by Lila Rose
“Yeah, brother.”
I noticed Muff crowded Manda after hearing what we’d said. He was also searching the place. I heard a jangle of keys, and then Jerimiah led me away from the bar, down the hallway, where the toilets were, to the end where he unlocked a door.
He ushered me through, releasing my hand. I stepped in, a few paces away and turned to find Manda and Muff had followed.
Manda came right up to me, guiding me to the desk where she shifted things so I could sit because I wasn’t sure my legs could hold me up much longer.
Chapter Fifteen
Fang
After closing the door, I stalked over to the desk, then gently shifted Manda outta the way and got close to my woman. Tipping her head back with a finger under her chin, I said, “Darlin’, it’s going to be okay.”
She blinked as if she’d forgotten where she was, lost in her mind. “He was here.” She swallowed, and it looked like it hurt. She shook her head, tears welling. “He was here, Jerimiah. In a Hawks bar without a care in the world, and did this to you.” She made a gesture with her hand. A gun and being shot at me.
“He won’t get to me,” I stated, cupping the side of her cheek. “Darlin’, he won’t get to me.” The motherfucker may have had balls to come into Hawks territory and threaten a brother with his hand, but he wasn’t stupid enough to actually pull a gun out surrounded by brothers. He would have been taken down to the ground in seconds. But hell, I was still fuckin’ pissed he’d managed to get in through the door. Something we’d have to take into account and deal with. Though, comforting my woman was my main concern.
“Baby, I need you to tell me absolutely everything that happened between you and him. Why would he still be after you?”
Poppy licked her dry lips. “I don’t know. I don’t understand it.”
“He’s been threatening to fuck her though,” Manda added.
“Manda,” Poppy snapped.
“They have to know everything. He still wants her,” she looked at me, “but he’s claimed her—” She cleared her throat. “—pussy as his, like he’s already claimed her as his woman. So he wants no one else near her.”
Straightening, Poppy’s hands fell from my face, landing on my waist where she ran them up and down. I would have snorted if I wasn’t fuming. My woman was trying to calm me. So for her sake, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply through my nose.
“Muff, you’re coming with me. We’re gonna swing by the compound for Gamer, then pay Venom a visit.” I wanted to talk to Blackie, make sure he was telling us everything.
My eyes opened when Poppy suddenly gripped my tee at the waist, and yelled, “What? No! Python is a sick fuck. Hell, he’s probably there just to mess with Blackie. It won’t be safe. I have a plan. If I just stay away from you all, long enough for him to forget about me, then—”
“No,” I clipped. “We don’t play by his rules. Not after everything he’s done. We play by ours, and I will not fuckin’ have you outta my life because of him. We’ll make Python see reason.” After we break him first.
“Jerimiah, it won’t be for that long—”
“Four years was enough without you. Not again,” I ordered. Hell, didn’t she understand I’d never let her walk away from me? Maybe from the way her eyes were warming and brimming with tears she was finally getting it.
Her breath hitched. “I-I’m already losing my mum. I won’t lose you or hurt anyone else in your family.”
Crushed.
My goddamn heart was just crushed by the pain in Poppy’s voice.
Stepping close, I wrapped my arms around her. She buried her head into my chest, her body shaking with her falling tears. Fuck me.
“Poppy,” I whispered softly. “I promise I’ll be fine, nothing will happen to me. No more harm will come to me or my brothers. You gotta trust that. Trust me and the Hawks.”
She shook her head against me. “But you can’t promise that.”
“I can. Fuck this guy, Poppy. Fuck him. My woman doesn’t deserve this type of treatment, especially when she’s already going through enough. And if I can deal with it, get the bad outta your life, then I will. Promise, Poppy, I’ll be good. Everyone will be fine. I know it because I’ll have my brothers at my back.”
“I-I’m not even your woman.” The words trembled out of her. I felt the urge to shake my bloody woman. Instead, I dropped my head back, eyes to the ceiling, and prayed for fuckin’ patience. Poppy Torian had been mine since the day we’d become friends. We lost what we had, but then she became mine once again the day she opened the door to me in a towel.
