Viper glared at him. The bitterness in his face would have been heart wrenching if I gave a shit about the stupid fucker. He responded, “You think your club’s any different?”
“Yeah,” Storm said. “I most certainly do.”
When Winter pulled back, her hands went to my shoulder because blood was now seeping through my clothes.
“Oh my God, you’re hurt!”
I brushed it off. “It’s nothing, just a scratch, I’m wearing a vest. I’ll have a medic look at it when we get back to the clubhouse.”
Chapter 17
Fuse
Two Weeks Later
This was gonna be one of the most fuckin’ exciting days of our lives. One I’d been dreaming about for a long time, and it could finally happen because Viper got dealt club justice and we didn’t have to worry about him popping back up in our lives again. We also agreed to let Bran work out his punishment with the Sons of Rage. Some of the brothers wanted to give him a dirt nap, particularly Tex. His son, Levi, was doing okay, and they’d all returned to Las Salinas with the rest of Savage Legion, but I was sure if Tex ever crossed paths with him again, then he was a dead man. But in the end, we decided it was a fair compromise to let the Sons of Rage take him because they were the ones that brought him into this mess.
Today, Winter didn’t ask where we were going. She just happily complied when I asked her to dress warm and come on a ride with me. I think this woman really does love me, and I for fuckin’ sure love her. She eagerly climbed onto the back of my bike wearing my property cut. Seeing her sitting there looking all bold and beautiful got to me like nothing else ever had. I swear to fuckin’ God she looked like she was born to be on my bike.
When we turned off the main road onto the long gravel drive, she leaned around to see where we were going. She gasped when the house came into view.
I proudly pulled up in front of my house and cut the engine. The house sat on eleven acres of flat land with a view of the mountains in the distance. It was a big farmhouse with a wraparound porch. I renovated it all myself, including theintricate stonework around the foundation and porch. I did the landscaping myself and the prospects that normally mow my lawn have done a good job. There’s also a barn at the back of the property that I hadn’t touched yet. There were only so many weekends in a month after all.
Winter pulled her helmet off and asked, “What’s all this about?”
“Figured it was time to show you my place,” I responded. “Now that we don’t have to worry about Viper stalking you, we can get out of the clubhouse and live like normal folk.” I paused. “You’re the first one to see it since the renovations.”
She turned and looked at me with an expression I couldn’t fully read. “How long have you had this?”
“Closed on it eighteen months ago,” I said. “I was working on it right up until Viper began sucking up all my time.”
She looked back at the house. “Fuse, it’s huge.”
“I know,” I said. “I wanted a big house in case I ended up with a bunch of kids.”
I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug.
“Come on, let me show it to you.”
She smiled up at me. “I can’t wait to see everything.”
The inside was better than the outside. When we went into my big open kitchen, she ran her hand over the granite countertop on the island. “It’s lovely.”
“I was drawn to this house because of the high ceilings. I love that shit.”
She chuckled and glanced over her shoulder at me.
Winter stood in the middle of the kitchen and turned around in a slow circle. “There’s nothing on the walls,” she said. “They’re all blank.”
“Yeah, I know,” I told her self-consciously.
“Do you have something against wall art?”
“No. I intended to find stuff for the walls, but the renovations sucked up all my time,” I explained, shoving my hands into my front pockets. I looked away, trying to cover my awkwardness. “You can change things up if you want. Paint the walls, hang up some art, and whatever else you think needs to be done in order to make it more of a home for us. I want you to feel comfortable living here.”
I continued the tour, taking her upstairs to see my very spartan bedroom. It could definitely do with a woman’s touch, but we had the rest of our lives to make this place a home. That’s if she said ‘yes’.
I held out my hand to her and she took it. “I want to show you my back porch. The porch swing was the last thing I installed. I love it.” When we sat down, we could hear the crickets in the grass.
