“Mornin’, little warrior.”
My heart stopped, tried to restart and failed. I took a deep painful breath before it kicked back into gear.
“Morning, monster,” I said, smiling back at him.
“Pickin’ you up tonight again. Don’t care what time it’s gotta be, want you in my bed tonight.”
Warmth flooded me. “Yeah, okay. Will we come here again?”
He rubbed at his mouth like I’d noticed he did when he was worried about something. “Yeah, gotta get you introduced proper to my other girl before I take you home to her.”
“Oh, God. I totally forgot about Harleigh Rose,” I told him, my eyes bugging out of my head. “God, how the hell are you going to tell her you’re banging a girl her age?”
He scowled. “First off, I’m not bangin’ you. I’m fuckin’ you regular and I plan to do it for a long fuckin’ time to come. I also plan to take you out for sustenance between fucks and teach you to party like I said I would ’fore we fucked ’cause I’m a man of my word. I know it’s gonna be fuckin’ complicated but I was serious last night, Lou. You’re my woman now. Maybe you don’t understand that.”
“Maybe I don’t,” I agreed, too afraid to hope or guess at what being an MC biker’s woman could mean.
“You’ll be my old lady. You’ll stand by my side at club parties, at functions. You’ll sleep in my bed as much as possible until I can get it so you do that every damn night. You’ll meet my kids and suffer through that drama with me ’cause they’re my life and so’re you. You’ll take my cock whenever I want to give it to you and you’ll take my words whenever I need to give ’em to you. And when I’m an asshole, ’cause I’m a man and I got that in me to give, you’ll give me a piece of your mind and then forgive me.”
“So we’re, like, dating?” God, I sounded like a kid but I didn’t know enough biker speak to translate what he was saying into English I could digest. And this was too important to misunderstand.
His full lips twitched and he bit on the bottom one to keep himself from laughing. “Sure, kid, we’re datin’.”
“Don’t be an asshole, Z. This is important!”
“Not bein’ an asshole, Loulou, just enjoyin’ the fuck out you, outta this. Figure I’ll be laughin’ and smilin’ a whole helluva lot more from now on.”
“Wow,” I whispered as I hit the wall of his sincerity and had the indignation knocked right out of me. “Sometimes you’re so sweet, I forget you’re a monster.”
His grin turned dangerous. “Don’t got time to remind you just now how dangerous I am, and you’re probably sore as shit, but think I can work somethin’ out for tonight.”
“I’m your girlfriend,” I told him, awed and unable to move on from it just yet.
This was my childhood dream come true after all, so I cut myself some slack.
“Old lady,” he corrected.
I wrinkled my nose. “I think between the two of us, you’re the old one, Z.”
He laughed loudly. “Fuck if that ain’t true. It’s what we call the women we got that we don’t plan to share or drop, ever. It’s good, yeah?”
“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ve got a lot to learn about biker culture.”
“We’ll get started on your lessons tonight. Wanna tell my kids sooner rather than later ’bout you so let’s get you up to speed quick.”
“Scared shitless about that,” I admitted.
“That makes two of us,” he said but he was grinning and doing it so wide, the beauty of it took my breath away. “Now, gotta get you to school, gotta get myself to the Compound and gotta do it quick ’cause we slept late. You need me to forge a note or somethin’ so you don’t get in trouble at school?”
I laughed. “No, thanks, Dad. I won’t get in trouble.”
I wouldn’t because Headmaster Adams was a dear family friend but also because the faculty was used to my lateness and absences. They all knew I had cancer.
My lover though, did not.
“Watch that mouth, little girl, or I’ll put it to better use, yeah?” He glowered at me but his grey eyes were bright with warmth.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Whatever.”
“Whatever, she says,” he muttered, shaking his head. “You a teenage girl or the woman who’s all woman I took to my bed last night twice and again this mornin’?”
“Both, and you love it, you dirty old man,” I said as I leaned up to nip him on the chin. “Now get off me so I can have a shower and get ready for school.”
He rolled off me but stayed in bed, propped up against the headboard with his bulging arms behind his head, the sheet pooled in his lap. I stopped for a minute to stare at the beauty of him like that, covered in my blood, sweat and cum and never more gorgeous.