“Come on, baby. We’ll wait for them out front,” Muff said to Manda, and I heard them move within the room, then step out the door. As soon as I heard it close, I slide my hands from around Poppy’s shoulders to the top of her arms, so I could pull her back and capture her eyes.
She wiped at her face, smearing her eye make-up a little, but I didn’t give a flying fuck. She was gorgeous no matter what.
When more tears fell, it gutted me. I hadn’t seen much of the agony she’d been in over her mother. She’d been holding it back and I’d been blind to it. I should have known. Fuck, I should have known. She was losing her mum. Wiping under her eyes, I leaned in and pressed my lips to her forehead.
“Fuck, Poppy,” I whispered, then pulled back.
“What?” she sniffed.
“I should have come for you. I should have shoved my pride and pain aside and found you all those years ago. Then, hell, none of this would have happened, and we’d be where I want us now. You’d be mine, and I could have helped you deal with the pain you’re already feeling for your mum.” Closing my eyes for a moment, I took a breath and opened them again. “I’m sorry, babe.”
Christ. Her bottom lip wobbled. “S-she doesn’t remember me some days. I never thought my mum could forget me. W-when I walk in there and she looks at me like I just work there…” She grabbed her chest. “…it hurts. Like I’ve been stabbed right here each and every time.”
Nodding, I cupped her cheek. “Darlin’, fuck, let me be it.” Her body stiffened. “I’m not sayin’ your man. I ain’t forcing us on you. I’m asking to be the one you turn to, when that pain gets too much and you can’t deal, call me, text me, or come to me, and let me help you with what you’re feeling. That’s all I’m askin’, sweetheart.”
She studied me for a moment, before she whispered, “There’s something else I have to tell you before you want to be anything with me.” Reaching up, she took my hand from her face in both of hers and brought it to her lap. There she absently ran her fingers over the back of my hand while thoughts ran around in her mind.
Of course I was wondering what she had to say, but I wouldn’t rush her. Whatever it was seemed important. Shit, maybe this was why—
“This is the other reason I left.” She looked up, licking her lips. “I-if you… I’ll understand if you don’t want anything to do with me after it.”
My body tensed. The reason would have me backing off Poppy?
What the fuck?
“Tell me,” I said, and it came out gruffer than I’d meant it to. So, I gripped one of her hands in mine and brought both our hands to my chest where I laid hers flat on my chest with my hand over hers. Our gazes met. “I’m sure whatever it is I’ll never risk losing you again.”
She tried to tug her hand away, but I wouldn’t let it drop. She sighed, wiped at her face again, and then muttered, “We’ll see.” Taking a breath, she looked up at me, and said, “The night I overheard what you’d said, I went back to the compound to… let’s just say, I wanted to drink my teen sorrows away. Hardly anyone was around. I snuck into the fridge out back to grab myself some beers when….” She looked away, biting her bottom lip. “I should have told you, but I was so angry and hurt and worried about what you would do.” She sniffed. “Switch came in after me,�
�� she whispered. My body went rock solid. When her gaze flicked down to her hands, I looked there to see I was gripping so tightly the tips of her fingers were turning white. I released them, then stepped back.
Switch got to her.
Turning my back to her, I snarled, “Did he fuckin’ touch you?”
I waited a beat for her to deny it, but she didn’t. Fury rose once again. That time I had to let it out. I had to let it fuckin’ free. Picking up a chair, I threw it at the wall. It smashed, but it wasn’t enough.
Just when I’d picked up something else, the door came open.
“Fang, what the fuck?” Muff barked.
With a heaving breath, I placed the item on the ground. “Get out,” I ordered darkly.
“Brother?”
“Poppy, you okay?” Manda asked.
“Get the fuck out,” I snarled.
