his teeth as if it’s bad timing, but I stop him with a hand on his shoulder.

  “In the past, I’ve had interest from rental agencies…to rent my house out in the summers because it’s so close to the lake. I could…I could rent an apartment closer to you.” My heart’s thumping so hard I barely get the words out.

  He flicks his gaze my way and a brief smile touches his lips. “We can talk more about this later.”

  A breath of relief leaves me. Z’s sensitive to my mood. He realizes how hard this is for me and he’s giving me space.

  “Let’s go down for breakfast. I bet the happy couple will be over soon.”

  “Oh, good. I’d like to see Hope before I leave.”

  His mouth twists.

  “How long do you want me to stick around?”

  “I probably shouldn’t answer that.” He throws the covers off and in a fluid, sexy motion, pushes himself over top of me, caging me in with his thick, muscled arms. Not even a tremor from holding himself up over me. He dips down and kisses my forehead before moving off the bed.

  “You’re awfully graceful for such a big guy.”

  He smirks at me.

  “Shit. My bag is down in Trinity’s room. I don’t have anything to wear besides my bridesmaid dress.”

  He doesn’t tease me or hesitate. “I’ll go grab it for you.”

  Maybe he’s good for me after all.

  * * *

  Zero

  I got further than I ever expected to with Lilly today. I’m not stupid, though. Sensing it was time to back off, I did. Her mind’s turning, working it out in her head. That’s enough for now.

  Opening the door to run downstairs and grab her stuff, I almost trip over the bags waiting on the floor. I pick them up and turn to Lilly. “Yours?”

  She lets out a soft laugh and nods.

  Fifteen minutes later, we’re headed into the dining room hand in hand. Trinity’s at the usual table flipping through a big pink binder. “Christ, Trin, the wedding’s over. Put that thing away.”

  Startled, she glances up and slams the binder closed, sliding it under her chair. “Morning.”

  “Where’s your other half?” I ask as we approach the table. Lilly lets me pull a chair out for her and she even sits in it without a single comment.

  Trinity points to the doorway, and I turn to see Wrath trying to sneak up on me. “Not today, fucker,” I holler, dropping into the chair next to Lilly before he bear hugs me or whatever the fuck else he was planning to do.

  He’s wearing the same shit-eating grin he had on earlier. “What’s up, brother?”

  He falls into the chair next to Trinity and flings an arm around her shoulders. “I’ll tell you in a few.”

  Now I’m really curious. But he turns his head, nuzzling against Trinity’s shoulder and whispering something in her ear that makes her laugh.

  After a few minutes she glances around the dining room. “I’ll go check on the girls—”

  Wrath clamps his hand over her leg, keeping her in place. “Not today,” he says, just loud enough for me to hear it.

  Lilly catches my eye and I shrug.

  Murphy and Teller join us next. Teller looks worn out while, Murphy, I’m not sure what’s going on with him. His knuckles on his right hand are scraped up, though. “Get into it last night, little brother?”

  For some reason, he and Trinity share a look. “I’ll tell you later.”

  “What the fuck is everyone so secretive for this morning?” I grouch.

  Teller bursts out laughing. “Probably waiting for Mom and Dad to get here.”

  Wrath rolls his eyes. “Christ, they’ll both kill you if they hear that.”

  Lilly shakes against me. “Mom and Dad?”

  Murphy makes a circular motion with his hand, indicating everyone at the table. “Rock is the dad—”

  “No, no, I get it.” Lilly laughs even harder. “No wonder Hope doesn’t want kids. She already has a house full of them.”

  Trinity laughs with her. “Exactly.”

  Serena and Mariella burst out of the kitchen with mugs and pour coffee for everyone. Lilly gives me a curious look but doesn’t say anything.

  “Hey, newlyweds!” Murphy shouts, making all of us turn our heads. Rock sort of glares at each of us and tries to tug Hope back out the door.

  “How was the wedding night?” Wrath yells.

  I can’t resist messing with them either. “Was it worth saving yourself for?” I ask.

