He makes his way toward me, stopping when he’s close enough to touch. I want to reach out, to feel his skin, his muscles, his warmth, but I don’t. Instead, I hold my breath as I lift my gaze to meet his.
“Pinkie is good people. Don’t matter much about anything else, just know, she’s good. She ain’t jealous, never could be. She’s here for a purpose, and nothing more.”
“Okay,” I sigh.
He dips his chin a bit more and grins down at me. “Let’s go up to my room, babe.”
Licking my lips, I lift my hand and place my palm against the center of his chest. “Are you going to feed me later? Pretty sure maybe I deserve a little dinner?” I ask.
In reality, I couldn’t care less about dinner. My stomach, on the other hand, needs sustenance, especially since Mountain’s stamina is out of this world. It’s sexy as shit, just like him.
“I’ll feed you, babe,” he says, his voice dipping low, rumbling throughout my entire body.
My lips twitch into a small smile as I slide off of the barstool and stand in front of him. Tipping my head back, I continue to look up into his pretty dancing dark eyes. Sliding my hand up his chest, I wrap my fingers around the side of his throat.
“Your president told you about the money,” I whisper.
Hopefully, it doesn’t ruin the moment, but I need to know. He jerks his chin in a semblance of a nod. “Yeah, he did,” he rasps.
“And?” I ask.
He hums, not saying anything immediately. Instead, he closes the distance between us, his head moving closer as his lips touch mine. I melt into him as his hand slides around my hip and cups my ass. He grips me tightly, his fingers digging into me over my shorts.
“And nothin’, babe. You wanna take that money and go?” he asks.
“No, no way in hell,” I snort.
His lips curve up against mine and his tongue slides along them, tasting me. “Good. That’s the end of that then, no sense in harping on it. You’re not going anywhere, I’ll be back in a month, then we’ll get everything else figured out.”
I want to believe that something magical will happen within that month. That he’ll come back here and know without a doubt that he loves me or something equally fairy tale-like. But, I’m not an idiot, and being a dreamer only gets you so far in life.
The cold hard reality is that he will probably never love me. That I am temporary, even if he claims me for now, that doesn’t mean forever. Not in his world, not in my father’s world either.
Men who live on the edge, on the outskirts of society, even if they are inherently good deep down on the inside, they don’t suddenly change every aspect of their life because they met a woman that they fell for.
They are beasts, they give and they take, but more than anything, they live for the moment and in the moment—nothing more, nothing less. I am a stepping stone, a memory that he’ll think about when he’s old and he’ll smile.
The problem with all of this is that I won’t make it to that stage in life. I’ll never be old, I’ll never make it to that stage because unlike him, I’m not living on the edge. Every moment I’m alive is nothing short of a miracle.
Chapter Seventeen
MOUNTAIN
I’m definitely not a man who knows anything about women, other than maybe how to make them come. However, with Leighton, I want to try to do more. That’s why after I made her come, I threw some clothes on and headed down to the diner to grab her dinner.
Carrying the bags of food back into the clubhouse, I stop when I see Bones standing next to the bar, his head is tipped and he’s talking to Mamba and Maria. I look around for Gator but don’t see him anywhere nearby. Mamba, Maria, and Gator are usually always joined at the hip. It’s strange to see two without the third.
“Mountain,” Bones shouts, lifting his hand as he motions for me to come over.
With a grunt, I do, knowing that if I don’t, he’ll just come looking for me. “What’s up?” I ask as I approach him.
Mamba jerks his chin toward me, but then turns and walks away with Maria on his arm. I stand in front of Bones, a man that I know decently well, but not well enough that I would call us friends. We’re friendly, but to me, he’s still a Skull and I’m still a Beast, even if he patched over to our club, there’s always going to be that underlying enemy factor going on.
“I just wanna say that it’s pretty fucking brave of you to take on this girl,” he murmurs, lifting his beer to his lips and taking a pull.
“Brave?”
He nods his head, his eyes finding mine. “Yeah, brave. Her, being one of those girls, that’s a fuckton of drama upstairs.”
My teeth grind together as I try not to say something that will get me in a fight. Not that I won’t win, I will, I just don’t want to spend much more time away from Leighton seeing as I have to leave at the ass crack of dawn in the morning.
“Meaning?”
Bones shrugs a shoulder. “Just know what it means to have someone who has been abused that way. Lost one of my girls who’d lived a life just like that, she couldn’t mentally deal. Most of our women come with baggage of that type, it’s why they’re drawn to the lifestyle my club leads.”
I frown hearing his words, wondering if he could be right. Could she be on the edge of losing her shit? Will this be an uphill battle? What exactly does this mean? When I claim her, what will the future look like? Have I already fucked up and knocked her up?
Doubt fills me, every fucking ounce of me, doubt that I didn’t have fifteen minutes ago. Doubt that I know will disappear once my cock slides inside of her wet heat. I shake my head, my gaze flicking up to meet Bones’.
“What’s your deal, man?” I grind out.
Bones shrugs a shoulder, lifting his beer to his lips again and takes another long pull. “Just trying to help you. Got a long row to hoe there, brother.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. I’m not his fucking brother, but I don’t want to raise tensions between us. This is a good thing, our clubs combining. The amount of added manpower is amazing, especially on runs and with local protection, especially with how close we live to one another.
“Maybe,” I grunt.
Bones chuckles, his gaze flicking behind my shoulder, then back to mine. “Oh yeah, you got a long fucking row to hoe. Christ, man. You hit the fuckin’ jackpot.”
Turning my head, I look over my shoulder to see Leighton standing in the hallway wearing nothing but my black-t-shirt. Thankfully, I didn’t wear white today, otherwise everyone would be treated with a view of her nipples.
“She’s mine. You got a woman and a baby of your own. Why are you even here?” I ask.
Bones laughs softly. “Dragon asked me to come here. Need to talk to him about some shit.”
“Wanna expand?” I demand.
He jerks his chin up. “Not really.”
“Wilder?” Leighton calls, her sweet voice washes over me and I narrow my eyes on Bones before I turn to her.
“Yeah?”
I watch as her eyes flick from mine to the bags, then back up to meet my own. Her lips curve up into a smile as she holds out her hand. I look to her hand, then her face and push back against the niggling feeling that’s starting to make itself present in my head, I ignore it before I take a step toward her.