Chapter 3
Chapter Three
NOAH
The rage simmering just below the surface of my usually calm exterior was enough to send me barging into that office with my prez and Vanna.
She had this way of making me see actual red and also had a fierce protectiveness of her that I didn’t have for anyone else.
“Drink, buddy?”
I shook my head at our chaplain, Preach, who sat at the bar most days and kept an eye on things. He was the only one to truly know my feelings about Vanna. The one who was there when I almost came to blows with Vice about her, back when I wanted to say fuck it all.
“Can’t. Need to keep a straight head.”
“You’re unnerved, Noah.”
“I know.”
“Take a walk. Let the Prez find out what’s going on and then you can help with a calmer mind.”
I knew he was right, but moving away from this bar right now was impossible. I planted my feet, and held onto the bar as if it were the only thing keeping me from opening that damn door and pulling her away.
“Vice is on his way back,” Preach said. “He can look after her.”
“No.”
Preach was about to say something when the doors to the office opened and my little spitfire came storming over to me.
“Really, Noah? Personal protection?”
I felt my lips move up into a curve resembling a smirk. I’d hoped to be the one to tell her myself but this was even better. She was rattled.
Good.
Now, she knew how I felt.
“Devil, a word?” Ode asked, and I shot my eyes to him briefly before I pushed off the bar.
“Don’t move, princess.”
She sneered at me as I moved past her, and into the office with Ode. Closing the door, I turned to my prez and saw the stress in his expression. I knew he was dealing with some shit with his ol’ lady and this was probably the last thing he needed right now.
“You’re intense with her.”
My stomach knotted. He didn’t know about the past. Only Preach and a couple others did, and I sure as shit didn’t want him to take me off her detail.
“She’s in danger and she doesn’t fucking listen.”
“No, Devil, that’s not what I see.”
“I’m the best person to watch her.”
“I agree,” Ode said, sitting on the corner of his desk. “You could also be blinded by things, more reckless, because the woman you’re in love with is in danger.”
The air left my lungs on a whoosh and I felt my heart rate pick up, nausea churned in my stomach. “You know?”
“A blind man could see, Devil. My question to you is how does this play out?”
“What do you mean?”
Ode chuckled. “Vice is on his way home. He’ll want to take over her detail, know everything, and frankly, he’s going to see the way you act around her. Does he know?”
“No,” I grunted.
“Why not?”
I knew why. I wasn’t good enough for his sister, and I knew that. “It doesn’t matter. I’m the best person to watch her.”
Ode nodded. “That I do believe, but being in close proximity, with no one else around…it breeds familiarity and temptation.”
“I know how to say no, Prez.”
“No doubt,” he replied. “But when Vice is back, he’s going to take over her protection detail until this guy is caught. Are you going to be okay with that?”
“Whatever’s best for her.”
Ode was silent for a minute. “There is one way she stays with you. If that’s what you want.”
My stomach fluttered. “How?”
“You know the answer to that, Devil.”
I did. I just wanted him to say it. “Say it.”
Ode sighed. “You want her, you claim her, as yours. As your ol’ lady. That’s the only way to override who she is to the club. As your ol’ lady, every resource is at her disposal, but you know what that means.”
I did know. I knew more than most. My parents were club members right alongside her parents. I knew exactly how sacred the claim was.
She’d hate it.
Vice would probably beat the shit out of me and never talk to me again.
And yet, I couldn’t seem to care.
She’d be safe.
She’d be mine.
“What say you, Devil?”
“You know my answer, Prez.”
I opened the door and left before I could stop myself and I grabbed her by the elbow and wheeled her out of the clubhouse before Vice showed up and stopped it.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Get on the bike, princess.”
“Fuck you.”
“No,” I growled at her. “You won’t be, but you’ll be safe. Get on the fucking bike before I strap you to it.”
Her eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe I would but she had no idea the lengths I would go to in order to keep her safe. Strapping her to my bike would be the tamest of all of them.
Finally, she snatched the helmet off me and put it on, before she climbed on the bike. I climbed on and pulled her close to me, feeling her warmth up against my back had my cock throbbing.
This was a bad idea.
A really fucking bad idea.
And yet…I refused to back down.
I’d just claimed her in front of my Prez. My best friend’s little sister and the one woman I’ve never been able to get out of my mind. This was going to end badly, and yet, I couldn’t seem to care…because she was mine.
She just didn’t know it yet.