Vanessa
When we got to the clubhouse, Cade picked me up off his bike like I was a little kid. He pulled the helmet off my head and gently tucked it into the side bag on his bike before grabbing my hand and leading me towards the entrance.
“I haven’t been here in a while,” I said. I hadn’t been back since that fateful night where Cade and I had met. “But it feels good to be back.”
Cade nodded. “This is gonna be your home, too.”
I paused nervously as we walked through the doorway. Despite everything that had happened, despite Rudy treating me with more respect than I thought I deserved, I couldn’t help but feel nervous when I thought about the future. After all, Cade and I led two very different lives. I was the perfect student, he was the bad boy biker. I wanted to link up my life with his forever and ever, but somehow it just didn’t feel all that practical to me. I wondered how the hell we were going to make things work out.
Rudy handed Cade two beers, one of which Cade handed back to me as soon as we were inside. Rudy had changed into jeans and a t-shirt and he looked remarkably normal, not imposing like the figure he’d cut back in the field. He sighed and dropped into a chair and I realized that like everyone else, he must be exhausted.
“First thing’s first,” Rudy said. “We need to get some food.” He eyed me cautiously. “I bet they didn’t feed you, did they?”
My stomach rumbled. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast yesterday,” I said softly. “So yeah, food would be great. Thanks, Rudy.”
Cade squeezed my hand. He guided me over to a red velvet sofa that I recognized as the sofa we’d been sitting on the night we first met. “We’ll get a pizza or something,” he said. “Tyler, you go make the call.”
Tyler and Boulder had been sitting off to the side of the room by the little bar. They had a vodka bottle between them that they were passing to each other and when I stepped closer, they pushed the bottle towards me.
I glanced up at Cade. “What’s this?”
Cade snorted. “Consider it a little ritual,” he said. “Take a shot.”
I hated taking shots, but I stepped forward and bravely gripped the glass between my fingers. The smell of vodka made me wrinkle my nose but I closed my eyes and tossed the liquid down my throat. After I swallowed, Cade clapped me on the back.
Rudy stood up and wiped his hands on his jeans. “You kids talk. We’re going out for pizza.” He snapped his fingers at Boulder and Tyler and they trotted behind him like puppies.
When they were gone, I sat down and looked at Cade. “What do we do now?”
Cade pressed against me and kissed me hungrily. His tongue explored my mouth and my breasts began to tingle as he slipped his hands down the front of my shirt. He was just about to touch my nipples through the fabric as I shivered and let out a cry of delight into his mouth.
“Wait,” Cade said. He pulled away and sat down in the chair opposite from me. “We need to talk.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” Cade said. “What are we gonna do?”
I sighed and rested my chin in my hands. “I guess we’ll stay engaged,” I said softly. “At least for a little while. I have to tell my parents, and I have to figure out what to do about school.”
Cade stared at me. “What do you mean?”
I bit my lip. “I mean, I don’t know that I can go back,” I said quietly. “I bombed my midterms. I flunked every single one. And I don’t exactly feel like it fits me anymore. You know?”
“Vanessa,” Cade said dully. “That was your dream. You always wanted to be a doctor. I don’t want you to give that up for me. You need to pursue your dream.”
I swallowed hard and shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “It’s not just that,” I said. “If we’re going to be together…” I trailed off. “What if something happens to you? Everyone would find out. My career would be ruined.”
“You can’t think about that,” Cade said softly.
“I want to be with you,” I said. “And it’s not like I’m going to forget what I’ve learned in school. I know at least enough to be a nurse practitioner by now.” I flexed my arm. “I’m tough, Cade. I know what I’m doing.”
“I don’t want you giving up on school,” Cade said gruffly.
“You think Rudy would let us stay together if I stayed in school?”
The question hung in the air like a balloon.
Cade glanced down at the floor. “Shit, Vanessa, I don’t know. Maybe? Maybe not. You’d have to talk to him.”
“I have a feeling he wouldn’t want me around anymore, not if I’m always on the outside.” Scooting closer, I took Cade’s hand in mine and laced our fingers together. “If we want to be together, this is how we’re gonna have to do it, Cade. This is the only way. I have to leave school and support you full-time.”
Cade shook his head. “I don’t wanna think about this,” he said gruffly. “I want you to talk to Rudy before you make up your mind.”
“What if I tell you that I never really wanted to be a doctor?”
