by Nina Levine
After I insisted she clock up more than the required 120 hours, Renee had worked her ass off and finished up with more than 150 hours, a lot of which had been done with Tatum.
I stood and moved to her. Pulling her into a hug, I said, “I’m proud of you, kiddo. Gotta say, though, there was no doubt in my mind that you’d pass.”
Tears misted her eyes and she swallowed hard. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“What for? Showing you how to drive? That wasn’t hard. You’ve got nothing to thank me for.”
She shook her head. “No, for being my dad. I know that sounds weird because my mum’s your sister and all, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re my dad. You did all the hours, lost all the sleep, cared for me when I was sick, gave up your house for us, paid for a lot of shit. You did all the things a dad does, so you’re mine.”
I took all that in and let it settle deep in my bones. I’d never wanted to be a dad. Never. It wasn’t in my life plan, and Tatum had told me it wasn’t in hers either, so there would be no kids for me. But this… this was everything. I pressed a kiss to her forehead and then pulled back to meet her gaze again. “I got the better end of the deal. I got you.”
Tears slid down her face, but she smiled up at me and gave me her trademark wit. “True. Your life would have no meaning without me.”
I grinned at her. “What time’s your mum coming over? I need to get Tatum’s ass moving and in that kitchen if it’s gonna be soon.”
“I thought you were cooking tonight,” Tatum called out.
I turned my grin towards her. “You wore me out this afternoon, Vegas. A man needs to recuperate before he can spend hours cooking.”
She rolled her eyes. “If Dustin can manage to make every single thing I love to eat for one meal, you can surely manage to cook a damn roast.”
I placed my hand over my heart. “You wound me, woman.”
A knock on the door interrupted us and I headed down the hallway to answer it. I was surprised to find Billy fucking Jones on the other side.
“Billy,” I greeted him. We’d kept a civil distance to each other since Tatum had moved in, and while I’d come around a little in my opinion of him, we were far from friends.
He seemed as uncomfortable to be there as I was to have him there. Holding a folder out to me, he said, “These are for Tatum. They’re documents she needs for the case she’s working on.”
I took the folder from him. “I’ll pass them on.”
“Thanks.”
Silence descended on us. It was awkward as fuck while I waited for him to leave. I considered calling out to Tatum to let her know he was there, but I was a greedy asshole and didn’t want to share the time I had with her.
He turned to leave, but stopped and glanced back at me. “She’s a lot happier now.”
I nodded, not really wanting to have this conversation with him.
“Because of you, I mean. She was never happy before you.” He paused. “Don’t fuck that up.”
I clenched my jaw. I didn’t need Billy Jones coming to my house and telling me not to fuck something up that I never would. I gripped the door, ready to close it. The only thing stopping me from slamming it in his face was Tatum.
He didn’t wait for my response before leaving. Not that there would have been a response. At this point, the best I could manage was to simply keep the peace and not punch the fuck out of him. I knew Tatum hoped for more, but she never pushed me, and I appreciated the hell out of that. Who knew what the future held. I doubted Billy and me would ever be friendly, but Tatum had a way of getting me to do shit I never thought I would.
“Nitro!” Renee called out. I closed the door and headed back inside. “Mum’s on her way now, so you should start cooking.”
I passed Billy’s folder to Tatum. “Billy dropped this off.”
She smiled as she took it. “Thanks.” She didn’t appear surprised that he’d come or that I hadn’t called her out to see him.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Did you know he was coming over?”
She shrugged. “I figured he might.”
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. “You’ll be the death of me, Vegas.”
She waved me away with a laugh. “Go cook. I’m hungry.”
Fifteen minutes later I slid a roast into the oven and thought about how my life had changed. Only for her would I be in a kitchen cooking a damn roast when I’d rather be on the couch with her tits pressed against me. She’d fast become the woman I spent my time trying to make happy; the woman I worried incessantly over; the one I planned my future around and the woman I wanted by my side until the day I died.
* * *
“You’ve been holding out on me, Nitro,” Tatum said over dinner that night. “Who knew you could cook so well? Roast is one of my favourites so I think you’re gonna be cooking it a lot more from now on.”
Dustin frowned. “I never knew roast was one of your favourites. I’ll make it next time I cook for you.”
Tatum gave him a smile, but it wasn’t the kind of smile I saw women give him all the time. The type of smile that said they felt sorry for him or that they thought it was a shame that a good-looking guy like him didn’t have the intelligence they were looking for. Tatum’s smile was genuine and it said she appreciated his thoughtfulness and that she loved him for it.
I loved her for that smile.
“Thank you, Dustin. But honestly, roast can be so expensive. I don’t expect you to cook it for me.”
His face lit up as he thought that over. “I could substitute the steak for roast every now and then. That would work.”
I grinned at him. “Great idea, man.”
He had the family over for dinner once a week since he’d moved out. Every Thursday night was Dustin’s night. Unless he had to work, but generally he had Thursdays and Fridays off. He didn’t cook Tatum’s favourites every week, but rather he alternated between everyone’s favourites. I had to hand it to Billy—he’d given Dustin a stable job that seemed to be doing wonders for his confidence.
