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“These two are gonna hang out until I get back. Danika was missing you, so they brought her out to visit.”

She looked up at Dani’s fathers. “Thank you.”

Pippen dropped down on the couch on her other side and bumped her shoulder. “She wasn’t the only one missing you.” The small smile she gave him told me she would be ok while I was gone. I kissed the side of her head and walked to the door.

“I was kidding the other day when I said you look like you could take me. You hurt my woman and you won’t have to worry about the war that’s coming because you won’t be around for it,” I said, low enough that only Sypher heard me.

“Understood.”

Walking into the clubhouse without my cut felt strange. Like a piece of my heart had been cut out of my chest. But I would gladly tear out the rest of it out if it meant my woman kept that smile on her face.

She was so happy to have Dani in her arms again. I wasn’t lying when I told her we could follow Sypher and Pippen wherever they went.

“Hey, man,” Jack said somberly, grabbing my hand and pulling me in for a hug.

“I’ve only been gone a few hours, Jack.”

“Too fucking long already. King’s in his office.”

“Any idea what he wants?” I asked, and the look Jack gave me told me he knew exactly what King wanted.

Standing in the main room, I debated walking to his office. He wasn’t my president anymore. I didn’t have to follow his orders.

“He deserves the chance to say his piece,” Colt said from his stool at the bar.

“I know. But I won’t change my mind. I can’t.”

“Just hear him out.”

Nodding, I walked toward his office. This would be easier in church. But I wasn’t a brother anymore. I didn’t have the right to be in there.

Suddenly, the hallway felt longer. A little like walking toward the gallows. Nothing King could say would give me a reprieve from my decision. I hadn’t made it for me. I made it for the woman I loved.

She was the only one that mattered.

Standing in front of the door, I found it hard to lift my hand to knock. Until this moment, I hadn’t wavered in my decision. But knowing I had to stand before the man I admired most in this world and defend my decision to walk away for a woman would not be easy.

Especially when that man wouldn’t let himself have his own woman because there was something standing in the way. None of us knew what it was, but we all assumed it had something to do with the club.

The club was supposed to come first. Always. No matter what. And it had.

Until Melissa.

Until one night, on my way back from a run, when I stopped at a dive bar for a drink to break up the ride home. And I met a woman who knocked me on my ass. A woman who burrowed under my skin like a parasite.

A beautiful, sexy parasite that I wanted under me for the rest of my goddamn life.

Lifting my hand, I knocked on the door, waiting for the order to enter. When I opened the door, King sat at his desk, and Cash stood against the wall. Neither looked happy to see me.

Chapter Forty-Six

Melissa

Dante and I sat on the couch with Danika, while Danny hovered by the front door. He looked uncomfortable. Like he wanted to bolt and the only thing keeping him in place was that Dante and Dani were happy to see me. Even if he wasn’t.

His eyes locked on mine, and his words shocked me. “Thank you for the phone. Dante and I sat and watched some of the videos you took.”

“There were a lot,” Dante added. I looked at him and the smile on his face made it all worth it.