Page 46 of Gluttony

He nodded once. “I get that….”

Did he?

He nodded again, as though reading her thoughts.

“I get that you have been through some shit in your life, you lost someone you loved, you endured pain—alone, and you were ridiculed and bullied about your weight, your looks, your scars. You internalized all of that, carried it with you, let it color the way you look at life…at relationships. It isn’t a leap to think that someone who shuts themselves up in their home, working behind a screen all day, has trouble making friends…may even not know how. May not even want to. I get that, my Daisy, I understand. It has never been an issue for me?—”

“You flashing that naked chest at everyone makes making friends awfully easy. It’s like a cheat code for a power up,” she grumbled, and he chuckled, his smile blinding in his swarthy face.

Damn…he could knock her the fuck over with that smile.

Suddenly, his smile died, and he was all seriousness again. He cupped her face with one hand and brushed her hair away from her face with the other; some of the strands had become stuck to her face…probably with tears and snot.

Gross.

Perfect, just how she wanted to look, fat, ugly, and viscous.

Red leaned down and pressed a kiss against her forehead, lingering, his lips surprisingly soft.

“I wish you would trust me…trust what I feel for you….”

She stiffened, realizing he must’ve read her thoughts, again.

“Red,” she sighed, “I want to believe what you say, but?—”

“No buts,” he declared, “I fell in love with you before I even knew what you looked like, so what makes you think that after seeing you, touching you, kissing you, inhaling your scent, and memorizing every curve of your face that I would suddenly falloutof love with you, that being with you, the woman I adore, will somehow terrify me?”

Well…when he put it like that….

She shrugged. “I want to believe you, Damian…I think…I just need time.”

He grunted then pressed another kiss to her forehead, this one hard.

“You don’t get time, my Daisy, because I plan to keep you right here until you get those fucking ‘buts’ out of your head.” Suddenly, a wicked smirk curled his lips. “Matter of fact, the only ‘but’ that will enter your mind over the next two days is going to be mine.”

SIXTEEN

She didn’t know how,after their conversation ended, she ended up seated at a table in the clubhouse common room with three other women, all curvy, all beautiful, all smirking, and all staring at her curiously.

Red had insisted that they would finish their talk later, when they were both more comfortable, and had some time to think over what was said between them. There he went, being all reasonable, when all she wanted to do was see that “but” he was going on about.

She was reasonable enough to realize they were both guilty of not communicating. And she’d been unwilling to trust that he actually loved her. No, it didn’t help that he’d been fucking every hole like a golf course slut, but…honestly, she couldn’t blame him for that. Not totally. Yes, he was an asshole to fuck other women while wanting to commit to her, but she’d been unfair in making him hold out because she wasn’t ready to let go of her fear.

They were both guilty. Period. End of. But she still neededsomethingfrom him…and there was an unshakeable dread skittering up and down her back, like the other shit kicker boot was just barely hanging on, waiting to drop and ruin everything.

After Redtube shut down further conversation, he dragged her out of his office and into the common room, where he introduced her to Cluster, Tornado, Locust, Horde, and Patriot, then he introduced her to Cilla, Nadia, and Stephie, three of the four “old ladies.” Having read her fair share of MC romance novels, she didn’t need a crash course in MC terminology, so she just went with the flow, shaking hands, returning hugs, and generally feeling out of fucking place.

Before she could ask him what the hell he was doing, Red told her he needed to speak to Frost and that it shouldn’t take more than a half an hour, which meant she was sitting there, with those three women, trying to find something to talk about that wouldn’t make her look like a total loser.

Thankfully, Cilla spoke first, “How did you and Redtube meet?”

Oh, so an easy question.She fought the urge to reply with snark, ‘cause she was awkward like that.

“Oh, the usual modern, technophilic way—online. I was scrolling through Insta, saw one of his Reels, recognized the tatt on his back, and DMed him.”

Nadia snickered. “You saw one of his masked biker Reels?”

Cilla and Stephie turned to Nadia, eyes wide. “You’ve seen ‘em?” Cilla asked.

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