“Roast is one of my favourites, too,” Marilyn said. “But I prefer pork over lamb.”
Dustin’s eyes widened. “I never knew that!”
That was because Marilyn had kept so much about herself locked away inside for years. We hadn’t known the real Marilyn. She’d been attending her psychologist appointments religiously and working hard at turning her life around. She’d even finally gone back to work five weeks prior and managed to find a way to get through her days there regardless of the anxiety she experienced. I was so fucking proud of her.
“Pork crackling!” Tatum said, smiling at Marilyn. Turning to Dustin, she asked, “Tell me you know how to make good crackling. I will love you forever if you do.”
“I can google that,” he said, and I had to chuckle at his enthusiasm. But then, that was Dustin. Always trying to make others happy. I guessed he took that upon himself when everyone in his family had been so damn unhappy.
I stretched one arm across the back of Tatum’s chair and reached for my beer with the other arm. Whispering in her ear while everyone else was talking and laughing, I said, “Marry me.”
Her head snapped around and she looked at me with shock. “What?”
I grinned. “I said, marry me.”
She stared in silence for a beat. And then my woman let loose on my ass. “That’s a shitty proposal, Nitro. If you want me to commit to you, you’re going to have to do about a hundred times better than that for a proposal.”
My grin grew, and I kissed her before she could push me away. “I was just testing the waters, Vegas.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You are so full of shit it isn’t funny.”
“And that right there is why I’m gonna marry your ass one day. Your fight gets me so fucking hard.” I said it loud enough so that only she could hear.
“God, you are so romantic sometimes,” she grumbled.
I kissed her again. “You wouldn’t know what to do wi
th romance.”
“Maybe you should try it one day and we’ll see just how much further it gets you with me.”
“You’re telling me it’ll get me laid faster or more often?”
She smacked me, but I saw the laughter in her eyes. “I’m telling you that it might just blow your mind. Men have no fucking clue what the smallest romantic gesture is capable of achieving.”
I kept my gaze on her while I sucked back some beer. If she wanted romance, I’d fucking give it to her. But not because I wanted to get laid or because I wanted my ring on her finger. I’d give it to her because it would make her happy and that was all I cared about. A smile on Tatum’s face was like the sun shining on you when all you’d had was rain for weeks. And when she laughed… that shit was everything I lived for these days.
* * *
Tatum handed Devil a glass of Coke and said, “You wanna stay for dinner?”
Devil and I had been out in my shed for hours working on my bike. We were almost finished when Tatum arrived home from a day out shopping with Monroe.
“What you cooking, gorgeous?”
“I’m not cooking tonight. Nitro is.”
He grinned at me. “I like your style, brother. Keeping your woman happy by cooking. Smart move.”
Tatum knew that Devil and I always gave each other shit and clearly she decided she wanted in on that when she leant across and said to him, “It’s not his cooking that keeps me happy. It’s all in the way he uses that tongue of his when he l—”
Devil held up his hand and cut her off. “Nope, don’t need to know any more. But fuck, Tatum, you sure you don’t have a sister? I need a chick with a dirty mouth like yours.”
She laughed, but before she could reply, King entered my backyard and came our way. He had a woman with him. I squinted to get a better look at her and stood there stunned when I realised who it was.
“Is that Jen?” Devil asked just as I worked it out.
“Yeah, brother, that’s Jen.”
“Fuck, I never saw that coming.”
King had his arm around her as if they were together, which surprised me because they’d been apart for six years. The year after he’d become president had been turbulent for them, and she’d walked away to be with another man. It had shattered him.
“King,” I greeted him and then glanced at Jen and lifted my chin at her. “Jen.”
“Hey, Nitro,” she said, her voice shaky. She clung to King like she never wanted to let go.
Tension rolled off King’s body while he eyed Tatum. “Can you do me a favour, Tatum?”
“Sure.” She clearly sensed the tension too.
He let go of Jen and said, “Can you take Jen inside and make her some tea. Peppermint if you’ve got it by any chance. I need a minute with the boys.”
Tatum gave Jen a smile. “I’m not sure if we’ve got peppermint, but I’ll check.”
“Thank you,” Jen said softly. Something was very wrong with her. Jen wasn’t a soft woman. Hell, I recalled screaming matches between her and King that had lasted days.
Once they’d left us, King scrubbed his face and swore. “You got a beer, Nitro?”
“Yeah.” I grabbed one out of the fridge in the shed and came back to him. “What the fuck is going on, King? Because from what I can see, something bad is going down here.”
He drank over half the bottle in one go and then took a deep breath. “Only Kick knows this, but the guy Jen left me for used to beat her. Pretty badly. She finally left him and we found her a safe house in Broken Hill. Through Brian. Something got her spooked there so she left and moved in with a friend in Goulburn. The bastard tracked her down a few months ago, and she called me at midnight one night, scared out of her mind. I’ve been spending time with her the last couple of months trying to make sure she was safe. She refused to move back to Sydney, which pissed me off, but I couldn’t force her to come back. Then last night I got a call that he’s threatened her again, so I put my fucking foot down. She’s moving in with me until I can find this motherfucker and fix the problem.”
