Page 25 of Love Gamble
“And we will be,” I growl, pulling her arm gently so she’s closer to me. At the same time I step toward her. “He didn’t touch you? Didn’t say anything inappropriate?”
She shakes her head. “No, he just said he was taking a walk and saw us and thought that he’d say hello. Do you think he was following us?”
I pull her against my chest and hold her. Imagine if something had happened to her today. I could have lost her forever. That same feeling of despair comes over me, just like when she was kidnapped. Just like when my mother died. Everything is so complicated between us, but in these moments it all becomes so simple.
“Maybe. Don’t go anywhere alone without an escort from now on, you hear me?”
She pushes my chest and glances up at me with annoyance. “And who are you to call the shots on my safety, Damon? I’ll be listening to whatever Julianna, River, and Romeo tell me, not you. You worry about Melinda.”
Fucking Melinda.
I’ve let it drag out and used it as a barrier to put between us, but I’m done with that.
As she walks off I call out, “That day you saw me having lunch with Melinda was the day I broke up with her! I don’t give a shit about anyone else, Corey.”
That’s the cold, hard truth.
And I’m done fighting it.
She stops in her tracks and turns around. “And why didn’t you say anything then?” Her hazel eyes narrow to slits. “You wanted me to think you were taken, didn’t you? Because then you wouldn’t have an excuse to not be with me. You know what? You might be a badass biker, Damon. But when it comes to me, you are a coward.”
With that blow, she storms inside, and I suddenly want to beat the shit out of something.
Or someone.
Tatum better watch the fuck out.
After a few deep breaths to calm myself down, I follow her back inside where everyone is sitting in the living room, discussing what took place.
“The women aren’t to go anywhere alone,” Romeo states, and I look over at Corey, and the worry in her eyes kills me. “They’re fucking with the wrong club. Jeremiah and Blaze, you stay with the women. The rest of us are going for a ride.”
The men all head off to prepare.
I want to talk to Corey a little more and try to explain myself, but it’s going to have to wait until we get back. My eyes linger on her, but she doesn’t even look at me, instead listening intently to whatever her brother is saying to her. She nods, and then takes Julian from Julianna, cradling the infant.
Sighing, I turn and follow the men to our bikes. “What’s the plan?” I ask Romeo.
“I don’t have a good one,” he admits, jaw tight. “But I’m thinking we go find them, and then maybe just go in and beat the fucking shit out of them.”
I nod, shrugging. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me.
And so we ride off in a group of black and leather, with no fucking plan, and full of anger.
Foolproof, right?
Romeo leads the way and we just follow in formation. We go down the Strip first, and finally end up at the biker bar where we first met them.
Their bikes are out the front.
They knew this is where we’d look, and it means they are expecting us. They obviously have anticipated the moves we’d make, likely based on what they’d do in the same situation.
They might have the upper hand in that sense, but this is our city, our home, and that is where they will lose.
We get off our bikes and enter the bar as a group, Romeo in the front, River to his right, and me to his left. The rest of the men are behind us.
Gio lifts his head when he sees us, and without any further warning we approach them. I look around for Tatum, but don’t see anyone with the description River gave me.
“You come near our women again and it will be the last thing you do,” Romeo says. His deathly calm tone is almost chilling.