Unattainable (Undeniable, #3)(56)

What was wrong with this bitch? First, she came back to comfort him after he’d attacked her. Next, she saved him from having to explain to Danny why he’d cleaned himself up. Not that he could have. He honestly didn’t know why he’d done half the shit he’d done lately.

And now, she felt safe with him; so much so that she wanted to bunk with him. Out of everyone here, Ellie felt safe with him.

Jesus f*cking Christ. He was the one man in this club no woman should ever feel safe around.

What was going on? Up until now, his world had made sense. It wasn’t pretty, or sugar-coated. He damn sure wasn’t envied.

But to him, it was all he knew, it was how he lived to see another day. To him, it worked.

Until now. Until her. And suddenly, nothing was working and none of it made any f*cking sense.

He knew that if he tried to speak, his voice was going to crack and give away how f*cked-up he truly was to everyone standing in this hallway. So, instead of speaking, he pulled his pack of smokes from his cut, lit one up, and as he was putting the pack away, glanced back at Ellie and jerked his chin toward the other end of the hallway. Then he took off down the hall, feeling something akin to masculine satisfaction when he heard Ellie’s bare feet slapping the concrete floor behind him.

Not that he’d ever wanted the attention of a female, but Ellie choosing him over his brothers, him over sleeping alone in a room, following him down the hallway, f*cking shit, he liked it. It felt like power and not at all like the sort of power he was used to exerting over women. This was different, softer, it flowed smooth and hot through his veins, improving his posture and twisting his lips.

Was this what it felt like to have a woman of your own? A woman that actually welcomed a man’s physical strength, wanted his protection, would be submissive to only him.

Stopping in front of his room, Dirty pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. As he held the door for her, Ellie slipped past him and into his room. His eyes moved over her bare shoulders, down the curvy lines of her hourglass figure, stopping at her ass. It was a juicy-as-f*ck ass; it looked soft and jiggled when she walked, much like her breasts did.

And none of it was off-putting. In fact, the more he watched her, the more he liked her imperfect body, her darker skin, and jet-black hair. She looked nothing like the club whores, those fake blondes with fake tits, their bodies covered with tattoos and leather.

More importantly, she looked nothing like his foster mother. She was nothing like his foster mother. She would never hurt a child. She was kind even when she didn’t have to be.

“Dirty?”

Dirty’s eyes traveled up the front of Ellie’s body, raking over her generous breasts before landing on her beautiful face.

“Yeah?”

“What’s your real name?” she asked. “I feel so strange calling you Dirty.”

His stomach flipped. No one but Deuce knew his real name, and no one had called him by his real name since her.

Agitated excitement rose from his gut to his throat. He wanted to tell her, he wanted her to know, but he wasn’t sure why he wanted her to know, or what the repercussions of her knowing would be.

“Michael,” he said quickly before he could talk himself out of it.

Ellie’s eyes widened in surprise and then just as quickly, her lips split into a smile.

“Michael,” she murmured. “A great prince of Heaven and the protector against the forces of evil.”

Dirty stared at her. Did she just liken him to a motherf*cking angel? A protector? Him? She really was insane. Or maybe that beat-down she’d taken had left her with some f*cking brain damage?

“Thank you, Michael,” she continued softly. “For protecting me.”

He swallowed hard. She had no idea who she was thanking, that the monster she thought he was protecting her from in fact lived inside of him.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN


“Get the f*ck off me,” I whispered, shoving at Cage’s wandering hands. “Everybody is staring at us.”

Actually, staring probably wasn’t the right word. Everyone who was currently in the main room was gaping at us. Or snickering. Bikers, their old ladies, and kids had all piled in for lockdown and the ones who hadn’t been here when Deuce and I had gotten into it, had quickly been informed. To make matters worse, Cage was groping me 24/7.

It was everything I’d always wanted growing up.

But now, it was embarrassing as all hell. The only people who didn’t seem to think our sudden coupling was the best comedy show of the season were Deuce and Eva. Deuce was ignoring us entirely and Eva was sending warm smiles in our direction. Smiles that were nearly as embarrassing as all the laughter.

And then there was Danny. She hadn’t said one word to me, hadn’t even so much as looked my way.

ZZ.

She’d heard everything and probably then some.

Strangely enough, I actually felt guilty. As much as I couldn’t stand Little Miss Perfect, I’d grown up with her and the thought of her hating me, really hating me instead of just being irritated with my usual shitty attitude, wasn’t sitting well with me.

Although Dirty’s initial appearance at the club, looking eerily like a Calvin Klein underwear model, and Ellie—of all people—staying with him, had taken the attention off Cage and me, Dirty was only making brief visits out of his room, mostly to the kitchen, so all attention was back on us again.