No more games.
I was on the fence about the club. I didn’t like that they had the final say over our relationship and how much time we wereable to spend together. However, ultimately, I did want Dante. It pained me to admit it, because the last thing I wanted to do was fall for this brute. Yet I had, and there was no point in hiding that anymore.
“Yes,” I said quietly.
“What was that, love? You’ve got a bit of a crowd here, so if you could speak up, that would be grand.”
“Vienna,” I snapped back. “This is meant to be a lovely moment between me and Dante. Could you shut the fuck up?”
He grinned widely at me. “You heard it here first, folks,” he said, spinning around to face the crowd with his arms outstretched. “She said ‘lovely moment’. We all heard it. That means yes. She said yes!”
The crowd erupted as Dante came rushing forward to scoop me into his arms and hauled me against his body. His lips found mine at the same time as his hands swept under my ass and along the back of my thighs, encouraging me to wrap my legs around his waist.
“You won’t regret this,” he whispered against my mouth, before taking my lower lip between his teeth. My hands linked behind his head, holding him close to me as his tongue replaced his teeth, stroking along my own, deepening the kiss.
“Break it up, lovebirds,” Crash said, coming towards us with a bag in his hands.
Dante lowered me to the floor and took the bag from his dad with a murmured thanks.
“Congratulations, son,” he said, slapping Dante on the shoulders. “You too, beautiful,” he said to me, leaning forward to kiss my cheek.
I heard a small growl come from Dante and bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling.
“Congratulations,” Kitty said, a small smile on her lips.
Fucking blow me down. She knows how to smile.
“Thank you,” I replied cooly.
“What’s with the formality?” Vienna demanded, pulling me into his arms for a hug. “Shut the fuck up, Dante,” he murmured into my hair without pulling away. “I’m entitled to one hug before you get all possessive.”
“Thank you,” I said quietly. “And soon, I’ll be hugging you when Gabriella is returned to you.”
“She’s not lost, Rachel. You can’t return her. Besides, what are you going to do, kidnap her?”
“It worked for your friend here,” I said, pulling back just as Dante reached his limit.
“Right,” he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from Vienna. “That wasn’t a hug. That was a fuckingembrace,and I don’t like seeing it.”
“Good luck.” Vienna winked at me with a small smirk. A smirk that he quickly turned into a frown as he walked away.
Dante simply shook his head as he reached inside the bag Crash brought him and pulled out a helmet, handing it to me. I let out a bark of laughter when I saw he had it personalised with “Stabby Rachel” written on it.
“You said your mother always used to say, ‘don’t be selfish, Rachel,’ and that you were sick of being ‘selfish Rachel’…” his words trailed off with an awkward silence.
“I get it, Dante, and I love it. Really, I do,” I said, blinking back the ridiculous tears that came to my eyes.
“And after the events of today, I think it’s even more fitting,” Vienna shouted over. Every pair of eyes in attendance turned to throw an angry glare at him. “What?” he asked innocently, his own eyes growing wide. “Too soon?”
Kitty lost it at that point and stormed away.
Oh no, please don’t go. Kitty, stay…
Damn, she didn’t hear me. Oh well. No fucking loss there. Crash chased after her, throwing an apologetic look towards us.
“And here,” Dante said, bringing my attention back to him. He pulled out the most amazing leather jacket. It wasn’t a club jacket – women weren’t allowed to have those. But it was a sign of membership all the same. It had my name on the back, and on the front was my own little patch that said “old lady” as my title.
He held it out for me, and I quickly accepted the invitation to put it on, feeling strangely warmed by the cool leather.
