“Sore, but the painkillers helped.”
Mariana begins to stir; our voices having disturbed her. She wakes slowly as normal, stretching, wincing as her bruised muscles pull, then her eyes widen when she sees she’s in the clubhouse and not our room. I see the exact moment it all comes back to her.
“El…?” she begins to ask. But I’ve put my hand over her mouth, my eyes flaring in warning.
“Never, ever, speak his name again.”
“Tse?”
“Never, understand? Wipe him from your mind.”
Her eyes meet mine, seem to read it’s important without understanding why. Another thing I love about my old lady.
“It’s over. Finished,” I reassure her.
Despite her pain, she smiles as she tells me, “I love you, Tse.”
“Love you too.” I’ll tell her every day, fuck, a hundred times a day for the rest of our lives. Lives we can now get on with without fear.
Drew gives a teenage snort of disgust at our proclamations, and walks off grinning and shaking his head.
I take his place on the couch, and gently pull her into my side.
“I think I’ve got the Indian tonight,” she tells me wryly. And perceptively.
I laugh. “You have. If you weren’t sore, I’d be dragging you by the hair back to my hogan.”
As my brothers start celebrating, I realise I haven’t told her the news. “Sam’s had her baby. Another boy.”
“I thought Wraith was looking upset,” she giggles.
We stay there, comfortable sitting in the middle of the clubhouse. My brothers come over, checking she’s alright, giving her praise for what she did earlier. I stop any of them speaking the name before they can utter it.
When she’s going over it yet again with an admiring Blade, I rest my head back, finally relaxing for the first time in weeks.My woman’s safe.I’m still a Satan’s Devil. All’s good with the world.
I feel, strangely, that my white and Native American halves are finally melding together, finding harmony. That what I’ve always been searching for, I’ve found with her.
Chapter 44
Mariana
“What are you up to, Tse?” Narrowing my eyes, I watch as heonce againquickly ends a phone call when I walk into the suite.
Standing, he comes over, leaning down to place a kiss on my forehead, before telling me, “Nothing to worry your pretty head about.”
I glare. If something was wrong, he wouldn’t be smirking. There are no lines of stress marring the beauty of his face. But something’s going on. I don’t like surprises, had enough of those over the past few months and none of them were good.
“Hey, Mouse. Have you…” Drew bursts in the door, his mouth snapping shut as soon as he sees I’ve returned from admiring the new babies in the clubhouse. It seems to me like the two men in my life had planned on me being away longer.
Pursing my lips, I shake my head, wondering if I should drop it, then I decide whatever’s going on, I’d rather confront it.
“Just tell me, will you?” It’s almost comical. Both look like they’ve been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, both guilty as sin. Drew’s wide-open eyes find those of Tse, whose own appear shifty. I step over to the bed and sit down, crossing my arms over my chest. “Okay, who’s going to start talking first? What are you up to? It’s something.”
“Mouse?” Drew sounds uncertain.
Tse sighs. “I was going to set it all up and surprise you,” he sounds frustrated.
“Don’t like things taking me unawares, Tse,” I warn. “Had too much of that lately.”
