Chapter 29
Danica
B ear dropped us back off at the event center to get Smoke’s bike.
Between everyone, all the cars and bikes were shuttled back home to the clubhouse.
I was on the back of Smoke’s bike with him, it was too loud to talk.
Not that it mattered, it was going to be a silent and tense ride home for everyone.
Smoke may as well be made of granite for as hard as his back muscles were right now. Everyone was pissed at us. And they had the right to be. We’d messed up.
At the time, we thought we could help by following Carl. It’d turned into a dangerous situation, fast. I had no idea things could go that wrong that quickly. Smokehouse and the rest of the club did. We rode home in a huge line of bikes and cars and there were grim faces as far as I could see.
Once Smokehouse parked, I climbed off and gave Keely a weak smile. She walked over and gave me a hug. “I guess I’ll go home until my flight leaves tomorrow.”
“No, you won’t,” Lockout told her.
Her eyes widened as her jaw dropped. She wasn’t used to these guys and their demanding, protective natures yet. “That’s not your call to make,” she pointed out.
“It became my call the minute you and the others decided to stick your noses into club business.” His voice was calm, but hard as steel. This wasn’t a negotiation.
I flinched, realizing how angry he really was. He was controlling himself, but this was the first time I’d seen him mad. Lockout was an intimidating man when he was pissed.
“Butcher. Toxic. Why don’t you take Keely and get her settled into a room upstairs. Make sure she cancels her flight.” Lockout was staring at Keely while he spoke. “If the Italian mafia is involved in all this, she’s not going anywhere until we get this cleared up.”
“You can’t make me stay,” she argued.
“Yes, I can. And will.” He glared at her. “If the mafia is involved, they’ll hunt you to the ends of the fucking earth in order to shut you up. You want that? I promise you, they won’t make your death easy.”
That took the wind out of her sails and she sighed. “Fine,” she muttered, folding her arms over her chest.
“Fine,” he echoed. He shot Butcher and Toxic an evil grin. “Why don’t you practice for your future old ladies and explain to Miss Bradford here why our women shouldn’t be getting involved in our business.”
“What!” They both exclaimed in unison, but their president had already stalked off after giving my sister one last irritated look. “Why do we have to-” Butcher cut himself off when it was clear Lockout wasn’t going to stick around for the argument.
Toxic gave Keely a resigned look. “May as well get this over with.” He grabbed her by the arm and steered her toward the clubhouse.
I bit my lip to hold back my laughter when my sister shoved him off her. “Let me go,” she snapped.
Toxic tipped his head back and looked up at the sky. I was sure he was asking for patience. Butcher trailed after them, shaking his head.
“Your turn.”
I looked up at Smoke’s furious face and the laughter died in my throat. Swallowing hard, I followed him into the clubhouse. It wasn’t just me, there were going to be a lot of us who were going to have to apologize tonight.
As soon as our apartment door shut, I launched into my speech. “Smoke. I’m so sorry. I know I put myself in danger. And Static was hurt because of me, maybe Jecht, and I can’t tell you-”
“Stop.”
I cringed at the fury in that one word. He was pacing around in front of me and I marveled at the fact that I was truly repentant for my actions, but I wasn’t afraid of him.
If this had been Eli, I would have been begging for forgiveness because he’d make my life hell if I didn’t.
With Smokehouse, I was on the verge of tears because I didn’t want him to be mad at me.
I didn’t want his brothers disappointed in me either.
I stared down at the floor, contrite for my part in this.
He’d made it clear at the beginning that I wasn’t supposed to get involved in their dealings and after one bad decision by our group that’s what we’d done.
This was his club and while they’d welcomed me with open arms, I didn’t have a say in the things they did.
It didn’t matter that we’d wanted to help.
We’d put ourselves in danger. Static had nearly been murdered in front of me, trying to save me.
The others could have been hurt or killed trying to get us out of that room.
He stalked closer to me, fire behind his eyes. I swallowed and repressed the urge to step back. I’d face what I’d done. I wasn’t expecting what happened next.
He wrapped his arms around me and held me for what felt like hours, but was only a few seconds. “Do you have any idea how fucking scared I was?” he asked, releasing me. “Getting that phone call was….” He broke off, shaking his head, lost for words.
My damp eyes raised to him. I stayed quiet, not sure how to answer his question.
