by Addison Jane
Do I remember seeing some bright light calling me home? No.
But I did remember hearing Ham’s voice pleading with me not to leave. I don’t remember what he said, but I knew I’d heard his voice almost the whole time I was out. And I remember not wanting to leave him, fighting and knowing if I just got back to him, things would be okay.
He would protect me.
He was my knight in shining armor.
He always had been.
Since the moment we’d met.
I thought I didn’t need him anymore. That I wanted to be the one to stand and rescue myself. But I was starting to realize there would be times where I would need him to be that person—my knight—to help me when I felt like I couldn’t stand on my own, or to pull me back when I was getting too close to the light.
I’d always need him, no matter how independent or how strong I felt.
Because there were times when he’d need me too.
Doctor Theo scrawled messily on the form before handing it off to his nurse and giving me a piece of paper. “Look after yourself, Meyah, someone will be in touch for a checkup in a couple of weeks.”
Romeo was out of his chair and grabbing my bag from its place beside the door before I’d even taken the piece of paper from Dr. Theo’s hand, and Ham already had his hand on my back, pressing me toward the exit gently. “Time to go. Thanks, doc,” he called over his shoulder.
I was confused, so I didn’t mention anything as we left the building and Ham helped me into an SUV outside with Romeo driving and Ham climbing in the backseat with me.
“So I’m an Uber now?” Romeo asked, looking in the rearview mirror and rolling his eyes.
“Just drive, asshole,” Ham urged, narrowing his back at his little brother.
I sat back, happy to be leaving that place and starting to feel normal again. Well, as normal as I could get. I was still sore and healing, my body having taken a beating. I knew I looked like shit. My cheek still multiple colors of the rainbow and hobbling because of the surgery they’d had to do to repair my leg. But it was getting better every day.
“Where are we going?” I finally asked when Romeo passed by the exit to the airport.
“Arizona,” he responded simply.
I looked at Ham. “We’re going back to Arizona?”
I don’t know why part of me felt disappointed not to be heading home to Athens. I loved Arizona. I loved school. I missed Dakota like hell. But she’d already missed too many classes to stay in Las Vegas with me. Arizona was close to Huntsman, and Ripley, both who’d visited me every single day and bought me girly magazines and clothes and anything else I asked for. But it was miles away from Ham. And Ham was home for me.
“I want to go back to Athens.”
Romeo’s eyes instantly widened, and he gazed back at me before looking back at the road.
Ham reached out and grabbed my hand. “Why? You love it down here.” I could see the sincerity in his gaze. He wanted me to be happy, but the truth was, nowhere was ever going to be good enough without him.
“I don’t want to go back to visits on the weekends,” I told him, shaking my head. “I want to come home and talk to you about my day. I want to ask your opinion on what I should wear to job interviews. I want to argue about what we’re having for dinner.”
Romeo snorted, but the smart boy kept his mouth closed.
Ham just grinned back at me. “You’re exhausted and emotional. Let Uber man drive us to Tucson, and we can talk about it when we get there. Meyah, just trust me on this okay?”
I considered arguing and demanding Romeo pull the car over and head to the airport, but I didn’t. “I trust you.”
I could see how those words affected him, how important they were. He leaned across the back seat and pressed his lips to mine. I kissed him back, searching for more, wanting to touch him and just fall to pieces in his arms. He pulled back, and I leaned forward, not ready to let him go just yet.
“Damn it, can you two not do that where I can see,” Romeo complained.
“You shouldn’t be looking, you should be watching the road,” Ham argued. He pulled my lip in between his teeth and the both of us started to laugh.
I’d learned my lesson about trusting Ham. As far as I was concerned, home was where he was. Everything else was a bonus.
“Meyah.”
I blinked, reaching up to wipe the sleep from my eyes, and bring everything back into focus. I’d ended up moving into the middle seat halfway back to Arizona and curling into Ham’s side, not caring I was probably going to drool all over his club cut and T-shirt because he was mine anyway.
I would just call it my way of claiming him. Noticing that the car had stopped and Romeo was already climbing out, I frowned. But when I looked out the window, we weren’t at my dorms. “Where are we?” I didn’t recognize the neighborhood, all I could see were large buildings, places like machine parts or repairs, building supplies, and then finally, a mechanic.
But it wasn’t that which caught my attention. It was the people standing outside.
“What the hell?” I asked in confusion, before looking at a smug Ham. “What’s going on here?”
He unclipped his belt and mine then opened the door. I followed him out, allowing him to keep me steady. My leg had started to ache a little from being in the car, but I wasn’t about to complain about it when I saw Uncle Leo, Optimus, Blizzard, my mom, Huntsman, and Ripley all standing outside this old mechanic’s building with the most infectious smiles on their faces. There were a few other men there, ones I’d recognized from the hospital and a few I didn’t.
There were a million emotions swirling in my head.
I was excited, I was confused, I was nervous, and I was happy, but I still had no idea what was going on. All I knew was it was big, big enough that there were members from other chapters here, and my father and brother.
