by Snow, Jenika
Leaving the meeting room, a place I found myself in more times than not when I needed to get away from everyone and everything to just think, I kept my focus on the ground. I entered the main clubhouse room, the place we partied, drank, spent time celebrating the fact we were alive and a family.
I ran my hands over my jaw and lifted my head, stopping mid-step when I saw Alexis standing there, leaning against the bar, a glass of water in front of her. She was staring down at it, her finger tracing the condensation that formed on the outer side.
Fuck, I wanted to talk to her, to pull her in close, smell her hair, touch her sweetly, gently. I could see the marks on her wrists still, but her hair covered the ones on her neck. I curled my hands into fists at my side, my anger rising that someone had fucking dared to lay hands on her.
She looked up at me then, her eyes widening, her throat working as she turned to face me. I could see she wanted to say something, or maybe she just wanted to tell me to fuck off, that she saw the way I watched her, that I frightened her with the intensity of it all.
Instead of saying something, or fuck, doing what I wanted and making her mine, I turned and left her alone as I headed back to my room. Being around her was everything I wanted, yet what I didn’t need right now. Seeing her hurt pissed me off, made me want to spill blood. I needed to find the fucker who hurt her and deliver ten times the pain he had given her. I needed to fucking kill him and have his blood covering my hands as his body rotted by my feet.
But what I needed most of all was to have Alexis as mine.
Epilogue
Loch
One week later
I’d never seen Merc like this.
He was controlled, focused.
Possessive and protective of the girl.
I watched as he sat in the corner, Chopper and Perch on either side of him, their focus on the cards in front of them, but Merc watching something else, someone far different.
He watched Alexis with the same possessiveness as I watched Nina, the same need reflected back in his gaze.
After a week of Alexis being at the clubhouse, I could see this tension growing inside of Merc. My prez didn’t let things affect him, yet here he was, growling and snapping at anyone who even looked her way.
The same way I got where it concerned Nina.
Merc wanted Alexis and it was clear he’d go to hell and back to avenge her.
Although the MC took care of their own, would have kicked her ex-boyfriend’s ass for hurting her, Merc was taking this to a whole other level.
“He wants to do this alone,” Zane said from beside me. “His head and thinking are clouded because of the girl.”
“No, he’s thinking more clearly than he ever was, and it’s because of Alexis.” I looked at the woman in question, watched her sitting at a table with Nina and a few of the club girls. She was smiling, laughing, and it was clear she was strong as fuck.
Good, she had to be if she was going to be part of the MC. And judging by how Merc wouldn’t let her out of his sight, it was clear the president wasn’t going to give her up without a fight.
And it was clear Merc was going to give that ex of hers one hell of a fight that would have him wishing he’d never laid a hand on Alexis.
* * *
Nina
I was working on the books when I heard the heavy thump of music coming from the parking lot outside the club. I smiled, knowing Loch was back from whatever run he and the guys had been doing.
It had only been a week since everything had gone down with Alexis coming to the clubhouse, and since then Merc had been full-on psycho where she was concerned.
Although I could see the desire in the president’s face whenever he looked at Alexis, he’d yet to make an official claim, and instead focused on finding the ex-boyfriend and exacting his own kind of punishment.
But with Josh having split town once he got word the MC was looking for him, things had been slow moving for Merc, especially since he snapped at anyone who wanted to help.
This was all on him, and he took that seriously.
I stood and headed out of the small office I’d claimed as my workspace, and out the front doors. I passed Alexis on the way out. I knew she was planning on leaving the clubhouse and going back to the place she’d shared with Josh, gather her things, and find an apartment, but I wondered how Merc would handle that … if he’d put up a fight with her leaving.
That was their concern, though. My only focus right now was Loch and how much I’d missed him this last twenty-four hours he’d been gone.
I walked to the front door, pulling it open and stepping onto the paved porch. Loch was out of the SUV a moment later, striding toward me, his focus intent on one thing.
Me.
God, I loved that man, wanted nothing more than to spend my days in bed with him naked, our bodies wrapped around each other, nothing else in the world mattering.
