I’m about to tell her that is good enough, but she says the words that make my heart soar with more conviction. She leans in and brushes her lips against mine, the gentlest of touches but it holds so much promise. This woman will bring me to my knees, I can already see it and I’ll gratefully go there if she agrees to be mine.
“I love you too, Callum.”
Her little smile has me wanting to throw my head back and scream at the fucking ceiling but I finally remember where we are and why, and having her sitting here naked is not the greatest of ideas.
There is just one more thing I want to say and this might not be the right time either but I can’t go another minute without her knowing.
“I know you don’t know how things work in motorcycle clubs. This is one of the things I don’t know much about either. What I do know, with you I want to try. I can’t imagine you not being in my life Charley.”
“What are you saying?”
“I want you to be my old lady.”
Her eyes widen. Guess she knows what that means.
“It’s a little more than a girlfriend, not quite a wife but either way, it means you’re mine. And I’m yours.”
Her throat works as she swallows and we stare at one another. “You really want me?”
“I want every single fucking part of you Charley. No matter what you think you’ve done, no matter what happened in the past, none of that matters. You’re the only thing that matters.”
Charley leans forward and wraps her arms around me. Her words are a whisper by my ear. “I never thought anyone would want me like this.”
“No one else gets to want you like this. Or have you. This,” I lean back and look at her. “Is real. I fucking love you and I might sound like an asshole but I’m not letting you go,” I grin at her and she laughs.
“Well,” she tilts her head. “I’m okay with that.”
“Good. Now get down and put some clothes on before I do something reckless like bend you over.”
“This is really bad of us.”
“No,” I stroke her cheek. “You needed this. After what you just went through, it’s perfectly normal to reach out for human touch, Charley.Maybe the kind I gave you was inappropriate for the location,” I duck my head. “I will always give you what you need. Mind, body and soul. And jokes, and kisses and all the good shit.”
“Okay,” she pushes me back and hops down off the counter, looking around at the discarded Elegance uniform. “We need to check on Ellie,” she bites her lip.
Charley lets me help her into my shirt and I button it up for her, then grab her shorts and panties to throw in the garbage.
“Stay here,” I tell her. “Lily has your clothes.” She grips my arm before I turn. “What?”
“You’ve made this place my home, Callum. You’ve made me want to stop running.”
“I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you always feel that way,” I smirk and lean in to kiss her. “I’ll be back.”
A few of the men look up when I walk over. Nero checks behind me to see I’m alone and arches a brow but doesn’t say anything. Lily stands and looks between me and Nero, she is holding Charley’s bag. When I ask her to take the clothes to her, she hurries away.
I turn back to my brothers. The whole council isn’t here but I don’t care.
Nero is staring at me, to most people he’s unreadable but I’ve known him a long time, he understands what this moment is. I indicate for the ranked members to step away from the other brothers, which they do without question.
“I know it’s meant to be discussed and agreed by everyone,” I tell them. “But I’m telling you all right here, right now, she is mine.”
“Who?” Rebel asks.
“Fuck off,” I glare even, though he was taking the piss out of me. “I want Charley to be my old lady.”
“You know the council votes unanimously on that,” Nero tells me.
“Like we did when you claimed Taylor,” Rebel scoffs.
