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“I’m sorry,” I tell her honestly. “There might be some truth to what you said, all right?”
She lets out a sexy laugh that wakes up my cock. “Good to know.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah,” she nods. “It is. You’re always so stoic, except when you’re fucking me. Now I know you care.”
I do, dammit. “And?”
“And,” she repeats slowly. “It’s something else I know about you.”
“What else do you want to know, Willow?” She’s not wrong. She told me all about her life with her mom, her pops being locked up, and I haven’t shared shit.
Not that I want to.
“I want to know whatever you want to tell me, Joaquin, but let’s start with how you ended up here.” She motions to the clubhouse, but I know what she’s really asking.
“Fuck. You wanna talk about that?”
“I do. Spill it.”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. I was a smart-ass gangbanger in my younger days. Did some time behind bars, and when I got out, I wanted no part of the banger lifestyle.”
I laugh when I think about it. How absurd it probably sounds to her.
“So, how’d you get here with the Reckless Souls?”
“It started out as just a job doing what I do best. Fixing cars, bikes, well, anything, really. Somehow that turned into me being a prospect and then getting patched.”
Her smile is affectionate, and then a laugh explodes out of her. “I gotta tell you that I’ve watched all kinds of biker shows and movies, and I’ve never heard of a gangbanger becoming a biker.”
“Well, now you have. It’s no big deal.”
“Okay, so one more question. Why did MC life appeal more to you than the banger life?”
“Damn,” I sigh and shake my head at her. “That’s a good fucking question.” I don’t share my story with women, so her question catches me off guard. “The banger life wasn’t for me because it’s all about showing how tough you are, which means bullying and victimizing. That ain’t me. I mean, the choice was to join or be on the wrong side of ’em, so it was an easy choice at sixteen.”
“But the life wasn’t for you?”
“Nah,” I shake my head. “The shit they asked—no, forced—me to do wasn’t what I thought the life would be. Finally, they made me do something that landed me behind bars for a few years. It wasn’t a long time, but it was long enough to see my future play out before me. In and out of the pen with nothing but the gang to sustain me. Then I met Dix, and he offered me a job, which seemed like a hell of a lot better than doing something to get me locked up again.”
“So it all began with a job?”
“Yep.”
She’s staring at me like I’m something else, something she doesn’t expect, and it makes her flash one of those girly smiles that makes it seem like she’s swaying when she isn’t. “I’m impressed, Joaquin.”
“That I’m a biker?”
She shrugs. “No, it’s hot that you’re a biker,” she winks. “It’s impressive that you decided to leave behind the life you knew, where you had a place where you belonged, to do something different. Most people just stick with what they know. Even if it kills them.”
“I didn’t do all that,” I tell her, suddenly uncomfortable with her praise.
She leans in so close I can smell her lotion, or shampoo or whatever women do to themselves to smell so good. “Yeah, you did. It would have been a hell of a lot easier to stick with gangbanging, but you took a hand when it was offered, not knowing where it would lead.”
“You know what, Willow? You’re right.” I hadn’t really thought of my choices in that light, and the fact that she can see things that way when even some of my family can’t makes her even more special.
“I like hearing those words come out of your mouth.” She laughs and shakes her head. “So, how are you doing with your choices now since getting patched?”
