Grinning at her, I took a bite of cornbread, then swallowed. “Good genetics. And lifting. Keeps me in shape and helps me work out some of the demons.”
“Demons?” she asked, cocking her head.
She was going to learn about that side of me soon enough. “Military took me as an eighteen-year-old kid and molded me into a killer,” I told her point blank. She didn’t even blink as shelistened. “I go too long without doing something physical and I end up having impulse control issues.”
A look crossed her face. She was so damn expressive. I read it for what it was immediately. “I’d never hurt you,” I told her. “Just end up with an overabundance of energy and aggression that I either work off in the boxing ring with these assholes, or I take out on the scum of our city.” I shrugged as her shoulders relaxed. “It’s better if I keep ahead of it. We’re all like that.”
Grabbing a piece of shrimp, I slipped my hand down and let Norman have it. A long tongue lapped at my fingers in appreciation.
“Can he eat that?” she asked, giving me the stink eye for feeding her pet questionable food.
“Sure,” I said. “Worst thing that could happen is Rottie farts.”
“Rottie…what?”
I chuckled. “You’ll find out for yourself soon enough.”
Merc, Hype, and Code sat down across from us. Code had a wide smile on his face as he glanced between us. “Soooo…”
“Great, the girl band is here,” I commented, putting a stop to whatever idiotic quip he was about to voice.
Hype gave me a sharp look. “The fuck?”
“I mean the three of youareinseparable," I pointed out.
“Probably do each other’s hair,” Strike said, mouth full of food.
“At least we have some table manners,” Merc pointed out, looking not in the least bit fazed by the topic of conversation.
“We’re not inseparable,” Hype said, getting back to the topic at hand. “These assholes just follow me around.”
“You wish,” Code said.
“Fuck off,” Merc replied at the same time.
Rue shook her head, smiling as she listened to us. I enjoyed seeing her relaxed and enjoying herself. I planned to keep her that way as much as possible.
Shit was going to get crazy by the end of this so I fully planned to take advantage of the down time to get her used to being around me. To date her. To do whatever it took to ease any worries she had. I wasn’t sure when I’d gone from ‘I want to sleep with this woman’ to ‘I’m keeping her’, but that was the new plan.
It’d only been a few days, but that was all I needed. Seeing the hurt on her face when she explained what’d happened with Ryan. The fear after she’d found Teddy, and seen the shape he was in, made me want to protect her from everything this world could dish out. She brought out a protective side of me I didn’t realize I could have for a singular person. I knew protecting innocent people was a compulsion for me, just like it was for my brothers, but I never thought I’d find a woman I wanted to keep and protect for myself. Turned out I was wrong.
Now I just needed to convince her that staying with me was in her best interest, without sending her running. I had a feeling it was going to be a challenge.
CHAPTER 19
Rue
Somehow being around OD and his family had evened me out. I wasn’t constantly stressed out, with tight muscles, at the thought of having to be on top of everything. Even with Ryan still out there and refusing to come home, I was able to let go of the worry. That might seem wrong or contradictory, but really it was the first sign of hope that I had felt since he ran away.
OD was carrying most of that load, giving me a much overdue break. But honestly so were some of his brothers. I knew pretty much from the moment I met him, that Ruck would be on top of anything that came from the group that had gotten their hooks into my brother. And Flir had everything under control at the clubhouse, to the point where I knew once we moved in there, I wouldn’t have to worry about shopping for basic necessities.
He’d already declared that people could give him their shopping lists and he’d get it done so that less of us were out andabout. It made us less of a target. They functioned like a well-oiled machine. They were a family, or what I imagined a family should be.
I glanced over and couldn’t help but smile at OD as he watched the movie I’d picked out. Ruck had declared we were on lockdown, so OD had told me once all this was over he’d take me out to dinner and the movies, but until then we were just hanging around his house. I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen once we moved into the clubhouse, but OD kept saying things like ‘our apartment’ and ‘when we need something’, so I had a feeling he wasn’t going to plop me in my own apartment. And crazily enough…that was okay by me.
If you’d told me a few months ago that I’d be so comfortable with someone after such a short amount of time, I’d have called you crazy. But I was comfortable with him. It was hard not to be. He was pretty even keeled most of the time. Nothing seemed to rile him up. Stress didn’t seem to exist in his world. I wondered how a life like that felt? To not worry over everything? Or stress about all the small things. Who knew, maybe I’d get the chance to find out. They’d given me a slight taste of it already, but to be like that all the time? It was almost inconceivable.
I watched OD lift a beer bottle to his lips. Watched the way his throat bobbed as he swallowed. And I debated on interrupting the movie. We’d been having sex since I’d moved in with him. In fact, he’d woken me this morning with his head buried between my thighs. Highly recommend that. That coffee commercial that always said the best part of waking up? Yeah, let me tell you, they had it wrong. It wasn’t coffee. As far as stress relief went, this was a major part of it. Orgasms that caused you to nearly black out had a way of relaxing a girl.