“What’s going on here?” I demanded, trying to be stern but unable to stop myself from smiling. “Where are we?”
“Phoenix, Arizona,” Romeo offered as he walked up beside us.
Uncle Leo looked at Ham. “You wanna tell her?”
I pulled back and looked up at him. “Tell me what?”
Ham brushed my hair back from my face, I could tell he was excited, almost fucking giddy as he spoke. “When you came back to school after Macy’s birthday, I sat down with Optimus and talked to him about how I could make this work,” he explained, licking his lips nervously. “I knew I wasn’t going to stop you from being somewhere that made you happy, but I couldn’t leave the club either. The club is my family, but you’re where my heart is, which made it fucking hell.”
I knew it was taking a lot of guts for him to explain how he was feeling in front of his brothers and my parents, and I was fighting back the urge to say “excuse me” and drag him back to Romeo’s SUV for a moment.
“The Brothers by Blood doesn’t have a chapter anywhere on the West Coast, the nearest chapter is either Texas or Montana,” he explained, his smirk growing bigger the further my mouth fell open. “There’s been talk about starting a chapter up over this way for years, so we got in touch with a couple of other clubs and Shotgun, the VP in Colorado put his hand up to run it.”
He nodded toward the group of club members standing off to the side and a man raised his arm, and by arm, I meant fucking tree trunk because holy shit. He had blond hair, looked to be closer to my dad’s age, but fitter than a lot of men younger than him. He grinned and dipped his head.
“So what you’re saying is…”
“Jesus woman, he’s telling you he’s been granted a transfer down here to help start the club,” Romeo interjected, throwing his arms in the air.
Ham reached out and punched his brother in the arm. “So?” he asked, searching my eyes as if he wasn’t sure what my reaction was going to be.
“This is gonna be it?” I asked, pointing at the old mechanic’s shop. It had a main building which was two-story, then connected was a long s
et of six large vehicle bays with roller doors.
It was huge, and I could most definitely see the potential…
… the potential to be our home.
A new club, where we get to build a life, and a family, and to start something incredible. Where he has his brotherhood, I have school, and we can still see family as often as we want, but without any pressures.
It was close to Huntsman, it was close to Romeo and to Phee. This was where we would get to make our start.
“Yeah…” Ham said, nervously watching me take it in. “This is it. It needs some renovating. A lot of fucking work actually, but—”
“It looks amazing.”
I was picked up off my feet in less than a second, giggling, as he swung me around and peppered kissed on my face and neck. He placed me back down, holding my face in his hands, searching my eyes frantically. “You’re in?”
This was a new adventure, one we were going to take together. It would probably have its ups and downs, I’d probably want to kill him at some point, and he’ll probably want to do the same to me.
“All in.”
I didn’t care where, or when, or how, or why.
With Ham, I’d always be all in.
One Year Later
“Dakota will you hurry up dammit, we’re going to be late,” I called, standing at the door to Dakota’s apartment, having been there for ten minutes already, which meant we were going to be late. Again.
Yay, something new and different for us.
“I’m coming,” she called, appearing at the end of the hallway, pulling on one of her shoes with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. She pulled it out, looking around with a frown before she finally leaned over the pot plant on her entranceway table and spat inside.
I cringed. “Dude, that’s gross, even for you.”
She slammed her toothbrush down next to the plant and finished tying her shoe before standing up straight and taking a deep breath. “Look, I’m tired, I haven’t read the pages we should have read, and there’s something I need to tell—”
“Can you give me a ride to the clubhouse to get my bike?” Ripley asked, stepping out of the hallway with a satisfied smirk on his face.
My mouth fell open and my shocked gaze moved between my brother and my best friend. Then back again. “You’re kidding, right?”
He scoffed and pulled his club cut over his black hoodie before reaching for Dakota and pulling her into his arms. She didn’t fight him, and I even caught a small smile in the corner of her mouth as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“When did… how long have…” I couldn’t get the words out. Like my mouth couldn’t unscramble the mess that was up in my brain. “I can’t even right now. Dakota. Car. Now. We’re going to be late. And you, brother o’ mine, I don’t have time to take you to the clubhouse where I assumed you must have crashed after chatting with Ham last night about Empire, so you’re going to have to catch an Uber.”
I pulled the apartment door open, and Dakota ducked out ahead of me and jogged to the car, Ripley stomping behind her, grumbling as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket, leaving me to pull the door closed and lock it.
Dakota climbed into the car, and before I followed her down the path, I stopped next to my brother. “Please don’t hurt her.”
His fingers froze over the screen, and before I could walk away, he reached over and hooked his arm around my neck, pulling me in and pressing a kiss to my temple. “Have a good day,” he murmured before letting me go and turning away.
I sighed heavily and shook my head. He wasn’t going to make any promises. Because he knew he couldn’t keep them.
Dakota had googly-eyed at Ripley since they met a year ago, and I knew he was interested, but my brother didn’t like the idea of being fucking tied down to anything. Commitment scared the crap out of him, and it made me want to punch him in the face with the way he had this revolving door.
