“Sure.”
“I don’t want to be that guy anymore, Slater.”
“Yeah, well, only you can change that.”
“This will be the last time I get us into one of these situations. I promise you. If we can just keep this from the others, I know we’ll get away with it.”
“And you think it’s gonna be that easy?” He laughed again.
“No. No, I know that if we get out of this unscathed it will be a miracle, but I’m asking you to try. For me.” I didn’t mean to say the next part, but as the words tumbled out, I knew what it meant to the both of us. “For Ayda.”
Slater turned the wheel into the yard, not bothering to answer me or even look my way until he’d pulled us up into our usual parking spot and cut off the engine altogether. Unclipping his belt, he shifted in his seat, one arm resting on the headrest while the other lay along the top of the wheel.
“And for your brothers, right?”
My mouth fell into a flat line as I nodded slowly. He should have known more than anyone that my brothers came before my own life. They always had and always would. I’d go back inside and serve a hundred years for any of them. “For my brothers more than anyone. Don’t let me be the one to bring them down.”
Closing his eyes, he pressed a hand to his top lip and paused for thought. When he opened them up again, I saw resignation there, and I knew this talk or fight or whatever the hell it was, was over.
“You know I’ll cover you, Drew. I always fucking have and I always fucking will. If you honestly think that we’re going to get away with this, then I won’t mention it again. I won’t breathe a word of it to the others. You concentrate on your girl and I’ll pretend like this didn’t even happen. Leave me to speak to Harry and Jedd tonight. Let me go over some strategies to keep the wolves at bay. And get the hell out of my face. I’m sick of looking at that bastard twinkle in your eye. It’s pissing me off.”
My smirk broke free. “Sorry?” I huffed laughing, raising my brows as my hand reached for the door.
“No you’re not. You’re smug and you’re looking like a man that’s just landed a hot piece of ass.”
“Hey! Eyes up north when Ayda is around. Don’t you even think about checking out her backdoor area.” It was my turn to point, my hand rising up in the air as I gave him the sarcastic warning glare we used to give each other when we spotted a girl we wanted to claim as ours.
“Tits?”
“I dare you…”
“Pussy whipped and pissing circles around her already. Shit, and I thought you murdering an innocent guy was what was going to land us in trouble.”
I didn’t stick around to hear the rest, just the sound of his laughter, even if it was pretty weak, was enough to bring a smile to my face as I hopped out of the van and slammed the door shut. Walking around the front, I looked back through the windscreen at him and tapped the hood once in thanks before flipping him the middle finger. No matter how much shit he gave me, I knew that he would do whatever it took to keep me safe. I was so confident about that fact, because it’s what weall did for each other in this club. We took bullets and died to save the man next to us.
Jumping up the steps with a half-assed bounce, I pushed through the door and gave the usual nods and smiles to the people I passed by. None of the girls approached me when I walked in, not even Rosie or whatever she was called. Instead, I was met with feminine scowls of disgust while the men all raised their glasses in my direction, congratulating me on something I hadn’t even realized I’d done.
It wasn’t until I walked over into the corridor and headed for my office that I smelled her perfume in the air. Then I looked up and I saw her standing there with her back to me. Freezing on the spot, I was halfway through taking a step forward when my body shut down. With one hand hanging limp down by her side and the other pressed against the bottom of her stomach, I could practically feel the tension rolling off her shoulders as she stared at my office door, completely unmoving.
And despite all the shit that had gone on while she’d been away at work, and despite the verbal stripping down I’d just had from Slater, the smile on my face broke free immediately. She was there when I needed her again, and it was when I’d least expected to see her.
Creeping forward, I moved as quietly and as slowly as I could until there were only inches between her back and my chest. I was certain she would be able to feel the heat of my body pouring down onto her, but when Ayda didn’t move, I raised my hands up slowly behind her before wrapping them around her face and pressing them against her eyes. Her body flinched as though I’d snapped her out of whatever daze she’d been in, but when my lips dropped down to her neck andtrailed a path of kisses up to the spot just below her ear, I felt her entire being melt back into my arms.
“Is it a coincidence that you always turn up here when I need a shower?” I whispered, my lips curling into a smile against her. “Or are you here to break into my petty cash and run away with all my T-shirts?”
“The shirts,” she whispered back in response, her hand reaching to cover both of mine. “Definitely the shirts. I’m going to sell them all and make a small fortune.”
“I feel so used.”
A small burst of laughter fell from her lips as more of her weight settled back on me, her fingers prying my hands away. “Poor baby. Is now a good time to tell you that I’m also using you for your incredibly hot body?”
“Now I feel cheap, too,” I said, spinning her around in my arms until I was looking down on her. “You’re going to ruin me, aren’t you, Hanagan?”
“Ruinyou?” she asked, her hands running up and over my shoulders, a blush tainting her cheeks. “I had an intervention at the diner today because they thought I was on drugs.”
“Drugs?” I smirked, raising a brow.
“I was practically giddy.”
