Ryer made it back around two with the shipment and a bunch of bodies. Along with Cade, He had the pleasure of cleaning up the small mess they made. I sat on his bed well he showered and waited for him to finish up so I could have a look at the spot he had contact from a bullet. Maddox wasn’t too worried about it, and I knew better than anyone that he was going to be fine, and a bruise was pretty normal. I just wanted to check it, call it reassurance for my stupid love intoxicated brain.

Ryer came out, the towel around his hips and it covered almost nothing. I let my eyes wander down his frame and let out a deep sigh.

“Did you just—-yes, you did.”

“Shut it, come here and let me look at your impact point.”

“It’s more than fine Sasha.”

“Just appease me alright.”

He got closer and the scent of his pine everything was intoxicating. I wanted to press my nose to his skin and breathe in deeply. My body’s response to the smell was purely animalistic and feral. I set my hand on his chest reminding myself this was to check his wound and not purely for my own pleasure.

“Looks fine to me,”

“Does it?” His voice was low and smooth. If I wasn’t actually injured, I would have tossed all my prior thoughts and feelings out the window and humped the shit out of him.

He took a step back and I let my hand drop. He got dressed before laying back on the bed and letting out a sigh.

“Thanks for your help tonight Sasha.”

“Shut up.”

“Huh? What—-What are you doing.”

I tossed my leg over one side of him so I was straddling him and I leaned down pressing my lips to his for once. The need for him at this moment was both frightening and enjoyable. His lips tasted like nothing I could even begin to describe. Pulling back, It dawned on me what I had just done to him. I would have moved off his hips, But his hands were locked on my hips.

“I don’t understand what just happened, but breathe.”

I was, I was panting. I wanted to kiss him again. I wanted more than just to kiss him. This was like no other need I had felt, it was that forbidden feeling again and the more I thought about it the sweeter it tasted as it lingered on my lips.

“Sasha, you have this look in your eyes.”

“Probably.”

“What is going through your head right now?”

“Don’t ask.”

I leaned down again to kiss him, but he moved me and held me to his chest.

“We can’t do this Sasha, not because I don’t want to, but because your body can’t handle that kind of activity yet.”

I pushed my nose against his skin and took a deep breath of him. It was still intoxicating. But he was right, I couldn’t handle that kind of activity, both mentally and physically.

“Sasha, how about you tell me what your feeling right now, I know you said your feelings have been a mess, are they still like that?”

“Hmm. They are still a mess.”

“What’s the first thing your thinking about right now?”

That was too easy to answer, Ryer was the first thing I was thinking about.

“You. You are the only thing that makes sense.”

“Alright...”

He seemed puzzled by my answer; I relaxed against his chest and took in his warmth. The best things happened naturally, and that’s what I needed to let happen here. In the meantime, I could work on getting my back stronger again.

Ryer used his phone to shut off the lights and didn’t even make a move to ask me to leave his room or anything, he actually adjusted me ever so slightly and I felt him relax into the bed. This all had to be new to him too. I knew he didn’t do relationships; he had stated it.

Waking up only a few hours later, at five a.m, was not my ideal night’s rest. Two hours of sleep just wasn’t it for me. Ryer was deeply asleep, and I looked at him, really having a look at him. I wondered what my name would sound like as soon as he woke up. We were pretty tangled up, or I would have got out of bed and amused myself elsewhere. Instead, here I was watching Ryer sleep. I mentally made a list of the things Maddox had described to me when we spoke.

I hadn’t been entirely honest with Ryer when I told him about the offer Maddox made me. I was feeling guilty about it too. But how was I about to tell him, So yeah, Maddox made me an offer to be a fifth underboss and everyone is on board with the idea? Hell, I didn’t even want that much power but here I was.

It would be an interesting job change, and Maddox had made it pretty clear I could do both jobs if I wanted to keep my LHPD day job.

It was a lot to think about, and honestly, I should have been honest with Ryer but I was worried about what he might think. Hell, what if he wanted to be an underboss, and I took that from him? It felt all kinds of wrong.

Laying beside him I sighed deeply before actually pulling away from him. It took some work, but I had managed it. Coffee sounded great, but I didn’t make any. Instead, I was going to do the thing Ryer didn’t want me doing. Working out.

He was going to be pissed when he found out and I knew it, but I had no intentions of pushing it, not until the six-week mark when I was clear to engage in more physical activities. At that point, Ryer would probably go back to work full time since he wouldn’t need to babysit me. Unless he really wanted to.

With my phone and headphones in the hoodie's pocket I threw on, I slipped my shoes on and snuck out of Ryer’s. I was going to end up bumping into one of the others, there was no way around that. I would not push it, the thought was there, but Ryer really would lose his shit if I pushed my body to the current limits.

Holding my phone to the lock, it opened, and Maddox and Jackson were inside. Not the worst of people to work out with, but Maddox was already giving me a look that seemed to question if I could be here.

“Morning,” I said politely.

“Morning Sasha, Where’s Ryer?”

“Sleeping still.”

“I figured that. No way he would allow this before your six-week mark, that’s not like him.” Maddox said, lightly smiling.

“I will not push it, just light movement. I don’t need him entirely ripping me a new one.”

“I think that is bound to happen either way,” Jackson muttered.

“Probably.”

Pulling out my phone, there was nothing from Ryer, so he was still sleeping. Flicking on one of the treadmills, I matched it to the speed I was currently walking comfortably and set out.

“Hey Sasha, Thanks for running the tech side of things last night, I hope you will really think about joining us.”

“No problem, I didn’t mind it. I really am giving it some thought.”

“I’m sure Ryer would be happy for you to have his back.”

“I’m sure he would, I just don’t want him to feel like I took a job opportunity from him or anything, hell he’s worked with you all longer than I have. Way longer.”

“Clearly you haven’t talked about the underboss thing with him then, not that you really have to. It’s your choice, but if you shared your concerns with him, you would know he turns Maddox down every time he tries to promote him further up the line. Ryer is comfortable with his position and the work that comes with it. He doesn’t want a change.”

“I’ll mention it when I’m comfortable doing so, I’m not sure I’m cut out to be an underboss. You all really don’t know me and—-”

“What the hell are you doing here Sasha, you're supposed to be healing.” Creed bitched from the doorway.

Alexi and Creed stood there, Creed pulled out his phone and did exactly what I didn’t want him to. He called Ryer. Maddox just shrugged before walking off.

“Good morning Ryer, I believe you are missing something.”

I sighed deeply. Creed was the one I was least worried about right now. Alexi was glaring at me and that spelt trouble.

“Sasha, What the hell, man. Are you trying to fuck up yourself, come on?” Alexi hissed before coming over and hitting the stop button on the machine.

“You both are overreacting, I’m alright. And Creed man that is a shitty thing to do. Sell me out to my babysitter.”

“Yes, Ryer, that is Sasha you heard.”

Ah fuck.

I sighed again, Ryer was going to lose his ever-loving shit on me. There was no chance of even running away from the workout room because let’s face it, I couldn’t outrun Ryer, not at this stage. The door opened, and I didn’t even have to look to know it was Ryer. But when I looked at him, he honestly didn’t look pissed.

“Did you push it?” He looked like was actually curious about my workout.

“No. I matched my injured walking speed and kept to that. I knew you were going to be pissed if I pushed it. I would have told Creed that too, but he called you right away.”

“I’m happy he did. If you want to work out, I want to make sure I’m here to help. Make sure you don’t overdo it. With that being said, you are not over the six-week mark and need to knock off rushing into this. Let’s go.”

“Go? Where?” I groaned.

“Cold treatment for your back, medications and back the fuck to bed.”