“Yes,” she sighs breathlessly.
I laugh. “I aim to please.”
Rolling onto my back, I pull her against my side and hold her close. My cock is rock hard, and I need to calm down enough to get it back under control.
She’s a fucking virgin. It’s really not a surprise, but still, hearing it come from her lips makes it real. A fucking virgin. Untouched. Far too good for me to sully, but fuck if I don’t want her. I want to peel that tiny skirt from her and pull down the white cotton panties that I know are underneath. I want to stroke and lick and touch her perfect virgin pussy knowing that I’m the first person to do it.
I’m getting in too deep with her. When she’d asked me to run with her, for a minute I wanted to say yes. I still want to say yes. But I won’t turn my back on the only people I’ve ever called family for a woman, not even a woman like Angel.
My breathing slowly starts to return to normal and I slide my hand up to tangle in Angel’s hair. I turn my head toward her and watch as her fingers absentmindedly play with the fabric of my shirt. “I like you here with me. In my arms and in my bed. Stay with me, for however long you’re in Archer’s Creek I want you here with me. Promise me you’ll stay with me.”
Her fingers stop moving and she stretches her arm across my stomach and turns closer into my body. “I want that too.”
“Then no matter what, you stay with me. I want you to feel safe, I know what it’s like to be scared and I fucking hate you’ve lived like that,” I say, forcing my body to stay relaxed and not react to the anger that’s starting to swell within me.
“What made you scared?” she whispers.
“I’ve lived in a lot of places, Angel. Not all of them were nice. In an ideal world, the foster care system would be full of caring people, but sometimes it’s just a place for sick and twisted fuckers to hide in plain sight.”
Neither of us speaks. Sometimes there’s nothing to say and talking about it doesn’t always make it better. The TV murmurs in the background, but I don’t watch it. Instead I drop my chin on top of Angel’s head and close my eyes. The feeling of her chest rising and falling as she silently breathes lulls me to sleep and I dream of a beautiful Angel that changes everything.
A quiet knock at the door wakes me. Lifting my head I take in the sleeping figure of Angel. She’s lying on top of me. Her head is in the middle of my chest and her legs are entangled between mine. She’s so tiny she fits perfectly, and my arms are wrapped around her holding her close to me.
There’s another knock at the door, so I carefully move Angel off my chest and onto the quilt beside me. She immediately curls into a ball, her face twisting into a disgruntled scowl. Smiling, I lift myself off the bed and pad over to my door. I open it just wide enough to see who’s on the other side. “Blade, what’s up?” I say rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“There’s news. Prez wants you and Dove in his office.”
“She’s sleeping,” I say turning to look at her still curled up in my bed.
“You wear her out?” Blade says with a laugh.
“Fuck you, Blade.”
Blade holds his hands up in a consolatory gesture, then smirks. “My bad, brother. I just figured you’d been busy tapping that fine ass of hers and fucked her unconscious.”
Seeing red I launch myself at him. “Don’t ever talk about her like that, ever,” I hiss at him, holding him up against the wall by his shirt. “She’s not some club whore you can talk shit about, she’s mine, and she deserves some fucking respect.”
Blade’s face sets in a firm scowl. “I disrespected your woman and for that I’m sorry, but I suggest you get your fucking hands off me right now, before I put you on your ass.”
I eyeball my V.P. for a second and then drop my hands from his shirt and take a step back.
“Five minutes, see you in Prez’s office,” Blade says, turning and walking away.
Pulling the door closed, I pause for a moment with my fingers on the handle. “What was that?” Angel says, her voice small and unsure.
I turn to face her. She’s sitting up, her hair deliciously rumpled and her back nestled against the pillows. “Nothing, baby, just Prez has got news.”
“What did Blade say to you?” She pushes.
“Something he knows not to say again. Don’t worry about it,” I say and cross the room to sit beside her on the bed. I reach out my hand to her, palm up, and she places her hand in mine. Entwining our fingers, I stand and she shuffles across the bed on her knees, cautiously sliding her feet to the floor. Without the heels Grits gave her she’s tiny; her eyes look tired and the bruises on her face seem darker illuminated by the afternoon sunshine that’s peeking through my blinds.
Leaning forward, I drop a kiss to the corner of her mouth and then to her cheek and eye. “You didn’t flinch,” I blurt.
Her lids close for the smallest of moments and then her doe eyes look up at me. “You won’t hurt me.”
Those four words ricochet off my heart and without thought I scoop her off the floor and into my arms. Holding her against me tightly she instinctively wraps her arms and legs around me. “Never,” I whisper into her neck.
