Gavin tightened his arms around her waist, holding her still. “Are you asking me to leave The Last Riders?” He watched her expression intently, reading the conflicting emotions flashing across her face.
“Would you?”
Gavin didn’t miss the wishful gleam in her eyes that she tried to hide behind lowered lashes.
“Are you asking?”
When he told Rider that he was thinking about asking Taylor to marry him, Rider had warned him that Taylor would never be content with him staying in the club. He had blown Rider off, telling him that Taylor knew from the get-go that he would never leave the club. Now she had him reconsidering Rider’s words. Was Taylor right, and Rider was trying to break them up by implanting the thought in his head?
Her eyes widened earnestly. “I would never ask you to leave the club. I know how much it means to you.”
Relieved that he wouldn’t have to make the choice, his arms softened around her. The reprieve was short-lived.
“I would never ask you to do something that would make you unhappy. You leaving the club has to be your decision. What it comes down to is: Will we be able to make our marriage work if you constantly put the club first? I’ll always put you first. I’m only asking for the same. Is that too much to ask from a man who swears he loves me as much as you say you do?”
“No.” His arms went stiff while her body went limp against him.
She glided her lips over his chest, over his shoulder, to bite on his ear lobe as she tried to coax him into leaving the club. “The Last Riders expect you to throw yourself in front of bullets to protect them. Are they going to expect the same loyalty after we’re married?”
Taylor silkily slid her hand around his neck when he didn’t answer her question immediately. “Am I ever going to come first with you, or am I constantly going to be taking a back seat to The Last Riders?”
Gavin narrowed his eyes on hers as he splayed his thighs, letting Taylor fall to the carpeted floor without lifting a hand to stop her descent. Her jaw dropped at his unexpected reaction.
He loved Taylor, but no woman was going cut his balls off and think he was going to run rings around her just to keep her happy. His loyalty would always be with The Last Riders, despite how much he cared for a woman.
He jerked her hands away from him, angry that she waited until he slid his ring on her finger, all while the sheets were still warm from where they had fucked before voicing her concerns about where his loyalties lay.
“You didn’t care that I was a Last Rider when you asked Jewell to bring you to one of the parties and made sure she introduced me to you. My loyalty goes to who earns it. Not only is Viper my brother, but he’s earned my loyalty, just like the other brothers have. If you think I’m not capable enough to make sure that, as my wife, I would know when to put you first, then you should back out of the engagement while there is still time and find another sucker who won’t mind you changing your tune to get your way because, sorry about your luck, but I’m not that man.”
Any other time, Gavin would have laughed at Taylor’s gaping mouth.
So far, he had been easily malleable to most of her demands, shrewdly aware that she could be a bitch when out of his sight. He had wanted to fuck her and was willing to play whatever game she wanted to get in her bed. And while he had gradually fallen in love with her, it hadn’t made him blind to the person she was underneath.
Taylor tended to be manipulative, possessive, and overdramatic. None of those qualities were deal breakers for him, especially when coupled with the physical attraction he felt for her. Since meeting Taylor, he could better understand Rider’s attraction to Delara, despite the warnings from the other brothers and himself and the warning signs that had come true.
Gavin, on the other hand, wasn’t turning a blind eye to Taylor’s faults, just giving her the chance to realize that she didn’t need to resort to mind games to control him. He hadn’t planned on a long engagement, but now, discerning that she wasn’t cool with him remaining a Last Rider as she had pretended, maybe it would be better to wait. He would end his relationship with Taylor before he would ever walk away from the brothers. If it took a long engagement for her to figure that out, then he was all for waiting. Better yet, she needed to figure that shit out before any wedding should be planned.