Page 122 of Property of Stone
Taryn carried her empty glass over to the sink to finish cleaning up. After rinsing it out and putting it in the dishwasher, she grabbed the nearest pot to start scrubbing.
But before she could do that, she found herself caged in by two thick, tattooed arms. Stone’s heat seared her back and so did his breath against her ear when he growled, “Had enough of this bullshit. It ends tonight.”
Maybe she shouldn’t have wasted time over the dilemma to stay or go. Apparently, Stone decided for her. Even though she had nowhere else to go right now, she and Wren wouldn’t stay where they weren’t wanted. “I’ll pack our things and?—”
“That ain’t what I meant.”
With his hands planted on either side of her to prevent her escape, when she turned, they stood only inches apart.
Her stomach fluttered and her pulse began to race.
Not because she was afraid of him—even though she should be after what she witnessed—but,for shit’s sake, because she missed his touch. She missed that time spent together in the dark, just the two of them. Cementing the fact that once again, she was the queen of bad decisions.
Maybe she fit in with the Kings better than she’dlike to admit.
“Said you had to process shit. Gave you three fuckin’ days to do that. Now I’m done. Nowyou’redone. The processin’ plant is now fuckin’ closed.”
She hadn’t been lying to Stone when she said she needed to process what she’d seen. She did. She came up with the conclusion: she either had to accept the MC life as it was or reject it completely.
If she rejected it, she needed to reject Stone, too, since he was a King and a biker at his very core.
If she rejected Stone, she really needed to leave.
But she already convinced herself to stay. For Wren’s sake. If she didn’t have him, it would be easier to disappear. Easier to start over. She would only have herself to worry about.
However, she did have Wren and she wouldn’t give him up for the world. Especially to her ex who decided using fists was more effective than words.
She would do whatever she had to do to protect her son. Unfortunately, she had limited options on how to do that.
She couldn’t deny Stone had stepped up.
She couldn’t deny she was attracted to him.
She couldn’t deny she was developing feelings for him, too. And, of course, that discovery was eye-opening and a bit worrisome.
Of course their little patchwork “family” had rips and tears. It was far from perfect. But with a little work, they could turn something holey into something whole.
She mentally groaned. Maybe she shouldn’t have drank that damn glass of wine. Any sense she had apparently fled like a bank robber after the alarm was pulled.
“I’m back in my bed. So are you. You need to process more shit, you do it with me next to you. You need to talk shit out, willin’ to listen. But what I won’t do is change. Not foryou. Not for anyone. This is my fuckin’ life and I like it the way it is. Is it perfect? Fuck no. Will it ever be? Fuck no.”
At least he didn’t try to sugar coat his lifestyle. He was who he was and wasn’t afraid to admit it. “Stone?—”
“Got a girl I’m tryin’ to raise. I say tryin’ ‘cause no one knows better than me that I’m failin’. Don’t mean I’m gonna give up. But by makin’ that deal with you, thought I was doin’ better for her. Still fuckin’ believe that.” He lightly brushed the back of his knuckle down her cheek. “You’re a good momma bird.”
Why did that low tone of his send lightning down her spine?
“She doesn’t like me,” Taryn whispered.
“She does. She just don’t wanna admit she was wrong. She’s fuckin’ pigheaded like that.”
A chip off the ol’ stone.“Like you, you mean.”
His brown eyes softened and so did his tight mouth. “Yeah, like me,” he breathed. “Unfortunately for her, she got the worst of us. Need to dig deep to find the good and help coax that out.”
“And you think I can help with that.”
“Yeah, I do. She ain’t blind. She ain’t deaf. She sees and hears how you interact with Baby Bird. She’s never seen that shit before. With Sheena, she’s only seen the bad. Wish it hadn’t taken her mother gettin’ pinched for me to get her full-time, but if you wanna know the truth, glad it did.”
