See? That’s exactly what I thought he’d say, what any of my brothers would say. What any sane person would say, because putting her in his reach again? Unthinkable. Insane. Dangerous.
“She disagrees. She wants to face him and show him she’s strong, wants to hand him his ass. I get it. I mean, I don’t get it, because I’m not in her situation, but I can understand that she wants him to see that he didn’t crush her completely. She’s still in there, man. I can see traces of it, hell, when she slapped me, that was a pretty big sign.”
Rocket chortled as he turned to lean his back against the gate.
“She used to hit you a lot?”
“No, never, but it was anger. It wasn’t fear, or sadness, or defeat. It was anger, and that’s good. Anger can fuel her until she feels strong enough, right?”
“I mean, you’re asking the man who’s dating the scariest woman you’ll ever meet. She hands me my ass daily, and it’s so fucking hot.” He was grinning to himself, and whatever the hell he was reminiscing over, I didn’t want to know.
The rumble of a vehicle in the distance alerted us to the fact that this gate was about to be needed, so we both straightened up again. If it was one of the large ones, we’d have to open both halves, but if not, then at least the one we’d been using as a leaning post.
“I’m just saying, I want her to get her revenge, of course I do. I just don’t want to have to watch her put herself at his fucking mercy first.”
“Lack of mercy,” he corrected as he reached for the latch, when two motorcycles came into view. Not our delivery at all. Harley and his old lady Caroline, on their rides. She could be a cautious little thing, but when she was astride that thing, she was in her element. I idly wondered if Glory would like that. She needed something to give her a reason to leave my house.
“What up, VP, Caroline,” Rocket said cheerily as they parked up and silenced their machines.
“Hey, man.”
“Hi Rocket, oh… where’s Nixie?” She pouted at him, and we all chuckled, because she was adorable, and I knew that she’d hit it off with Glory the one night she’d been at our place. Fuck me.Ourplace. It really was though, whether she realised it or not.
“Yeah, he’s been doing that all day. It’s kinda boring. Here I am, trying to keep him company, and he keeps ignoring me.”
I elbowed Rocket in the chest as I tuned back into the conversation happening around me.
“I was just thinking.”
“No shit, really? I didn’t realise.”
“Is he always such a jackass?” I asked Harley and Caroline, although we all knew the answer to that one. She giggled, but I caught that quick nod before she pretended to disagree.
“How’s Glory doing?” She asked next, and I shrugged.
“Thinks she’s ready to take on the world, but I dunno. Kinda wish she’d get back into doing things she loved before that fucker ruined her life.”
“Like what?”
Fuck me, that’s when it hit me.
Glory
Nate, I mean Henley,called to warn me that we’d have dinner guests, so I followed his instructions, which were ‘do nothing’. He said he was taking care of everything, so I figured I’d focus on watching the videos Lenore sent me. We had our weekly call today, and she was definitely on board with me learning self-defence, or as she called it, ‘break their balls training’.
Because she didn’t live near me, she’d sent me some instructional videos she’d put together, where she mostly showed us how to take down men as huge as that guy she was with. I knew he was more than capable of breaking a person in half, but she showed how to use his size against him, and it honestly looked like he wasn’t holding back as much as you’d hope from a woman’s other half. I think it’s because she was just that good that he had to give more than he’d want to.
“We’re here!” I closed the laptop and set it on the low table, heading up the stairs to the secret door. I’d taken to hiding down here in the man cave, because even though N… Henley said I didn’t need to worry about Sean finding me, I figured this was a good backup option in case he did.
“We who?”
I recognised Caroline and the woman they called ‘V’, and behind them, Harley and Rocket. In Caroline’s arms was the tiny pup from before, Nixie. She was wriggling with excitement, whipping her tail against Caroline’s arm as she giggled.
“Hi.”
The men were setting down bags of takeaway food, while Nate, dammit,Henley, grabbed plates and things.
“We thought you might fancy a takeaway rather than his cooking,” V said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the kitchen.
