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Rae pushes her bacon around the plate some more.
Dolly slides in behind the bar, licking the syrup off her fingers as she takes stock of the mess left from the night before. She spots me settling onto the stool Merrick abandoned and grins. "You Connell boys need to give the girl a break. First Digger, then Kane, and now you." She barks a laugh, but I'm stuck on the first name she listed.
"Digger was down here?" Fucker said he was going back to bed after a shit night’s sleep.
“He was just checking up on me.” Rae leans an elbow on the bar, fingers woven into her hair as she leans on her hand. “Said he had something for me to do so I can keep my mind off things.”
“Fair enough.” Asshole never said shit to me about it. “He worried about you after you two talked last night?”
Her gaze darts to me and away just as fast. She didn’t expect me to know, which makes me even more curious about what exactly went down between them.
“Yeah,” she answers. “I said I was fine, though.”
“Are you, though?” I lean back and tear off another bite of breakfast.
She shrugs.
I wait, chewing while I study the woman slumped over the marble. At first glance, she’s perfectly put together: large faded black T-shirt hanging from her shoulders, hiding her ass, dark gray leggings covering her legs. Her bare feet perch on the crossbar of the stool, glitter-painted toes curled around the brass.
It’s what I find when I brush off my hands and then gently tuck the curtain of her hair behind her ear.
Rae’s dead gaze fixates on the bacon that she stabs idly, lips turned down. The dark shadows under her eyes tell me she barely slept. The pallor of her skin indicates she feels less than at her best.
“What do you need?”
Her gaze flicks across to me. “What do you mean?”
“To feel good. What do you need to feel alive, Rae?”
Her mouth twitches into a weak half-smile. “A do-over.”
I hook my feet around her stool and drag it closer, settling her between my widespread knees. She starts as the seat moves; hands braced atop the bar.
“We got some ground rules to work through, so we may as well do it now and set some guidelines for me while we’re at it.”
Dolly touches the side of Rae’s abandoned plate. “You finished with this, honey?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“You eaten at all?” I eye the bacon going to waste.
“I had some eggs.”
“Good.” Don’t need the girl starving herself. “Get us a fresh pot of coffee, yeah, love?”
Dolly smiles and nods once, turning to clear the dish.
“The club has ground rules that all members need to abide by,” I tell Rae. She stares down at the marble, fingertip tracing a line of grey through the slab. “Most important for you is rule eleven. It states that all women on club grounds are to be treated with respect.” She nods. I need to see she understands what I say, though, so I grasp ahold of her chin and gently turn her face toward me. “You ever feel unsafe, you come and find me. Understood?”
Rae nods, big eyes holding mine.
I wet my lips, urging my fucking brain to tear my fingers from her flesh, yet I can’t fucking do it. I keep hold of the beauty before me and search her resigned gaze. She doesn’t believe it. Doesn’t think she holds enough importance for me to do anything about it if a brother were to treat her bad.
“You belong to Digger now. Once we spread the word, you’ll be off-limits. But that doesn’t mean he’s the only one you can rely on to keep you safe.” I swallow, thumb coasting the line of her jaw. “You’ve got me as well.”
Her mouth curls a little. “I appreciate that.”
I let go before I do something stupid, nodding tightly. “Right. So, the only other rule you need to be aware of, as Digger’s woman, is that you’re only allowed at the clubhouse when he’s here.”
