In this life, sex was normal, natural. We weren’t prudes. We fucked where, when, and who we wanted…. Until it came to our old ladies.
We didn’t fuck them just anywhere.
If another brother caught even a glimpse of Lucie’s tits or pussy, I’d stick my fucking dagger in his eye.
Lucie broke into my bloodthirsty thoughts by grabbing the Patrón from my hand and taking a swig.
“Your dad got to them,” I told her softly, jerking my chin at the rest of the MC, most of whom had known Lucie from way back. “Things will change now that you’re back for good.”
That prompted another swig. “They’ll hate me until I can prove myself. That’s okay.” She cocked a brow at me. “I’m a big girl, Dagger. I can fight this battle.”
“Just…” I grimaced. “Tell me if they give you too much shit?”
“I can handle myself.”
“Don’t care if you can. You want to be mine, and I’m not about to let you be hurt. Be it with words or any fucker’s fists.”
Her scowl deepened for a second, then out of the blue, it lightened. “I don’t want to be yours. I am yours.”
“Semantics,” I grumbled, but I was amused at her dodge.
“Semantics are important for a reason,” she informed me piously. “Neither of us have a say in whether you’re mine or I’m yours. It’s just how it was always meant to be.”
“Why, Lucifer, have you gotten romantic in your old age?” I teased, dipping down so I could whisper the words in her ear. I was very satisfied when she shivered, then angled her head to let me get access to her throat.
I ignored the move for a second, content to brush my lips over the shell of her ear. Then, I dropped down and licked along the line of her throat. She shuddered, and I reached down, pressed my hand to her thigh, and let my fingers cup her slim leg.
“You tell me, Lucie, or I’ll make you regret it.”
“Regret it how?” she taunted, her eyes flashing wide at my threat.
“You know how I roll,” I retorted.
“I think I’ll survive. You didn’t scare me the first time you did it, why would it scare me now?”
“Because you turned civilian. You’re softer now—”
She snorted. “What makes you think we turned civilian, Dag? We lived on a compound of our own, sure, but we made goddamn ghost guns. You think we didn’t have to protect our patch?”
“You were in danger?” I growled, my hackles rising at the thought.
“No. But we had to prepare for any threat. Shit only changed with Ryan’s diagnosis. We moved to make sure that we were safe again, but the lengths we went to, to prepare ourselves for shit hitting the fan, didn’t die with it.”
I blinked at her, and though it was crazy, whispered, “I could have sworn I heard Ryan’s voice in my head today.”
My words didn’t prompt any snark or trigger a laugh as I’d thought they would. Instead, silence fell. Of course, silence was relative in the bar. Around us, the chaos had recommenced, and there were all kinds of hollering and shit as the two strippers who’d been moved off the bar by my woman, were now on the pool table with their asses sticking out as my brothers shoved pool balls in their cunts.
I added a mental reminder to Lysol the entirety of the pool table. I hadn’t given a fuck before. Shit, before I’d probably have watched the show—Vicky would shove anything up her pussy. I’d even seen her do shit with a cherry stem down there that defied belief.
“I hear him most days.”
My eyes flared wide at Lucie’s confession. All thoughts of the past, what I’d have done before, disappearing in the blink of an eye. “You do? What does he say?”
“You don’t think I’m crazy?” she whispered, taking another swig of the hard liquor. The level of tequila dropped substantially, but I knew she could handle her drink.
“I probably might have if I hadn’t heard it myself.” I shook my head. “I thought I was going insane, but I just—what he said, I couldn’t have made that up.”
She blew out a breath. “I wonder why he talks to us. I’d hate to think—”
When she broke off, I reached over and cupped her jaw. “What, baby? What do you hate to think?”
“I don’t know, not really. I don’t believe in ghosts, but I want Ryan to find his peace. Not be stuck in limbo or something because he wants to protect me.”
“Ryan was born to protect you.”
Her bottom lip was sucked in between her teeth. “That’s a strange thing to say.”
“No, it isn’t,” I rasped, staring deep into her amazing eyes. “He protected you when we let you down.”
Her eyelids lowered. “He did.”
“You don’t have to worry, Lucie.” I licked my lips. “We won’t let you down again.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“Can’t I?” I laughed. “Maybe not, but I can promise to do my best, right?”
She gave me a half-smile. “Right.” With her thumb, she motioned over her shoulder. “They’ll get used to me being back here.”
“Of course they will. We just need Wolfe to decide what he’s doing.”
That had her pulling a face. “It’s not his decision.”
“It’s our decision, but he’s Prez.” I shrugged. “He has to come around to the idea, but he will.”
“Jackass. If he thinks I’m about to let him—”
I hushed her. “Don’t even worry about it. Wolfe knows we love you just as much as he does. He just needs some time.”
“Maybe. I’ll give him some, but I’m taking my rightful place soon. I can handle their talk and their bitching. I know my dad turned them against me, and I get it, I do. But I’m not going to put up with it for long. Every time I walk into a damn room, the brothers either start whispering like old hens or catcalling. I’m not going to let Amaryllis see that.”
“Of course you ain’t,” I growled. “Who the fuck was catcalling you?”
“Some new brothers.” She winced. “So much has changed since I was here last and yet, it’s all pretty much the same.”
“At least drugs aren’t clouding things now.”
She jerked in surprise at Flame’s abrupt entry into the conversation. I’d seen him coming, of course, but she hadn’t. Her back was to the rest of the room, by design or accident, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. As used to the clubhouse as she was, there were few women who weren’t sweetbutts who got off on the orgy going down behind us, so I took her positioning to mean two things.
One, she didn’t particularly mind the orgy happening behind her, but she didn’t want to see it.
Two, she trusted me to keep her safe from anyone who might attack from behind.
I hadn’t exactly let her down on that score, but I still felt guilty with the way she jumped.
“That’s true. This room used to look like an opium den and whorehouse combined.” She bared her teeth. “Now it’s just a whorehouse.”
I snickered, but my eyes flickered with heat when Flame dropped a kiss on top of her head. Flame was so self-contained, so fucking alien sometimes, that it was a downright pleasure to watch him interact with Lucie. Only she seemed to bring out the human in him, and I was gradually getting used to this softer side of my brother.