Angel loosens her legs and I slowly lower her to the floor. Grabbing her boots, she slides them on and runs her fingers through her hair smoothing it. “What do you think my father’s done now?” she asks quietly.
“Let’s go find out,” I say and reach for her hand leading her from the room.
I knock, then enter the office when Prez shouts. Angel and I take what I’m starting to think of as our usual seats and wait.
Prez turns to look at Angel. “How you doing, Little Dove, you holding up okay?”
“I’m fine, thank you. I really appreciate you letting me hide out here. I know this must be causing you some hassle,” she says politely.
Prez looks at me then back to Angel. “Don’t you worry about it, little one. You’re one of us now and we take care of our own.”
“What’s happening, Prez?” I ask.
He sighs and rubs at his temples. “Dove, your face is on every TV station in the state. Blade’s been monitoring the sheriff’s department, and the mayor has lost his shit. He’s been down there all day demanding that they put out an amber alert. He’s not taking it well that because you’re eighteen, in the eyes of the law you’re an adult and there’s no evidence to suggest you were kidnapped. This afternoon he held a press conference. He begged for you to come home and appealed for help in finding you. He’s offering a reward for information that leads to your whereabouts.”
“Fuck,” I hiss under my breath. “Any word from Carduccio?”
“No,” Blade says.
“That’s the only good news so far. Hopefully the fact that Carduccio hasn’t commented on Dove’s disappearance, means that as far as he’s concerned she’s irrelevant. We put out feelers to people we know in Carduccio’s circle to see if he’s looking for her, but so far her name’s not been mentioned,” Prez says, his elbows resting on the surface of his desk.
“I should leave,” Angel suddenly says.
“No.” Both Prez and I say in unison.
“This isn’t your problem, it’s mine. I have enough money to buy a cheap car and then I’ll leave. I’ll drive to the other side of the country where no-one will have heard of me and my father won’t have any influence. I can change my name and start over. My father might find me eventually, but it won’t be before he has to pay the money he owes,” she says decisively.
“Little Dove, as much as I admire your courage, you need to be smart about this. At some point you’d have to stop to pump gas or buy food and you’d be spotted before you even got out of Texas. People are greedy and the moment you were seen they’d be trying to claim that reward your dad’s spouting on about,” Prez says.
“But…” Angel starts to speak but Prez interrupts her, holding up a hand and cautioning her to let him finish.
“Now the way I see it we’ve got two options, we can sit tight and see what happens, or we can cut them off at the pass,” he says thoughtfully.
“What you thinking, Boss?” Blade asks.
Prez turns his attention to me. “How deep are you, brother?”
I glance at Angel and our entwined hands. “Bout as deep as it gets.”
Prez smiles and chuckles lightly. “That’s what I figured, so what I’m suggesting is that we make it official. Nothing the sheriff or state police can do about it, cause she’s an adult and if Carduccio knows she’s club, I doubt he’ll be interested anymore. She won’t look so shiny and new wrapped around a Sinner wearing a property cut.”
“I don’t understand,” Angel says, her head swinging between me and Prez.
I start to speak but Prez gets there before me. “Daisy’s your man, right?” He asks Angel.
She turns to me wide eyed, then back to Prez. “Err.”
Prez tilts his head to the side. “Little Dove, you’re sleepin’ in his bed, wearin’ his clothes, holdin’ his hand, kissin’ him and doin’ whatever else you’re doin, right?”
Angel flushes bright red, looks at me then quickly turns back to Prez and nods at him without making eye contact.
“You doing any of those things with anyone else?” Prez asks.
“No,” she answers as her head snaps up and she glares at Prez.
“Exactly. So like I said, Daisy’s your man. What I’m suggesting is that we let your father and anyone else that might be interested know that Daisy’s your man and that he’s a Sinner, and as his woman so are you. You’re no longer a missing person, you’re just a teenage girl who left home to be with her boyfriend. Your father might think he’s a big man around town, but he’s got no ties to the club and as long as you stay put he’s got no way of getting near you. Carduccio might have been interested in your value as a sheltered teenage beauty, but I doubt he’d be as interested once he finds out you’re living as a biker’s old lady,” Prez says.
Blade barks out a booming laugh. “That ought to work. It’ll piss the mayor off, but he hates the club anyway and maybe his daughter joining the dark side will mean he gets booted out of office at election time.”
“He’ll kill me,” Angel says quietly.
I turn to stare at her. “What?”
“He’ll kill me; this will push him over the edge and he’ll kill me,” she says, her eyes wide with fear.
“We won’t let him, Dove. He’ll never get close enough to hurt a hair on your head, I promise,” Prez assures her.
Angel starts to curl into herself, her shoulders slump and her chin drops onto her chest. Her body’s trembling, and she shakes her head rapidly from side to side mumbling. “He’ll kill me, he’ll find me, and he’ll kill me.”
