Come Out Swinging (Reach for the Moon Book 2) by Sam Hall (sight word readers TXT) 📕

held out. We were in the local Kmart, picking up some supplies for us and Bridget. She was being released today, and we were keen to get out of town. The farther I could get her from her mother, the better. We’d ditched the old Toyota and were renting another 4WD to take us all home.

Whoa, that word. It had a whole other resonance now. Lupindorf was where I was born, but it felt…sullied now. Nance, the family, generations of bullshit, that was what I thought about when I heard the name. No, the city, the gym, that was home now. I grabbed some more yoga pants and T-shirts, looking at the cluster of guys in defiance.

“Oh yes, grab more of them. They make your arse look fucking fantastic,” Declan said with a grin.

“Especially when they hug really tight” —Lorcan’s smile grew lazy— “and you can pretty much see the lips of your—” I put my fingers to his lips to stop the words from coming.

“Don’t say pussy in the shops,” I hissed.

“Why? You just did.”

“We agreed we’d try out some low-level sexual things to see what happened,” Micah said, low and sexy but with just a little hesitance. I could see it in those heated grey eyes, the twin desires to thrust the skirt he was holding out to me and tell me to put it on with every ounce of dominance he had, and the fear he had no right to. That ended up sealing the deal for me. We’d woken up a little awkwardly, but we were tied to each other now, so it was time to start making allowances for the other.

“Yess…” Declan hissed when I snatched the skirt from him. This one was knee length and made of a heavier fabric, so it was unlikely to be flipped up by the wind. But his hand covered mine when I reached for underwear. “No underwear, remember?”

“Fine,” I said with a smile, “but you lot go commando too. You want to watch and listen to me get fingered in the back seat? Want to fill the cab with the scent of sex and my pussy? Then no undies for you either. I want you just as easily accessible, even if I don’t choose to touch any of you.”

Zack laughed first, grabbing the packs of undies they’d selected and hooking them back up on the displays. “That’s my girl. Show us who’s boss.”

“And some of you are going to miss out entirely because you’re driving Bridget in the hire car.”

“Oh.”

I smirked as they each looked at the other, trying to decide who was gonna do what.

“I’ll drive our car,” Mason said.

I looked him over, and it didn’t take long to see that I was right back where I started with him. I had to remind myself of what had happened, of us together, of him being swallowed down by the giant wolf.

“I thought I could take the easy way out, take myself out of the picture to protect the rest of you,” he said by way of explanation. “I should’ve known Paige wouldn’t let that stand. But what we saw, that’s fucking dangerous and seems to come when we connect.” His eyes flicked to Micah. “She might still be sensitive, but get her off, and get her off often. I want to hear her pants, her cries, her begging for more over and over. We need to know what the wolf bloke wants.”

“Sounds like a plan I could definitely get behind,” Micah said, putting an arm around my shoulders and brushing a kiss across my temple.

“So we’re leaving?”

The flirty edge to the morning was well and truly gone. I stood in the carpark with Bridge, the bruises on her face all the more stark in the bright light. The doctors had been shocked at her recovery, but for a shifter, it was awful. We healed so fast, remaining wounds were almost an affront. I went to hug my cousin and she let me, but the stiffness in her embrace hurt me.

“Time for a new life, to start over. Time to be safe.”

“And what about you, Paige?” she asked me, a shrewd light entering those brown eyes. “Will you start over? Will you be safe?”

The words died in my throat as I remembered Aidan just standing there, staring at a hollow-eyed reflection.

“There’s people I have to go back for, including Nance. I have unfinished business, but until I know what I’m doing with this new power, I’m not confronting her. And to be blunt, I need to know Nance can’t hurt you anymore. What she did, what she intended to do…”

“What she intends to do to Selma. I know my sister is an uptight bitch, but no one deserves to have another person forced upon them. I dunno, is a straight man raping a lesbian worse or better in the sexual assault spectrum?”

“Aidan won’t touch Selma. I saw to that last night. It’s all part of the discovery process we’re going through right now.”

Bridge was hurting, I could see that. I half considered sitting with her for the drive, but she made the decision for me.

“Fine. I assume I’m going with your mates over there?”

“You can go in whichever car you want.”

She nodded solemnly, such an odd sight on the face of someone who was always full of mischief.

“I’ll go with them, give me some time to think.” Her eyes rolled up to meet mine. “But I want to see this gym that made you such a badass. I…I don’t ever want to be in a position of weakness like that again.”

“I’ll train you myself,” I said. “I run a women’s self-defence class.”

For the first time, she mustered a weak smile.

“Thanks, I’d like that.”

Chapter 26

It was right about now I hated my decision. Declan sat on one side, Micah on the other, Mason in the driver’s seat, following Zack, who had Lorcan and Bridget in the hire car. I was worried about Lorcan’s snarkiness but then considered it’d