Page 51 of Savage Lust

“You’re always welcome here, kiddo.”

I choked back the tears as he hugged me back and hurried out of the house before I cried. Family, like this, was something I’d never experienced. All of it was new, fresh, and flying at me all at once.

“He likes you.”

I glanced back at the house as Dylan directed me to a shiny, new, white Jeep with the doors and roof pulled off. “I like him. AP’s nice and makes me feel like I could belong here.”

She stopped with the hood of the white Jeep between us. “I wasn’t talking about my dad.”

***

The ride home, as that’s what Archer’s house was beginning to feel like, was a somber one. I felt like everything had been going well, and now Cam’s words echoed back to me.You’re going to get me in trouble.I couldn’t shake the feeling that there were things they weren’t telling me. Before we walked under the carport, I stopped. Puck and Drop Top played cards at the tablenear the back door, and the faint scent of weed wafted to the driveway.

“Is something bothering you?” Genuine concern made my chest a little tight. It had been years since I had a real girlfriend. I hadn’t kept in touch with anyone from high school. By the time Mom got sick…there was just too much distance to conquer.

“Cam’s being sketchy, has been since you got here. I thought at first it was grief, but now I’m not so sure.” She took a deep breath, looking anywhere but at me.

“He’s got you on the back of his bike during an MC thing, has you wearing his first leather to family dinner.” She worried her bottom lip. “Cam’s never made that sort of statement.”

An unexpected pressure settled on me. I wasn’t stupid. Other women around the club were more experienced, had more to offer him than I did. I wasn’t a Krystal or any of her friends. But now I felt like maybe I needed to be.

I was stumbling through all of this the best I could.

“I told you, around here, things are different. You’re wearing something of his, on his bike—you’re his property. It makes you his old lady. It’s just the way things work here. Guys pass the groupies around. But an old lady? You don’t fuck with an old lady. No one does.”

There wasn’t anyone else I’d want to mess around with, not now.

But there was more here, a lot she wasn’t saying.

The secondary set of rules and laws these people lived by made my brain hurt. But somewhere inside, the thought of that thrilled me. He’d chosen me.

“Do you have feelings for him?” The question was quiet.

I didn’t immediately respond. The truth was, my answer was terrifying. Yes, I had feelings. I didn’t understand them, not yet, but it wasn’t Cam they were going to be a problem for.

“Cam puts on a good show, but he’s not like some of the other guys. The life he lived before the Kings was…bad.”

That she knew things I didn’t, stung. They’d been friends for years; I’d only known him a few weeks. But I’d shared my trauma with Cam. I’d never seen past his patch, past the mask of indifference. Other than what little Ro had told me.

“And you’re just going to leave.” Dylan’s tone was so stiff and angry I flinched against it.

“I haven’t made a single promise to him.” It was all I had to offer. Even if tonight had been the first time I’d felt connected to anywhere since Mom died, Dry Valley wasn’t my home.

“Have you slept with him?” She pushed a little too far.

Pissed off now, my jaw tightened, and my nostrils flared. “That’s none of your business. And even if it was, we’re talking about a man that a few days ago was having a go at two random groupies in his apartment.”

She recoiled like I threw something at her.

“For what its worth, I’m not some femme fatale sent to destroy his life and make a mockery of your world. Hell, until I came here, I was a virgin.”

“I didn’t mean…” She faltered and screwed up her brow.

“Then what, Dylan? All I’ve heard now is all the things I’m doing wrong with a guy I barely know from a woman who doesn’t know me at all.”

“He’s got a lot to lose with all of this.” No stuttering there, she said it with feeling.

“Until a few weeks ago, I was homeless. He’s not the only one.”

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