Jumping up, I lift Angel from her seat and pull her into my lap. I can see the concern on Prez and Blade’s faces, but I ignore them, wrapping my arms tightly around her and gently rocking her against my chest, stroking her hair to soothe her. “We won’t let him near you, you don’t need to be scared anymore. You’re mine and I’ll keep you safe, I promise I’ll keep you safe.”
I know we’re not alone, but I don’t care. I promise her over and over that she’s mine and I’ll protect her. When Prez asked how deep I was, it all clicked into place for me. I’ve fallen for her doe eyes and beautiful face, but more than that I’ve fallen for her incomparable strength. Since the first time I set eyes on her, I knew she was something special; one touch from her gathers all of my broken pieces and bonds them back together again. I want to do the same for her.
I’m grateful for the club, I’m grateful for the family and home they’ve given me, and I never thought that anything would be more important than that. I’ve been adrift and unwanted since I was two years old, I didn’t know that I was craving roots until I was given the opportunity to plant some.
Meeting Angel has made me rethink everything. The Sinners ground me, they’re my safe haven, but I’ve only been taking from them. I took a home, a family and a band of brothers but I hardly gave anything of myself except my loyalty. With Angel I want to give her everything. I want to be her safety, her roots and her strength when she can’t find her own.
“I’m your man, Angel, let me keep you safe,” I whisper into her neck.
When she lifts her head, a single tear rolls down her cheek and I lean forward and catch it with my lips. “He doesn’t get any more of your tears, baby. Let’s show him that you aren’t alone anymore, that you’re a Sinner and that he’ll never touch you again.”
She turns her big doe eyes on me. “He won’t accept this without a fight; he’ll cause trouble for you all.”
Blade laughs a hard laugh. “Your father is an asshole, Dove. I’m gonna enjoy telling him to go fuck himself. He can’t do shit to us and he knows it. He’s been trying to get rid of us since he first stepped foot into town. Whatever shit he tries to pull on us after he finds out you belong to the Sinners is more of a pain in the ass than something to worry about.”
“Belong to the club?” Angel asks Blade warily.
“Figuratively, Little Dove. Your old man is a Sinner, you’re a Sinner,” Prez assures her.
She turns back to look at me and my heart starts to race “Do you want to do this?” She asks me.
“Yes,” I say immediately.
Angel stares at me for a moment then a small smile twitches at the side of her lips. “Okay.”
I know she’s thinking that if this doesn’t work she can still run, but this is my home and she’s my woman, running is no longer an option. I don’t fucking know what love feels like, but I do know that I need her, she’s become the center of everything for me and I’m gonna fight like hell to keep her.
Prez slaps the desk and smiles brightly. “Excellent. Right, lay low for tonight, then in the morning I’ll make the call to the sheriff and let him know that Dove is safe and happy and living here in the clubhouse with us. Then we’ll wait for the bombs to drop.”
Blade laughs, and I fight a smirk. I know that Prez has developed a soft spot for my Angel, but he seems to be enjoying this whole situation a little too much.
There’s a knock at the door. “Come in,” Prez shouts.
Opening the door, Grits enters the room and walks behind Prez’s desk. His hands reach for her, pulling her by the back of the neck straight into his waiting arms. He kisses her thoroughly for a second, then leans back, turning her in his arms so her back is to his front.
“Dove, how you doing, baby girl?” Grits cries happily.
“I’m okay, I think,” Angel says.
“Why don’t you take Dove with you and see what the girls have got cooking for dinner? I’m starved, and I need to have a quick word with Daisy,” Prez says to Grits.
With a smile, she quickly walks to Angel and pulls her from my lap. Angel goes willingly with a soft smile on her face, happily chatting with Grits as they leave the office.
The door closes behind them with a click and Prez immediately turns to me. “You sure you know what you’re doing here, brother?”
“I’m sure,” I reply.
“I thought you weren’t fucking her,” Blade asks.
Growling, I turn to Blade. “Not that it’s any of your fucking business, but I’m not fucking her.”
“Then what the fuck’s going on here, Daisy? You’re gonna claim a woman you’re not even screwing? Is this some kind of messed up hero complex or what?” Blade asks, obvious confusion clear on his face.
“Fuck you, Blade. She’s mine and I’m gonna claim her. You don’t need to know any more than that,” I reply tersely.
“You don’t actually have to put her in a property patch,” Prez says. “Jefferies doesn’t know how the club works, he won’t know the difference. You can play the part of being her old man and the only ones who will know it wasn’t real would be us.”
I shake my head. “No.”