“Switch…,” I heard Manda mumble. She knew. She fuckin’ knew, and I hadn’t. For years. Goddamn years I didn’t know my fucked-up, motherfuckin’ cunt of a father touched my woman. I hadn’t been there to protect her. I’d been too consumed with my own petty worries about Poppy being too young and wanting her but had been too horny and stupid to claim my woman like I should have, no matter her age. I shouldn’t have waited. Then she wouldn’t have been hurt and tried to drown her pain, and then she wouldn’t have been touched. Instead, she would have been by my fucking side.
My fucking father got his hands on her.
Gripping my hair, it built the pain, wrath… so much built inside of me. Bending over, I let it out. I roared into the room until I felt her.
Poppy was at my back, her hands on my waist, holding tight. Her voice only a dull sound, one I couldn’t hear right because my ears were ringing.
Crouching, I held my head in my hands. Poppy’s warmth wrapped over my back. I didn’t understand how she thought I wouldn’t want to be with her after, but she was wrong. I’d fucked up. It was my fault what had happened to her. Not hers.
“Jerimiah, please, please listen. He only got a hand down my pants. That was it. Then Blackie found us and got me out of there. Blackie warned me you would lose it, probably kill Switch. I knew you would. There was no probably about it. You were always so protective of me. I didn’t want you to go to jail for me. To kill your father for me. So I left.”
She shifted back when I stood.
Scrubbing at my face, I turned to her. “You were right.” She stiffened, her lips parted. “I would have killed him. No matter how far he got, it doesn’t matter. He put his hands on you, scared you. He would have paid with his life. But, Poppy…” I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “That’s the way I work. How the club works. You have to understand that. We hunt, we hurt and kill those who fuck us over. And I mean goddamn us as in our family. No matter who it is in the family, we all come together to make them pay. Blackie fucked up. He should have told me so I could’ve made Switch disappear a long time ago. I wouldn’t have been locked up for it, Poppy. Not for that sick cunt. I get why you ran. You went through a lot that night, yet, you were still looking out for me. I failed you. I wouldn’t have lost you, and that wouldn’t have happened to you if I’d stepped the fuck up and claimed you.”
She stepped closer. Her hands once again gripped my tee, only to loosen one hand and slide it up to the side of my neck. “Please don’t. Please, do not blame yourself. You warned me away from the compound without you there and from him. I didn’t listen. I should have listened.”
“Don’t, darlin’. This is on me. You can’t make me see different, but what you can do, if you want to, is forgive me.”
She glared. My stubborn woman wouldn’t let me take it on. Her hand squeezed my neck. “I don’t need to forgive you for anything.”
“Baby, you do, but I get it if you can’t.”
Poppy let out a cute little growl in the back of her throat. Fuck me. I’d fucked us up and he’d got to her. It’d live with me forever. All I could do was pray I could make everything up to her. Pray she’d let me.
“Okay.” She nodded. “You’re forgiven.”
Placing my hands to her hips, I applied pressure for a second so I had her attention. “Darlin’, you can’t just—”
“I can offer my forgiveness when I want, and I’m saying I forgive you, Jerimiah. Now take it, and then you can take mine for leaving.”
Narrowing my gaze, I clipped, “I’m not taking yours when you have nothing to be sorry for. Jesus, Poppy, I—” I didn’t get to finish because a certain someone shut me up by placing her lips on mine.
At first touch, I was a goner.
Christ, as soon as she wrapped both her arms around my neck, I curled mine around her waist and picked her up off the floor. Poppy brought up her legs around my hips. My hands went right to her arse. Her sweet arse. To hold her close while deepening the kiss. When she moaned, after opening for me, I turned us and walked her back to the desk, planting her on it so my hands could roam freely over her hot body.
Too soon she was ending it. I didn’t like it. With a grunted growl, I shook my head, our lips sliding against one another before tangling my tongue with hers once again. She responded with a whimper, tightening her legs around me, forcing me into her more.
I couldn’t get enough, and neither could Poppy because she was more than willing to keep the kiss going.
Jesus. I was rock hard in my jeans.
