I lie here quietly, letting Dragon think I am still asleep. He’s standing in front of the window and the moon is shining off his body, making him look other-worldly. He is perfection standing. A Greek god couldn’t hold a candle to him. Yet, as beautiful as he is, as perfect as the package is, inside he’s broken and scarred and I am starting to fear I will never be able to touch what matters most... his heart.

I watch him for a good ten minutes and he doesn’t move. He’s getting lost in his thoughts and I know that’s not good. I’m pretty much in the dark, but I know some heavy shit went down earlier tonight. The girls at the party were talking about one of their own betraying them. I may not understand MC life, but I’m not stupid to the way it works either. I figure I know what Dragon had to face and I don’t want to think about it. It might make me a hypocrite, but I don’t really care.

“Dragon baby?” I whisper into the room. He turns, walks over to me and gets back under the cover. I smile as he pulls me to him.

“Sorry Mama, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I just missed you,” I tell him truthfully. I hold him close, the chill of his body making me shiver before I settle into him, letting him take some of my body heat. Dragon leans down and kisses the top of my head.

“So fucking sweet,” he says. I smile and kiss along his collar

“You okay sweetheart?” I ask, knowing the truth but not going there, unless he shares first.

“Just got a lot on my mind tonight.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask, hoping he would.

“Don’t want my shit to touch you, Mama.”

“If we’re going to try and make this work Dragon, that’s not very realistic.”

“Okay then, want to keep you out of it for at least a little longer,” Dragon sighs.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, kissing him again in the same spot.

“You might change your mind if you know what kind of blood is on my hands, Nicole.”

“Do you want me here?” I ask, deciding a different approach is needed.

“Nowhere else, Mama,” he says, hugging me a little tighter in reaction.

“Then, I’m here.”

Dragon lets silence take us over. I am a little disappointed, but still I know it will take time for him to get used to sharing with me. I need to be patient. I’ve already noticed small changes in him. What we have is pretty new. I have to learn to wait.

I let my hand trail down his stomach, my fingers following the line of his tattoo. It’s of a wolf howling with his fangs eerily covered in blood, and the words Savage MC at a diagonal, and written in the blood. Underneath that the words, Live Free or Die Trying are placed. I’ve noticed that insignia all through the club. It is on the arms or backs of each of the members, yet on Dragon it is different. On all the others it looked frightening, almost menacing, but on Dragon it is sad and beautiful.

Our room is dark and quiet. The sounds from the party in the main room died down long ago. I pull closer to Dragon, our legs interlocked, his arm holding me at his side, my head resting on his shoulder. I can’t remember ever being as happy as I am right now. I don’t know why, but here in this moment, after everything we’ve experienced tonight, I feel like I’ve found where I belong.

My lips press a kiss over Dragon’s heart. He can act mean and tough and I even understand why, but he has another side to him. A side he lets me see, a side that makes me want to reach out and never let him go. I love him. I can’t deny it anymore. I’m not ready to share that with him though, if he listened in the shower he might already know. Still, it hasn’t been long, and some would say nowhere near the time needed to feel as deeply as I do. I don’t care what they say. It doesn’t matter to me. I know that I love Dragon—time and caution be damned.

“What’s your real name?” I whisper. If he isn’t ready to share the club with me, then I need this part of him. I need to know I’m not totally invested all alone, that he’s willing to give… that I matter.

Dragon sighs, “Mama I don’t want to get into this shit tonight.”

“Please?” I ask. It is important. In my heart I know now that Dragon is it for me. If we don’t work out, there will never be another man who will get all of me like I am willing to give him.

“Some kids don’t have white picket fences Nicole. Hell, they don’t even have houses.”

“I know that Dragon.”

“Knowing it and living it are two different things, Mama.”

“And you lived it?” I ask. I can feel my stomach twisting, imagining what he means.

“Fuck Mama, I burned in hell with it.”

I let my hand move to his other side and pull him closer to me. I want to absorb his words, let him know I am here with him.

“Dragon is my name,” he says tiredly, his eyes closed.

“Who gave you that name?” I’m trying to give him a minute away from the memories I had caused.

“My brothers in the Army did. They said they could feel the scorch of my anger on the battlefield.” Having seen Dragon upset and on other heated occasions, I could firmly and wholeheartedly agree with that, so I say nothing. I just place another kiss on his chest and wait. “I liked it, it was an honest name given to me by men who had become my family. So that’s who I am now. The person before Dragon doesn’t even exist now.”

“And who was that man?” I ask, not sure why at this point I’m pushing, just knowing that I needed to.

“The name the city gave me.”

“The city?” I ask, confused.

“Damn it, Nicole!”

“It’s okay, Dragon. You don’t…”

“I was found in a dumpster, Mama, wrapped in a garbage bag. Just another whore’s throw away, who was addicted to crack. Is that what you wanted to hear, Nicole? Are you proud you let that filth touch you?” Dragon growls out.

He sits up, moving to the side of the bed with his back to me. I sit behind and press against him, kissing the back of his neck and hugging him as tight as I can with my arms.

“I’ve never been prouder. I’ve never belonged to anyone in my life before you, Dragon. I’m yours no matter what,” I whisper into his ear, hoping the message gets through to him.

My heart is pounding. I knew Dragon’s story was bad, but I didn’t expect this. I feel like I am breaking in half, just picturing the story he painted. Someone threw out this magnificent man with the garbage. What a beautiful baby he must have been. He deserved to be loved, to be held and rocked to sleep. To be kissed and whispered to.

