Braxton #2
I can’t help the small smile that tilts my lips. That demand is very on point for my girl.
And on the ride over, that’s what I decided she was. I may not tell her that right away, but I had plenty of time to think, and some good—if not unsolicited—advice to mull over.
“Pinky swear,” I promise.
Vanessa cracks the door and looks around the parking lot.
“It’s just me.”
“How did you find me?” she asks.
“Same way I found you in New York.”
She closes her eyes for a beat. “Fuck, I forgot about that.”
“We had other things going on.”
Her eyes grow sad and she rolls her lips between her teeth. “Yeah.”
“Can I come in?”
Vanessa opens the door the rest of the way and moves so I can step into the room.
I look around the space with the old polyester comforter on a queen-size bed with what looks to be flat-as-hell pillows. The place is actually worse than the motel right outside of Shine, which I didn’t think possible.
“It’s a shithole. I wasn’t exactly planning on staying here for more than a day or two,” she says.
“What are your plans?” I ask, sitting on the chair that’s seen better days, as Vanessa takes a seat on the bed.
“I’m going to get to my mom and sister and get the hell out of New York. I just needed some time to come up with a plan.”
“Have you figured anything out?”
She shrugs. “I have some money saved. Thought maybe we could head west. Maybe Washington or Oregon. I’ve always wanted to visit the cliffs out that way.”
I nod my head a few times. “What about Russ?”
“I’m going to disappear. The three of us will.”
“You have new IDs? A fake work history so you can find another job? It would be pretty easy for Russ to track you if you don’t.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, when you’re a stripper, there are plenty of clubs that look past all that shit. Plus, I’m pretty good at sweet talk.”
“Don’t I know,” I say.
Vanessa frowns and looks away.
“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant I’ve seen you work your magic on the dumber sex, and you’re good at it.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t show up with the cavalry,” she says. “Or are they coming once you have me comfortable and thinking I’m out of here scot-free?”
“Vanessa, no one from the club is coming after you. And I’ll be honest, it kind of breaks my heart that you think we would. In fact, they want you to come back. Ozzy was hoping you could help us out with figuring out where your stepbrother and Sokolov might be hiding.”
“I don’t really know anything about Russ’s business or safe houses,” she answers, ignoring my comment about being hurt that she could think so lowly of me and the rest of the club.
Her thinking that my brothers are lying in wait drives home the point that all of my brothers were making. She isn’t used to men protecting the people they love, or anyone in general. I think that breaks my heart even more.
“He also wants to offer you protection,” I tell her.
“Why? I don’t work at Midnight Rose anymore. He has no reason to look out for me. It’s not like I need to go back to work and make him money.” She narrows her eyes. “Or is that what he expects?”
“Fuck, Vanessa. Is that really what you think of us? After all the time you spent with me and my brothers. Or with their old ladies?” Cash was right.
I need to show her that I’m not going to throw her away.
That she can trust me. I was so angry yesterday when I yelled at her and blew up.
I wasn’t thinking clearly, but now I see how badly I damaged her already tenuous trust in me.
“I don’t know what to think!” she exclaims with tears filling her eyes.
“I fucked you over. Why the hell would Ozzy, you, or anyone else want to protect someone like me? You got hurt because of me. I didn’t come clean to you when I should have.
Shit, I should have the first night I spent with you.
I fucked up so bad. And now I’m fucking crying in front of you when there wasn’t supposed to be any emotion between us.
” She angrily swipes at the tears running down her face.
I can’t stand it and get up from the chair to sit next to her, pulling her into my arms. “I think we passed the no-emotions roadblock a while ago, yeah?”
She looks at me with red-rimmed eyes. “Yeah, but I wasn’t going to admit it. Not when I had a huge secret standing between us.”
I smile sadly at her. “I get it, Vanessa. You didn’t know me, didn’t know my brothers, and you had a powerful man threatening your family. I may not have done the same thing, but I’ve never been in your situation, either.”
“I didn’t want to do it. The day you found me at my mom’s, Russ stopped by before you got there.
He threatened Noel and my mom. If I hadn’t given him something, he would have followed through.
When I saw you beat up, I wanted out. I was going to come clean,” she says, straightening out of my hold.
“You have to believe me. I have no idea how Russ figured out you were going to Michigan. I wasn’t going to tell him anything else, I swear.
I was planning to explain everything to you when you got back from your run.
” Her devastated gaze implores me to believe her.
“I know. Carl told us they planted a tracker on the van. I should have thought of that, considering that’s my MO,” I reply with a small smile that Vanessa doesn’t return.
There’s so much pain and heartbreak swirling in her eyes, and I need to fix it, which is something I’ve never felt before.
“You know what? I’ve never taken you on a ride, and that’s a damn shame.
If you’re really set on running across the country, I feel like it would be a missed opportunity not to have you on the back of my bike at least once. ”
Her brows dip low. “You want to take me on a ride? Right now?”
I shrug. “It’s a beautiful day out.”
“I don’t have a helmet.”
“Good thing Ozzy keeps one at the clubhouse for Freya and let me borrow it. I even have a jacket for you.”
When I asked him, he wore a knowing grin and handed both over without me having to clarify anything.
“Besides, a ride works wonders for clearing your head,” I tell her.
Vaness squints her eyes at me, considering my offer, then lets out a long exhale. “Okay, Braxton. I’ll go on a ride with you.”
I grab her hand, and we walk out of the room to my bike.
When she zips up the jacket, it’s a little tighter on her than it is on Freya.
And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate the way her tits look in leather.
Or what it would be like to unzip the jacket with her not wearing a stitch of clothing underneath.
Like unwrapping my favorite present in the world.
Vanessa clears her throat, and my eyes meet hers again.
“Sorry, but you look fucking edible in leather.”
That earns me a small grin. It’s not much, but I’ll take it.