I’d been terrified inside that room at the event center.
Death had seemed like an imminent possibility and the thought of losing my baby, or Smoke, or any of the beings who’d gone with me into that convention had been what had made me throw up all over the floor.
Yeah, I had an idea of how scared he’d been once he’d heard what happened, because I’d lived it.
But I’d rather live through it again than be sitting on the outside, waiting to hear what happened to everyone else.
Getting the information after the fact must have been torture.
“You could have been killed . They would have if they’d taken you from that building. Do you realize that?” He wasn’t yelling. Not the way Eli would scream and rant. Smoke’s words were clipped and heavy with emotion and were having that much more of an impact on me because of it.
I tried to hold back my sobs, but my emotions had been a whirlwind since this pregnancy started and there was no containing them. Before the baby I’d hardly ever cried. I shook my head as I tried to force back the tears, my shoulders silently shaking.
“I don’t want to make you cry, Dani, but your tears aren’t going to make this end.”
“That’s not what I’m doing,” I choked out.
“I fucking love you.”
I cried harder, stifling the cry of joy that wanted to erupt because of that simple statement. The one I’d been waiting, wanting desperately, to hear.
“For a while now, I’ve been worried that I was going to fall for you and you were going to decide to walk out that door and leave.” He raked both hands through his hair in agitation.
“That’s not what I want,” I managed to say between heaves of my chest. “I want you. To stay here with you. I love you, too!”
He stepped in close to me and pulled me against his chest again. “Don’t cry. You’re tearing me up.” He scooped me up and arranged me on his lap when he sat down on the couch.
Cuddling against his chest, I sighed and tried to pull my emotions together. “I really am sorry, Smoke. As soon as those guys called out, I knew it had been a really bad idea. We just wanted to help. We had, I had, no idea what could happen.”
“I know. That’s what we’re going to have to deal with for choosing strong women who are used to getting shit done themselves,” he said. “Which means that we’ll be having this talk again in the future. But Wildcat, I don’t want it to happen again.”
Pulling away, I looked him in the face. “It won’t.”
His snort was half amusement, half resignation. The look on his face clearly said he didn’t believe that. “Do you have any idea what would happen to us if we lost you girls, now that we’ve found you?”
I shook my head and laid it back on his chest. He was so warm, I just wanted to sink into him and never leave. Never had a man made me feel so…safe. And loved. And wanted.
“Hush lost his first wife. He left our club and we didn’t hear from him for years.
He wandered, like a fucking ghost, barely living, and we almost lost him for good.
That would be all of us, Dani. You can’t give us families, and then take that away from us.
Depending on the man, one of four things would happen.
We’d be unchained, like Hush was, doomed to live a half-life.
Get ourselves killed in a fight, or drink ourselves to death. ”
“What’s the fourth thing?” I asked when he paused. I didn’t really want to know because the thought of Smoke doing any of these made me want to start crying again.
“I’d end it.” I sat back again, searching his eyes. There was nothing but pure truth in them. “Without you? Without my baby? There’d be nothing left for me, Wildcat. You’re it for me.”
Cupping his cheeks in my hands, I gave him a beaming, if not a little watery, smile. “You’re it for me, too. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted and never had.”
“Good. Then no more putting yourself into danger, Wildcat. Agreed?”
“Agreed.” I nibbled my lower lip. “Are we done fighting?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I took it easy on you because of your emotional state. Don’t think I’m going to be that soft on you if you try something like this in the future.”
“Okay,” I said in full agreement.
“Wildcat.” There was warning in the name.
“I won’t follow strange men down hallways anymore,” I promised him. “I’ll let the club handle its own business from now on.”
He snorted again. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
I gave him a sly smile. “Can we make up now?”
His eyebrows rose as his own grin spread over his face. “That is what usually happens after a fight, isn’t it.”
I squealed with laughter when he lifted me into the air and carried me to our bedroom. Looking around the room as he went through the door, I said, “You know. We could move into the larger bedroom, if you wanted?”
He gave me a skeptical look. “I tried to get you to move in there with me on day one.”
Shrugging, I returned his look with innocence. “I wasn’t ready then.”
“You are now?” He bent his head and nibbled his way up my neck, making me sigh.
“More than ready now.”
“Good.”
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