I rolled my eyes. “Do I?”
“Yes.” His thumbs stroked my cheeks. “And do I have to tell you I have no eyes for anyone but you and your knockout ass?”
A playful smile touched my lips. “Maybe.”
“I have no eyes for anyone but you and your knockout ass, baby girl.” He lowered his head and held my gaze. “I’m yours, Jo, just as much as you’re mine.”
“Thank you,” I said with a full grin.
“That’s my girl.” He took my hand. “Let’s go to that side. You haven’t met the authors over there.”
“It’s fine. Can we just go?”
“But you haven’t gotten your lady porn books yet. I thought we were getting ten of those.”
“I just…don’t like people staring at me or any kind of attention in public. An old habit.”
“You have nothing to be afraid of anymore. You’re my ol’lady. The queen of the Night Skulls. Your enemies are maggot food. You’re free to be yourself. You’re safe. No one dares touch a hair of yours as long as I’m by your side.”
I’d never felt safer in my life. Furore, no, Laius Lazzarini, gave me the protection my own blood failed to give. I’d never known the real meaning of living freely and safely until I was held by this man’s arms. I shouldn’t be afraid of anything when he was here for me, always. And yet, a treacherous feeling snuck up on me. Why did I feel like I had to look over my shoulder whenever I caught any attention just like I did the years when I was alone with a bounty on my head?
Perhaps because the Lanzas got in a lot of trouble because of me and the Larvins weren’t only my dad and his wife. I had a half-brother and cousins and uncles who, like the Lanzas, might retaliate at any time. I had no doubt our club and the Bellomos were powerful enough to stop any threats from happening let alone come close. And it’d been months since Furore took care of my dad and his serpent wife. If the rest of the Larvins were up to something, it’d have happened by now.
That feeling that took over me was nothing but the result of years living in fear, hiding and lying low, terrified of being found. I just needed more time to adjust. Easier said and done, though. “I know, baby. Like I said, it’s an old habit.” I touched my stomach. “Besides, I’ve been having PMS from hell. I’d better get some rest.”
“Still?”
“Yes, I don’t know why it’s…” I trailed off as I caught a face I’d thought I’d never see again.
Frozen as if I’d seen a ghost—anyone else who knew that girl would feel that way literally—I just stared at her and the familiar older man walking by her side. Laius’s voice came from a distant. He was saying something to me, but my full attention was with the now fully-covered-in-ink redhead.
“Jo! Didn’t you wanna leave?” Laius snatched me back to the here and now with his grip on my arm. He took a quick glance at the woman and then stared at me in warning. “We should go like you said.”
I frowned at his sudden tensing up. If I had any doubt that woman was someone else other than the supposedly dead Cameron Delaney, between his reaction and the terse nod she gave me in passing, it vanished.
I didn’t argue, though. I wasn’t born yesterday. If anyone knew anything about the need to tell the world she was dead, it was me. I wasn’t going to ruin Cameron’s cover just to say hi to an old friend.
Mixed feelings washed over me as I walked out of the signing hall. I was happy she survived and started a new life, surprised she was here in Texas God knew for how long, yet worked up that Furore never told me he had something to do with it.
It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. Prez of our chapter must have been the man who made that new life happen for her. Why was I left out of the loop, though?
Another feeling I couldn’t explain invaded me once I was out and saw Cameron standing by a car where another tattooed man and a little boy climbed out and gave her a huge hug. They were laughing. A happy family. A man, his woman and their child.
“A penny for your thoughts,” Laius said.
I blinked rapidly. Then I laughed under my breath to evade the conversation. “I…just—”
“You gotta be fucking shitting me. That asshole.”
“What’s wrong?” I followed the path his eyes took and got my answer. It was Ty’s bike nestled in the parking lot. He’d been here all along when Furore strictly told him not to come.
Great. Another fight.Well, I guess more angry claiming sex is coming my way. Good. Mommy needs another fucking in the ass.
CHAPTER 7
Jo
Thanks to PMS, Furore took me home instead of finding Tirone to fight. He offered to give me an orgasm to help, but it felt more like a way to avoid my curiosity about Cameron.