From a kiss.
My dick throbbed from one kiss from my woman. It didn’t bode well for our first night together. I’d probably come from just seeing her naked.
Oh hell, the thought of Poppy naked had me leaking into my boxers. With my hands going back to her arse, I slid her forward, holding close. There was no way she was disappearing right then.
Love.
This was what it was.
The kiss was love and longing and desire all wrapped into one.
Shit, fuck. I should have done it a long time ago. Her lips, her mouth… were more than I’d ever dreamed of, and I’d dreamed, fantasised a lot about our first kiss.
She was made for me, and there was no way in hell I was losing her.
When my nipple was suddenly put under a vice and squeezed hard, I broke the kiss, snapping, “What the hell?”
“Air, I needed air,” Poppy panted. Her hand went to her heart as she took in gulps of oxygen.
Rubbing my nipple, I asked, “You could have just told me?”
She snorted, then giggled. “Sorry, I was enjoying it too much. My body talked before I could.”
“Christ, woman.” It still stung.
“Sorry.” She blushed when her gaze landed on my mouth. “I kissed you,” she whispered, more to herself, probably realising the kiss was real and hell yes, it had been. My dick was still reliving it. Even after the wench twisted my nipple.
“You did.” I smirked.
“You know I did it to shut you up, right?”
“I do, but I don’t give a fuck. You can shut me up anytime you want like that.”
Her blush deepened down to her neck. Cute.
“Um…” She licked her lips, her eyes landing back on my mouth. I stepped closer, and her hand came up. “So, can we, ah, say that we both forgive each other and move on?”
I clenched my jaw. I wasn’t sure I’d ever forgive myself, but I had to give her what she wanted to hear. “Sure.”
With a scowl, she crossed her arms over her chest, and said, “That sure sounds like you’re just appeasing me.”
Raising my brows, I smirked. “Sure.”
She growled under her breath. Her hand came out ready to smack me, but I grabbed it. I tugged her until she came off the desk and into my arms.
“Darlin’, I’ll try, okay. I’ll try to forgive myself, but it’ll take time. As long as I know I have you at my side, I could make it work.”
“You do,” she whispered. “Have me at your side.”
“Good.” I grinned. “So there’ll be no more talk about you not being my woman. It’s happened. You’re mine, I’m yours, and none of it means we have to rush anything. But what it does mean is that I protect what’s mine. I’m dealin’ with that fucker Python. You with me?”
She sucked in a ragged breath and nodded. “Yes.”
Fuckin’ finally.
Poppy was mine.
Like I’d told her, I wasn’t risking rushing this, us. I’d take each day as it came as long as Poppy was there.
Christ. I felt like screaming the room down with my elation. Shit, I’d even do my own dance of happiness if I didn’t have things to do.
“I gotta get you and Manda home, then head off. Want Manda stayin’ with you tonight. No ifs or buts.” She rolled her eyes, and I chuckled. “Know you want to argue. Any other time I’d go head to head with you for the fun of it, but not now. Not when I gotta get my woman safe.”
“Try to keep the Hulk at bay so I don’t have to visit you in jail.”
I scoffed. “Baby, when’re you gonna learn? I’d never go to jail. Hawks have cops at our back. If they knew my reasoning, they’d understand and protect me. All of us.”
“Okay… I think. Just stay safe, Jerimiah.”
“I will. You gonna give me more about your mum tomorrow night?”
She tensed, then relaxed and ran her hands up and down my arms. “I-I… um… yes.”
Closing my eyes for a second, I opened them, leaned in and touched my mouth to hers. She sighed, a content one, which of course I fuckin’ liked.
“So you won’t be dodging me anymore?”
She laughed. “I won’t.”
“Good. Let’s get goin’, yeah?”
Heat hit her cheeks. “After one more,” she said, eyeing my lips.
I grinned like a lovesick fool. She shifted closer, her lips an inch away from mine. There I murmured, “I’m all yours, darlin’.”
Chapter Sixteen
Fang
