CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
B-ry
I was surprised by Laurel today, though I really shouldn’t have been. She shocked the shit out of me when she asked to go with me to the gym. I didn’t think it was the greatest idea but when I saw that look in her eyes I knew there was no way I’d ever let her down. She needed this. She needed to grab some kind of power and feel like she wasn’t helpless. And I got that. I got it because I had once needed something to help me feel like I had some control.
I was proud of her. She worked her ass off and listened to every direction I gave. She let me push her until her body just couldn’t take anymore. And yeah, maybe that was a little shitty of me, but I knew Laurel and she didn’t want me to treat her like she was broken. Like she was weak and needed a free pass. No, she wanted me to find her limits and take her further still.
I knew she’d be hurting come tomorrow but I didn’t want to tell her that. I figured I’d let her have her victory for now.
I still didn’t have a clue where this whole thing was going. I felt like she needed me even if she didn’t want to admit it. And because I was desperate to have every part of this woman that she would allow, I stayed as much as she let me.
Even now, as I lay curled up around her, I was unsure of where her head was.
“I love you,” she said abruptly. The words seemed like they had been there, waiting to push themselves out.
I froze because I wasn’t sure I’d really heard her say that.
But I knew I had.
And that she’d meant to say it to me.
I rolled onto my back as she turned around to face me. Her hair tickled my shoulder as she plastered herself to me, her head resting on my chest and I was sure she could hear how loud my heart was pounding.
“I know that this is probably the worst time to say that with everything going on,” she said, her words slightly muffled against my chest. “But I want it all with you too. I can’t forget everything I have been through and I don’t know if I will ever really be alright with all this club business stuff, but I want to be the one that stands by your side through everything.”
Her head lifted and she looked into my eyes. Even though they were shining with wetness, they were bright and so open for me.
“You are my King, and I want to be worthy enough to be called your Queen.”
“You always have been,” I said and softly cleared my throat because I was slightly choked by the thick emotions flowing through me. “You have the grace and the strength of a thousand queens. You are the only person I want by my side.”
She kissed me. And I gave her everything I had.
It was desperate.
It was chaotic.
It was soft.
It was strong.
It was needy.
And it was passionate.
It was everything we were and all the things we hoped to be.
“I love you,” I said. “I have for a while now. I don’t want anyone but you. Even if you are a pain in my ass sometimes.”
She laughed and it was so beautiful to witness.
“Me?” she asked feigning shock as she pointed to herself. “I’m the pain? No, biker boy, you are—”
“Let me guess, princess. The most insufferable man you’ve ever met?”
“Exactly.”
“But you love me?”
