“Firstly,” he began, “I want to say thank you to Beast and his old lady for bringing vengeance for Echo. You did your club and your brothers proud today. Echo would have been happy with how that shit went down. You made ’em pay, and the club got justice. But more importantly, you got justice.”
Every one thumped the table repeatedly, offering words of agreement, but I was still lost on his words—old lady. It hadn’t occurred to me that that was what she was now. I smiled at that realization.
“I also want you to know that we all know what a huge ask it was of your old lady to do what she did, and I know that don’t come easy. Whatever happened previously is forgotten. Whatever happens in the future, the club and every man around this table and out that door has her back. You feel me?”
I nodded and the table thumps began again. “Appreciate that, Prez.”
“She doing okay? Can’t have been easy on her,” he asked, sipping at his whiskey. “Think I saw her limping when she came in—she hurt?”
I smirked. “The limping is on me—we had some stuff we needed to work out, if you feel me.”
“Bedroom stuff?” Casa asked, leaning forward, eager and horny as always. “You tried anal yet?”
Gauge sighed. “What is it with you and assholes, brother?”
“You don’t know what you’re fuckin’ missing!” Casa laughed. He glanced over at Dom. “This man knows what the fuck I’m talking about, am I right?”
Dom scowled at him and lit a cigarette. “Shut the fuck up.”
Casa smirked and looked back at me. “So? Anal. I can show you where to get a big-ass strap-on dildo from, and then what you do is—”
“I’m good,” I cut in, not needing or wanting to hear anymore.
“Your loss, motherfucker,” Casa tutted, sitting back in his chair.
“I’ll take my chances.” I turned back to Shooter, ignoring the snickering around the table. “She’s gonna be okay. I’ve got it handled. And I want you to know, Prez”—I glanced around the table—“I want all of you to know that we both appreciate the chance you’ve given her to prove herself and her loyalty. The shit that went down was bad, and I blame myself for some of it because I didn’t show her how shit was around here—and that’s on me. But it’s done now, Belle is here to stay. She’s my old lady now.”
“Never thought I’d hear you utter those words,” Rider said, a smile on his face.
“Neither did I,” I agreed, and everyone laughed.
Shooter stood up and raised his glass and everyone followed suit. “To Beast and Belle,” he said. “To her making a good man out of you.”
Everyone laughed at that too, and for the first time in my life, my heart didn’t feel empty. Maybe I didn’t believe in happily ever afters, but this was as close to one as I could ever imagine.
“Okay, next order of business—the prospect,” Gauge said with a scowl. “He ain’t gonna cut it.”
“Nah, kid’s too soft for this life,” Casa agreed. “He wants it, wants it real bad, but…”
“I’ll handle it,” I said, and Shooter raised an eyebrow at me. I held my hands out. “Need a new project anyway, so why not him?”
Casa chuckled and I shot a scowl at him, which only made him laugh more. “You’re like Bette fucking Midler taking the kid under your wing.”
A few men chuckled, and then surprisingly Gauge shook his head and frowned. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“What doesn’t?” I asked.
“The song is about the other woman being the wind under her wings…so that would make the prospect Bette and Beast the other woman.” He said it so matter-of-factly that the room was stunned into absolute silence.
“Barbara Hershey!” Rider said, snapping his fingers. “That was the other woman’s name.”
The room erupted into laughter again, and even I found myself laughing right along with them.
*
Belle was sitting between my legs on the grass outside the clubhouse. The fire pit was burning brightly enough that we could make out the people moving around us, but people farther away were just dark shadows. Her head was leaning back on my chest and her hands were stroking up and down my legs and fuck me, she smelled good. Like sin and seduction. Like heaven and hell. Like peaches and pussy. Fucking delicious.
“You need anything?” I asked her for what seemed like the hundredth time that evening. She was still pretty quiet, but she was beginning to come back out of herself. It was hard not to in that place. The women were good women, even the sweetbutts, and the men all respected her after everything she’d done that day, and they made that clear to her.
“No, I’m fine.” She turned her head to look up at me, the light from the fire catching in her eyes.
“You let me know when you do and I’ll get you whatever,” I said, not being able to tear my gaze away from hers. God, but she was pretty. So pretty it made my chest ache.
She smiled. “I’ll be sure to let you know.”
I reached down and cupped her face in one hand before pressing a kiss on her mouth, my tongue darting into her warmth to slide across hers. She moaned against my lips and my dick hardened in my jeans, pressing into her back. When she pulled away she was smirking at me.
I swiped my thumb across her swollen bottom lip. “You be sure to do that.”
“This feels sort of…surreal,” she said, looking back into the fire.
“The club? It’s probably the fumes from the fire. I think Casa burned something he shouldn’t have,” I replied.
She giggled. “Not the fire, stupid. Just this. Being here, with you. A year ago I was working my ass off at the hospital and saving up for an apartment. I only had a handful of people in my life and only one family member.”
“And now?” I asked, genuinely curious as to how she viewed things now.
“I don’t know. I have you, for starters, but all my savings are gone and I’m stuck in that stupid trailer still. I have no job, no clue as to what I want to do with my life, and I tortured and killed a man today and then had sex with you while thinking about it…” Her words trailed off and I grabbed her, spinning her in my lap to face me.
I searched her face for something. Anything. But her expression was blank.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said.
“I know,” she said, looking away from me. “It’s just, I don’t know. I have this weight in my chest and it just keeps pressing down on me over and over until I can’t catch my breath. The only time I can breathe is…” She blushed and tried to look away, and I touched the bottom of her chin and brought her gaze back to me.
“Is when?” I frowned.
“Is when you’re inside of me,” she said, no humor to her voice. “When you’re making me…” She swallowed, her cheeks, even in the dark, glowing red.
“When I make you cum?” I smirked, more than happy about that. “Because if that’s what it takes to make you feel better, then I’m more than happy to keep on helping out for as long as it takes.”