“Don’t you ‘Bobby’ me. What the fuck are you thinking?”
“He won’t…stop. Protect.” She laid her head against my shoulder. I didn’t think twice as I wrapped my arm around her, holding her against my chest.
“I’ve never been a parent, and I won’t pretend like I know anything about what you went through, but if you let him back into your life, he’s going to try every trick to make amends until he gets you alone, and then he’ll make your life hell—because he can.”
“We were…young.” She shifted so that she could look up at me. “Not same. If I…go, lea…lea…leave club.”
“That’s a pipe dream. Men like Alex don’t stop until they burn the enemy to ash, and then they still don’t stop. Sabre’s a good president, like his old man. He’ll figure it out.” I wasn’t blowing smoke. I honestly believed that.
“I’ve lived…life. It’s okay.” Her eyes were wide, and she looked lost.
“Do you honestly want to go? I’m not talking about protecting the girls or the club. If marrying him wouldn’t improve the outcome, would you still go?”
She shook her head.
“Thank fuck.” I breathed a sigh of relief. I tilted her chin in my hand. “Marry me.”
“Huh?”
“Liz, marry me because you know I’m going to stand at your back, making sure you’re protected.”
Chapter 8
I Approve
Elizabeth
I stood still, frozen in the past. I was present physically, but my mind was replaying every conversation, every token or gesture from Alex. He was here. Watching. Waiting for the most opportune time to make himself known, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I didn’t think it surprised anyone that he used Gerry for an arranged marriage over twenty-five years later. Gerry had a history of being easily manipulated, and Alex was used to getting his way, no matter the cost. They hadn’t thought about how any of this would affect me. They’d probably been more concerned about getting me to comply. I would never have agreed to the terms.
The last time I’d seen Alex, he’d been holding our son, looking out the window into the hospital’s parking lot. If I had known Peter was going to lose his innocence and become a bitter man, I would have killed Alex myself. He’d stolen my child, breaking my soul into a million pieces. I’d masked the pain well enough to survive.
I hadn’t recognized my son when Peter had shown up almost a year ago. He was so angry, he’d kidnapped Meredith and me, forcing us to jump from a moving vehicle. She wore road rash scars, and every time I tried to speak, you could hear the damage from the traumatic brain injury. It was hard to forgive him, but I kept telling myself it had all been Alex’s doing.
The clubhouse had been in a frenzy ever since the brothers had stood outside, watching Gerry’s disgrace. They’d done nothing but talk about it for hours until suddenly the noise finally died down and a quiet settled. I used it to steady myself.The long silences had allowed me to pretend I was fine the last three days. I wasn’t fine, and if someone asked me, I couldn’t mask the emotions. If they wanted to talk about the wedding, I quickly pointed them to Grace or Meredith as my vision narrowed, the black creeping over my eyes. No one would know how haunted I was.
When Thunder had proposed, I instantly said yes. Neither one of us believed he was saving me. A ring wouldn’t stop Alex if he was hell-bent on an arranged marriage, but Thunder could force the club to protect me as his Old Lady. He was a patched-in brother of the Iron Shield, and although the club had taken me in, I didn’t have any standing.
I understood the club’s politics. I’d experienced it secondhand when they hadn’t accepted Meredith until recently. This went deeper for me. Protection was one thing, but I finally had someone strong enough in my corner to let me break safely. I wouldn’t be alone, and my nieces wouldn’t have that responsibility saddled upon them. Calm was my new state. No one would see my pain as it settled into my bones.
I clasped my hands, resting them in my lap. It was easier to hide the shaking from my nieces. Their strength wasn’t for me to lean on when they needed me to be strong for them. Meredith sat on my left and Grace was on my right as we stared straight ahead, not saying a word.
“I’ve tried to be supportive, but I don’t understand why you’re doing this.” Grace was the first to speak. “There has to be a better option besides marrying Thunder.” After the last blood pressure scare, I tried to leave her in the dark as much as possible. I wouldn’t be the reason something happened to her or the baby.
“Friends,” I muttered. “Club…protection.” It was the only answer that wouldn’t send me into a tailspin. My nieces also held onto the word, as if it were their lifeline.
“You don’t have to get married to have the club’s—“
“Yes, she does,” Meredith said, shifting. “OnlyOld Ladies get protection.”
While this was true, I’d said yes to Thunder’s proposal for one simple reason. I never doubted my family’s support, but they had their own lives, their own families. Thunder had never given me a reason to doubt him, and I wouldn’t start now. He’d be the one I could lean on when life got hard, leaving the girls out of it.
Meredith, bless her heart, thought this was about sex. “What if he expects this to be an actual marriage?” Her eyes had grown wide, as if she’d cracked the case. I shook my head, and Grace shot her a look, as if she were crazy.
It wasn’t until Grace had asked about the money that I finally got through to them. Some people showed you who they were from the first moment you met them. Thunder was a good man, and maybe that was why I hadn’t weighed the pros and cons.
Burkhardt wasn’t a common surname, and if Thunder was thinking about it, he might have put two and two together. I was my father’s sole survivor, and when he passed, I had inherited his real estate empire. Thunder hadn’t asked, and I hadn’t told him. We were both established, and it wasn’t important. He wasn’t marrying me for the money.