  Prez rolls his eyes and glances at Hope. “I told you we should have eaten breakfast at home.”

  She shushes him and they take their seats. Hope’s a sharp girl. She looks around the table, taking each of us in. She smiles briefly when she notices Lilly’s still here. But her gaze goes back to Wrath and Trinity who have matching grins stretched across their faces.

  “What’s up with you two?” she asks.

  Right before she says it, I catch Wrath’s eye and he looks so fuckin’ happy I know exactly what Trinity’s about to say. “We’re engaged!”

  The girls shriek and Hope races over to see the ring. Lilly joins them and they chatter away. I stand, reaching over to give Wrath a quick hug and back slap. “Congratulations, brother.”

  I could make some ball and chain joke, or get in a dig about how it’s about damn time, but I’m too happy for the both of them.

  “I am not going to any dress shops,” Murphy informs all of us. Yeah, that had been fun. For Wrath and me, not Murphy. I eye Wrath because we need to make Murphy do that again, but he’s too busy staring at his bride-to-be.

  Then they’re making out and making everyone want to hurl. Lilly grins at me and leans over to kiss my cheek. “They’re sweet together,” she whispers.

  “He’d do anything for her.” I want her to understand, if she let me, I’d be just as devoted to her. I just can’t come up with the right words.

  Instead, I tease Rock and Hope about all the boring, married sex they’ll be having. Teller rats me out for the time or two I said Hope was dick-whipped.

  Murphy finally explains why his knuckles are so raw. “I knocked Bull’s ass out last night.”

  I’m sure Bull had that punch coming. Fuck, I wanted to punch him myself last night a few times. Lilly looks a little disgusted, so I shrug. This is who we are. If I want to get serious with her, she might as well hear it all, good and bad.

  Serena and Mariella bring out a platter of eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast, which we all demolish.

  Wrath informs us he’s planning to build a house next. I catch Lilly’s eye. See? I wouldn’t expect you to live a
t the clubhouse, I want to tell her.

  Hope teases us, claiming she got a tattoo that Rock absolutely will not allow her to show us. Lilly leans in. “It must be true love. She always swore she’d never get a tattoo.”

  “Yeah, what about you?”

  She raises an eyebrow. “I’ve never had something I wanted on my body permanently.”

  “I wanna be on your body permanently,” I growl in her ear. She shivers and turns to catch my mouth in a quick kiss.

  “For fuck’s sake. Y’all need to get a room!” Dex shouts. He’s not yelling at me specifically. Rock and Hope barely glance up at Dex’s bitching. Wrath throws his middle finger up without taking his mouth off Trinity.

  “Thank fuck,” Teller groans, pulling out a chair for Dex. “I’m about to lose my breakfast.”

  Mariella pokes him in the side, and he grins at her.

  Murphy’s sitting next to Serena looking like he’s choking on a piece of bark. “You okay, lil’ brother?”

  “I’m good.”

  “Did Heidi come back last night?” Hope asks Teller who groans.

  “No. She called me when he dropped her off, though.” He glances over at the bar at the few people snoring on top of it. “Too much going on here last night, you know?”

  She laughs. “I see your point.”

  Rock claps his hands once to get our attention. “Church. Then my bride and I are going to pack for Hawaii.”

  “Are you letting her bring clothes, Rock?” Trinity asks, bursting into giggles.

  Rock’s mouth twists into a wicked smirk, but he doesn’t answer.

  “Thanks, Trin,” Hope mutters. She’s laughing too, though.

  Rock glances at me but before he says anything, Murphy stands. “I’m gonna walk Serena out and then I’ll round the guys up for church.”

  I think it’s news to Serena that she’s leaving.

  “Thanks for all your help, Serena,” Mariella calls out.

  Serena nods and follows Murphy.

  After they clear the dining room, Trinity jumps up. “While you guys are in church, I am helping Mariella clean up,” she says with a pointed look at Wrath, who rolls his eyes. Hope joins her before Rock can say no.

  “I feel like I should help now too,” Lilly jokes.