CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Iron
I was surprised to find Petra walking into the clubhouse mid-afternoon.
By the look on her face, I could tell this wasn’t her coming around for some fun.
She had something on her mind and she was here to sort it out.
I loved that about her. She didn’t play games. If there was something wrong, she’d come right out and say it.
“Hey, babe,” I said as I slid off the stool at the bar where I’d been talking to Mason and B-ry.
Smiling, I walked over to her. I could tell she was a little tense and I hoped that I could ease whatever was going on in her head. I wrapped my arms around her and leaned down to give her a kiss.
“No,” she told me with a shake of her head.
“No? I can’t kiss you?” I was more amused than pissed off.
Whether or not she would admit it, I’d somewhat broken her into kissing me when she first saw me. I couldn’t say that I hated it.
“We have to talk and if I kiss you I might forget everything,” she told me pointedly. Though it was kind of sweet and cute, there wasn’t a hint of that in her tone.
I held my chuckle back as I took her hand in mine.
With a jerk of my chin, I let my brothers know that we’d finish our conversation later.
Now, I wasn’t saying that Petra came before the club. If it had been something that required serious attention, I would have told her so. And she would have understood it. I knew how to prioritize things and I thought I kept a good balance when it came to all the important shit in my life.
“Talk to me, Pet,” I said to her after we were tucked away in my apartment.
She took three steps, turned right around and took three more. She walked that line a few good times before I called her name softly.
Petra didn’t strike me as someone that paced.
I knew it had to be something big if she was doing it in front of me right now.
“I need to know where this is going,” she said and thank fuck, she stopped pacing.
“Okay,” I said then took in a long breath through my nose. I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t even irritated. I was, however, a little fuckin’ hurt that she didn’t get it by now.
But then I looked at her and everything inside of me softened. It was Petra. She wasn’t like other women. Hell, she wasn’t like other people period.
“What do you need me to say here, Pet?” I asked but wasn’t expecting her to answer. I wasn’t even going to give her a chance to. “You want me to tell you that I’ve never loved another woman the way I love you? You want to hear me say that I neverwant tolove another woman the way that I love you? Or that I don’t even think that I could? Or how about this, I don’t want my fuckin’ life without you in it.”
She gasped. Actually, fucking gasped. Then there was wetness in her eyes and I knew that if she was aware of it that she’d hate it.
But I didn’t.
I was desperate for this part of her and I’d take every second she’d let me in.
“That doesn’t help me, though,” she said then snapped her mouth shut.
“You want the words, baby? I’ll give them to you.” I walked over and pulled her into my arms. She was stiff for a few breaths, but then her body gave in and relaxed against mine. “We are together. Together. As in, there is no one else. I want you by my side and in my bed. I want to take this as far as you’ll let me. And you bet your damn fine ass, that I want to be the man that stands tall behind you.”
“That’s the thing… how far? What do youwant?”
“What are you willing to give me?” I tried another direction because whatever she was looking for, I clearly wasn’t saying it. Damn, I was layin’ my heart all out here and it wasn’t doing a fucking thing.
