Beyond the Cut (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #2)(80)

Fuck. He had to get out of here or he’d be dragging her back to the bedroom and the kids would never make it to school.

“It all happened so fast I never thought about child care,” she said. “But I just called Martha, a retired neighbor who lives a couple of houses down the street. She used to watch the girls for me before Jimmy took them away. She said she could come over today.”

“I’ll look after them this afternoon.”

Dawn hesitated. “You? Are you sure? I mean…”

“I got them breakfast. No one died. I can handle a coupla hours.” He dug into his pocket and held up his hand. “And I got a key. I’ll make sure Tank and T-Rex are outside watching the block. You can trust me, sweetheart.”

Her face lit up with a smile that almost stopped his heart, and she leaned up to kiss his cheek. “They get out of school at three-thirty. They’ll need a snack. No treats.”

“Might have to feed them some sugar to keep them sweet, so I won’t make any promises.” He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against him. His cock throbbed and he groaned.

“What’s wrong?” Dawn’s eyes lit with amusement. She knew damn well what was wrong.

“You. Too sexy. Waking up this morning with your little ass grindin’ into me … seeing you dressed like this. Too much.”

She twirled a curl around her finger. “I thought when you saw me with the kids you’d wonder what the hell you were doing with a mom of two when you have a club full of sweet butts fighting for your bed.”

He heard the waver in her tone. Saw her vulnerability. And yet nothing could have been farther from the truth. He cupped her face between his hands and leaned down to kiss her. He wanted to tell her how beautiful she was to him, inside and out, and how the fact she had kids made no difference to him. He wanted to tell her how he loved her sweetly rounded curves and how he liked the idea she had created such beauty with her body. But he suspected it wouldn’t come out right. He wasn’t an eloquent man. So he just said, “You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me.” And then he kissed her again and walked out the door.

*

“This here’s an axle.” Cade pointed out the part on his bike to his two attentive young students, sitting side by side on the grass in the back lane behind Dawn’s house. T-Rex and Tank were parked in the alley, close enough he could hear them snickering.

“You have those tattooed on your chest,” Maia said. “I saw them this morning. And wings. Blue ones.”

“Well, now. You shouldn’t be looking at my tat. It’s not for little girls to see.”

“Why?”

Cade gritted his teeth. Over the last few hours he’d grown to hate that question. Maia had an uncanny ability to detect when he was trying to be evasive and called him out every time. Who knew seven-year-olds could be so smart?

“Some things are for grown-ups to see and some things are for little girls to see.”

“Why did you get it if everyone can’t see it? You have another one on your back, but it has cuts on it. Why did you need two?”

He scrubbed a hand over his face. Why did he need two? Every full-patch got a Sinner’s Tribe tattoo, usually on his back. It represented a lifelong commitment to the club. But the second tat had been all his. The wings for freedom, blue for the sky, and the axles for his bike. No ties. No commitments. No one to answer to. Just him and the bike and the open sky.

“’Cause I wanted it just for me and for people I wanted to share it with.”

“Not us?” Her mouth turned down and Tia’s mouth turned down, too. One voice with two faces. Maybe one day Tia would trust him enough to talk to him. He hadn’t lied when he told Dawn he thought she had a lot to say.

“Fuck. Don’t look at me like that. You’ll break my goddamn heart.”

Maia’s eyes lit up. “You swore in front of us. Let us see your tat or we’ll tell Mom.”

Christ. Blackmailed by a seven-year-old. And with witnesses. He’d never live it down.

“Okay. Just for a minute.” He removed his cut and tugged his shirt over his head. The two girls stood to stare at his tat.

“Can we touch it?”

“No.”

Maia frowned. “Why? Are you poisonous?”

“Not that I know.”

She stood up on tiptoe and poked his chest. Cade froze. What the hell was he supposed to do now? He lunged forward and the girls shrieked and ran away.

“Hey, Cade. You’re losing your touch,” Tank yelled. “Girls are supposed to run toward you.”

“Fuck off.” He pulled on his shirt and cut and grabbed a polishing cloth. Dawn was due home any moment and he’d already run out of things to do. They’d watched TV, played a video game, and eaten the box of donuts he’d brought with him. But when they asked him to play princesses, he took them out to help him with his bike instead. Bike polishing had seemed a safe and useful activity. Now he wished he’d put on that princess crown.

“Can we sit on your bike?” Maia rested her little hand on his seat.

Cade shook his head. “Only a biker sits in his saddle. His old lady rides in the pillion seat.”

“Is Mom your old lady?”

Unable to resist her pleading look, he lifted her onto the pillion seat while he scrambled for an answer to her question. She was so small and light he was almost afraid he would crush her with his big hands. “You’ll have to ask her.”