Page 91 of Acceptance
“Em—”
“I built you up into someone I don’t think you can become, and that’s on me. But you should at least be able to be a man.”
Standing, VP points to his straining fly. “Trust me, I’m a fucking man.”
“No, you’re not. Not until you can take responsibility and accountability for what you’ve done. I’ve wasted too much time hoping you could be the man I’ve wanted, and I’m done. No more wishing. No more waiting.”
“Emma, I am the man you want. I’m the same man I’ve always been. There’s been no change.”
“Don’t you see? That’s the problem. You should go, Nash. I really do hope Margaret is doing okay, all things considered.”
VP walks to the door and shakes his head. “I really don’t understand any of this.”
“I know you don’t, and I don’t owe you the time it would take to explain it. You have everything you need to know, and it’s up to you to decide to step back and look at what you’ve done or not.”
“You’re really done with me?”
“I am.”
Laughing, he steps onto the porch. “Then I guess you’re a woman without a club, huh?”
“That threat would hold more merit if you were still an officer, and my son-in-law wasn’t the President. But if you think I needthe club to sustain myself, you may want to take a minute to remember how much time I spent in Arizona. Alone.”
The door shuts in his face, and he leaves. Uncomfortable and alone. How the hell did his life come to this?
Chapter Thirty
Griffin’s Beach
Marnie
“Who knew we had so much stuff?” Marnie asks, hands on her hips as she looks around the living room of her new place.
“You never saw my place in Summerville, love. I had a lot of stuff waiting to move into a house here,” Venom says, his arms wrapping around her waist.
Smiling, she turns in his arms and kisses him. “I wish I would’ve seen your house. And I promise to make it up to you, but I need a shower first.”
“I like showers.”
She giggles and waves an arm around to the boxes before pointing out the window at the moving truck. Between herapartment and his storage unit, they’ve had two trucks full of items to move. “What about our stuff?”
“It’ll still be here after I’ve had you in the shower,” he says, his lips kissing her neck. “And then the bed. Oh, and the kitchen counter for a late-night snack.”
Moaning, she closes her eyes. “We’ll be too tired to unpack.”
“We’ll order pizza. Fuel us up. And then we can call people to help. How have the girls been treating you?”
“Everyone’s been great. The only one who has been pretty cold is Autumn, but I don’t think that’s specific to me. It seems to be across the board with all the women.”
“I bet Lex would be more than happy to get a group of women to help you unpack the boxes while I call the Prospects and a few of the guys to help me carry everything inside.”
His lips kiss her neck again, and her eyes roll to the back of her head. “I think this is the most I’ve worn clothes since we’ve been back together. Unless you were gone on a run. I wore clothes significantly more while you weren’t around.”
His eyebrow lifts as his blue eyes gaze into hers with affection and need. “And when did you shed your clothes then, love?”
The nickname is back, and Marnie melts every time he says it. She’s longed to hear it ever since she realized she couldn’t live without him. “Whenever I’d get the urge,” she whispers, tilting her head and smiling up at him, “to hop in the shower. It’s rather awkward hanging out in wet clothes.”
He nods with a small, mischievous smirk, and she’s suddenly thrown over his shoulder. She squeals, and he walks quickly through the master bedroom and into the bathroom. Before she knows it, she’s standing in the shower with him, and the water pours over them.