“I know that,” Axel agrees before grabbing my hand. “Doesn’t mean she isn’t mine,” he declares, pointing at Tate. Axel is so confident; he has complete faith in me, in our connection, and it makes me feel safer than I ever have in my life.
I wish I could read Tate, but I can’t tell if he’s pissed, contemplative, or what. He sighs and rakes his fingers through his dark hair.
“Fine. Then we’re bringin’ her along,” Tate says.
I don’t care what this is about, I’m just excited to actually be a part of club business.
“Like hell we are,” Axel growls, and I want to roll my eyes.
He just put in all that work to make me swoon and now he’s being over protective. I mean, it’s part of why I’m so drawn to the club, but I’m also not weak, and I’m dead set on proving it.
I want to be protected, cherished, but I also don’t want to be tucked away some place where I don’t get to actually live. The thought is bitter as I think of my mom. She doesn’t seem to mind never leaving the compound, but that’s not me. I love it here. It’s home. These people are home, but fuck, there’s so much world out there.
“I want to go,” I say softly, squeezing Axel’s hand.
“You don’t even know what we’re doin’,” he scoffs. Which, fair enough. But the possibility of going out with some of the guys for an adventure or a job? I’m not letting it pass me by.
“She’s coming with us,” Cash reiterates, popping out of nowhere, making me jump and scaring the shit out of me. “Sorry, sweetheart,” he whispers quietly to me.
“She can’t go home right now,” Tate says.
“Why the fuck not?” Axel argues.
“For one, she smells like she just got…” Tate shakes his head and scratches his beard. “It’s not a good time for her to go home. Trust me,” Tate says.
I want to ask more, but I don’t, because I also want to be included. Plus, the idea of going home after that failed date and what those assholes said… I’m not sure I’m ready to face Kurt. I need a better plan for when I go home. What am I going to say when he asks about the date? How can I figure out what they meant when they saidthe price Kurt has set for me?
“We wouldn’t let her come along for anything high-risk. One of us will stick with her the whole time,” Cash reassures, the left corner of his lip tilting up. I can’t help but smile back at him.
I was already attracted to him, but his insisting that I tag along has me ready to climb up his tall body and offer to give him whatever he wants. Damn, he looks fucking good tonight.I take note that neither Tate nor Cash are wearing their cuts, just simple dark clothes. The way Cash’s black t-shirt clings to his broad chest should be illegal, or should only be worn around me. The idea of other women ogling this massive man doesn’t sit right with me. He might not be mine, but he also feels like he is. I can’t stop staring at him until loud clearings of throats break my attention.
My cheeks flush when I realize it’s because of my scent. No panties, heat any day now, and being as turned on as I am has me assaulting them with coconut and jasmine.
Thankfully, everyone is polite, and no one calls me out on my embarrassing display of being turned on by Cash’s words alone.
“Are we going?” I ask, breaking the silence and redirecting the conversation.
Axel scrubs his face with the palm of his hand, dragging his skin down. “Yeah, we’re fuckin’ goin’,” he mutters with a groan.
I’mgonna wring that blond-headed fuck’s neck.
I’m not sure why I’m feeling extra murderous. I don’t care that he smelled like Lily’s sweet scent or that he was holding her hand. I’m just pissed because now we’ve got a tag-along, and it’s her… and she smells like… that. Like some summer wet dream that is completely off the menu. A menu I want her to be on, and don’t know how to handle that fact.
Axel doesn’t even know the world of shit he just stepped in. Or that he’s dragging Cash and I along, because with her being her, it’s makin’ this shit ten times more complicated.
I know what my father is doing when it comes to the club, and I know his reign needs to end. I’m feeling the pressure of being the one to make that happen. There's a deep feeling ofneeding to right my father’s wrongs, or maybe I just need to prove to myself that I’m a better man than him.
The way he’s kept me at an arm’s length since I’ve gotten here doesn’t sit right with me. There’s only one reason he would do that, and it’s because he has something to hide. I know he’s hiding something big, and I’m not sure who I can truly trust with this information. That’s why Cash and Axel are the only other members I’m trusting right now with the raid on the Wraiths.Thank fuck that wasn’t tonight.
Tonight is minimal, nothing that could harm Lily, but what she and Axel are doing? This could absolutely be the downfall of all of us.
My father loves Lily, I can tell that much since coming home. He loves her more than he ever loved me, his biological son. It should bother me that he cares more for her than he does me. But it’s Lily, I would feel the same way, and I’m not sure how to come to terms with that fact.
She’s an Omega; she’s sweet. She’s nothing fuckin’ like me, and maybe that’s her greatest appeal. Even if she wasn’t my father’s stepdaughter, or even associated with the club, I would still feel this way about her.
This—against my own fuckin’ will—need to protect her, to make sure she’s alright is fuckin’ with me, and it has everything to do with her designation and personality. It has nothing to do with her looks or her scent that seems to be caught in my throat...the fuckin’ lies I tell myself are ridiculous, I’ve never found someone more beautiful.
We’re going for incognito as we take one of the SUVs to the trailer park. Axel took off his cut, and he and Lily sit in the backseat while Cash drives and I ride shotgun. No one is saying a goddamn thing, but I just know this motherfucker is gonna smell like coconuts for weeks. I’m going to have to air it out or I’m going to risk nuttin’ my fuckin’ self like some lanky teenagerevery time I get in the car. I don’t know what’s worse, her scent affecting me like this, or knowing damn fuckin’ well that if two other dudes weren’t in the car I would be taking care of my hard dick.
