6. Dax
DAX
Dear Diary,
She told me the truth. I still chose her. Every time, I’ll choose her.
I’d tried calling both my parents from the airport in Scotland, and when they hadn’t answered, I’d gotten desperate and sent off a rapid-fire series of text messages using the plane’s Wi-Fi, telling them everything and silently praying one of them would notice their phones.
I’d just picked Luca’s side in the Guerra war, and that was going to have real consequences for my mother who had worked in his father’s mansion for decades.
“You’re worried about your mom,” Nyah said quietly from the seat beside me in the van. She nudged my silent phone with her finger.
She’d always been able to read me too well.
It was part of why I’d fallen so hard and so fast for her.
I’d never believed in love at first sight, but then she’d walked into my life, and I felt like I’d known her for a million years instead of minutes.
Everything about her, from the way she fit into my arms, to the ease we spoke to each other, to the way we wanted all the same things…
I really had loved her from the start. It had only gotten stronger from being apart.
I stared at my blank phone. “She still hasn’t responded to any of my calls or texts.”
“She could be asleep. Or at work. It’s late, but I saw her do all sorts of hours while I was living there. And I never saw her with a phone. It’s probably tucked away in her purse.”
I ran my fingers through my hair and stared out through the windshield, trying to work out what to do. “Then I need to go over there and warn her.”
“That sounds like a good idea only if you have a death wish,” Luca muttered from the other side of Nyah. “You’re as dead to my old man as I am. You won’t get past the front gate without someone shooting you.”
“Helpful, Luca. Thanks,” I said dryly. “I should just do nothing then? And hope your dad doesn’t kill her just for being related to me?”
My phone buzzed before he could respond, and all three of us stared down at it.
Mom:
I don’t even know what to say to all of that, other than I’m at home, safe, and I guess I won’t be going to work tomorrow. What the hell were you all thinking?
I could practically hear the disappointed tone. Nyah’s and Luca’s shoulders both slumped a little as they read over my shoulder.
Mom was right. She was going to have to quit.
Guilt plagued me over the thought, because I knew that job at the Guerras’ was supporting both her and my father.
But she wasn’t safe there now. All I could do was hope she’d understand what I’d done, who I’d chosen to stand by, and that I had never meant for any of it to blow back on her.
I’d pay for whatever they needed. I’d sell my place, hell, I’d sell the whole damn shop if that’s what I had to do to keep her from going back there.
Shame I wouldn’t be seeing any of the money Carlos had promised me. I could have used it now more than ever.
Mom:
We’ll talk at a reasonable time when your father isn’t trying to sleep.
I tucked my phone away, relieved at least she wasn’t anywhere near the Guerra mansion.
“Dax,” War called from the front of the van. “We taking you somewhere, or are you coming to the clubhouse as well?”
There was nowhere for me to go, other than to wherever Nyah was. Everything else would have to wait until we’d slept. “Clubhouse. Please.”
War gave me a nod in the rearview mirror, like that was exactly what he’d expected me to say.
I threaded my fingers through Nyah’s and stroked the back of her hand until we arrived in Saint View.
War took the winding cliff road that led deep into the woods where the imposing gates of the Slayers’ clubhouse loomed.
A reaper holding a scythe glared back at me from the center of the wrought-iron gates before they slowly opened.
It was a short trip from the gates to the clubhouse parking lot, and War stopped the van behind a row of Harleys and choppers.
I went to open the door and found I couldn’t. “Uh…”
Hawk glanced back over his shoulder at me. “You didn’t think we’d just let known Guerra associates out to wander around our clubhouse, did you?”
I widened my eyes at him. I knew most of the guys in the club.
Had done tattoo work for them or had talked to them when they’d come in to check out where Reaper had been spending his time.
It hadn’t occurred to me I should be nervous over being in the belly of an outlaw motorcycle club headquarters.
Hawk sniggered. “I’m fucking with you, Dax. We all have kids now, and most of us have used this van to shuffle them around from sports or school. The child locks are on.”
“Oh.” I relaxed a bit, feeling stupid. “Right.”
Reaper clapped me on the shoulder from behind.
“Ignore Hawk. Everyone knows he’s an asshole.
You’re always welcome here. Especially if this is where your girl is.
Mine will have my head if we let anything happen to her.
