Page 65 of Outlaw
“Yes.”
“Very well… I’ll accept it. For now.”
The answer throws me for a loop. That’s it? He’s agreeable all of a sudden? I expected to have to fight and argue some more, like I’ve been doing for years. But I won’t question whatever it is that’s caused my father to go so far as to agree, even if it’s temporary. Kissing him on the cheek, I whisper a word of thanks in his ear, and return to Silas. I follow Silas and Cole out of that warehouse with something I’ve never had before—a chance to start over with no secrets lurking around the next corner.
We stop at his bike. “So, where too, princess?” he asks.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Are you going to say something about…about everything I said inside?”
He climbs onto his bike and puts one hand out to help me on. “I chose you first.”
That’s all he says. And it’s enough for me.
“Take me back to the MC,” I tell him.
I never expected to hear those words leave my own lips. Small miracles happen every day, even for me.
On our return to the club, Silas helps me off the bike, then surprises me by throwing me over his shoulder. Caveman style. I kick around and protest a little, but the cheers and whistles from his members as he enters the clubhouse reminds me that it’s their way. Plus, I kind of like it. He carries me all the way upstairs into his room like this, only letting me down to deposit me on his bed.
“Was that some kind of MC rite of passage or something? I ask, half-laughing and still slightly dizzy.
“I guess you could call it that. Listen, Sabrina.”
Silas paces across the room, eating up the floor in large strides. Whatever he’s about to say, it’s weighing on him. I brace for what he’s about to tell me, my stomach twisted into knots.
“You need to know that if you stay with me, any visions you had of a certain type of life is gone. There’s no white picket fence with me. You’re mine, and that means I’m responsible for you. The violence you’ve seen around your father’s organization isn’t much different from what you’ll see here. And don’t think for a second that your old man is done trying to control you. More likely than not, he’ll be back. You need to know there’ll be a target on both our backs and it may never go away. Can you live with that?”
“I was born a target, Silas. It’s not much different from how it’s been every day of my life. All I’ll say is I’m not fragile… I’m not running from who I am. I don’t want normal. People like us don’t ever experience normal.”
He takes a seat on the edge of the bed next to me as if buckling under the actual weight of the idea. “So, you understand it won’t be all rainbows and unicorns, whether the MC transitions from current business operations or not. Whether we try out your security patrol rent-a-biker idea or not.”
“So youwerelistening.” I run my hand through his thick mess of strangely silky hair. “As long as I’ve been with you, you’ve kept me safe. I appreciate that you’ve done that, and I just need you to know that I can also protect myself. The type of life I’m choosing is one where I decide what matters to me. What I do and how, where I go and when, who I’m with… and I want you.”
He slides his hand into my hair, and I grab his cut as he closes in to kiss me hard. Pulling back, I look into his eyes. “Make love to me.”
Smiling, he leans back onto the bed, and his body covers mine. His eyes and every inch of his body scream the words he will probably never say out loud.
