Her head turned, and suddenly he was looking into those sea glass green eyes, drowning in them, unable to speak or breathe. Oh, God, they were so dark. He had done that; he had dimmed her light. He was no better than Ray. He had hurt her emotionally as profoundly as Nelms ever had physically. They stood like that for a moment, not speaking, not moving, just looking at each other
Her eyes moved past him, looking over his shoulder, and he saw the light coming back and thrilled at the happiness spreading across her face. Maybe she could. Maybe she did.
“Daniel, hi,” was all she said, but it was better than silence.
“Hey,” he said again, cursing his stupid mouth.
She smiled. “Come sit down,” she said and reached out her hand, but she didn’t grasp his fingers as he raised his hand in response. He was confused until she grabbed a hand reaching out from behind Daniel and pulled Mason into her, lifting her face to his for a quick kiss.
Mason moved behind her, putting his hand possessively across her hip and belly, pulling her back into him. He bent his head down, whispering into her ear and she laughed. Raising her face to him again, he captured her mouth aggressively with his own. “Daniel, man, come sit,” Mason said, lifting from her lips and scooting back to settle onto the blanket near Dickie. He tugged Mica’s hand, and she tumbled into his lap, snuggling into his chest with her cheek. Daniel’s heart had stopped, which had to be the reason he felt like he was breaking apart. It hurt, and he couldn’t catch his breath.
He blinked, and Mica was still in front of him, her eyes dark, but she was looking at him, not over his shoulder, and he realized the past few seconds hadn’t happened—it was all in his head. He expected her to reject him, and he’d played it out in his head. “Mica, I’m so glad to see you. I’ve missed you so much,” he said, watching her eyes brighten.
“Daniel, I’ve missed you too.” He reached out a hand, palm up, waiting for her response. She smiled at him, and her eyes moved past him, looking over his shoulder now, but unlike his heartbreaking vision, she reached out and took his hand. He tugged her towards him and into an embrace, holding her gently, as if she might shatter into a million pieces, or as if he would.
“Mica, I love you,” he choked out in a whisper against her neck where his face was buried.
Her hands roamed up and down his back underneath the jacket. “I know, Daniel, and I love you too.”
He pulled back and looked into her face, seeing her eyes were bright and loving as they looked at him. Lowering his head, he slanted his mouth across hers, dying for a taste of her lips. “Mica, I love you,” he whispered again, closing his eyes.
Dickie coughed dramatically from where he sat on the blanket, snapping Daniel out of his fantasy, and when he opened his eyes, Mica still just stood in front of him, but her green eyes were bright as she smiled at him. Understanding he had only actually said the first awkward ‘Hey’ that had left his mouth, he didn’t know which imagined ending would happen in reality. They had left on bad terms more than once, but he loved her. Oh, God, he loved her so much. He wanted to hold her and kiss her. He wanted to have the right to touch her again.
“Mica, I heard you ride now?” Oh, shit, what a stupid question. He wanted to take it back, but she reached out to grab his fingers.
“Want to see my bike?” He nodded, but she wasn’t waiting for his response. “Mason bought her, but I’m gonna try and talk him into selling her to me. I love her too much to leave her with him.” Dragging him through the crowd, she stopped near her back porch, looking up at Mason. “Showing him my bike, Mason. Wanna come?” He nodded, getting up from the chair and walking with them.
Still with her fingers twisted with his, she pulled Daniel towards a motorcycle parked on the cement pad. “This is yours? Wow, it’s beautiful,” he said.
“I rode her from Longview. Mason taught me, and he was there with me every step of the way,” she explained. “I had wanted to learn to ride, but never expected to get such a crash course.” Laughing at her play on words, she clarified, “No actual crashing, thank goodness. I had such a good time.” Tilting her head at the bike, she asked, “She is pretty, isn’t she?”
Daniel looked down at their hands and tightened his grip, taking in a deep breath. “She’s not the only thing that’s pretty. Mica, I’m glad you are back.”
Tipping her head back to look at him, she grinned. “Thank Mason for that; he wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Turning to Mason, she prompted, “Would you?”
