Chapter 50 Daisy
FIFTY
DAISY
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Did you read your text thread?” Cash asked with a telling arch of his brow. “Pretty sure there is no getting out of it.”
I glanced back at my phone that was on the bathroom counter.
Raven
Celebration tonight at Kane’s. 7 o’clock, bitches. Daisy didn’t get a party for her wedding, and as her new sisters and besties and basically her most favorite people in the world, it’s our duty to fix that.
Emery
I’m pretty sure she had the exact kind of party she wanted.
Raven
Obviously, which is why we delayed this shindig until tonight.
Now she gets us and Cash. Win/win. Personally, I can’t imagine a better combination.
A burly, grumbly Cash and her new amazing sisters.
Pretty much all she needs, but just to be clear, there will be gifts. Lots of gifts. Get ready to be spoiled.
Raven
Wear something hot and we’ll do the rest.
Piper
Ohhh, I’ll drop off something super sexy from Ivy Threads.
Charleigh
Good call. That white dress you designed? The short one with that killer neckline? Daisy will look amazing in it, and it’s perfect for a wedding reception.
Piper
Already done.
Charleigh
Which is why I love you. Well, for a thousand reasons, but also you have superb taste. I would only be wearing pink scrubs if it wasn’t for you and Ems.
Emery
We would never allow that travesty to continue.
Raven
Just like we won’t allow the travesty of Daisy not having a wedding reception to continue. Be there, baby cakes, because really, the only rope that should be involved is for any shenanigans you and Cash might get up to.
Cash’s presence swelled over me from behind.
The man wearing jeans and a button-down with the sleeves rolled up his arms.
So handsome it made my heart ache.
He looped an arm around my waist and released a breath at the base of my neck, the scent of the woods and leather infiltrating. Enveloping me in warmth. “No chance of getting out of that. Have to say I’m pretty partial to this white dress and rope idea myself.”
I couldn’t tell if it was a giggle or nerves that rolled out of me as I stared at my husband through the mirror.
Wearing the white, shimmery dress that Piper and Emery had dropped off earlier today, along with another pair of matching shoes.
I’d done my hair up in a twist, and I was wearing more makeup than I normally did.
“Rope, huh?”
“Gotta keep my wife close,” he mumbled at my neck. I could feel the force of his smile against my flesh.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Seriousness took over his expression as he straightened, and he splayed a palm over my belly as he held me close, the stacked Ss tattoo on the back of his hand standing like a proclamation between us.
“Do you not want to go? Because what you want, you get. I’ll handle it if you want me to tell them we can’t make it. ”
My head barely shook. “No…it’s just…I worry about leaving the kids without someone in the family.”
Understanding filled his features. “I know. Don’t like it much myself, but I know they’re going to be secure.”
They were spending the night at Ms. Liberty’s house, Nolan’s original babysitter when River and the guys had first come into town. She apparently was in the know about everything Sovereign Sanctum, and the girls had told me they trusted her unequivocally.
Plus, Cash and the rest of the guys had affiliations with that motorcycle club. The ones who were often stationed outside the house. Keeping watch any time that Cash was away.
Tonight, there would be four of them posted near Liberty’s house. Out of sight so the children wouldn’t feel nervous, but close enough they would be there if anything went awry.
“None of Silas’s men will let anyone get close to the kids.”
“I know.” My smile wasn’t exactly forced. It was just soggy and full of my truth. Laying myself bare to this man who knew me better than anyone else. “I just want this to be over.”
“It’ll be over soon, baby. I’m close to uncovering him.”
He’d found another trace of Ethan in Texas earlier in the week. He was moving, and somehow, I knew he was moving toward me. I thought Cash knew it too with the shiver of aggression that rippled through his body.
“But there will always be some semblance of threat in my life, Daisy.” Hazel eyes burned into me through our reflection.
“How could my safety be more important than someone else’s? What you guys do…”
Over the week, Cash had told me a bunch of stories about the women and children they helped. How gutting it was for him when he discovered how horrible the abuses went.
“It’s so incredibly important. I would never ask you not to be a part of it.”
Did it scare me? To know what he was involved in? That he could be hurt? That he could go to prison?
Of course.
But I could never take hope away from those women and children.
“Want you to know that I won’t be up for hire any longer.” His jaw clenched as he offered it.
