Page 107 of Double the Redemption

For bikers, the club was their whole world. Their identity. It was a life they chose and wanted. Walking away from that rarely happened. And never fully.

She wouldn’t ask that of him. She couldn’t. The cut over his wet black T-shirt and the patch over his heart meant something to him. He worked hard to get it, and she couldn’t picture him without it.

“I wouldn’t ask you to pick, Ink,” she said, needing him to understand.

“You may not, but if it came down to it, I’ll pick you, Naomi.” He gave a wry smile. “Never thought I’d ever say that, but living with you, being with you and Asher every night and as much as I can when I’m not at the shop, I realize this is what I’ve been missing. You. I’ve been missing.”

“Ink—”

“No, I need you to hear me, baby girl.” He cupped her cheeks, his gaze deep and intense. “I get it, I have a past, and it’s probably not one that you ever want to know in depth, but even though I’ve had some fun in my life, it’s nothing compared to now. It’s like it’s such a distant memory, the only thing my mind can wrap around is you and Asher. Seeing you the first time, touching you the first time, and every time after. I can recall them with perfect clarity. Like my brain has been rewired to only think of you.

“I’m utterly obsessed with you, Naomi. Not in the stalker kind of way, but in knowing every little thing about you. Like how in the mornings, you’re so fucking cute when you wake up and act like a little zombie for the first five minutes until you get some coffee in you. Or the way you go behind me and pick up because you can’t stand the clutter. Which I’ll get better at, by the way.” Then he grinned and teased, “And now I know what to do when you lose your mind and look like a gremlin on a tear.”

“I’m not a gremlin,” she sputtered, laughing.

“Babe, look in a mirror, but you’re an adorable gremlin. Well, maybe not now that you’re dripping wet, but close enough.”

“Did I scare you when you came in?”

He let go of her face, hauling her tight against him. The wet fabric between them was slightly uncomfortable, but she pushed it aside, focusing solely on him.

“Babe, I thought I was going to have to get a priest and perform an exorcism. If you’d started climbing the damn walls with how hard you were staring at them, I’d have also probably bolted you inside.”

Now she did laugh. He was ridiculous. “Okay, I wasn’t that bad. I only twist my head three hundred and sixty degrees at most.”

She let out a yelp at the smack he gave her ass, but still laughed.

“Sassy brat. You start doing that shit and your ass is heading to the asylum. I’ll pick you up when they’ve done whatever they have to do. Asher and I will get some holy water in the meantime too.”

“Baby. You wouldn’t want to deal with me yourself?”

His bland stare was answer enough, and she laughed again.

“Alright, fair enough. But if you ever get possessed, you’re on your own too.”

He opened his mouth then snapped it shut. “Nope, that was too easy, and I don’t need you drowning me in here.”

She blinked, surprised. “What? What were you going to say?”

“Nope, not telling.” He leaned down to give her a quick, smacking kiss. “Now, you get undressed, showered, and we’ll head over to the clubhouse to get some food before we go and get Asher from the twins. I’d offer to shower with you, but since you nearly bit my head off the last time I suggested it, I’ll refrain and go after you’re done.”

He stepped out of the shower, leaving her staring after him, eyes narrowed.

“You wanted to shower with me when you knew I was pissed at you for the whole paint thing,” she reminded him as he sat on the toilet to untie his boots. “And when I told you I started my period, you told me that you’d paint the rest of yourself in red so we couldn’t tell. Did you expect me to just jump for joy?”

He gave her a charming smile. “I was just offering to help you work through your emotions. Exercise the demons, you know.”

“Exercise the demons?” She glared at him, affronted, and it was in that moment she could see he knew he screwed up. “Is that why you didn’t make that joke? You were going to make a period joke about me already being possessed?”

“Of course not,” he crooned, clearly lying through his teeth as he jumped to his feet, boots in hand, and moved to the door. “I’m going to make that joke when I’m far away, and you can’t kill me in a shower.” He shut it on a wicked laugh as she let out a string of curses.

Asshole!

It took her a good twenty minutes to get showered, dressed, and back into a normal mindset, but once she was done, she felt normal again.

Mostly. She still wanted to smack Ink for being a dick, but that subsided when she came out and he’d cleaned up the apartment, putting all her papers in a neat pile on the kitchen counter. And he’d changed out of his wet clothes into a pair of gym shorts, displaying all those gorgeous tattoos for her to appreciate.

Damn it, he did that on purpose.