“Nope, babe, you needed to be home.” He stood next to her and folded his arms across his chest, tucking his chin down.
Mica reached out and tugged one of his hands loose, standing between them and holding hands with both men. She swung their joined hands up into her chest, holding them there as she giggled and said, “My two favorite men in the world—I’m so happy.”
Stretching on her tippy-toes, she kissed each of them on the cheek. Nodding to herself, she said again, “I’m so happy. What a great day.” Releasing a big breath, she told them, “I’m so glad to be home. It’s hard to believe I was gone so long, and then to have nearly everyone I love here…what I’m feeling is just beyond words. I’m just so happy.”
Gray eyes met blue over the top of her head. Daniel saw something there that told him while he had a claim on Mica, now Mason did too. He knew something had shifted in their relationship, and remembered Mason’s words as he walked out of the bar in Rockford. Had he acted on his promise to love her if Daniel wasn’t there?
Grimly, he bent and put his chest against Mica’s back, wrapping his free arm around her. He rubbed his beard against her neck, kissing along the line of her jaw. “I’ve missed you, beautiful,” he said in a low voice beside her ear.
She turned her head and kissed his cheek again, smiling. “Missed you too, Daniel,” she said, and didn’t move out of his embrace. Mason was watching them closely, frowning.
There was a yell from across the yard, and Mason’s head snapped up, looking to see what was going on. Slate stood halfway between them and the crowd, and he pointed to Mason and called to him, “Tucker.”
Mason nodded. Disengaging his hand from Mica’s, he told her, “Back in a bit—got club business to deal with, babe. Stay here.” He looked at Daniel. “Keep her safe, brother,” he said, and he walked away.
They watched Mason move across the yard, seeing Slate fall in behind him, along with Tug and a few other Rebel members. “Do you know what that’s about?” Daniel asked, wondering at the look on Mica’s face.
She sighed. “I have an inkling, but it’s not any of my business, even if it’s about me. Mason has made that really clear. The club isn’t part of my life, except when he wants it to be.”
Daniel wondered if that was frustration or resignation in her voice, but he saw her eyes had dimmed, still watching the crowd where Mason and his retinue had disappeared.
Daniel took a breath. “Tell me about the ride, beautiful. I want to hear everything.” He saw her face transform, her grin plastering from ear to ear.
“Oh, Daniel,” she said, turning in his arms, “it was wonderful. I had no idea how much I’d like riding by myself like that. It was…freeing.” She laid her forehead against his chest. “It was empowering. I felt like the coward in me had nowhere to hide. I think I needed it more than anything I’ve ever needed before. It proved to me I can do anything, as long as it matters to me.”
“Mica, that was never in question,” he responded, kissing the top of her head. “You are one of the bravest people I know. Not fearless, because that’s reckless, but brave and courageous, yes.” He kissed her cheek. “Courage is doing what’s needed, even if you are afraid.”
Tilting her head back, she lifted her face and waited with her eyes closed for his kiss, and he captured her lips with his own. Slow and gentle at first, he let her set the pace and gasped when her tongue traced along his lower lip. Opening to her mouth, he reveled in her possessing him like this, stroking his tongue with her o
wn and sweeping into his mouth.
Her hands moved up his back, yanking his shirt from the waistband of his pants so she could drag her nails across his spine. He groaned into her mouth, sliding his hand down her ribs to her waist and tugging her closer to him. “Mica, I want you,” he whispered as he rubbed his cheek against her face. “I won’t be able to stop.”
She pulled back and looked up at him, asking softly, “Stay the night with me?”
Daniel closed his eyes tightly. “Oh, God, yes, beautiful. Wherever you are, whenever you want, I’m with you.”
55 -
Disclosures
Mica smiled as she closed her backdoor for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight. Her friends kept finding reasons for her to rejoin the party still rocking in her backyard. Even sweet Digger came knocking to see if she wanted to make s’mores with him and his girl, Kathy.
