Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“I’m talking about the fact that you’re a biker. If I had known that, I would have run in the other direction,” I snap.
“Why?” he asks, starting up the vehicle.
“I’ve watched my father all these years. He’s been a good dad, but the club always came first. It always will. With my mother, it was money—not that my father knows I’m aware of that.” I take a deep breath, and inadvertently, some of my pain bleeds through. “I wanted to be with a man where I came first. I guess the joke was on me, wasn’t it? I wasn’t first with you. I wasn’t even the woman you saw when you closed your eyes.”
“We have to tr-tr-try to st-st-start over.”
“I’m not sure I want to, Thomas,” I tell him with stark honesty. “You weren’t the man I thought you were. Which is ironic,” I laugh, although it sounds bitter even to my own ears. “Since I’m definitely not the woman you wanted.”
“If you don’t l-let the p-p-past go, we’re doo-oomed,” he says.
I can tell when he’s upset because his stutter seems to get worse. I know he’s trying really hard. The problem is that I’m not sure I want to. I loved Thomas once. The pain he delivered killed something inside of me. I had dreams and they all revolved around him. Trying to build anything with him now—even if it’s just co-parenting is going to hurt. Opening myself up to that isn’t something I truly want to do.
“It’s easy for you to say that, Thomas. You weren’t the one left with the fallout of your confession.”
“N-n-nothing is easy for m-m-me to say, Lyla.”
I want to tell him that his words came out much easier when it was just the two of us. I don’t.
There’s no point.
Chapter 8
Dragon
“How are you doin’, Mama?”
“You mean besides wondering what kind of mess my youngest son has gotten into and what’s going on because his father won’t let me be with them?” she snaps into the phone—showing me the woman’s temper hasn’t calmed down one bit.
“Yeah, Mama, I mean besides that,” I mutter, thankful that she can’t see my smile.
“I miss you,” she replies with a sigh.
And there it is.
My woman gives me lip often, but she serves it with a side of sweet that makes my damn teeth ache. I’ve been with this woman for so long you would have thought the fire between us would have calmed down, but it hasn’t. She burns inside of me brighter and deeper than she did even when we first met. Before her, my world revolved around my brothers and the club. Since her? She is my world.
“I miss you, too, Nicole,” I respond, and God, I do. I still run my club, but I do a lot of delegating and that means I don’t leave Nicole alone much at all. Some of that is because I need to make sure she’s safe. A lot of it is because I don’t want to be away from her.
“How’s Lyla?” she asks, and I can tell she’s worried.
“She’s okay. Thomas left to go get her and take her home a bit ago. He should be back soon. The doctor said the baby is perfectly healthy.”
“That’s good,” she says, her voice thick with relief. “How’s our boy, Dragon?” she asks so quietly that I strain to hear her. I hate the worry in her voice, but there’s nothing I can do to make it better. I have the same concerns when it comes to Thomas.
“He’s dealing with a lot,” I mutter, rubbing my hand over the back of my head, shifting my body weight on the bed.
“No shit,” Nicole grumbles, showing that sarcasm that always makes my dick jerk and gives me an urge to take her mouth and kiss her until the sass inside of her melts to hunger.
“Stop being cute, Mama. I can’t fuck you right now.”
“I know,” she says with a sorrowful sigh that makes me grin. Damn, I love her. “Does the girl really look like Gabby?”
“On the surface, she really does.”
“Damn,” Nicole sighs.
“Yeah,” I admit. I’m a man, so I can see what my son was doing—that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fucked up that he didn’t wrap up his damn dick.
“What is she like?” she asks.
“Lyla? It’s strange as fuck, Mama. She may look like Gabby, but she’s nothing like her.”
“That means you like her,” Nicole laughs.
“I don’t dislike Gabby. I just….”
“Don’t like her.”
“She’s just never grown up. The girl thinks the world revolves around her. That’s not what I want for either of our sons.”
“Well, right now, I’d settle for them to find at least one woman and be happy. Thomas is in a horrible mess that has the whole club on edge and Dom is trying to fuck his way through Kentucky and on to Tennessee by overdosing on Twinkies.”