Prez smiles knowingly. “No?”
“No. I want her wearing my patch,” I say staring at him intently.
Prez stands from his chair and leans across the desk , bracing his arms against the wooden surface. “You falling in love with her, or is this your dick talking? I like the kid, Grits likes her, and I don’t want you messing her about if it’s just your hard cock taking control of your brain. Make sure you’re not confusing a need to get into her virgin pussy with something else.”
Anger pulses through me and I stand, shoving my chair behind me. “Mention her pussy again and I’ll forget that you’re my prez and knock you the fuck out. I have no fucking clue if I’m in love with her, but I know she’s mine and I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep her here and safe from her asshole of a father. I want her wearing my property patch and that’s got absolutely nothing to do with sex and if I’m getting it or not.”
As I turn to look at Blade, I realize he’s on his feet as well, tense and ready to intervene if I lose my shit. “I’m fine,” I say, pulling my chair back from behind me. Slumping down into it I start to rub at my temples with my fingers.
“Okay then. She’s a good kid and once she figures her shit out, she’ll make you a good old lady.” Prez says simply.
“She doesn’t understand the rules, Daisy. You gotta tell her. Don’t do to her what Echo did to Liv and send her out there blind wearing your property patch. That shit didn’t fly with Liv and Dove might be a timid little thing, but I doubt it’ll sit well with her either,” Blade offers.
I nod. “I won’t. I’ll explain the basics and we can deal with the rest later, once we get her dad, and hopefully Carduccio, off her back.”
Blade pushes up from his seat. “Right, I’m gonna go find a wet pussy and lose myself in it for a few hours. Might as well enjoy myself tonight in case the shit really hits the fan in the morning.”
Watching Blade disappear through the door I stand, planning to follow him. Prez steps in front of me, blocking my path. “The day I met Grits she was hiding in the corner of a room. She was covered in bruises and only wearing a pair of blood stained panties. I was only a couple of years older than you and I was prospecting with the Atlanta chapter. They were into some deep shit: guns, prostitutes, you name it. We’d got intel that a new pimp was trying to muscle in on the club’s girls. So one day we get orders from the prez to go and bust into this rundown house. There must have been thirty working girls all happily fucking their marks every which way. Then there was Grits. She was so young and so fucking scared. I don’t know how long she’d been there, but it was too long. She was so skinny, just skin and bone. That fucking bastard had been starving her, beating the shit out of her again and again and raping her. She watched as we killed that sadist monster. We rounded up the girls, offering them work with the club or the chance to leave and the whole time Grits just hid in the corner watching me. There was this look in her eyes and I just couldn’t leave her, so I pulled off my shirt and covered her with it. He’d beaten her so bad her eye was almost swollen shut, and he’d fractured her cheek and broken her jaw. She’d been raped so many times and so brutally it was months before she healed. I took her to the hospital, visited her every day until she was better. She never told me what happened in that house, but I know she wasn’t there willingly and that it was bad. I’ve asked, and over the years she’s told me some stuff, but never everything. Until the day I die I’ll never forget the look in her eyes that day, I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back, that was the moment that changed everything. I fell in love with her the first time she spoke to me and I asked her to be my old lady the first time she let me kiss her. She was mine for two years before we fucked. Sometimes you find someone and just know, it doesn’t have to make sense.”
Prez falls silent and I stare at him, not knowing what to say.
“What I just told you stays between us, no-one here knows Grits history and they don’t need to; we got out of Atlanta and made a home here in Archer’s Creek. My woman has more grit and strength to survive inside of her than the ten biggest men you’ll ever meet combined. Dove’s got the same look in her eyes as Grits did, she’s a fighter. Like I said sometimes you just know. Dove’s yours and I’ll do everything I can to help keep her safe.”
A lump forms in my throat and I try to swallow past it. “Thank you,” I say.
Prez nods and his hand on my shoulder pulls me forward into a quick hug. He slaps my back once and then releases me. “Go look after your Old Lady.”
I leave his office, closing the door behind me. Blowing out a heavy breath, I back up to the wall and fall against it. I always thought Grits was a bitch, but fuck, what Prez just told me has given me a whole new level of respect for her. She’s a survivor. No, she’s more than a survivor, she fucking won. Life dealt her a horrific hand, and she stuck her middle finger up at it and she won anyway.
Angel’s a survivor too. I could see it in her from day one and Prez is right, she has got that look in her eyes. I glimpsed it at the wedding, it sparkled that day at the park. But it wasn’t until she turned up here looking for me that I realized what it was. It’s the look that says she refuses to cower any more. The look that says she’s ready to fight back. The look that says she’s ready to win.
She’s changed everything for me and I want her to be mine.