But she wasn’t my child, and so I turned to Ensley. Her eyes widened, silently telling me what am I supposed to do… I shrugged my shoulders.
Ensley closed her eyes and bent down to Remy’s level. “People dress different ways all the time. Some people only wear skirts while others wear pants. Some wear suits, while others jeans and leather. They are just clothes.”
“Otay.” Remy’s head tilted like she was thinking really hard. Then she said it, “isters?”
I watched as Ensley shut her eyes, and Micah came up behind her, just letting her know he was there. It was sweet. I loved that for her.
“Katie and I have brothers and sisters, but we don’t get to see them. Luckily Margaret and Daphne were able to make the trip here to meet all of us.” Ensley was doing a good job.
“Are youz stayin’?” Remy asked the women.
Margaret answered. “Not here, but we will be around to see you.”
This made my heart swell, and I had no doubt Ensley was feeling it too.
“Otay, wanna pay Twollz?”
Ensley and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Remy didn’t give them a second to answer. She went in-between them and grabbed both of their hands. “Tum on.” And she marched all the way to her bedroom.
“Can’t wait to see their reaction when she puts on the Trolls costume,” Ensley said, standing up and putting her arms around Micah.
I turned to Dryerson. His anger had lessened a bit, but nowhere near put out. “I’m okay.” I reached up and cupped the sides of his face. His eyes closed, and his head tilted into my touch.
“I won’t lose you again, Katie. I can’t do it,” he told me, and I wrapped my arms around him, face going into his neck and his arms coming around me tightly and hugging me back.
“It went okay, Dry. I’m here. You’re here.”
“Please, for the love of God, tell me that you and the ol’ ladies aren’t gonna form a team and be Power Rangers or some shit,” Micah said next to us. Both Dryerson and I turned their way.
Ensley had her hands on her hips, and her foot was tapping. Never a good sign.
“Of course we aren’t gonna be Power Rangers. We’re the Ol’ Ladies of the Ravage MC,” Ensley stated, not missing a beat.
“We are?” I asked.
Her head whipped to me. “Shut it.”
I chuckled, and so did Dryerson. Some of the tension in the room dissipated, and I had no doubt this conversation with Dryerson was far from over.
It felt so good to be able to hold him and kiss him whenever I wanted. The strain on my body holding me back was a lot because now I was more relaxed.
I loved this man with everything inside of me.
Maybe this could be my happily ever after with him.
24
KATIE
“Is it weird that we’re here again, in this room?” I asked Dryerson, peeking up at him from where my head rested on his chest. We were back in the clubhouse in the room where we’d first made love. Or had sex … whatever it was that first time. Who was I kidding? I kept telling myself it was just sex, but in actuality it was love from that very first time.
“It’s like comin’ home again.”
Something tightened in my chest. “You know I never really had a home until Ensley, Remy, and I moved into the apartment?”
He squeezed me as I continued.
“I still call the place I grew up home because I don’t really have another word for it, but that place was never a home. A home is happiness, laughter, teasing, playing Trolls, going for a walk in the sun. It’s having the people you love around you, and those people have no ulterior motive. The people you surround yourself with become the family you always wanted.”
Dryerson kissed the top of my head. “Family doesn’t always have to be blood. Sometimes blood is toxic, and you need to scrape it off. Once you do, your real family will emerge. One that you can count on, say to go in like bats out of hell to steal away two girls wanting to escape the hell they were living in.”
My heart warmed because he was so very right. Every one of those women had Ensley and my back. Freaking loved that.
“When we first got here, Ensley connected quickly to Austyn. I never told her but I was so jealous of that connection. Ensley just fit right in. I never really did.”
He started playing with my hair. We were laying on the bed, taking a break to spend some time together before I went to work and he had club things to do.
“Why is that?” he asked me.
I sucked in deep and really thought about that question because I'd wondered that myself for a very long time. Why I couldn’t just jump into the fold headfirst like Ensley did.
“I wonder that myself. I’ve thought about it a lot but have never really wrapped my head around it.” I looked up into this beautiful sky blue eyes. “Maybe just fear?”
“To go from one extreme to another overnight had to be a shock to your system. Then you got comfortable living in the little cocoon you made so you wouldn’t get hurt again,” he said, staring into my eyes.
“Getting hurt was always something I feared, but it was more a physical thing. This was more of a fear of not being liked. A fear of not fitting in. If I stayed away then I wouldn’t have to wonder if I fit in or not. I distanced myself.”
“Babe, you know the why. You just laid it out.”
My mouth quirked. “Guess I do. Now, though, I don’t feel like the outsider anymore.”
“Good, because this is your life now. Ensley, your two sisters, Remy, Micah and the entire Ravage MC at your back.”
“I’m pretty sure you forgot someone.”
He chuckled. “I’m a given, Wild Kat. My ass isn’t goin’ anywhere. Neither is yours.” Dry rolled on top of me and kissed me slow and sensually. These were the kisses that told me everything he felt inside for me. I hoped I was giving him that same feeling.
The kissing turned into making out, and hands began to roam. The button on my jeans was unclasped, and his thick hand pushed under my panties.
Beep… Beep… Beep…
The damn alarm I'd set so I wouldn’t be late for work. Dry pulled away from me and said, “Work?”
My head nodded, disappointment clearly written on my face. “Yeah. I can’t be late. It’s my first day back after the break.”
“As much as I’d rather stay in this bed with you just like this, let’s go.” He rolled off of me and pulled me to my feet. “Do whatever it is you do that covers up all your beauty.”
“What?” I asked, turning toward the bathroom.
“You don’t need all that shit on your face, but if you like it, go for it. For me, though, I prefer you just like this.”
A tear welled in my eye. “Knock it off. You’re gonna make me cry.”
I didn’t wait for him to blow my world apart and headed into the bathroom, closing the door. I could hear him chuckling on the other side of it.
When I opened the makeup case, stuff flew everywhere. War paint took a lot of work to look right and not cakey.
I looked in the mirror at myself. I wasn’t bad looking. My eyes were pretty well proportioned to my head, and my nose was thin. My lips had a bit of a puff to them, but nothing overly crazy.