A tear falls from my eyes and I am glad he can’t see it. Dragon wouldn’t want pity from me. I can’t show him that.

“That’s who I am, Nicole. I survived and the doctors got that shit out of my system. I survived. End of the fucking story.”

I had a feeling that was just the beginning of a horrible story. I am almost afraid to go further. Still, the fact it happened to this man, the fact that it happened to the man who owned my heart, made it imperative that I learn more. I want to heal him. I want to show him love and all the things he has never had in life. From this moment on, it was going to be my mission in life. Dragon will wake every morning, knowing someone loves him above all others.

I kiss the side of his neck and just hold him. I let the salty-sweet of his skin soothe me. Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed him, reliving this was hard on him and somehow I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he doesn’t share this with anyone. I could let it drop for now. We have time, and eventually Dragon will know I am always here for him. I’m about to distract him from the thoughts I’d triggered when he surprises me.

“Lady at the first foster home agreed to take in the crack baby. I was a check, but for taking me off the hospital’s hands, she got to name me.” Somehow, I know this is not going to be good, so I just kiss the side of his neck again and wait. “She thought it would be fucking funny to name me something to remind me of what I was—like you could ever forget that shit. I was born in West Detroit, Mama. So the name I got on my papers was Detroit West. Fucking laugh riot, yeah?”

“I think it’s a beautiful name.”

Dragon pulls away from me, standing up. He stands in front of the window again. The moonlight shining through the room highlights his features and bounces off his dark skin. He is a work of art. His short cropped hair makes me want to run my fingers over it and feel the prickly texture that never fails to send instant tingles of heat through my body. The tone of his muscular legs, the width of his back and shoulders, the ink that decorates him and finally the freaking fabulous ass that juts out in a way to make a woman want to dig her nails into it and mark it as hers… All of it… All of it is perfection to me.

He stares outside, lost in thought. I don’t know what to say to break the mood he is in. It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have pushed him. He turns around quickly and his gaze locks on me. I can feel his eyes searing me. That, right there, is the look of the dragon.

“Don’t kid yourself, Mama. There is not a damn thing beautiful about me.”

“You are to me,” I insist, giving up and lying back down. I can’t prove it to him, not now. Maybe he’ll see in time, that to me he is. It’s not the perfection on the outside that makes him that way either. It’s the scarred, broken, parts inside of him that he overcomes every day. He can say he’s no good, but he has been better to me than any other person in my life. He makes me feel like I matter, and with the exception of Dani, I don’t think anyone ever has. I am totally and irrevocably in love with Detroit 'Dragon' West.

A look comes across his face that I don’t understand, it is anger almost. He stalks over to the bed and grabs my legs, pulling me towards the end of the bed, and spreading my body open to him.

“Don’t fucking romanticize me, Nicole. Don’t you even fucking try it, that won’t hold water,” he growls. “I’m the filthy bastard you stupidly let between your legs and I’m not giving it up until I’m ready.”

He grabs his cock and rubs it back and forth against my clit, giving me pressure but definitely not enough. I’m still wet from earlier and the look of him between my legs holding his thick, hard, cock, combined with the way he is watching my body open and beg for him? I might just explode instantly.

“Look at your fucking pussy, begging for me. Is this what you want Nicole? You want to take a walk on the wild side and let the monster fuck you until you get bored and move back into your fucking house on the hill?” Dragon growls, and then pushes inside of me.

I watch him, my eyes never leaving his, as he begins teasing my clit with his hand. He moves in and out of me at a slow, intense pace.

“I’ll never get enough, Dragon.”

“Shut the fuck up and feel me inside of you,” he growls, watching every, single time he slams inside of me. My body rocks with each plunge he makes, my breasts bounce and I inch up further on the mattress with the force of his thrusts.

“I’ll always want you, Dragon.” I moan and he grunts, but says nothing in response. “I love you!” I call out, as I feel myself going over the edge.

Dragon’s eyes immediately hit mine. I look into them as my orgasm takes over.

“I love you, Dragon. I love you,” I whisper again on a low, emotionally filled moan.

His orgasm overtakes him in that moment. I feel him shooting inside of me and I tighten myself on his body as much as I can. Dragon leans down and kisses me hard, his tongue owning my mouth and exploring every inch he can find, while his body shudders in release.

I let my tongue dance with his as tears leak from the sides of my eyes. I didn’t plan on telling him, but he bombarded me with so many things, I couldn’t help myself. I needed to let him know how I really feel.

Now, I am the one left feeling raw and exposed, but instead of worrying about that, I decide to concentrate on our connection. Dragon pulls my body closer and angles us back on the pillows. Dragon is lying partly on me and partly on the bed. My left leg is thrown over his hip and I’ve dug the heel of my foot into his ass. He tries to pull out of me and I moan my protest and exert pressure with my leg and the arm I have wrapped around him. It makes him stop and I kiss his chest in appreciation.

“Baby...” he starts, his voice gruff. I hope that means that my declaration has at least broken through a little.

“Don’t want you to leave me, please? Stay inside of me, however long you can, please Dragon? I want you inside of me,” I whisper, kissing his chest again. “I want you part of me,” I confess, quietly. Dragon groans and adjusts us so I am lying on top of him now.

“Okay, Mama,” he says, kissing the top of my head, “Whatever you want.”

“You, I want you,” I whisper, and the last thing I hear and feel as I fall asleep is first, Dragon placing another kiss on the top of my head and then whispering three words that I never want to forget.

“You got me.”