by V. Theia
That brought a look of amusement to the man’s face. “Yeah, good luck with that, do you know Roux?”
“She’ll accept it, she has no fucking choice.” He wasn’t playing around with her safety.
Something like respect crossed Axel’s face and he nodded in Butcher’s direction. “‘preciate you taking care of her. I’ll get this shit with Ruiz shut down.”
“Might want to revise who you do business with,” Rider half smirked.
“No fucking joke. Been trying to get this fucker out of my hair for a while, now his bitch has sights on my girl, not fucking happening.”
“Look, you need back up, let us know. This involves Butcher’s woman now, you need us to weigh in, we’re there.”
Butcher saw the tick working Axel’s jaw and the reluctance in his eyes but then he exhaled and nodded, offering a hand to Rider, the pair shook. “‘preciate it, I’ll see how it goes.”
Axel lifted his chin to Butcher, the friendliest the bastard had ever been, and they watched him roar off.
Butcher chuckled on their stroll back to the clubhouse. “Offering him help, Prez?”
Rider smirked, his blue eyes lit. “Doesn’t hurt if he owes us a favor, brother.”
No, it doesn’t. But for Roux, he’d work with that bastard for free. If he was gonna become his father in law one day soon, he had to find a happy medium ground for them to get along. Or Roux would end up busting their chops.
The pair slapped hands at the door. “Now I gotta break the news to Hawk that we might be helping out the Diablos. Fuck me.” Rider groaned.
Butcher had more important things to do than pissing off the VP. He was already on dangerous ground these days just by dealing with an eager younger half-brother hanging around him. Juicy had no chill when it came to trying to connect with Hawk. Even when the VP was about as approachable as a snapping turtle.
Butcher had better things to get him smiling because he was moving his girl in.
He couldn’t be happier.
* * *
“Why is it we’re doing all the work?” Poppy’s man grumbled, dropping one of Roux’s boxes on the living room floor. It joined the other stack and row of suitcases. Both men wore jeans and short sleeved t-shirts. Tad’s were more worn than Texas’ and it was her man who held Roux’s attention.
His forearms thick with veins as he hefted a box down from his shoulder and dropped it to the floor before he wiped sweat from his forehead using the hem of his shirt.
Fuck, he was the sexiest man alive. Her body was awake and begging as she went on mentally undressing him. Her and Poppy were sitting at the breakfast bar watching the men move her in.
“The job needed two competent supervisors, here we are.” Poppy sassed Texas, who rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, little girl.” He answered.
On his way by her, Tad tagged her around the neck and brought his mouth to hers. “You good, baby?”
“I’m living with my man, I’m never better. You?”
When Tad was this close to her he always rubbed his thumb over her nose piercing and eyebrow bar. “Mmm. Show you how good I am soon.”
She couldn’t wait.
But the flirting had to come to a stop when she saw two big shadows in the doorway. She dropped off the stool to rush over to her dad and Chains.
Both glowering like moody lions.
“Be nice,” she cautioned. “Come in, you can put them anywhere.”
“See you got everyone doing the hard work, girlie,” Chains chuckled and dumped a box of her clothes on the couch. “That’s the last of ‘em. Any beer around here?” He looked behind her to Tad.
It meant something to her that he was trying to get on with her family. it wasn’t an easy situation for anyone, they could get used to this new normal of theirs. “In the fridge,” Tad jutted his chin and Chain’s ambled off in that direction.
“Well, aren’t you going to say anything?” She pointed her chin at her dad and waited. In so many ways Roux was exactly like Axel. They had the same stubborn always right streak. He’d been a kid when she came along and all in all she thought they’d done alright.
His approval meant something to her.
He tagged her chin with his finger and thumb and half grinned. “Behave, bub, now I have you out of the house I don’t want you dropped back off in the middle of the night.”
She burst out laughing as he drew her into a hug and kissed the side of her head. “Gonna miss you, kiddo.” He said gruffly and she felt her heart pull inside her chest, she hugged him tighter. “You’re gonna still see me all the time, the club would fall apart if I didn’t bring the food.”
“True enough,” he smirked.
“Please try with Tad.” She reminded him and watched his frown return between his eyes. He made a grumbled sound from the back of his throat and then dropped a kiss to the top of her dark head. “We’ll see.”
She chuckled because that was the best she could hope for. It wasn’t as though his disdain would change her mind. She loved Tad and she was right where she wanted…needed to be.
One shared look as she handed her dad a beer and his little smile spiked her heart rate again.
Roux almost relaxed knowing Axel was in Tad’s….her home, then she realized who else was here and she cursed. But it was already too late, Axel was smiling at Poppy. “Nice to see you again, Penelope.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“Eh, yeah…” Poppy replied, cheeks pink.
Roux started around the breakfast bar to let her dad know that it might be better if he didn’t engage with the girl he held hostage for a week … but it was too late when she saw Texas storm over and curl his arm around Poppy. “Don’t fucking talk to my wife.” He snarled and guided Poppy to the other end of the long room. Axel turned to her and smirked. “Something I said, kiddo?”