” He eyed our interlaced fingers. “Or if anything happens to you, because by the look of it, you’ve picked up right where you left off. ”
Luca groaned in annoyance, unclicking his seat belt so it slid back into place with a snap that seemed to match his mood. “Can we get out of the fucking childproof car, please? I don’t need to hear about how in love Dax and Nyah are.”
His words were sharp and cold, but I was sure I wasn’t the only one who heard something more in them.
Without letting go of mine, Nyah silently reached out for his hand.
He yanked it away from her. “Don’t. I just want to see my sister.”
War unlocked the doors, and Luca pushed his way past me and Nyah, expensive Italian leather shoes landing on the gravel driveway before I could even get my seat belt off.
Nyah shoved the hand Luca had rejected into her pocket and stared down at the floor.
“He’ll get over it,” I murmured to her, not exactly understanding why she even cared.
Nobody had made Luca say the baby was his.
I was grateful to him, because I was sure that was the only reason we had all managed to walk out of that castle alive, but no one had forced him.
As far as I could see, he’d blown up things with his father long before all of this.
Luca and Carlos had been on tenterhooks ever since Carlos had dragged him back here.
Luca stomped off toward the clubhouse, but I wasn’t going to worry about him. All I cared about was Nyah. I held her hand as we followed War and Hawk to the door, with Reaper and Lynx bringing up the rear.
“Prewarning,” War called out. “I don’t know what’s going on in here tonight. Could be a Monopoly game. Could be a full-on sex show.”
Luca spun around in the doorway. “Are you for real? My sister is in there!”
War leveled him with a look. “If your sister is in there, they’re probably making vanilla milkshakes and putting together friendship bracelets.
We aren’t fucking animals, Guerra. Your sister will be down at Hawk’s place with his kids if things turned into a party up here.
But this is a clubhouse. For adults. I don’t stop the guys from having a good time when they want to.
We all partake in a bit of fun here, but only when the kids are elsewhere. ”
Luca appeared suitably abashed and gave War a nod. “Sorry. I just want to see my sister.”
War held the door open for him and gave him an impatient huff that said: Hurry the fuck up and go inside then.
I’d heard all about the Slayers’ infamous parties, but I’d never been to one.
If it was anything like Psychos, the sex club they owned where I’d first met Nyah, then it was bound to be wild.
I’d never thought I’d be into public sex.
I’d always thought I was a bit too straight and uptight for that.
But Nyah had gotten hot over it the night we’d met, and I’d struggled to stop thinking about her riding my cock with a room full of people watching ever since.
But not tonight. Even if the entire club was having an orgy beyond the doors of the clubhouse, tonight I just wanted her. No sneaking around. No one watching. Just reconnecting. Not in the hot, fast, dirty sex way we’d been together when we were sneaking around behind Carlos’s back.
I wanted the slow, private tenderness we’d had before her father had sold her.
A dark-haired teenager shouted Luca’s name the moment we walked inside, and within seconds, she was barreling across the room, knocking over a chair in the process of getting to him. She threw her arms around his middle, and he hugged her fiercely for a long time.
Eventually, he pulled back to arm’s length and looked her over. “You’re okay? Lorenzo didn’t come for you?”
She grimaced. “He did. But X and Scythe got me out.” She glanced over at the two men sitting side by side on the ripped leather couch.
X had glitter in his hair and all over his shirt.
“Did they also take you to a rave?” Lynx asked curiously. “X, you literally have glitter in your eyelashes.”
X rubbed at his eyes, but it was a losing battle. The glitter just moved to his cheeks. He shrugged. “Some things happened. Mistakes were made. We’ve learned and moved on, but the bachelorette party glitter remains.”
Scythe sniggered. “Don’t let him fool you. He had the opportunity to get rid of it. He likes it.”
“Hey! I’m in my Edward Cullen era. If I want to sparkle, you can’t stop me!”
Scythe stood and walked over to War, kissing him hard on the mouth. “Hey.”
War grinned against his lips. “Hey, yourself. Want to go home?”
“Fuck, yes. It’s been a long twenty-four hours.”
I couldn’t have agreed more. Nyah stifled a yawn that set me off too.
War noticed, and he pointed to the hallway. “There’s a couple of spare rooms toward the end. They aren’t anything fancy. But if there’s no name on them, they’re empty. Take your pick.”
Luca glanced at his sister. “Did you already decide on a room? I’ll take the one closest to yours.”