Loving Nicole (Savage Brothers MC #3)(11)

“We have, so you should understand. It’s time I stand on my own two feet.”

“We need to talk about….”

“No, at least not right now. Here come’s Crusher. Let’s just let it go for now. You get back to Dragon.”

“What about you? Where are you going?”

“Think I’ll head down to the Den and find someone to scratch an itch,” she says and I’m probably the only person who can tell that the smile doesn’t reach her eyes—not even a little bit.

“If you want company tonight Hell Cat, I’m free.”

Dani leans back, her lips going into a full kiss-my-ass-kind-of-smirk.

“Hell Cat?”

“It seems to fit,” he shrugs.

Dani shakes her head and gets up from the table.

“I don’t think so, stud.”

“Baby, I could scratch your itch so well you’d purr for days.”

“From what I hear your scratcher has been around so much, it’s liable to cause an itch a girl needs medicine for.”

“Didn’t realize I was dealing with Queen Elizabeth.”

She stops and turns around and looks at him. I can’t stop from watching them. In some ways they remind me of the way Dragon and I are with each other.

“What the hell are you talking about, Crusher?” She asks.

“The virgin queen?”

She shakes her head, “Long way from a virgin baby, I just don’t happen to want Nikki and Lips’ sloppy seconds.”

“I could make sure you liked it.”

“Bigger men than you have tried and failed—and I do mean bigger,” Dani says before turning around and walking away from us.

“See? * with claws. Hell Cat,” Crusher yells back and Dani flips him off, not bothering to turn around. If I wasn’t so worried about her, I would have laughed.





Chapter 7




Dragon


I’m sitting in the club, with my woman in my lap. The place is mostly empty tonight. All the brothers have gone to the Den or *’s. In fact, besides me and Nicole, the only other ones around are Hawk, Frog and Nailer. They’re playing cards with one of the new prospects. A few of the Twinkies are hanging around them. The mood in the club seems almost depressing. I can’t remember it being like this except for right after we found out about Irish. I still don’t understand his betrayal. It had to be about more than money, but I’ve tried for months and months to find out more—there just seems to be nothing to find. I try to pull my mind out of those dark thoughts, before they have time to settle too deep.

“You’re awful quiet, Mama.”

“Got a lot on my mind tonight,” she whispers.

I reach down and grab her hand, bringing it to my lips, before locking our fingers together and pressing them against my chest.

“You’ve been quiet since you came back from the dress fitting. Talk to me.”

“I just have a lot to think about. I’m okay, Dragon,” she says. I hate this feeling in my gut that tells me my woman is not being completely truthful with me, so I try to tap it down. I don’t really succeed.

“Someone has been stalking around the club.”

I feel her stiffen up against me and the muscles in her hands contract.

“Stalking?”

“Hanging around outside the gates, filming. Visiting the club businesses. That kind of thing.”

“Any idea who?” She asks and there’s a tremor in her voice. Is it concern for the club or fear of something else? Fuck.

“Not really, no. We have a few leads.”

“I see,” she says and you can definitely hear the tremor in her voice.

“Anything you want to tell me, Mama?”

“Should there be?” She asks, curling into my side and burying her face into my shoulder. I can feel the moisture against my skin.

Something is bothering her and tearing her up. I need to fix it. I can’t if she doesn’t let me in. My hand curls into her hair holding her close. What did this? What brought us to the point where she’s not trusting me? Was it something I did? Didn’t do?

“You need to talk to me, Nicole. I know you have something going on. Talk to me about it so I can help.”

“I think Dani’s going to leave,” she whispers.

A big part of me is pissed the f*ck off that the woman is causing problems for my girl. I can’t lie, there’s even another part of me that is happy to see her leave. Still, if her leaving is what is wrong with Nicole, I need to try and stop that. I want my woman happy.

“Why?”

“She…she feels it’d be better for her to start over somewhere else. She…she feels guilty over…,” she pauses as if trying to pick her words out carefully. “…She feels guilty over the choices she made.”

I kiss the top of Nicole’s head.

“Would it help if I talked to her?”

“No. I think it’s probably for the best.”

“She’ll be here for the wedding baby, and you can still keep in touch with her,” I say trying to make her feel better, and figuring I’m failing when her tears fall harder against my neck.

“No. She’ll be leaving before the wedding.”