Wolf helped me into my shirt and cleaned my face up before he led me out to a car waiting for me.
“Didn’t think you’d be able to hold on for too long,” he said, handing me the keys. I took them and thanked him. He nodded and moved over to his bike.
Shae was sitting on her bike, Rebel next to her on his bike. Alex made his way over to me.
“You good?”
“Bit battered,” I said. “Might need to get your woman to cover the tattoo for me when I’m healed up.”
“She’d be happy to,” he said. “Need a hand?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m good. Is Shae okay?”
Alex nodded. “She’s understandably a little upset that the man she loves just got his ass handed to him by an older guy, but she’ll be okay once you two are back home.”
I chanced a glance over at her and saw her looking away.
“Do you think she’ll ever forgive me for what I put her through?”
“Without question, brother,” Alex said, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing. “Come back home.”
I nodded and watched as he rode off with Rebel in tow. Shae got off her bike and moved over to me, and I could see her taking a deep breath before she got to me. I braced for it.
I braced for her to end it all.
“Are you okay?” she asked me, her voice uneven and shaky.
“I will be,” I told her. “I’m sorry you saw that. Wolf shouldn’t have told you about it.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“I never want you to see anything like that. I want to protect you, Shae, I want you to smile and never have to witness shit like that. I know if the roles were reversed, I’d never be okay with watching you get beaten or even watch you take someone’s life to save your own.”
She put her hands on the sides of my face, the concern etched into her features as she took in what I could only imagine was a ripped apart face. Her soft fingers movedover the hot skin of my cheeks where I knew I’d have bruises tomorrow and probably a few stitches.
“Don’t,” I said. “Don’t mess your hands up.”
“Why?” she asked. “Why shouldn’t I? Dempsey, what you fail to understand is I’ve been around violence. Was it easy to watch you? Hell no. I would have gladly stepped in there to save you multiple times but I knew you had to do that to escape, to be free, to be with me. So I watched because I had to make sure you were okay, so you understood I am right here, by your side, always. I don’t care where it takes us, I don’t care what comes at us, as long as we’re together, we will survive.”
Hot tears splashed down my face, stinging my cuts, but I didn't care. Shae closed the distance between us and pressed her lips against mine. Fresh stings told me my lips were cut up as well, but I couldn’t pull away. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, it was sweet, tender. The kind of kiss that told me she loved me and damn but didn’t that do things to my cock it really ought not to, especially not in my condition.
“Come on,” she said against my lips. “Come home.”
“As you wish,” I whispered against her lips, placing a kiss on her forehead before I watched her ride out of the carpark and I followed behind her.
ELEVEN
Dempsey
Three Weeks Later
Shae entwined her fingers with mine as she lay in my arms, both of us spent from hours of fucking. I’d finally been cleared from my wounds from the fight and Shae had all but torn my clothes off like a rabid beast.
My woman was a wild one and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“What will we do now?” she asked. “Will you patch with the Rebels?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed, wishing we didn’t have to sully our morning together with talk about what to donext. Although it had been long since due. “Do we really need to go to the BBQ today?”
