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“Try this one, yeah?”
I undo the borrowed jacket and leave it lying over the back of the display bike, then get to work peeling the vest off my body. It steals my breath a little, seeing it propped against the back tire. This is what my life has become. I ran to find my freedom, and instead I shackled myself worse than if I had just stayed. Yet, I can’t find it in me to regret a single thing.
Not when this has all led me tohim. The man watching me with a slight curl to his lips and adoration in his eye.
I step before Tyke, ducking my chin a little when he holds the gray jacket out for me to slide my arms into. It’s a little loose, but the deep purple satin lining is to die for against my bare arms. I tug it tight around me and then match the zipper, noting how it slides off to my right, over the crest of my ribcage, to end just shy of my right shoulder. It’s an odd detail, the asymmetrical line of the front, but I love the point of difference.
“Looks good.” Tyke grabs the lapels, adjusting them up and then down as though testing its ability to shield my neck from the cold. “It’s a winter jacket, so it’s supposed to be heavy.”
Not that I’m complaining. I love the comforting feel of its weight against my body.
He seems to love the way it molds to my shape, given how he sweeps his palms down the sides of my leather-clad bust before wrinkling his nose a little. “Needs to be smaller.”
“Not if you want that under it.” I nod toward the vest.
His jaw hardens, bottom lip tugged between his teeth as though in frustration. “You know, Hammer took the mickey outta me when I asked him where the fuckin’ thing was.”
“He did?” I can’t help but smile at the imagery of the two of them bantering over it.
“It’s overkill, baby girl. I just needed that to keep my goddamn heart from beatin’ outta my chest takin’ you out into danger today.”
I slide my arms around his waist and tilt my head back to stare up at him. “I’m safe, Tyke.”
“Yeah, I know. But that don’t mean the danger ain’t there, Rae.” He captures my chin between his thick fingers. “I’m serious. Don’t want you gettin’ complacent. If it were up to me, I’d find a way to coat you in fuckin’ Kevlar to keep this pretty face safe.”
It humbles me to have him share his fears like this. Tyke’s the quintessential staunch leader—gruff when he needs to be, blunt, and straight to the point. His vulnerabilities lie close to his heart, in a place unseen where the club’s adversaries can’t take advantage of him. Anyone can see his love for his kids as the obvious weak point, but to know my safety worries him enough that he’d take shit from his brother at the club?
I nestle my head against his chest and squeeze him tight. “Thank you.” Nobody’s ever cared enough about me to risk their own pride.
“Ain’t nothin’,” he bluffs, composing himself to reach for a smaller size. “Give this one a shot.”
I do as he asks, spending the next fifteen minutes trying jackets on until he’s satisfied that I have a winter-weight leather jacket as well as a lighter textile one for the summer heat. I point out we’re headed into winter, so it’s probably a waste of his money, but he shoves it at me and insists I’ll need it, which chokes me to the point I need to hide in the change room before he sees my tears.
He’s thinking long-term if he believes I’ll still be here in the summer. Still on the back of his bike.
Such a simple gesture, but one that appeases my cautious heart.
I set the summer jacket on the stool with the grey leather one and sigh. I fall in love with it more every time I look at the damn thing. Tyke moves about in the store as I reach for the first of the pants he’s picked out for me, hung on the hook. The heavy fall of his boots against the floorboards is strangely comforting as I shimmy more than I’d care to admit to get the damn things over my ass. There has to be an easier way. Maybe Maddie will have some pointers, but then again, maybe Maddie will still be avoiding me when she gets back.
That’s if she’s even talking to me. I wish I knew where she went. Wish I knew what to say when I message her. Do I apologize and predict the inevitable? Or do I continue our friendship as though none of this is weird and everything will work out fine?
I hesitate, hands on the waistband, and take stock of myself in the mirror.Who the fuck am I kidding?No wonder she avoided me like the plague last night. I’m a stupid girl playing pretend, arrogant enough to think I can walk into this life she was born and raised into and make it mine without repercussion. The longer I stare, the more stupid I feel, and I’m seconds away from peeling the leather off my ass when Tyke jerks the curtain along the rod with a screech of the metal rings.
“What the fuck’s takin’ so long, baby girl?”
I draw a deep breath and sigh, shoulders falling as I prep myself for his look of disgust.
What I find, instead, is his tongue peeking out to wet his lips, gaze manically fixated on mine as he steps into the cubicle behind me and sets his big paws on my hips. “You see that?” His question is a low rumble, fed directly into my ear through lips that tease the flesh.
I flinch, seeing nothing but a man made for this fucking life and me, a woman who can’t even get her ass into a pair of leather trousers without pulling a muscle.
“Don’t know about you, baby girl.” His right hand slides across my hip and up my stomach to rest beneath the swell of my breasts. “But I think we look fuckin’ good together.” He growls, low in the back of his throat, as he runs the tip of his nose across the sensitive flesh behind my ear.
My skin pebbles at the contact, and my legs weaken beneath me.
“You like these?” His focus is back on the mirror, on us, as he runs his hands over the shape of my thighs and butt, wrapped in the skintight leather. “I like these.” He finishes his sweep, right hand sliding into the still-open zipper and under my panties.
My soaked fucking panties.Jesus.