Putting her hand on the wood of the door, she patted it gently, saying pleadingly, “Stay closed this time,” and laughed at herself.
Stepping back, she pulled a bottle of water from her fridge and heard the door knob rattling as it turned. “Oh, for the love of—” she began as she turned, and then stopped, because it was Mason standing in her kitchen. He kicked the door closed and stood there for a moment looking into her eyes.
Nodding at her, he gave a chin lift towards the archway into the living room. “Daniel?”
“He’s in the living room, Mason, yeah.” She reached out and grabbed his hand.
“He your always, babe?” he asked her quietly.
She wound her fingers between his, stepping closer. “Tell me about Tucker?”
Mason looked down and shook his head negatively. “Aww, now, you know better, babe. It’s club business, and the bike is as close as I’ll ever let you get to being a Rebel.”
“Why can’t I know? Why, Mason? Why can’t I understand?” She was so frustrated at him; he was always like this about the club.
“Babe,” he said simply, “most of the time, you don’t want to know.” He tried to sooth her, asking, “What’s up with you wanting to know now?”
She glared at him. “I have a feeling something happened to Tucker because I talked to Slate. Is there anything I need to know? Is there anything I should have done differently? Is he okay?”
“See that right there? See that?” he retorted, pointing to her mouth. “That’s why you can’t be part of the club business any more than you are, babe.”
Pulling her hand free, she tugged the hair ties from her braids, angrily dissembling them and pushing the hair back from her face. Absently, she pulled her hair to one side and began braiding it again, into a single tail this time. “I clearly don’t see what you do, Mason. I don’t understand. It’s a simple freakin’ question—is Tucker okay?”
Mason reached out with both hands, placing one on either side of her head and using his thumbs to stroke the wisps of hair that were too short to braid away from her face. “Babe, he’s not bad hurt, but he’s not a Rebel anymore…which is a hurt of a different kind for a man like him or me.”
She wrapped her hands around his wrists, holding his hands in place on her head. He shook his head at her again. “I cut his rocker off his vest tonight. I took the club rocker and colors, and to a biker, that is worse than fucking dying, because all the clubs around here will know what happened. They won’t know why, but it takes a serious fucking offense to wind up with a cut rocker.”
She opened her mouth, but he silenced her with his fingers. “Now you want to ask me what he did? Well, that’s club business, and you already think it involves you, but you don’t understand how you could be club business, do you?”
Shaking her head, she opened her mouth again, but he cut her off once more. “Hush. Listen, babe,” he lowered his voice, “I need you to fucking listen and get what I’m saying to you, Mica. Are you listening? Really fucking listening?”
Nodding, she stroked his wrists with her thumbs, thinking to herself he was nearly scary like this. Maybe she didn’t want to know after all, but he continued, unstoppable, “He put his fucking hands on Rebel property. It was unwanted attention, and not fucking allowed. He did this again and again—by his own admission—for no goddamn reason other than he thought he could. He fucking thought he had the right to touch Rebel property without protecting it. Fucker didn’t see the wrong, he said.”
He was breathing heavily, using all his willpower to keep a cool head while he tried to make her understand. “Babe, I am Rebel Wayfarers. I’m the President and founder of the fucking mother chapter, and anything that is Rebel is mine. So when the asshat touched Rebel property, he touched MY fucking property. That shit’s personal.”
Mason shifted, gripping her jaw in one palm, holding her face tightly between fingers and thumb. “Want to know what he put his fucking hands on, Mica?” She shook her head no, but he stared into her eyes, nodding his head. “Oh, yes, you do. You wanted to hear it, so fucking hear it, babe. It was you. You are Rebel property, and that’s how I fucking keep you safe. Anybody, any-fucking-body who touches you, is touching what’s mine,” he growled out the last word, “and they have to answer to every fucking Rebel member, because they are an extension of me. You’ve heard us say it a thousand fucking times—you are a fucking treasure.
“You’ve heard your title for years without knowing what it meant, without taking it as seriously as it is, but get it straight and clear—Princess is as much a role in this MC as President, and that’s what you are, babe…our Princess. That’s because you are Rebel property. It’s not some fucking endearment we call you; it’s a title. You are Rebel royalty.