He pulled me in for a tight embrace, lifting me off the ground and burying his face in my neck. I heard him inhale deeply, this low rumble leaving him as if he were a sated animal who’d just gotten his fill.
“I missed you, baby,” he said and set me down on my feet but didn’t let go of me. He slid his hands up the length of my back, cupped each side of my neck, and then leaned in and kissed me soundly. He was marking me, letting everyone know that I was his even though the club knew well enough I belonged to him.
“You were only gone overnight,” I said, teasing. Truth was I’d missed him like crazy as well. It had felt like he’d been gone an eternity. God, I was one of those women, the ones who were so head-over-heels for their man they started spouting off corny shit.
“Don’t act like you weren’t missing me every second,” he teased right back and leaned in to kiss me once more. “I love you,” he murmured against my mouth, contentment filling me.
He took my hand and led me down the long hallway away from everyone. He went straight into the room we used when we were at the MC.
Once he shut the door, he pressed me against it, kissing me breathlessly. I knew what was about to happen. I anticipated it, needed it greedily.
He kissed me until I was gasping, until I begged him for more, needed him like a lifeline. Loch trailed his lips down my jaw, over the shell of my ear, and started sucking and licking at the side of my throat. With my head back, my eyes closed, and every part of me on fire, I wanted to plead with him for more.
“Marry me,” he murmured against my skin.
I found myself opening my eyes, staring at the ceiling as shock filled me.
He pulled back and I looked at him, this serious expression covering his face. He looked vulnerable in this moment, my big strong biker seeming almost breakable right now.
“I love you, Nina. You know that, right?”
I smiled and cupped his cheek, the scruff under my palm soft. “I love you, too.”
“Marry me,” he whispered this time and took a step away. I watched as he reached into his front pocket of his cut, pulled out a small black velvet box, and held it out to me.
My breath stalled, my heart stopped. I knew my eyes were wide as saucers, felt the shock on my face. I looked between him and the box, over and over again.
And then he popped the lid open, showing me a solitaire diamond ring, the light catching it, the stone sparkling.
“Loch.” I said his name softly and lifted my hand to cover my mouth, stopping myself from saying anything else that would make me look like a fool.
I didn’t want to start bawling like a baby, but the tears were right there at the surface.
Here was my big strong biker proposing to me, looking scared shitless about how I would respond.
And then he dropped to one knee, something I’d never seen or envisioned him doing. He looked down at the ring and closed his eyes, breathing out and shaking his head.
“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here, baby.” He looked up at me, pulled the ring out of the little box, and just stared at it
for a moment. “I don’t know the first thing about being romantic. I never thought I’d get married, not until you came into my life.” He looked at me then. “Since we were in the foster care system all I felt for you was love, and it grew every fucking day. I knew I wanted you as mine, by my side, as my wife, the mother of my children from the moment I saw you, Nina.”
My heart was racing a mile a minute.
“I wanted it all because I’m a selfish bastard. But it took me so long to come clean, to be honest with myself and you on how I felt. And I don’t want to waste any more time, Nina.”
The tears did come down now, big fat droplets sliding down my cheeks. I placed my hands at my sides, curling them into my shirt, so nervous, so happy. I didn’t want to see him on his knees, even if the gesture was romantic and traditional. I reached out and pulled him up, craning my neck back so I could look into his face now that he was standing once more.
“Marry me, Nina. Make me one happy fucking biker. Make me a real man with an incredible woman by his side.”
“Yes,” I said and grinned. “Yes,” I said even louder and threw myself into his arms, wrapping my body around his and grinning from ear to ear.
He held me tighter and kissed the top of my head. When I pulled back, he instantly had my left hand, sliding the ring onto my finger. It felt heavy, real. And then he pulled me back into an embrace, cupped the back of my head, and had his mouth right by my ear.
“You’ve always been mine, but now there really is no going back.”
No, there really wasn’t.
And I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
The End
* * *
MAKE YOU MINE, Merc’s story, is coming in soon!
TBR HERE: https://bit.ly/2zrzEiV
About the Author
Find Jenika at:
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www.JenikaSnow.com
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