“You don’t know him,” I told her quietly. “I had a crush on a boy when I was thirteen, and Rooster found out. The kid wasn’t at school the next day because he’d been a victim of a hit-and-run. Ten broken bones. Rooster sat on the edge of my bed whileI cried and told me the only important men in my life were him and his club.”
Mei’s expression tightened, and I winced as her grip did on my wrist.
“I can’t imagine what he would do to Aaron for getting involved in my life,” I admitted. “And I’ve lain awake thinking about it at night. I grew up in the club, Mei. I know what happens to traitors and enemies. I’ve heard them tortured, seen them maimed, watched them beg on their knees in front of Rooster only to have him put a bullet between their eyes. There’s nothing romantic about dying at his hand. Not for love and loyalty and certainly not forme.”
“In my experience, people have a much better idea of our own worth than we do ourselves. I struggled for a long time, thinking I didn’t deserve love, and I was a much worse person when I shunned it. I’ll probably never think I’m good enough for Henning Axelsen because he’s the best man I’ve ever known. But it makes him happy to love me, and God knows it makes me happy to let him and love him right back.” She shrugged. “Something to consider.”
“You don’t know me.” The words were filled with the frustration that bubbled and churned where Rooster’s lifelong abuse met Aaron and the Entrance chapter of The Fallen MC’s kindness. My gut hissed and churned like the Bermuda Triangle, thoughts drowning in the riptides. “Not you and not Aaron.”
No one!my conscience screamed.No one knows you, and no one ever will becausehewon’t let them.
“No,” Mei agreed, sliding from the stool to her combat boots. “But I’ve got trust issues a mile wide, and Eugene hates just about everyone he meets, and yeah, Boner might have told us about you, but you wouldn’t have a job here, and I wouldn’t be offering to take you to meet Lin if we didn’t think you were worth knowing after only a few minutes of talking to you.”
She turned and started walking to the door. Distantly, I noted that her almost ethereal beauty was contrasted by ripped black skinny jeans and a paint-splattered Streek Ink Tattoo tee she’d cut off at the sleeves and hem to reveal her toned arms and belly. She looked like some kind of kick-ass avenging angel.
And I wanted to go with her more than my next breath.
Toward Lin’s Beauty Emporium and my dream job, toward a group of people who embodied the kind of loyalty I’d only ever dreamed about, toward Aaron and the safe, passionate security of his arms.
But I thought of Grouch after Rooster had let him go, broken nose and orbital socket, eye swollen closed, shoulder dislocated, the fingers of his left hand crushed by some kind of tool. He’d been broken, sobbing as Rooster tossed him his keys with a vague threat not to go to the cops and took off.
And he was just a civilian.
Not part of the club Rooster hatred through to his marrow.
Mei realized I wasn’t following her and turned, cocking her head for a moment before extending her hand to me. “Come on, Blue. You don’t have to see Aaron, and you don’t have to take the job if you don’t want it. Just come get your nails done with me.” She showed me the chipped black polish on her bitten-down nails and winced. “You know you don’t want to be responsible for me staying like this.”
A breathless laugh left me. “They are tragic.”
“That’s not the first time someone’s said that about me, believe it or not,” she joked, wiggling her fingers at me. “You’re going to give me a complex if you don’t take my fucking hand. I’m not usually the touchy-feely type, and I can’t face the rejection.”
I laughed again because I could see how she and Aaron would get along, her sharp sarcasm and his teasing charm. I thought Imight pay all the money I’d buried in a lockbox in the backyard of the Raider’s clubhouse to spend just half an hour with them.
So I sucked in a breath, reminded myself that I was bold and brave, and stood to take Mei’s hand. It was warm in mine, small but strong.
And the smile she gave me, a true one that made a dimple pop in one cheek, was worth the effort.
BLUE
Aaron: You angry?
Blue: Completely.
Aaron: God, what I wouldn’t give to taste that anger on your tongue.
Blue: Aaron, it only annoys me even more when you’re sexy and charming while I’m trying to be mad at you.
Aaron: Yeah, it’s part’a my charm ;p
Blue: I should be angry, but how can I be? Lin and Mei are amazing. Eugene was grumpy but kinda sweet in his own way. I get to work doing something I love.
Aaron: Mission accomplished. You can be angry with me any day if it means you’re happy the rest’a the time.
Blue: Stop it!
Aaron: ??
Blue: Stop trying to make me fall in love with you. I told you, this isn’t happening.