She couldn’t help chuckling.
While she didn’t agree with what he’d done, and she’d told him so several times, she hadn’t been surprised. At the time, she’d looked out for her now friend. Axel would never have hurt Poppy, had he not gotten any money for her he would have just let her leave. He saw an opportunity to help the club. She didn’t agree with his decisions sometimes—Reno being a massive one, but she understood at the same time.
“Causing trouble, I see.” Tad remarked, slipping his arm around Roux’s shoulder.
She loved this claiming.
Roux wouldn’t tell anyone, but she’d waited her whole life for this.
She’d watched her biker family claiming their old ladies. And now she had it with Tad. She cuddled around his waist.
Axel shrugged at Tad’s statement. “Apologize, dad.”
He gave her an incredulous look. Yeah, it was worth a try.
She pinched Tad’s waist and he set eyes down to her.
Without words she tried to show him that it was time to get everyone out of their house. When he smirked, she reckoned he got the message.
“Time for you all to get lost.” He announced and made Roux burst out laughing. If she didn’t know it before, she knew it now how perfect he was for her.
She made a date to have lunch with Poppy, waved her friend off, and practically shoved her own father out of the door. Only when Tad closed it behind everyone did he grin and advance forward like a marauding animal.
Fever burned down her neck when he plucked her from the stool, she wrapped her legs around his waist and buried her fingers in the back of his hair, bringing their faces together.
“You better have plans with my aching dick if you made me kick everyone out.”
“You didn’t want them here either.”
He was right though; she had such big plans.
“I hope you caught a nap today; we have some celebrating to do and it’ll take hours and hours.”
The rolling growl that came out of his massive torso vibrated against Roux’s chest, sending hot and dizzy waves through her.
“Fuck, I love you.”
Roux didn’
t have a chance to say it back because Tad had her pinned against the hall wall, driving his hips between her legs and kissing the life out of her. She whimpered, shoving her fingers through his already messy hair, telling him with her moans how much she loved him back.
“Touch me,” she managed when her mouth was freed.
“Don’t fucking worry, I plan to, baby.” The way he slanted his mouth over hers caused emotions to rush to the back of her eyes. She finally had her man.
“Finally got you all to myself,” Tad repeated her sentiment and she smiled into his lips.
Finally.
Finally.
They were tired as hell the next morning when she staggered into the kitchen to see her man in boxer-briefs. He handed her a coffee right after he tagged her around the neck and kissed her.
Then he made breakfast, but it was after he fucked her against the countertop and left her a blissed wreck.
She liked watching him walking around the kitchen being all sexy and domesticated. The way he sent sexy side glances her way said he knew she enjoyed it too. She sipped her now nuked coffee back to steaming temperature and purred when his big callused hand stroked around the nape of her neck. “Happy you’re here, Cookie.”
“So am I.”
They could do this.
They were blending their worlds and making it work.
And nothing was going to ruin her happiness, not now she had a tight hold of it with two hands.
The following week flowed perfectly. Their days merged just as consuming as they were in each other.
Never did she think a biker would be so attentive and then she fell for Tad and he flipped the tables on her.
Making her fall and fall and fall for him every single day.
TWENTY-NINE
“Bombs and locks.” - Butcher
Butcher’s phone only used the generic ringtone, but it sounded like bells as it brought him out of sleep.
He’d let it ring the first time, too tired to roll away and answer it.
Only when it started up right again did his eyes ping open.
“Oh, my god, what kind of lunatic calls in the middle of the night?” His girl groaned and despite how tired he felt he grinned, kissing her bare shoulder.
“Go back to sleep, baby. It’ll be the club for me, someone might be banged up.” That was usually the reason for any late night phone calls, so he shook the sleep from his mind as he answered.
A warm, gorgeous body curled into his back; her arms came around to his belly as she settled to sleep again.
“Yeah, what is it?” He croaked, rubbing a hand down his tired face.
Looking at the clock showed it was only 3:23 a.m. Fucks sake. Couldn’t his boys get injured at a reasonable time? It was probably a prospect, those knucklefucks were always getting into fights and expecting Butcher to sew them back up.
“It’s Axel. Whatever you do, don’t let my girl know it’s me.”
The seriousness of the voice on the other end brought Butcher through the last vestiges of sleep and he shifted his legs out of bed. They’d had an amazing few weeks. Of course, something had to ruin it.
“Where you going?” Roux mumbled; her face pressed into his pillow, she always liked to roll into his warm spot. He’d discovered she slept like the dead. It took a tow truck and a lot of persuasion to get her out of bed, it was going to work for him right now. “Just out here, Cookie, go back to sleep.”
Soon as his feet hit the kitchen and he closed the door he asked, “What’s going on and do I need to get my girl out of here?”
“My house was firebombed tonight; the whole back of the fucking house is gone.”
Shit.
“You hurt?”
“Nah, I wasn’t here. About to go deal with this dipshit Mexican once and for all. I need you to make sure Roux is safe, don’t want them going after her to get to me.”
