“I will always think you deserve better.”
“Fuck Ink, you sound like her daddy or something.” Moose put in.
She leaned back and looked up at her only family, who looked so much like her. “If he’s ever mean to me I will let you beat the shit out of him, ok?”
Ink nodded, but he still looked unsure.
“He really is a sonofabitch Mina, please just listen to me. Anyone would be better for you.”
“My heart says differently. We have a past and we need to see where we are now. I need to do this.”
“Loving someone is about more than sex Mina. Make sure he knows that before you get in too deep. Don’t let your wants cloud what you need to do to be happy.”
Mina remembered how Tommy had held her the night before. How he had just held onto her when she had thought he would pounce her.
“He already knows that Jonah. This wasn’t about sex, but sex needed to be done too. Please trust me. I know what I’m doing.” That might be partly a lie because she didn’t exactly know what she was doing, but she knew she had to try this thing and see if it all worked or she would wonder for the rest of her life.
He nodded, but when his eyes found Tommy using the sheet to stop the blood pouring from his nose, they filled with fury.
“Come on Sharpie. Let’s get you home. Angel will be fit to be tied if she doesn’t get her morning nookie.” Moose said as he slapped Ink on the back.
Ink clenched his teeth so hard Mina thought he would surely need dentures before lunch.
“Well, that went well.” She said as she looked over at Tommy after Ink and Moose had left the room.
“Why does everybody hit me in the nose? I mean shit, pick an eye occasionally or something.”
“Your nose is sort of big Tommy.”
“Kiss my ass Willa.” He said, but his eyes sparkled like they had when they had been young. “Come over here and make me feel better.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“Tell me about you and let me hold onto you for a little while longer. I’ve missed just hearing your voice.”
And that right there was what Ink was telling her. Tommy wasn’t all about sex and that did feel pretty amazing.
She crawled into bed beside the man that had captured her heart all those years ago and even if his grip on it had sometimes been a stranglehold, he still kept hold of it. She curled up beside him and laid her head on his shoulder. His arm fit around her as if they were two pieces of a puzzle and they talked about the years they had missed.
“I don’t want you to go Willa. I can’t stand the thoughts of you disappearing again. I couldn’t find you. I looked for years.”
Mina lifted up on her elbow so she could look at him. “What would you have done?”
He sighed. “Depends on the day. Sometimes I wanted to kill you and others I just wanted to be sure you were alright. I missed you. It ate at me.”
“I missed you too Tommy, but I don’t want to jump into anything. I want to be sure, you know? I have a life and a job. I know that I love you, but I want to make sure it’s grown up love and not just what’s left over from our past. I want to get to know who you are now.”
He closed his eyes and nodded. “I know. I do too. I need to be back out west in a couple of days.”
“Can you tell me anything?”
“No. I can’t talk club shit with you Willa. I can’t get you mixed up in any of that shit.”
“Alright. So what do we do?”
“Hell if I know. I know that I love you.” He pushed her to the bed and leaned over her. His lips met hers in a slow sipping kiss. “I’ve always known that.”
And that was all that mattered as he loved her until the sun climbed high in the sky. They would figure it all out and they would make it work this time.
Thirteen
Tommy drove her back to Candy’s house where Candy looked like she was about to explode with questions, but she held her tongue until Mina had her things packed and was dressed. She hugged her hard before she left.
“I want to know everything. I mean everything. Everything else was handled. I wanted to be the one to tell you that. Be safe and I’m so happy for you.” Candy kissed Mina’s cheek and grinned as she leaned against Spec’s side.
“There is something special about these boys.”
“So I can see.”
Mina couldn’t help looking in her rearview mirror as she drove the borrowed car the club had loaned her. Hers needed quite a bit of work after the other night. Tommy followed her on his big black motorcycle. Four other men rode with him and she knew they would all head out west as soon as she was home safe. She loved how sexy Tommy looked as he drove that heavy machine. She crossed the white line and blushed when Tommy pulled up beside her and gave her a look. He knew why she’d run out of the road and was teasing her. Well she couldn’t help it.
The drive seemed to fly by and before she knew it she was parking in front of her apartment building.
She had completely forgotten about Tanner until she saw him leaning against his jeep when she started to get out of her car.
“I see you made it home safely. I guess being away made you forget about our plans.”
He was angry and it caused alarm bells to go off in Mina’s head.
“I’m sorry Tanner. I did forget, but I am glad you’re here. I need to talk to you and I’m not sure how, but I really think it’s best if we stop seeing each other.”
He crossed his arms and tilted his head in a way that made her want to squirm.
“I met someone, well, I already knew him, but we worked some things out this weekend, and I want to see how things work out.”
“You mean to tell me that you went up there to meet a man? You said you were visiting friends and family up there. I can’t believe you lied to me! Was it the guy who was sleeping on your couch? Were you fucking him all along?”
