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“Have you two . . . yah know?” asks Leia.
I shake my head. “No, nothing like that. He’s been like a really good friend these last few days. I think I’m in shock.”
“It’s one way to protect you from Vinn,” says Leia.
“Now, the club has to protect you,” adds Anna, “as an ol’ lady.”
I stand. “I can’t let him do this.”
Anna pulls me back to sit. “He’s made the choice. You can’t go back out there and throw it in his face. Look, get over whatever that was with you and Vinn, then things will have settled.”
“You don’t know my brother,” scoffs Gia, and Leia nods in agreement.
“There’s nothing he can do now without upsetting the club, and nobody wants that,” says Anna with confidence.
MAC
Fuck. Frankie isn’t gentle when she wipes the split in my eyebrow. I wince, and she rolls her eyes impatiently. “Are you serious about this?” asks Cree, and I nod. “But you don’t know the woman.”
I shrug. Yeah, it wasn’t on my list of things to do today, but neither was sightseeing. “She’s like a lost soul, and I feel for her,” I explain. It’s true—something in her calls to me, and I can’t resist the pull to protect her. She’s had a shit life and she deserves to be happy. And yeah, it might not be with me, but at least it’ll give her breathing room from Vinn.
“But you’re not together,” says Riggs.
“It don’t matter. There’s nothing in the rules that says I can’t claim an ol’ lady unless I fuck her.”
“He’s got a point,” says Frankie.
“I just don’t get why you’d wanna claim her,” says Riggs.
“Because she needs to be away from Vinn. If he had his way, he’d marry the Italian and keep Raven in some luxury apartment on the side. She deserves better.”
“Why do you care?” asks Cree.
“I dunno,” I mutter. “I just do.”
“Look, man,” Riggs begins, “you haven’t got to punish yourself for what happened back in Nottingham.” I glare at him. It isn’t common knowledge, but he nods to reassure me he isn’t going into detail. “All I’m saying is don’t rush into this. You might end up breaking her heart.”
“I’ll be straight with her,” I say.
I find Raven in the kitchen with some of the other ol’ ladies. She smiles sadly at me, and I hold out my hand. She takes it, and I lead her out to the back of the club, where there’s a field and some trees, and we slowly begin to walk. “That wasn’t how I planned the day to end,” I say.
“Look, I know you said that to save me from Vinn, and I appreciate it so much, but I don’t expect you to go through with it or anything. It’s cool to back out.”
I glance at her. “I ain’t backing out.”
“Oh.”
“You deserve better than Vinn. Heal your heart and find someone who will treat you good.”
“Can I do that if you’ve claimed me?”
“It’s our rules, who’s gonna stop us? I just wanna give you a chance to move on. You can’t do that with him in the picture. If I have to be the buffer, then so be it.”
“Seems a little extreme,” she mutters with a nervous laugh.
“Just the way I am,” I say. “You’ll get used to it.”
* * *
