Maci stalks around the bar with a little girl on her hip. It still boggles my mind how my Pres and Maci suddenly have a kid. I’ve seen the pictures; she was a tiny thing when she was born and they didn’t even know she was pregnant until close to birth. Both of them are thrilled though. We all are.
“Thanks,” I tell Maximus and lift my beer the second he places it in front of me. “And like Barlow said, keep ‘em coming.”
I need tonight to mute my brain and my body to give it a hard reset. I’m still in love with a beautiful woman, and it’s time I pull my shit together and fully take what was once mine, and hopefully will be mine again.
Chapter Four
Valentina
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Morgan questions as he drags a passed out Shaw onto the couch in the living room.
I close—and lock—the door behind us. “It’s fine, Morgan. And you can crash in the guest room next to his bedroom. It’s too late to drive back to the clubhouse and Beecher here would call you in the morning anyway. Not that I’m going to the office tomorrow, but you know what I mean.”
“He’s very protective of you.” Morgan’s eyes meet mine and they hit the floor when he says, “He had a rough time tonight but the brothers pulled him through.”
I glance at Shaw and only now notice his face and hands.
“Did he get into a fight?” I gasp.
Morgan nods. “From what I’ve heard he barged into the clubhouse and picked a fight with Quill. Then Maci smacked some sense into him too and that’s when the drinking started. But he seemed okay after that.”
“I can see that,” I snap, somewhat agitated.
I shouldn’t have let him get to me, shouldn’t have confronted him. Dammit.
“Hey,” Morgan says with a harsh voice. “He shook it off and got his head straight. From what I’ve caught with ya’ll going back and forth while nothing happens, it’s pretty damn stressful. The tension is so thick between you two, you can cut it with a damn knife. In my opinion I think it’s time to take a fucking breath. Take two and then see this guy lying in front of you knowing his heart is yours. Been so for a long damn time. Nothing else matters.”
I’m about to bite his head off because he doesn’t know anything about our past but he cuts me off by holding his hand up.
“There’s a reason they call it the past. Leave it there and keep your eyes on the future. What I’m seeing while I’m standing here is a strong and gorgeous woman and an idiot asshole who wants you so bad he can’t cope. Kiss and make up already, you’re freaking the rest of us the fuck out. I’m going to bed. If he pukes, I ain’t cleaning it up and neither should you. Make him do it himself in the morning, that’ll teach him.”
I’m still stunned by his words while I watch him disappear into the hallway. Shaw groans and turns on the couch.
“You puke, you clean it up yourself, Shaw,” I grumble and turn on my heels.
“My precious Val...I fucking love you so damn much it hurts every second of the damn day not to have you as mine.” His voice is strained and the words are a tortured whisper.
When I turn around Shaw is passed out again and it makes me swallow hard. Maybe I didn’t hear him correctly and it was just something I imagined. The words flow on repeat through my head again, making my eyes burn as a lone tear slides over my cheek.
I reach out to let my fingertips skim a trail along the side of his face as I whisper, “It’s your love that makes it bearable for me to be alive today.”
I leave him be and head for my bedroom to get some sleep. So much for getting some sleep, because when I stroll back into the living room after a few restless hours, the couch is empty but I notice a slumped body in the chair outside. Sliding the door open, I take a peek to see if he’s all right.
“Hey,” I quip, making his head slowly rise to face me.
“We need to be at the clubhouse in about an hour but I feel like shit.”
I shouldn’t laugh, but he’s making it really hard not to. “You look like shit too.”
“Gee, thanks,” Shaw grumbles. “Give me a few hours and I’ll be back to normal.”
“A few hours? What you need is a good night’s sleep, a shower, a good meal, and a change of clothes. Maybe then you’ll feel back to normal. But since you’re in a rush to get back to the clubhouse, let me make you a cup of coffee so you and Morgan can be on your way.” I take a step to get back into the house but his words prevent me from doing so.
“We as in you and I, Val.” He lifts his tired body from the chair and his bloodshot eyes hit mine. “They wouldn’t tell me much last night but from what I’ve heard is that Zerox is trying to find out who sold Hoffa the information he needed to blackmail you.”
Ice fills my veins and snaps me back into reality. There’s no such thing as leaving things in the past. No matter what, it will always find a way to come back to haunt you when you least expect it.
“We’ll take my car,” I tell him and stalk back into the house to get ready.
Why? Why does this have to happen now? Haven’t we been through enough? He’s right to track this down. Did he track this down? I’m guessing his friends continued this investigation since I for sure never even gave a second thought to how Hoffa might have gotten the information he was trying to blackmail me with.
I mean, I didn’t even believe Hoffa had any information. In the end he did since Shaw almost paid the price with his life to make sure it never saw the light of day. And now he casually says we need to head over to the clubhouse because they are trying to track down the one who sold Hoffa the information?
Sold. As in this person knowingly accepted payment for shit to blackmail me with. Did this person make copies? Are there still copies out there? Dammit, I made sure everything was destroyed in that building all those years ago, how is it even possible to have any evidence to blackmail me?
“Don’t stress about it,” Shaw easily supplies from behind me, making me practically jump out of my skin because I was stuck in my own mind. “Christ, Val, it’s just me.”
We lock eyes and there’s so much emotion bouncing between us. I want to step forward and hide to seek shelter in his muscled arms and yet it scares me to surrender to the way I’m drawn to him. Maybe it’s the fear of rejection since I know he has issues with touching.
My heart speeds up when he takes a step closer. His head slowly leans in and I’m afraid to take my next breath. Anxious to see what he’s doing, I find myself rooted to the floor. His breath is hot against my skin when he closes the distance and ever so gently feathers his lips against mine. Electricity sparks and a gasp rips from me as my body fills with heat.
Shaw takes a step back and his eyes are dilated, filled with desire and lust. He swallows hard and croaks, “I won’t ever let anything happen to you again. Not when I finally have the guts to move forward.”
“You kissed me,” I whisper.
He just stands there and gives me a nod.
“You. Kissed. Me,” I squeak, a little louder this time.
“Sure did, and I plan on doing it frequently. Though not right now ‘cause my mouth tastes funny and I already brushed my teeth but that didn’t do any good either.” He rubs a hand over the back of his neck. “Fucking hangover.”