“Calm down Tanner. I didn’t lie. He wasn’t supposed to even be there, but then he was and he sort of kidnapped me and then we, well, never mind, but I really want to see it through.” She ignored his comments about Sniper.
“A guy kidnaps you and you take him back? That’s a little fucked up don’t you think? You want to know what I think?” He stepped closer to Mina and she held her ground. “I think you don’t know what you want. I think you are confused and that you need to think about this a little more. I know we have something.”
He pulled her close and pressed his lips against hers. Mina tried to pull back, but Tanner was too strong. She turned her head and his lips started traveling down her neck.
“Stop it! Mina felt panic start to rise up inside her.
“I’m just asking for the same chance you gave that other guy. I deserve that much.” Tanner said as he held her.
“No. Just stop Tanner. I don’t want this to end so badly. Stop.”
“Pretty sure the lady asked you to stop.” Tommy stood with three other tough looking men behind Tanner.
“Tommy.” She breathed as Tanner let her go.
“Mind your own business brother.” Tanner spat as he pulled Mina behind him. “Stay behind me Mina, this type can be dangerous.”
“He call us dangerous Tommy boy. I bet he a capon anyway. Scared of his own shadow. Don’ worry none mon cher.” A man spoke up with a thick Cajun accent. “We can take care o’ dis’.”
“You will take care of nothing. Come on Mina, I’ll walk you up.” Tanner held onto his bravado.
Mina startled when she heard a loud snort and a man’s laughter. “He really thinks he’s going to take her. Let me tell you something my man. We always take what we want and my brother there wants that woman. Best thing you can do is walk away before we get blood all over those fancy duds.” Mina looked around Tanner. This had to be almost the biggest man Mina had ever seen. It seemed like half the men in the club were mountains on legs. She had always thought of bikers as lanky men with beer bellies, but these men were just plain built.
<
br /> “How civilized.” Tanner spat. “This is not the caveman days. She is a person and she decides where she goes.”
“Then I suggest you move and let her have her say then.” Mina wanted to sigh. This man was so handsome he should be on magazine covers. His black hair fell just over his forehead and his eyes were so green they reminded Mina of the moss that grew at the base of the old oak tree that had once grown in her front yard. He had a roughness about him that only made him feel sexier too.
She looked up when Tanner moved, but he didn’t let her go. He leaned down and whispered in her ear.
“This type of man will hurt you Mina. I suggest you stay where you are or you will regret it.”
Mina’s eyes found Tommy’s. Tanner was right. If she took those few steps and went into Tommy’s arms she would never be the same. It felt monumental. The things they had done on club property seemed set apart from her life and the reality of it all. If she took those steps and showed the world that Tommy was it for her then there would be no going back, no keeping things separated. This would blend them together in all parts of life. She was choosing him in so many ways.
She stepped away from Tanner and he jerked her back against his chest.
“No Mina.”
“Best let her go boy.” Mina heard from behind her and looked over her shoulder to find Mr. McGuire standing there with a baseball bat.
“Willa. Come here baby.” Tommy settled the flutters in her stomach. He had come to see her. He had come to her rescue and she knew now that he always would.
“Her name is Mina you asshole and you need to leave her alone.” Tanner’s grip grew bruising, but Tommy was letting Mina have her own way. He was showing her that he wouldn’t take her over. He wouldn’t help unless she asked him to or showed him that she needed him. He trusted her to take care of herself.
She could pull away and go to Mr. McGuire and be safe and happy in the life she had been living or she could walk to Tommy and share the strange life he led. This was her choice and he wasn’t forcing her to make it.
Mina jerked her arm away from Tanner and ran into Tommy’s arms. He kissed her and pushed her behind him as he faced Tanner.
“You don’t get to touch what’s mine. Willa belongs to me. It is her choice to be mine and I protect what’s mine. You ever even fucking look at her and I’ll kill you.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“You damned right I am.”
Mina leaned her face against the cool leather of Tommy’s jacket. This felt right. Everything felt right.
Tanner glared at her as he climbed into his jeep and drove away.
“Willa, meet Gator, Jack, and Choo-Choo. The prospect is Lambhead. They ride with me when we are on a job and I trust them with my life. Boys, this is my old lady. Her name is Willamina, I call her Willa, but if you do I’ll cut your dick off.”
“I’m Mina.” She laughed.
Tommy handed her a black leather vest that had a patch that read, property of Tommy Rich across the right breast. Mina would never have thought she would like something like that, but it settled something wild inside her.
She belonged to Tommy and he belonged to her. She pulled it on and a grin split Tommy’s face.
“What if I’d said no?”
The big man, Choo-Choo, grinned at her. “Then we’d have had to listen to him whine about all the dark haired women in the fucking world not being you, like we have ever since I met this jackass.”
Tommy’s cheeks turned suspiciously pink. “It’s always been you for me Willa, always.”
“It’s always been you for me too Tommy, I love you.”