“So you want us to help with that?” Devil said.
“Yeah, but as well as that, Dragon just gave word that he’s ready to start the attacks on Gambarro.”
The last couple of months had been quiet on the Gambarro front. He’d been dealing with a police investigation into shit that involved his businesses and it had kept him busy, which worked out for Silver Hell and us. It had given us the time we needed to prepare ourselves to take him and his organisation down.
“We’re ready for this, King,” I said.
“Yeah, but not when I need to give my attention to Jen. I told Dragon I wanted to wait, but he’s not listening. He wants this shit to start on Monday.”
Two days.
“So what’s the plan?” I asked. “And what did Hyde say?”
“I can’t get hold of Hyde. That’s another problem we have.”
In my opinion, that was the worst news out of all this. Hyde had been off the radar a lot lately. Devil and I had been covering for him.
When neither Devil nor I said anything, King narrowed his eyes at us. “What the fuck is going on with Hyde and why the fuck don’t I know about it?”
“I honestly don’t know, brother,” I said. “There have been a few times where we’ve needed him and haven’t been able to reach him. Nothing major, though, so we didn’t want to bother you with it.”
“Fuck, Nitro, I’m your fucking president. How the hell am I supposed to run a fucking club if I don’t know everything?”
I raised my hand in a defensive gesture. “It won’t happen again.”
King shoved his fingers through his hair while he scowled at us. Finally, he blew out a harsh breath. “Okay, I’m gonna take Jen home and get her sorted. Then I’m calling Church for tomorrow. And Nitro?” His eyes bored into mine. “Get ready to step up if I can’t find Hyde.”
* * *
King’s words played on my mind all afternoon and night. Tatum had picked up on my uneasiness and asked me a couple of times about it. I’d changed the subject each time and managed to divert her attention with sex. She was smart enough, though, to know something was going on. After she showered that night she came to me again.
“I don’t expect you to give up club business, but can you at least tell me if everything’s okay? Because it feels like it isn’t and I need to be prepared for shit, Nitro. I mean, I can suit up with the best of them. Maybe I can help you. Who knows? But I refuse to be the woman who scurries away to the corner and remains oblivious to problems.”
I sat on the couch and took in the sight of my woman standing before me offering to go to battle with me. And with the family I’d chosen for myself—my club. It was the most beautiful fucking sight I’d ever seen. Tatum was love and loyalty and family all rolled into one.
Standing, I went to her. “It fucking terrifies me, Vegas,” I murmured as I curled my hand around her neck.
She placed her hand on mine around her neck. “What terrifies you?”
“Losing you.”
“You’re not going to lose me.”
She had no idea of what was to come. She’d only witnessed the war we’d had with Silver Hell. The one we had planned for Gambarro would likely guarantee more death and destruction. It was the gamble we took when we joined Storm. We agreed to lay down our lives for our brothers if needed. And I would if I had to.
The thing I struggled with was inviting death into my home, into my blood family.
“Storm is about to go to war with Angelo Gambarro.”
Her eyes widened, but only for a moment. She tried to hide her emotions, but I saw them. And she was right to be scared. But still, my woman stayed strong for me. “When?”
“In two days. We’ve been planning it for months. It’s a huge operation and one that could put your life at risk.”
She took a moment and then she said, “Right, so you tell me what I have to do, and I’ll do it. Whatever you need. Even if
that’s just being there for you at night to massage your tired muscles and love you enough to get you through the next day, I’m your girl. But if you need me to do more, you tell me that too.”
Fuck me, she was something else. I pulled her to me and kissed her as if it was our last kiss ever. We needed to take what we could from each other in case the unthinkable happened. When I ended the kiss, I said, “I love you, Tatum. You’re the woman I never thought existed. And you’re the woman I’m going to marry one day even if it takes me all my life to get that proposal right.”
She ran her hand gently down my face. “I love you more. And I’m pretty sure if you’d tacked a ‘will you marry me?’ onto the end of that, I would have said yes. Screw romance. All I need is your arms around me, and your heart beating next to mine and I’m a happy girl.”
“Will you marry me?” My breathing slowed while I waited for her answer. One word and she’d make me the happiest man alive.
She smiled up at me and ran her hand down from my face to my chest. Placing it over my heart, she said, “This is mine and always will be.” Standing on her toes, she kissed me and then she whispered the only word I wanted to hear. “Yes.”
It didn’t matter what life threw at me any more. With Tatum by my side, and my family in a happy place, I had everything I ever needed. She was wrong about romance, though. I was determined as fuck to crack that sucker and make her the happiest woman on earth.
THE END
Epilogue - Tatum
“If I Could Fly” by One Direction
I poured myself a rum and Coke and downed half of it straight away. Placing the glass on the kitchen counter, I took a deep breath.
I can do this.
I want to do this.
I trust him.
The front door opened and closed, and then Nitro’s boots thudded on the wood floor as he made his way to the kitchen where I waited for him.
He’d been at the clubhouse all day where I presumed they discussed their plan for the next day. I took in his body as he watched me. He was so tense. I didn’t blame him. The club had a lot to deal with.
