Dauntless (Sons of Templar MC #5)(39)

I fought with the combination of a smile and tears threatening my fragile emotional state. Instead I managed an eye roll and stomped towards the car.

“I’m taking that as us bein’ good since you didn’t swear at me or call me a misogynistic prick,” he shouted after me.

And with my back safely to him, I smiled.





Chapter Nine





“Damaged people are dangerous. They know how to make hell feel like home.”

-Unknown



“Wow, someone got out of the wrong side of bed this morning,” a gravelly voice observed. That was after he had shaken me from my blissful slumber and I’d used every curse word in my extensive vocabulary when he hadn’t let me roll back over.

I hadn’t had any success in killing someone with the power of a glare before, but I tried my darnedest right then. “It’s six a.m.,” I gritted out after my glare only intensified his grin. “There’s only one side of the bed to get out of at this time.” I glanced up and down at him. He was wearing cutoff sweatpants and a white wifebeater that was drenched with sweat and clung to every inch of his muscles. Even my barely awake body responded to that. I reasoned someone in a coma would appreciate that.

“You’re a morning person,” I observed in disgust, swallowing the half-comatose Bex reaction to launch her sleep-addled body at those washboard abs. I resisted.

“You say that like it’s akin to being a suicide bomber,” he replied.

I glared at him. “There are a lot of people I don’t trust in this world.” I held up one finger, starting my list. “People who finish their shampoo and conditioner at the same time.” I held up two fingers. “Couples with joint social media accounts.” I held three fingers up. “Anyone who puts clothing on dogs.” I tried to ignore his amused smirk and how hot he was while doing it. I managed, mostly because I remembered what time it was and that smiling hot f*cker was the reason why I was awake. “Morning people round out the list of people never, under any circumstances, to be trusted. It’s unnatural,” I informed him seriously.

I didn’t expect it, but his grin disappeared and he stepped forward, clasping my forearms lightly. His eyes searched mine. “You can trust me, Becky,” he murmured. “Even if everything else doesn’t make sense, shit turns upside down. That’s one thing that’s gonna stay constant,” he promised.

Okay, it was way too early morning for that shit. The ‘hearts and flowers, eternal promise’ type shit that caught me unexpected and almost broke a rib with the force in which it made my crumpled heart beat.

Then I finally registered where I was, in a bed, and a very comfortable one. Lucky was standing over me and I was sitting up. The room around me was bathed in gentle morning light that was blazing through the open blinds. I frowned at the offending brightness, though it was hard to frown at the unobstructed view of the ocean. The room was a lot more hippy and a lot less rock than the other rooms. There was a multitude of antique mirrors artfully splayed on one wall like a f*cking Pinterest project and a Moroccan-looking rug on the wooden floor. I didn’t have time to fully take catalogue of the room because I moved slightly and realized what I was wearing—or not wearing. I was no longer wearing the dress I had on the day before. I pulled out the fabric at my chest to get a better look at it. It was not one of the crappy garments I’d purchased either, and it had a telltale smell.

I glared up at Lucky. “What am I wearing, and how did I get here?”

“Well, you got here because I carried you in here. Lay off the candy, why don’t you? You’re f*cking heavy,” he deadpanned. “You crashed on the way back and weren’t waking up. I knew you were alive ’cause I took your pulse. And did the mirror thing with the breathing. But I wasn’t too hot on bringing you out of that shit ’cause it was obvious you needed it. Didn’t think you’d want to sleep in the dress that you hated, so I put you in my tee. Promise I didn’t look. Much.” He didn’t even have the decency to look sheepish, grinning from ear to ear.

I threw the covers back so I could stand toe to toe with him. I had planned on giving him a piece of my mind, but I hit a hiccup when my vision went black and everything went kind of sideways.

A strong hand gripped my arm, stopping my descent.

“Fuck, Becky. You okay?” Lucky’s voice lost all hint of humor as he yanked me closer to his body so he could grasp my chin.

I blinked away the stars and tried to shrug out of his grip, which was kind of impossible considering his hands were like vises and I was still struggling to chase off vertigo. “I’m fine,” I lied.

His frowning face came into focus. “When was the last time you ate? You were in stasis last night so you missed my delicious dinner, and I didn’t see you indulge in a bite of any road snacks yesterday, apart from the chocolate you shoved in your face to stop yourself from licking my muscles.”

It took me a second to recover from his last sentence, but I managed. “I had coffee when I got here.”

He frowned. “Coffee doesn’t count as a food group.”

“In my world it does.”

“Jesus, firefly, you need to take care of yourself.” His voice was hard. “You’re not f*ckin’ invincible, you know.”