He was going to hurt her.
But Dakota was strong, she would bounce back.
I hoped.
I dumped my backpack on Ham’s desk and placed my palms flat on the surface, waiting for him to look up at me.
He smirked, his eyes scanning over a few more lines before he placed the paperwork aside and leaned back. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Did you know that Ripley stayed at Dakota’s place last night?”
“I don’t keep tabs on your brother, Meyah,” he responded.
“So, yes, you did?”
He laughed and pushed his chair back from the desk, turning my body and lifting me at the hips, so I was sitting at the edge while he moved in between my spread legs. My body instantly relaxed as I inhaled the smell of his leather and leaned my head forward, pressing my forehead against his chest. “Sorry, it’s been a long day.”
“You need not worry about whether your brother and your best friend are fucking or not, fury fists. That’s not your problem,” he scolded gently, hooking his finger under my chin and lifting my face to his. “You’re my Old Lady, not their fucking counselor.”
I rolled my eyes. “You say that like it’s a fulltime job.”
“You say that like it’s not.”
Arizona had really become home over the past year. It had taken months to get the clubhouse to the point where it was now. Luckily, I had a father who owned a construction company, and an older brother who turned out to be one hell of a damn designer.
There were more than fifteen rooms, each with their own bathroom, a kitchen, a dining room, a bar, and church. Not to mention a party area which was used more often than not—except when the boys knew that I was studying. There were even dorm type rooms downstairs for the club girls. Three of the six vehicle bays were left as workshops, and the club also had a couple of guys that did fantastic custom work for Harley’s and were booked up for months, the other guys helping out where they could.
The setup we had in Arizona was different to back home, but that was kind of why I loved it. The club had grown from four men to ten, and the interest was through the roof.
The old mechanics had been transformed into a clubhouse that rivaled my dad’s, something I continually teased him about. Especially given he was here visiting every couple of weeks.
We were still working on some different businesses, but the major one which was keeping Ham and the brothers here busy as hell right now was Empire.
With Huntsman living a few hours away, he sold forty percent of the nightclub to the Brothers by Blood, and they’d taken over running things, so Huntsman didn't constantly have to send men down to check up on things.
Turned out Dave wasn’t exactly the upstanding guy I thought he was, and he was dealing shit out the back on the side, so that’s where Ham had stepped in. We’d really made it our own, and with all the work and dedication Ham had put in, Shotgun had ended up naming Ham his VP. He fucking earned it, and I was proud as hell to be standing beside him.
He was busy constantly. I was run ragged with school work, but I knew after a hard day, I was coming home to him.
Ham’s mouth covered mine, his tongue slipping between my lips and making my body relax against him. Everything with Dakota, and Ripley, and school just seemed to melt away at his touch because when I was with him, none of that shit mattered.
We’d decided a long time ago we were going to make every minute count.
We argued sometimes. There were times where I wanted his attention, but he was busy with the club, and moments where I had assignments due, and he wanted me to go to business meetings with him, or up to Vegas to check in with Huntsman and the future developments they were working on.
We argued. We disagreed.
But it never lasted long.
We said what we needed to say and then we moved on because we both refused to waste time together on shit that in the end, wasn’t the end of the world.
“Did you lock the door?” he murmured against my lips as his hand reached for my shirt.
“Yes.”
&n
bsp; I always did. Because I also learned pretty damn quickly, I should never waste an opportunity.
My shirt was gone within seconds, and while his mouth attacked my neck, I reached for his belt buckle just as a knock sounded at the door.
We both grinned, but neither of us stopped, my hand reaching inside his pants and drawing out his cock as he hooked his fingers into the waistband of my shorts.
“Shake! Man. Beth just called in sick, and she’s meant to be dancing in the VIP area tonight,” Auron, one of Ham’s brothers called through the door.
“Find someone else,” he called back while he slipped my shorts down my legs and tossed them to the side before flicking his finger over my clit a couple times and smirking as I tried to hold back a moan.
“Uh… Meyah’s name is on my list as a backup…” His hand froze, and I pressed my lips together trying to hold back a giggle. “Do you… uh… want me to call—”
“No,” he snapped, punishment and excitement flashing in his eyes. “No, call someone else… I’ll deal with Meyah.”
Footsteps disappeared down the hallway, and I couldn’t help but grin up at my man.
“That your idea of a joke?”
I chewed my bottom lip but didn’t reply.
“You think I’m actually gonna let you shake your ass up on that stage with guys watching?”
“I told you before…” I whispered, squeezing him in my hand and licking my lips, “… I sway, I don’t shake.”
He shook his head, but his mouth pulled up in the corner, and he moved forward. “You’re gonna pay for that one, fury fists.”
“I’m waiting.”
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Covert, stealthy, cunning—I’m trained as a weapon. A lethal killer. I do what needs to be done in order to protect those who can’t protect themselves.
I’m never the same person twice.