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“What is there to talk about?”

“I know you have questions.”

Her hands twisted in her lap, and I placed mine over them. “Ask the question.”

“Are you going to do it?”

The question was so quiet I almost didn’t hear her. But the pain was loud. It screamed like a fucking banshee in the silent cabin.

“No. I already told King no. Which is why I didn’t need to talk to you. I didn’t need to ask you if it was ok because I wasn’t going to do it.”

“Is it something you want? To stay in the club?”

“What I want is you.”

“Travis...” Her voice trailed off, and I knew she was frustrated. She wanted me to say yes. She wanted me to prove I was just like her brother and Danny. Putting the club before my family.

“Listen. I won’t lie to you. I love being in the club. I love my brothers. But I love you more. If having you means I can’t have them, then fuck it.”

“You’ll grow to resent me.”

“I won’t,” I insisted.

“You can’t know that,” she argued.

“I can’t know what I feel and what I want, but you’re sure of what will happen down the road?”

“It’s how it works. Gunner put me first until I was an adult. Then he pushed me aside for the club.”

“I am not your fucking brother. What he did was a dick move. He shouldn’t have walked away from you. He knows he fucked up. I won’t make that mistake. I know what I have in my fucking arms. I’m not willing to let it go.”

“The longer we’re together, the more it will hurt when you leave.”

She was breaking my fucking heart. I didn’t know how to get her to believe that I wasn’t leaving her.

“I’m not leaving, Princess. You’re fucking stuck with me.”

Standing up, I kissed the top of her head and went back to making the breakfast food we would have for dinner.

“Danny and Dante are staying here.”

Her words caught me off guard. “They are?” That was news to me.

She nodded. “Danny said he couldn’t promise how long, but for now they are staying. They aren’t going back to New York.”

“That will be great for you. Maybe you can reconcile with your brother while we’re here. If nothing else, it gives you time with Haizley.”

Continuing on with my task, I waited. I knew it was coming. She would continue to test me until she was confident in my decision.

“If we’re here...” she paused. I heard the tremor in her voice. The fear of the suggestion she was about to make. “You could stay with the club.”

“Already made my decision, Princess.”

“But, Travis—”

Looking over my shoulder, I cut off her words with a look.

“I made my decision and I don’t regret it. It has nothing to do with Sypher and Pippen. It had nothing to do with Dani. It was about you and me and what was best for us.”