“I’d think you were lying,” Cade said. There was a playful gleam in his eye. “Don’t you remember? We talked about it the night we met?”
I shrugged. “We talked about a lot of things that night, and most of them aren’t true anymore,” I said softly. “And right now, I know that I have to drop out of school.” I stood up and wiped my palms on my jeans. “Is Colton here? I wanna talk to him.”
Cade narrowed his eyes. “He doesn’t like talking to outsiders,” he said. But when he saw my expression and the way my arms were crossed over my chest, he sighed. “Fine,” Cade said. “Come with me.” He took my hand and led me down a small hallway. I didn’t recognize the clubhouse very well. Even though I’d been here before, it didn’t look anything like it had the night of the party. The floor was free of beer bottles and women like Kimmy weren’t lurking at every turn. Thank god, I thought. Not like I ever want to see her again, anyway.
Cade rapped on a door that was flush with the wall, making it look like a panel instead of a door. There was a gruff call from inside, and Cade gently pushed the door panel to the side and led me into the darkness.
When my eyes adjusted, I realized that we were standing in a kind of modified hospital room. It wasn’t white, but rather paneled in wood with a big white hospital bed in the center of the room. An older man, Colton, was seated down with an oxygen tube taped to his face.
“Colton, this is Vanessa Bailey,” Cade said. “She’s my…fiancée. And I just won the right to her.”
Colton coughed. He was old, with wrinkled skin, but there was a twinkle in his eye. “Ah, Vanessa, I’ve heard about you.”
I blinked. “You have?”
Colton laughed. “Rudy really pissed off Cade,” he said. His voice was that of a much younger man, of a man Cade’s age. I could tell that even though he was older, he was still very much into being a full member of the MC. “Cade didn’t show up for days.”
I blinked. “Oh,” I said softly. “I’m sorry.”
Colton waved a hand in the air. “Not the first time a woman has come into this club,” he said. He waved his hand.
Cade glanced at me. “Vanessa wants to stick around with us,” he said. “She wants to marry me and drop out of med school.”
“I’ve proven myself,” I said firmly. “I know that I can handle anything that comes my way. I broke Isaac’s arm, you know, the Demon Catcher’s lieutenant. I told him I was going to set it and instead I gave him a worse fracture.”
Colton nodded. I could tell he was thinking about it. “That may be,” he said. “But are you sure you’re in this for the long haul? How old are you, eighteen? Nineteen?”
“Twenty-one.” I blushed. “My birthday is next month.”
“And what do you want, Vanessa?”
“I want to marry Cade, and I don’t ever want to leave his side.” The words spilled out of my mouth before I could think about them, but after I’d said them, I knew they were true. “I love him, and I realize now that I just want to devote my life to being his. I want to be an honorary member of the club, and use my medical experience to help out everyone in the Bleeding Prophets if they get injured.”
Colton nodded. He rubbed his chin with one hand. “It’s true we’re in need of a medic,” he said slowly. “Our last one, well, he’s not around anymore.” He exchanged a dark look with Cade. “Cade, I think you should consider what this young woman wants. I think she’s made a good point, and I think she can handle herself.”
Cade nodded. “She’s done everything right,” he said. “And we saw each other behind Rudy’s back because I told her to, that wasn’t her idea.”
I almost piped up that I’d wanted to see Cade just as much as he’d wanted to see me, but something about Cade’s expression told me not to say anything.
“Right,” I said slowly. “And I hated going behind Cade’s lieutenant’s back, Colton. I really did. That made me really uncomfortable.”
Colton shifted on the hospital bed. “I understand, Vanessa.” He stared at me. “Are you sure that you have what it takes for life with the Prophets?”
I swallowed hard. “I think I can handle whatever comes my way,” I said honestly. “I’ve dreamed of belonging to a family like this since I was a little kid, and that’s what I care about.”
Colton nodded. “I think it’s a good idea,” he said slowly. “We’ve never had a female honorary member, but you know, there’s a first time for everything.” He clapped his hands together and nodded. “Now, I need to take a nap,” he said, leaning back on the bed. “Cade, you go ahead and tell Rudy.”
“Thank you,” I said to Colton, bobbing my head slightly. “I really, really appreciate this.”
Colton grinned. “You’d better stay close, in case I need you,” he said. He began to wheeze and adjusted the flow coming from his oxygen tank. “Cade, you found a good one.”