While Axel laid it out for him, Butcher was already unlocking his wall safe in the den. He took out his hand gun and laid it on the table, he kept it loaded for convenience, but it was never out of that safe usually.
“Keep in touch.”
“I will,” agreed Axel. “Try to hold her there, right? She can’t come here.”
Butcher agreed. The second the call dropped he made his way back to the bedroom, where he pulled out an overnight bag and started to fill it with clothes for him and Roux.
She was still passed out. A small bundle in their bed and he hated to wake her, but he wanted her somewhere impenetrable. Once he dropped the bag at the front door with his truck keys, he slipped into the clothes he tossed onto the floor when they got home from a meal in Denver last night. Only once his boots were on did he sit on the side of the bed and kiss Roux awake.
“You’re an animal, we’ll do more sex in the morning,” she groaned and found his chest to burrow into. Butcher chuckled to himself. If he had the time he probably would, because she smelled fucking incredible, and he loved her when she was this soft and sleepy.
Her eyes came open though and she looked up at him while she fingered his shirt. “Why are you dressed, do you need to go to the club, is someone hurt?”
“No, baby, but we do have to go. Come on, let’s get you dressed.”
“What? Go where? It’s late.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course, I do. What’s going on?”
Butcher pressed his lips to hers and felt her soften though it was Roux who pulled back. “Tad? What’s happening?”
“It’s a lockdown, baby. We don’t have much time; can you throw some clothes on? I already packed us an overnight bag.”
“An overnight bag?” She was drowsy, but she climbed from the bed. Naked and beautiful. His gut tightened because she was gonna be pissed and upset when she found out the reason, but that would be when he had her behind the locked gates of his compound.
One thing he’d always agree with Axel on and that was keeping Roux safe.
“How long are we gonna be there for?”
“Not long.”
The best part of Roux having grown up in a biker environment, she didn’t need pandering to. She understood when a situation was serious. Because she kissed his shoulder, yawned, and started to pull on a pair of patterned leggings and a sleeveless shirt that slit all the way down the front to show a fantastic cleavage.
“No bra, baby?” He groaned with want in his voice and watched her slit her eyes. The smile on his ugly mug came naturally.
“You’re dragging me out of bed at three fucking a.m. You’re lucky I put on panties.”
Another heated groan. It didn’t take much for her to stoke his fires, but he needed to get them to the club first before he could act on it.
“It’s never a dull moment being shacked up with a biker,” she yawned again once they were in his truck. Roux decided to curl up against his side and Butcher wasn’t hating it at all. “Wake me when we’re there.” She told him, half asleep already, “can’t believe you fucked my brains out and then didn’t let me sleep for more than two hours. Sadist,” she mumbled. Butcher smiled, pressing his lips to her forehead, eyes on the road ahead. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“Damn right you will.”
She was likely to want to chop his balls off once she knew about her dad’s house. But he had a few minutes yet to hold her close while she fell back to sleep.
That asshole needed to take care of his business before it overlapped with Butcher’s and Roux’s life. He hadn’t waited all this goddamn time to claim her for it to be snatched out from under him.
He wanted a lifetime with her.
Fights and fucks.
And a family.
He had plans to make so many fucking memories with the woman sleeping on his shoulder.
He’d even swallow his bile and work with Axel and his Diablo Disciples to sort their mess if it meant his Roux wasn’t gonna be hassled by anyone.
That shit was gonna go down like a lead balloon with the Souls.
/> * * *
“You better open these doors now, you little prick.”
Butcher caught the yell clear across the clubhouse.
The prick in question was Dix and he sent his gaze to Butcher who shook his head in answer to the silent question the prospect was giving him. “Open these fucking doors right now before I rip your head off.”
“Can’t do that, babe.”
“I’m not your fucking babe.”
To say Roux took the news badly was an understatement. She’d about ripped the handle off to his door and charged out of there.
“Roux, come on, the doors aren’t opening, baby. Let’s sit down and I’ll tell you what I know.” Butcher tried, his tone coaxing as he approached her. The look she fired at him could have turned him to dust. It didn’t stop his steps. He reached her and got his hands knocked away when he tried to curl them around her neck. “Don’t you even try with me right now. You should have told me at home, Tad. Not locked me up here. I need to go home.”
“Baby, you are home.”
“This is not my fucking home,” she shouted and then exhaled so loudly he felt it in his chest. This time he didn’t let her knock him back when he took hold of the top of her arms, though she struggled. “Let me go.”
“Fucking never,” he said low, his head dropping so she could look into his eyes. “Listen to me, Roux. Your dad is okay, he wasn’t at home when it happened. We both agreed you need to be here, understand? You can’t do anything out there, bust my ass all you want, but I won’t ever take chances with your safety because we both know you’d go off half-cocked and that isn’t gonna work for me. Call your dad, check for yourself but he’ll tell you the same.”
All the fight went out of Roux and she sagged in his arms, that’s when he felt her tremble and her eyes filled. “My house, Tad. Everything is gone?”
“I don’t know yet, baby.”
She exhaled and wilted some more, her hands clutching the front of his shirt. He could tell she was holding her shit together.