Tommy pulled her close and kissed her head. “I love you too Willa, always have I guess.”
He took a deep breath.
“I have to go.”
“When?”
“Now.”
“Will you come back to me Tommy?”
He pulled her in then and kissed her lips like he was dying for her. “I will always come back for you Willa, always. I will always take care of you. I’ll always protect you too.”
He nodded toward another bike parked across the road. Sniper nodded and grinned in her direction.
“That’s not an option. He is your shadow. He doesn’t tell you what to do, but he watches your ass.”
“Am I in danger Tommy?”
He ran his fingers down her face. “Being close to me means danger. I hate that it brings that to you, but it does. I may be a weak bastard for wanting this, but I need you.”
Mina wrapped around him. “I need you too Tommy. I always have and I always will.”
“Preach told me this is our last run. I should be home for good by Thanksgiving. I’m going to have a question to ask you when I get back.”
“I’ll be waiting with an answer for you too.”
“I’ll call you as often as I can.”
Mina nodded as his lips found her neck.”
“Shit man, you need to take that indoors or we need to hit the road.”
Tommy pulled away. “Who’s that?”
He was looking at her neighbor. “My neighbor, Mr. McGuire.”
Mina introduced the two men and they shook hands.
“Thank you sir, for watching out for my girl. I appreciate it.”
Mr. McGuire raised a brow. “Was my girl before she was yours boy.”
Tommy just smiled. “No sir. She’s been mine since she was six years old, she just forgot for a little while.”
Mr. McGuire nodded and got a wistful look in his eyes. “I had a girl like that. I let her go though, worst mistake I ever made.” He looked back to Mina. “I’ll keep an eye on her. Don’t do anything stupid to cause you to lose her again.”
“No sir.”
Tommy kissed Mina one more time before he jogged to his motorcycle. He roared away with his brothers riding with him and Mina knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d ride back again.
And she’d be waiting for him.
Epilogue
Choo-Choo watched as the Bastards of War sat around the clubhouse. He didn’t like this club. He’d had a run in with a few of them several years ago that had left a bad taste in his mouth. He’d caught two of them in an alley out in El Paso with a stripper from the club he’d just left. The woman was a stripper, but that didn’t give the men the right to do what they wanted to her.
Choo-Choo had stepped in and damned if the bitch hadn’t cussed his ass out. She’d had a black eye and her knees were bloody from one guy fucking her while she sucked the other’s dick. He’d thought he was helping her.
Damned woman ended up climbing on the back of one dude’s bike and riding away.
Choo-Choo would never understand women.
He reached into his pocket and palmed the little vibrator Rena had given him the last time she’d taken him to her bed.
“Learn how to use this before you come back to my bed or don’t bother. I need a man who knows how to pleasure me right.”
Like he fucking wanted to pleasure Rena at all, but she was in charge of the girls and she had made it clear that he was off limits, so if he wanted to fuck while at home, he had to fuck her.
It was nothing but bullshit.
Why the fuck had that woman picked him? He was the least likely one of the brothers to treat her the way she wanted. Damned woman scared the shit out of Choo-Choo, but she thought just because he was a big man that he would be rougher. He wasn’t. He didn’t want to hurt his women. Sure he liked a good hard fuck, but he didn’t want to hurt a woman. That was crossing a line he refused to cross.
Rena had clawed the blood out of his back on more than one occasion, not to mention biting him until he bled. She had all these ideas about how she would lock up his cock while he was on the road and he sure as shit wasn’t alright with that craziness, no ma’am, no thank you.
Bitch couldn’t decide whether she wanted to rule him or for him to beat the shit out of her or both and it was just plain nuts.
; Choo-Choo wanted her to leave him alone, but he was curious. He admitted to that much.
He’d had his share of women and they all seemed satisfied when he was finished with them, but the little thing in his pocket made him curious. He was willing to learn a few things if it gave his woman more pleasure. That could only mean more for him too. With Rena cock blocking him here though he would have to wait, but he had no idea how long and his balls were as blue as fucking blueberries.
Preach had decided to rethink the west coast deal and Tommy was ready to settle down with his woman. Choo-Choo had assumed that would leave the rest of them to carry on, but Preach hadn’t said anything for sure yet, so he was swingin’ in the wind.
Choo-Choo looked up when he saw a little blonde stand up and turn on one of the Bastards.
“No. That’s not our deal. Fuck you for even saying that shit Eddie.”
The girl wasn’t bigger than a minute and looked like a cross between a pin up girl and the girl next door.
Choo-Choo felt his dick go hard as stone.
She wasn’t patched and she wasn’t one of the club girls that Rena ruled. That meant free game and Choo-Choo was ready for a game.
He watched her rummage through the refrigerator before she headed out the back door. The he stood and followed her out. Never hurt to try.
Tommy Rich: Defendes MC Series Book 7 (Defenders MC Series) Page 11