Wild Ride (Wind Dragons MC #4.5)(19)
I scrub my hand down my face and look at my vice president. “I want cameras installed in the front and back, so from now on we can see anyone who enters and leaves the clubhouse.”
“Done,” Slice replies, nodding his head.
“Ranger mentioned that he saw a few members of the Kings in the area,” I tell him, crossing my arms over my chest. “We need to find out what the f*ck they’re doing on our territory. I don’t trust the bastards.”
Slice nods again. “I’m on it. What’s happening with Shayla?”
“She’s safe for now,” I tell him. “I have a plan. The Wind Dragons owe me a marker—well, Vinnie does, but you know what they’re like. Call one in and you have them all. I’m going to ask him to protect her for me. I’m going to go after every man who wants to hurt her, Slice. She’s innocent in all this. She can’t help who her father is.”
“You’ll kill for her?”
“I already have.”
“Do you think using your marker on this is the best idea?” Slice asks, looking contemplative. “We can protect her well enough, we don’t need the Wind Dragons to handle our business.”
I stand up from the chair and crack my neck from side to side. “I have a plan, and I need them in it.”
Throughout all this stress in my life, all I want to think about is Tia. It’s a f*ckin’ pain in the ass, to be honest, because my dick has been semihard all day, and it’s hard to get anything done, pun not intended. I send her a quick message asking if I can see her tonight, then head to the riding school for my shift. With so many things on my mind, the riding school was always my quiet place, my happy place, but now I’d rather be with Tia than be there. It’s funny how things can change in an instant, how someone can consume your life after such a short period of time.
I can’t leave Rhett again tonight, she replies.
I don’t know anything about kids, and I’ve never dated a woman who had them before, or at least ones that I knew about. When am I meant to meet him? After a few months? I guess I need to ask Tia all of this. Even though it feels like everything is going so fast, I don’t want to rush this. I want to do it properly. I need to make sure Tia and I want to be together before I meet Rhett, because I can imagine that bringing different men around him who leave would f*ck with a kid’s head. I don’t know how Rake does it, but for a second I wish that I could ask him about it. Would Tia even want me around the kid? I’d understand if she didn’t. I’m not exactly role-model material.
Tomorrow? I message back to her.
I understand that she has responsibilities, but I want to see her badly. I’m not used to having to wait. Can’t she just sneak me in after he goes to bed? It almost feels like high school, when the girls would have a curfew. I don’t mind though.
Tomorrow, she replies, and I’m left smiling at my phone like an idiot.
She’s so f*ckin’ worth it.
I replay the conversation I had with Tia the night she kissed me, about how she didn’t want to waste a number—the number of men she’d been with—on a man who wasn’t worth it.
And she definitely didn’t waste a number on me.
“Have any guys you’ve dated met your son before?” I ask Tia as we cuddle on her couch. Rhett is at school, and I’ve told the men not to call me unless someone is dying.
“No,” she says, resting her head on my shoulder. “I’ve dated a fair bit over the years, but no one made the cut.”
“Pressure much,” I grumble, kissing the top of her head.
She looks up at me and smiles. “I think if we’re still seeing each other in about two months, I’ll introduce you to him. Do you even like kids?”
“I don’t not like kids,” I say, cringing. “I don’t have any experience with kids. I think that yours will be a different situation though, because I kind of get it now. He’s a part of you, an extension of you. It’s a package deal, I understand that, but you’re going to have to be patient, because this is all new to me.”
“We have time” is all she says. “I told Bailey it was you I went on the date with.”
“And?”
“And she gave me a few warnings but said whatever makes me happy will make her happy.”
“Bailey loves me,” I tease, grinning wolfishly. “She’s been to my clubhouse and everything. Kicked our asses in beer pong, her and Anna. Vipers, the two of them.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “I heard about that night. Yeah, they had fun, but they paid for it when they went home.”
I wince and run my hand through my hair. “Yeah, I should’ve known they’d get caught. I f*cked up that night—I know that now. I just wanted Anna to come see me on my birthday. I didn’t think about anything else, which was selfish of me.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Talon,” she says, squeezing my shoulder gently. “You all paid for what happened that night, but you learn from it and move on.”
“It’s not that simple. You’ll see soon enough,” I say quietly.
The reason I feel guilty is that I learned soon after that my clubhouse isn’t the safest place to be, and I unknowingly put the women in danger. With me there, nothing would have happened to them, because I wouldn’t have let it, but still. I won’t let my own cousin stay there, and I’m sure as hell not going to bring Tia there. I have a few properties I could move into if things go further between us, so she can come and see me there. The clubhouse is definitely not going to be a place she frequents regularly.