Page 27 of Protective Biker
“Y-you did this…For me?”
He nods, teeth in his lower lip as he worries. He doesn’t need to, though, because I’m not angry in any way. I’m floored by his thoughtfulness. “My last fight was for you. For this, if you want it. I promise it’s not because you’re less in any way, I love you just the way you are, my little dancer, but I see your sadness at times. I know you are strong, your abilities floor me sometimes with how good your smelling is, or the fact you can read lips across the room and tell me everything, or the way you pick up on emotions when I have no clue when someone couldbe upset. But those are only the small things. I feel like I can’t help you heal your other injuries like I want to, but if I can give you this? Maybe you’ll see I can bring something to the table to make me worthy of your love, of you spending your time being mine.”
I gasp in the realization that he put himself at serious risk, all to offer me my surgery, which is elective. It’s not life or death, but he obviously realizes how important it is to me, enough so that he’d challenge men back-to-back in hand-to-hand brutal fights. Sure, he’s a trained fighter, but he put himself above the usual risk by taking on more than one fight right after the other. I’d thought he was absolutely crazy in the moment, to see him red and bleeding, walking the rope like a caged lion, all while waiting for the next man to come out. It had felt like I was going to have a heart attack in that moment, and now I find out it was all for me?
I swear this man loves me like I’ve never been loved before.Like I’m everything.
I can never get my body back to where it was preinjury. I can never have my dreams of becoming a prima ballerina at a famous company. However, my hearing? This is something I have a chance of getting back, and he’s not doing it for any other reason than he thinks it’ll makemehappy.
I launch myself at him, climbing into his lap. Wrapping my arms around his neck, loving the feeling of how big and sturdy he is underneath me. I lean in, burrowing into him as much as I can, and let it all loose. I sob. In happiness, in sadness, and most of all in how thankful I am that he came bulldozing his way into my life. His arms immediately wrap around me, holding me to him, making me feel so loved. Cherished. Worshipped. Safe.
“I love you with my whole heart, Powerhouse. I can’t believe you did this for me.”
His hand moves to my chest so I can feel him signing that he loves me. He’s never been shy about telling me how he feels, even with him being this intimidating-looking biker. Men everywhere could learn from him and how he treats the woman he loves.
I sit back enough to meet his gaze. His shines with so much adoration, it’s overwhelming. His affection and devotion have healed me in so many ways I didn’t realize were broken. I can feel whole with him by my side, knowing he’ll never let me fall.
“Thank you.” I could say so many things, even try to argue with him about this, but in the end, there is only gratitude and love in my heart for this man. I swipe away my happy tears and turn to Doctor Hawkins, wearing a grin. “Okay, what do I need to do? Because I’m ready.”
His answering smile is wide as he stands and calls the nurse in so they can get my labs, and then he schedules a new round of imaging. Before we leave, I pick my pre-surgery date to meet with my surgeon, vowing to never forget how loved I feel today and always, by a man who’s willing to give everything he has to make me happy.
Epilogue
Christmas, one year later...
Powerhouse
We pretty much missed out on Christmas last year, kept it low-key with all the shit going on in our lives. The club had just patched over to the Oath Keepers, I’d signed up for my fight, so I was training a lot, and then there was the issue with Raven’s old dance partner that had to be handled. Now that we don’t have any of those distractions clouding up our time and energy, I want us to have an amazing holiday.
“Did you get all the grub from the store I asked for?”
Ammo nods, and I release a tense breath. He’s next to be patched since Manic got his months ago, which means I’ll have to find myself another prospect to sponsor eventually. “I evenpicked up more of the hot chocolate you like to have around for Raven.”
“Good. It’s supposed to freeze this week, so she’ll want it.”
He chuckles, “Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Stupid fucker, he hasn’t paid enough attention to realize that nearly every other year we get snow or a freeze either on or around Christmas. Then it warms back up again to fuck with people, then at the end of January, we get a hard freeze. Texas natives know this. He’s going to need to pay attention to this if he’s planning on riding in the winter as much as he can. Dipshit.
“You need Mouse or Lunatic to help you unload everything?”
“Nah, I already took it to the kitchen. Used the back door since it’s right there. I put everything in the second fridge like you said to.”
“Good. The less heat we lose out of the main areas, the better.” Lunatic’s idiotic ass got toasted and rode his bike through the side of the clubhouse the other day. We’re not construction workers, so the repairs are taking longer than we want. I understand no one wants to work because of the holidays, but the majority of us live here and need the building to be warm. We patched the damage up the best we could, but covering shit with tarps isn’t a cure-all all especially when it’s cold as fuck at night.
“Foods all here,” I tell Baker as he walks into the room.
“Good deal, that’s gonna be one tasty bird.”
“Two birds,” I correct, knowing I could eat one by my own damn self.
Ripper grumbles, “Still think you should let me deep fry them. It’s the best.”
Baker nods, “Deep-fried Cajun turkey is delicious, but not for Christmas. We’re having baked turkey with all the fixin’s.”
“Why are you so determined over this damn meal?” Whiskey asks.
Baker sighs, scratching his fat belly. The man will be the perfect Santa one day when his daughter finally settles down and has a few kids. “Because I’m thinking my girl’s getting the itch to move away, and if this is the last year she’s home for the holiday, I want her to remember it.”
