Chapter 7 Diesel #2
“Ha. Ha,” she said mockingly. “But seriously, just listen. I get where my father’s coming from, and I get you need something he can provide. But I’m not property to exchange. That isn’t how this works.”
“I know,” I said.
“I won’t marry out of anything other than love,” she said.
“I know.”
“Which means you might not get the protection you want from my father’s club.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
I grinned at her as her brows furrowed in confusion.
“Ready for me to talk?” I asked.
“I’m curious enough to hear what you have to say.”
“My club is in a bind and we reached out to Dean.”
“What kind of bind are you in?”
I let out a long sigh. A lot of shit had happened since Brynn left. I knew she understood what her father was a part of, but I still didn’t want to bring her into everything completely.
“We just got into some trouble,” I said flatly and I looked down. I could feel her glare on my face.
“You can’t do that Diesel. I refuse to be left in the dark or cut off for my own safety. You said you wanted to talk, so spill.”
I let out a slight laugh. I had forgotten how strong willed she was.
“Ok, you’re right. You deserve to know the whole truth. Everything started a several months ago. A new club, the Black Saddles, was pushing its way into town, and they were causing a lot of problems for our operations.”
“What kind of operations?”
“Cleaning money,” I said quickly. I saw her eyes widen. “It’s not as bad as it seems,” I assured her. “We have been working to clean up our act the last few years. Take a lot of the risk out of our operations. But we still had a few things happening that the Black Saddles were fucking with.”
She slowly nodded.
“We tried to reason with them at a party they were hosting, but shit hit the fan pretty quickly and one of my guys ended up in jail, framed for a murder he didn’t commit.”
“Rex was involved, wasn’t he?” she asked quietly.
“He was,” I said. “And we have been working to clean up the whole mess caused by him since. A lot more shit has happened, but Rex has now threated the women of our club and some of the guys have kids –”
“I get it,” she said. “You guys need the muscle from the Black Hornets to take care of Rex.”
I nodded. “I knew reaching out to Dean would come with a price. But we were desperate. But honestly? It’s not a price I’m willing to pay either.
If there’s one thing I don’t take lightly, it’s a commitment to a woman.
I made sure to drill that into my club’s head, so going through with a marriage of some sort out of nothing more than a deal goes against everything I raised my fucking club with. ”
“Then it’s settled. We won’t get married,” she said.
“Date me,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed as she leaned her forearms onto the table.
“How does that help you?” she asked.
“If you and I give the appearance that things are going smoothly and progressing towards becoming family, then your father will help us. Then, once all this shit is settled, a fight breaks out or something and the wedding’s off.”
“You want to fake a relationship.”
“I want to fake an engagement,” I said.
“But you just said--”
“If I don’t put a ring on your finger, your father doesn’t help us. Plain and simple. So, we get you a ring, and in the meantime, we date and make it look like it’s real. Spend time with one another. Go shopping. You know, all the boring relationship shit.”
“Ah, boring shit. Got it,” she said.
“Then when all of this is said and done--because no one wants to plan a real wedding amidst all the drama--then we find a way to break it off. Something that looks just as real as the engagement.”
Brynn drew in a deep breath and I let those words simmer on the stove for a bit. I knew it was asking a lot, but it got everyone what they wanted. Neither of us had to get married, she got protection from both of our clubs, and we got protection from her father’s.
But most importantly, I got to spend time with Brynn.
“What goes along with faking an engagement?” she asked.
“The usual stuff. Holding hands. Maybe a slap on the ass--”
“You didn’t do that in high school and you won’t do it now.”
“Then, let’s make it like high school again,” I said.
Her eyes flared with something akin to fire, and I slid my foot underneath the table to rest against hers.
“How much high school are we talking?” she asked.
Though I heard her clear her throat a bit as my ankle pressed against hers.
“Any part of it you want,” I said with a grin.
I wasn’t going to deny how much I wanted Brynn. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to force her to marry me. I wanted her body underneath mine again. I wanted to play with her body the way I had in high school. I wanted to explore the mind, heart, soul, and curves of the woman she had grown into.
But only if she wanted it. I would never force her into anything she didn’t want to do.
I watched her closely as her mind turned. I could tell that she was weighing her options. And if I was correct on how much she wanted to stay in Redding, then she would agree to my plan.
“I want a nice ring,” she finally said with a grin.
“I’ll get you the best,” I said.
“And I want to take rides on the back of your bike again.”
“Trust me, for a few days that’s where I’ll keep you. I’ll be protecting you as well, remember?”
The smile slowly faded from her face as our food touched down in front of us.
“Rex really is just as bad as he was, isn’t he?” Brynn asked.
“He’s worse. Look, Dean told me what happened the night –”
She held up her hand and stopped me.
“I don’t want to go into what happened. Rex is an asshole and lets just leave it at that.”
“He’s more than just an asshole Brynn. He hurt you, and I want to make him pay for it.
But he has a the whole Black Saddles MC backing him, which is bigger than his gang was back in high school.
” I watched as she wrapped her arms around her chest. I was making her nervous and that was the last thing I wanted to do.
“But you don’t have to worry about that,” I quickly said. “You’ve got me, my club, your father, and his club looking out for you. No one will get to you unless you get stubborn.”
“Define ‘stubborn’.”
“Running off without someone with you,” I said. She rolled her eyes.
“So, what if I wanted to go to the beach.”
“Then you’ll be on the back of my bike while we travel.”
“What if I wanted to have a bonfire?”
“Then my men will bring their women and we’ll have a good time,” I said.
“What if I wanted to go hiking in the mountains?”
“They got bike trails?” I asked.
She giggled and shook her head as she let out a heavy sigh.
“I really can’t believe I’m about to say this,” she said.
“Oh, please say it. Because I’ve got some gaudy rings in mind to make you wear,” I said.
“Hey, I said a nice ring.”
“They’re nice! Just… different.”
She playfully glared at me before a smile spread across her cheeks.
“You’ve got yourself a fake fiancé then.”