My stomach fisted. I knew what he was referring to.
To the killing that he did.
The killing he did for purpose. Because he believed he could use his wickedness for good.
I still struggled to understand the brutality he spoke of.
I still struggled to comprehend that part of him.
Maybe I would never fully be able to. Maybe I didn’t want to.
Maybe I didn’t need to. Maybe the only thing that mattered was him, right there, right then.
“Is that what you want?” It tremored out of me.
His nod was slow, and he tucked me even closer, beginning to sway us in the fading light of the room.
“Yeah. Only thing I want is to take care of you. These kids. The women and children who are stuck and need someone to stand for them. But beyond that, I have too much to be living for.” He pressed his lips to the delicate flesh behind my ear and murmured, “Because who I’m living for is you. ”
Night was all around as we traveled down the winding road. The air whipping at our faces and our hearts beating in sync.
My arms were curled around his waist, and the skirt of my dress rode up high around my thighs where I was tucked against him, his big body trembling with power as he hugged the curves.
Stars sprinkled the blackened sky, the air cool yet warm.
The moment as close to perfect as it could be.
Cash kept a careful pace, though to me, it was entirely exhilarating, the road blipping by beneath us and sending my pulse scattering. Pumping it into a gleeful anticipation as we headed for our party.
He slowed when we hit the bottom of the mountain. The sign for Kane’s blinked red. Cash made a left turn into the lot, then eased his bike around to the nearly full side parking lot.
A slew of motorcycles were parked facing out along the wall, and Cash pulled up in front of them, stopped, then used his feet to back us into an open spot.
He killed the engine, and instantly, my ears were filled with the muted sounds of the club.
Music and the dull drone of voices and laughter seeped through the cracks.
There were a few loud shrieks of it from the parking lot as a blond-haired girl wearing cute short shorts and cowboy boots was tossed over the shoulder of her partner.
The man laughed loudly as he carried her toward the door, and it somehow had me squeezing Cash a little tighter around the waist. Just breathing him in. So thankful that for once in my life, I had joy like that.
As if he felt it, he set his hand over both of mine, then he shifted around with one of those rare smirks on his face. “You want me to throw you over my shoulder and carry you inside, my Little Wallflower?”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
His chuckle was rough. Skating over me like a caress. The same as the moonlight that poured down from above.
He took my hand to help me off. “I wouldn’t dare, huh?”
He was all lighthearted tonight, and it sent mine to racing. He didn’t wait for an answer before he shifted around to help me off. I swung from the seat. The dress rode up so high there was no chance he didn’t get a peep show of my panties.
The growl that came out of him was plenty proof of that.
“You teasing me with that sweet body, baby? Second you put that on, I knew I was in trouble tonight.”
I cocked a hip, floating into the tease. “Serves you right for making me want you every day of my life.”
He swung off, rising to his full, foreboding height. The man a wraith in the shadows.
My gorgeous fallen angel.
“If you knew the pain I felt, Daisy. The way I ached for you day and night.”
Wistfulness fell into the mood, and I reached out and brushed my fingertips over the coarse stubble on his jaw. “You don’t have to be in pain anymore.”
He hitched a grin and looped an arm around my waist. “Now that is where you’re wrong.
The feel of you wrapped around me on the back of my bike.
This sweet fucking body burning me alive.
The number of times on the way here I contemplated pulling off the side of the road and hiding you in the forest so I could get to all the deliciousness waiting underneath. ”
He rumbled it up and down my neck. “Love it. Having you on the back of my bike.”
“I like it, too,” I whispered.
“You’re not afraid?”
Easing back, I gave him a quick shake of my head. “No. I feel as free when I climb onto the back of your bike as I did when I would climb your tree at night. Safe and right, even though there’s a little bit of danger to it.”
“That’s called anticipation, baby. You knowing I’m at the other end of it.” He gripped me by the ass and tucked me against his hard cock.
The man shifting to pure arrogance.
God, I really liked that about him, too.
A little moan got free, and Cash groaned into my throat. “I need to get you inside before I have you against this wall.”
He jerked away, took me by the hand, and began to lead me around to the front. I struggled to keep up, laughter ripping out of my mouth as I attempted to balance on even higher heels than the ones that I’d worn on my wedding day.