The Lies Between Us (The Devil's Dust #4)(28)

“Lip?” I whisper.

“Yeah?”

“What happens if someone doesn’t follow the rules of the club?”

“For you, not much. For me, it can be brutal. Could be anything from getting my ass kicked, to having Bull fire a round into my leg, or the worst: being out-banned.”

“What is-”

“Out-banned is me getting my colors stripped and thrown out of the club.” Lip’s face goes pale, and his eyes look grave. “If that ever happened, they might as well kill me. Devil’s Dust is all I know.” His tone is incredibly somber.

“How long have you been here?”

“I dunno; a while, I guess. My brother hates it ‘cause he thinks I’m going against the family being here. In a way, I am.” He smirks and runs his hands through his hair. I don’t respond in fear of him shutting up and not telling me anymore. “My father has an MC he wanted me to be a part of based out of Las Vegas, but I’d never join it. It’s sinister and immoral. It knows nothing of the word family, and the f*cked-up part is it’s mostly my family,” he explains. “Growing up, I was no stranger to the criminal way of life. When he got caught moving coke, he tried to get my mother to take the fall. That was the separation of our father-son relationship. My mother was his ol’ lady, but she was my mom. She refused to take the fall for my father, said he’d been sleeping around with her best friend and wouldn’t go to prison for someone who had no respect for her. My father was killed before he ever had a hearing and my uncle took over, making my brother Zeek president of the Sin City Outlaws.”

Wow, I thought my life was Hell, but it seems Lip was from the same part of Hell where I was raised.

“Damn,” I whisper. “My mother left when I was a baby. My father wasn’t father of the year, either. He hit me. A lot. Eventually, I left, and while I was gone, he did us all a favor and ran off with some woman.”

Lip grabs my chin, making me look him square in the eyes, his sudden movements catching me off-guard.

“If anyone ever touches you like that, you come to me. Do you understand?” he questions, the colors of his eyes turning a shade darker.

“Ye-yeah,” I stammer nervously. “Sure.” He exhales an angry breath, his hand swiping through his hair. I cross my arms, not sure what to say.

“You said something about ol’ ladies. Is that what I am now, why you call me Cherry instead of Lindsay?”

Lip’s chest stills like he stopped breathing. “Um, no. Being a brother’s ol’ lady is like marrying a chick in our world.”

My eyes widen. “Oh.”

“I need my colors before I can have an ol’ lady anyway,” Lip continues.

“I call you Cherry ‘cause I like it. And as much fun as our world may sound, it comes with a price. It can be dangerous, and it’s just safer to go by a nickname than your real name.”

My heart stammers. I don’t need more danger, that’s for sure.

“Being an ol’ lady isn’t like being a wife in the normal world. Your man is gone for unexpected periods, you don’t get to know what your man is up to ‘cause club work is not to be discussed.”

“What’s so different from being a girlfriend to a brother then?” I laugh.

“Well,” Lip hesitates, “When a woman is claimed by a Devil, she is his property. There is no escaping him. She is his until he releases her.”

My lips part in shock. Holy shit. But my chest tingles from the idea, too. To have that kind of security and affection from someone, it’s not something you see in the world anymore. I kind of like it.





CHAPTER FIVE


CHERRY


2 Weeks Later

The last two weeks have been filled with sweet, mind-blowing sex. All I can think about is Lip. All I want to think about is Lip. I managed to leave the house yesterday for the first time. Aside from my brother hounding to see me and make sure I was indeed okay, I just needed some air more than anything. I wasn’t shot at, and I returned back to Lip’s place without a scratch. I still need to tell Lip about Piper. A piece of me, a very sad piece of me doesn’t want to in fear that he may not take it well and he’ll end whatever it is we have. But the way he looks at me, the way he touches me like I’m the only thing he’s seeing, maybe he wouldn’t.

A hand slides along my hip and cups my tit, catching my attention.

“I gotta go, babe,” Lip rasps from behind me. I groan and roll over in his hold.

“When will you be back?”

Lip shrugs. “A day or two.”

I nod. I know this run is something he’s been looking forward to. This might be his big moment in getting his patch.

“I’m going to miss you and our late-night sexcapades,” I wink. Lip smirks and sits on the bed. He’s sweating? nervous.

I lift up on my knees and rub his hard shoulders.

“You okay?” I whisper into his ear. His head lolls back and a staggered breath escapes.

“Everything I know rides on this.” His words are raw and emotional; this clearly means so much to him.

“You got this, babe.” I run my hands up his neck and into his hair.

“I got this, I do,” he repeats, standing from the bed. He gives me the sexiest smile I think I’ve ever seen as he swipes his hair back with his fingers.