Page 40 of Falling for Her
I tense and fist my hands.
For five months, I’ve managed to keep her from asking about them, always changing the subject if she brings it up, or fuck, I’d just kiss her because her lips are always calling for me.
I won’t allow the club to taint her, I fucking won’t.
I turn and glare at Bullet as Butcher asks, “Essy? Isn’t that the person Levi keeps begging to go see?”
Hammer looks away, making me want to smirk, but I hold it in while my dad looks at me with a furrowed brow, and Butcher just looks confused.
“The women in the club are dumbfounded over who she is, especially Louise. He wants this Essy more than her, and it pisses her off,” Butcher mumbles and Bullet tilts his head at me.
I point at him and snap, “Dinner tomorrow is canceled,” he sighs, “No, it isn’t. You wouldn’t do that to Essy.”
“Son?” my dad questions, and I huff and look between him and Butcher, knowing they won’t give up and admit, “Essy is Esmerelda, my girl,” and their eyes widen in shock, but their mouths soon hang open as I state, “We’ve been together for five months.”
Bullet promises, “Bethany won’t go near her, Damian.”
I chuckle darkly and ask, “You mean just like Victoria wouldn’t go near Scar?” and he winces.
Victoria made Scar’s life fucking hell, something she was already dealing with at home, and not one club member stood by her because Victoria is Hammer's daughter. However, since she moved to France, she has met someone and is happy but that doesn’t change the shit she put Scar through.
“This girl, she makes you happy?” Butcher asks, and I lick my bottom lip and bite it while putting my hands on my hips.
I debated telling him where to go but judging by the look on his face, he won’t let go.
“She does,” I admit, “I’m in love with her and plan to spend the rest of my life with her once she graduates college.”
“Yeah she’s stubborn and has a list to finish before marrying him,” Bullet adds with a grin, and I narrow my eyes at him, but he continues, “Turns out Jacobs bakery near campus was her mother’s and her father is getting ready to sign it over to her but she keeps making up excuses,” he looks at our shocked fathers, “She’s doing a business class and culinary school at the moment while running the place and watching her baby brother whenever her dad needs help.”
“What about her mama?” my dad asks, and I answer automatically, “It’s not my story to tell.”
He frowns, “But you won’t let us meet her so how are we supposed to know her story? I get it, you want her separate from the club considering you’ve been with her for five months, but how do you know she’s not using you?”
I laugh, “What like Bethany was you mean, with the help of you two?” they both flinch and I admit, “She doesn’t even know my family is club, Bullet takes his cut off every time he sees her.”
Bullet cuts in, “You’re still club.”
I roll my eyes and state, “No, I’m not,” then look at my dad and Butcher and say, “Her mother passed, and that is all you need to know. She’s not after the patch I would have had. She’s not after my money. My girl is family orientated and the sweetest thing I’ve ever fucking known, so no, the club won’t be going near her. No, I won’t be returning to the club, and once I hear back from a tattoo shop I’ve applied to, I won’t even be on any club property soon.”
Hammer looks at me with shock and anger then points at me and growls, “I will not be losing my best tattoo artist.” I just shake my head and turn, but again, I pause near the door when my dad asks, “Has she been on your bike?”
Fuck’s sake.
I sigh and reluctantly admit, “Yes,” before storming out of the shop. Butchers muttered, “He’s still with us if he’s let her on the back of his bike,” just hitting my ears, and I shake my head.
Once a brother hands in his cut, normally they don’t allow anyone to ride bitch until after a year of leaving the club, and well, I didn’t.
Still doesn’t mean I’ll return.
Do I miss them? Yeah, I do, but I’ve been happier outside of the club since I was sixteen, and I need that.
Sighing, I walk over to my bike and climb on before starting her up. I look in the window of the tattoo shop and swallow hard, seeing all four men looking back at me with their arms crossed over their chests. I know they won’t give up.
They’ve given me nearly half a year to myself, but now they want me back within the fold. I just don’t know if I want to be part of that fold anymore.
I pull outside Jacobs bakery five minutes later and climb off my bike. I know I could have walked but I didn’t need them to try and follow me by foot.
Shaking my head, I walk into the bakery and look at the counter but pause and blink.