“You’re nothing as weak as someone’s old lady; no, you are our fucking Princess. You pick up the phone and you call when you need us, and we are right the fuck here, because that ownership I talked about—it goes both fuckin’ ways. You own us, too. This is how I protect you, by making you Princess, and setting you above. You are mine.”
Her breath came quickly; she was nearly panting, but with fear or excitement she couldn’t decide. His voice was still low, but ardent. “Babe, I keep what’s mine safe. I may not be your always, like you said, but you are fucking mine, and I keep what’s mine, safe. So Tucker no longer has a home, and likely won’t find one in the Midwest, because he fucking touched what’s mine…uninvited.”
His hand caressed along her cheek, stroking down the column of her neck. “That fucker Nelms? Motherfucker is rotting in a ditch in the fucking desert, because he touched what’s mine. The fucking punks who attacked you in the alley? They are somewhere upstate with tidy little brain holes, because they. Touched. What’s. Mine.”
It was definitely fear that was stealing her breath and senses now. He couldn’t be serious, could he? He leaned close and whispered in her ear, “You will always be mine, Michaela Trenton Scott. No backing out, no backing off, no walking away. This is me, keeping you fucking safe. I didn’t have to sleep with you to stake my claim; it’s been there in your eyes for years when you look at me, and it’s there on the faces of my brothers when they pound their chests and say ‘fucking treasure’…because you are mine. Babe, you are ours, and we are yours. Since the day you fucking moved in, you have owned me, and even if I find someone to be my always, you will still fucking be mine.”
“Mason, I don’t…I didn’t…what can I…what did I do?” she stumbled over her words, adrift in her reaction to his revelations. Taking a deep breath, she started again, “Mason, I do understand, but what can I do? What can I do to repay you?”
Standing straight, he released her, trailing his fingers down her neck to her collarbones. “You breathe, babe. I keep you safe; it’s what I do. Now do you see why I keep club business out of your house? It’s not fucking pretty, but it’s my life.”
Kissing her cheek, he said. “The ugly is my business, not yours. Never yours.” He stepped back and dropped his hand. “I’ll make sure everyone clears out soon, babe. See you tomorrow.”
Mica stood in th
e middle of her kitchen and watched him walk out, closing the door quietly in the frame. She heard his boots on the back porch and his low whistle to get folks’ attention. She couldn’t hear what was said, but the music turned down, and it sounded like people moved away from her house.
Standing still, she put both hands on top of her head, breathing fast and hard. She racked her brain for something to compare his speech with, but few things in her life had prepared her for this. She had never realized how much he cared. She had known for years that he protected her, but had never known how calculatedly, or to what extent he was willing to go.
She coughed out a laugh—oh, and that bit about being property? His property? Yeah, that didn’t fly far for her. That turkey’s wings were pinioned. No flight there at all. Mason had gone crazy; that had to be the right of it. Like she had one time, he’d gone to visit Crazytown. She dropped her hands and stepped forward to open the door, intent on telling him so, when an arm wrapped around her from behind.
“Leave him be, Mica. He’s hurting,” Daniel’s voice came from beside her head, “so talk to him tomorrow in the light of day when you haven’t had a half-dozen beers.”
“Did you hear him?” she asked fussily. “Did you hear him call me property?” She wrapped her hands around his hard, corded arm, sliding them restlessly up and down the skin she could reach.
“Oh, beautiful, what I heard was him declare a love for you that has been there since the moment he laid eyes on you. I suspect even then, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away, which meant you’d meet club members, since he lives right next door. I don’t understand everything, but I believe in this case, being called the club’s Princess is an honor. It sounded like he put you in a safe position with all the club members milling around. Mason is probably your best friend in the world, and he’s hurting. Leave him tonight to get himself back in order.” Daniel stroked her arm, shoulder to elbow and back again. “Come to bed with me, Mica. Be with me tonight.”
Mica (Rebel Wayfarers MC) Page 37
