“Sure, you can ask anything you want. Don’t mean I’m gonna answer.” I throw her a smirk, and she smiles.
“When we were downstairs in the . . .”
“Chapel.”
“Right. Anyway, it amazed me how, when Smoke said something, you all went along with it. No questions, no back talk.”
“Of course.”
“Just like that. How does he get all these big, tough guys to follow him?”
“It’s not like that. Sometimes we have shit to discuss, and we vote on some things, but in the end, Smoke has the final word. He’s the president of the club, and we wouldn’t have voted him in if we didn’t trust him.”
“And you like this life?”
“It’s the first time I ever felt like I belonged somewhere. Felt like I was a part of something. We’re all different, from different places, but we all feel the same way. It’s a brotherhood.”
I check myself quick, ‘cause I’m not the guy who spills his guts out on the floor, yet this woman has me doin’ shit I’ve never even thought about.
I nod to her feet. “I notice you didn’t bring your fancy shoes with you.”
“They’re not very good when you’re on the run.”
“I asked Smoke’s old lady, Marisol, about them. She laughed and said I finally found somebody with some class.”
“That’s nice, but class comes in all different varieties, and money or what shoes you wear doesn’t designate class.”
“Yeah, she said something like that too, but in the end, you are way different than my usual.”
“Like Gina?”
I huff out a laugh. “Gina’s in a class of her own, but, yeah, my taste in women has pretty much sucked.”
“Shocking, ‘cause you’re such a lovable outlaw.” She grins, and I shake my head.
“I have no fuckin’ clue what you’re doin’ to me, but I’m loving the hell outta it.”
CHAPTER 3
BOLT
I finish off the water bottle, and we go back to bed. And, of course, we have sex again, and, of course, it’s amazing. Would be a hell of a lot easier if it wasn’t. Would also be easier if I didn’t love how she cuddled into my side afterwards, but I’ve never been known for doing the right thing or for having good luck.
We both drift off to sleep, and it’s a dreamless sleep where I don’t startle awake remembering the rattle of the bars as they slam shut on my cell; the fear of trying to make it on my own at seventeen; or the helpless, searing pain of watching my mother brutalized by my sadistic sperm donor of a father.
My eyes flicker open when the thin slivers of light filter through the shades. I’m one of those people affected by light. Embarrassing to admit, but I fuckin’ hate the dark. Can’t even walk into my bedroom unless I flip on the light first. Most times, I have my lights on a timer so they go on automatically. Fuckin’ crazy for an outlaw biker and cage fighter who takes down guys twice my size, but it’s true—I hate the dark.
I shift against the sheets, and Nicolettashifts with me.
“What time is it?” Even her sleep-induced voice amps me up.
I lean over, scavenging for the phone. “It’s ten o’clock, and I should’ve been in the gym two hours ago.”
“So, are you going to tell me what all these tattoos mean?” She traces the club colors on my chest with her forefinger. “Or are they just to make you look like a tough guy?”
I reach around and squeeze her ass till she yelps. “That’s for being a wiseass.”
She wiggles closer to me. “I like my punishment.”
