Page 57 of Cruz

“You want to shake on it?” I drop my hand, but then he laughs and shoots his out. Our palms clap together. “I get it. This is like a vow.”

“Not just to your mom, but to you. You’re the most important person in her life, and that’s how it should be. I would never hurt her, and I never want to hurt you either. I don’t want to lose your friendship or risk the brotherhood that we have here.”

He squeezes my hand and lets go. “I don’t either.” He steps onto the mats. “Are we doing this, or what?”

“If you want to.”

“I want to. It’s been too many days.”

Once we’re in position, me crouched low and Liam circling me, trying to figure out how to take my ass down to the mats, he throws something else out to distract me. “I’m gonna spend my first night at the clubhouse the day after tomorrow. You should go by the house. Hang out with Mom. Bring takeout or whatever she’d like. You can meet the cat. Mom’s been talking about you coming over to do that. You could… spend the night if you wanted, I mean, if my mom wanted… Ugh, I’m not even gonna say anymore on that.” He shudders, though I can see that he makes a pretty good effort not to.

I can’t imagine thinking about my mom bringing home a guy, let alone a friend, and doing sexy stuff with them.

He’s given me his blessing and I’ll never abuse that.

“The cat’s great,” he says, changing the subject. He’s still circling me but dropping lower and lower. He’s going to tackle me around the waist right away. I know because his body is giving me all the right tells, but I also know him.

I should be prepared, but I’m distracted. I’m thinking about Sloane. About another date. We talked about lighthearted stuff over burgers, but even though the date went late, I still wanted more. After I dropped her off and went back to the clubhouse, I missed her the same way I missed her after leaving her café with Raiden that night.

I missed her presence, her laughter, her scent, and all that soft, glorious light that she seems to emanate that so easily wraps me up in ribbons of spun gold.

“She’s called Priscilla. Did Mom tell you?”

“She said something about it the night we went out.”

“She just wants to purr and make biscuits all day. The best thing you ever did was finding her for us. Mom especially loves her. Priscilla sleeps on her bed every night. It was instant love.” Liam grimaces. “Maybe even as instant as it was for you and her.”

“It wasn’t instant,” I protest, but we both know it’s half-hearted. “Love, that is. I don’t think you can love someone immediately unless you’re equipped to love unconditionally, and people aren’t made that way. Care? Attraction? A spark? Common interests? I think that can be immediate.”

“That’s why you and her work. You’re both so realistic.”

“And because my weird matches her weird,” I remind him.

Liam laughs and then lunges, tackling me around the waist exactly the way I knew he would. I let him tackle me down to the mat, but then I hook a leg around his and easily flip him over, pinning him down. To his credit, he doesn’t even try to knee me in the balls. He does struggle like I’ve taught him, and breaks my hold, then gets his knee all the way up to his chest and forces me off with a swift upward motion. He bursts off the mat, as I get to my feet, and crouches low, back in the defensive position.

“That was great! Exactly like I’ve shown you.”

Liam grunts. “You’re a good teacher.” He scrunches his nose up at me. “We’re all good then?”

I let him attack me again, and this time I allow him to take me down to the floor and pin my arms above my head. I don’t make it obvious, but I don’t fight back as hard as I normally do. I can give Liam this one. He legit had me in the takedown.

“We’re good,” I reiterate, my chest full of warmth. I stick out a hand and he helps me up, but when I’m just about on my feet, I tug him back down.

“Asshole!” he yells, but he laughs, rolling over me and hitting the mat with his shoulder, springing up quickly. “Be prepared for anything,” he says, parroting me just about exactly.

I grin right back at him and get into my own low crouch, ready to charge. “That’s exactly right.” He’s been on the offensive long enough. It’s time that he started focusing on defending.

“Call or text my mom after we’re done here. Let her know that you’re coming over. She wants you to. I guarantee it, but you can still ask. That’s the polite thing to do. You can say I suggested it, or that you’d like to meet the cat, or you can tell her all those things and still offer to pick up dinner. Actually, yeah, do that. Give her a choice. She never treats herself. You’ll want to get it exactly right.” Liam sizes me up and gives me his own shit eating grin. “I know you will. You’re good at that.”

I don’t say anything until I have him down on the ground, flat on his back. It happens fast. He doesn’t even have a chance to defend himself properly against it, but he still ends up laughing. “Thanks.”

This was a far better talk than I ever could have anticipated it going, and I’m so relieved. I haven’t lost my friend, or my future club brother. If Liam had said the word, I know Sloane would never have seen me again. It’s not lost on me just how much I owe Liam, or how good a heart he has. He truly loves his mom. He loves this club. We don’t say sappy stuff to each other like that, but as far as friendship and brotherhood goes, I know he loves me that way too, with close, loyal bonds, because Liam is just like Sloane. The people in his life are the most important parts of his world.

I’ll do everything to honor that and be worthy of both of them.

Chapter 20

Sloane