Page 94 of Burning Ember

Nick laughs. “Well, I doubt any of it will go to waste. And you can get carried away like that anytime. These guys won’t mind.” Nick slaps my stomach. “They’re pigs, if you haven’t already noticed.”

“Oh . . . I’ve noticed.”

“Hey now,” I say, but both women ignore me.

Doll tucks her hair behind her ear and glances at the box on the ground. She picks it up. “Well, I’m going to go put this away. It was nice meeting you.”

We both stare after her. I don’t know what Nick’s looking at but my eyes are locked on Doll’s ass and the sway of her hips. And her legs. She has the sexiest fucking legs. Eying them has me daydreaming about having them wrapped around me again and all the ways I could see how flexible she is.

“So she’s for Edge, huh?”

Denial surges through me. I want to dispute it. I meet her eyes quickly and then look away. My gaze immediately goes back to Doll. I nod. What the fuck else am I gonna say to Nick, the woman famous for spreading club gossip?

“She’s a rare breed, Mav.”

I know she is, but I’m curious about Nick’s take on her. “How do you mean?”

“She cooks for women she knows probably won’t like her. And is genuinely kind to kids that aren’t her own. Most women love their own children. But it’s because they’ve held them as perfect, adorable infants.” At her words, my own chest constricts like a python is coiling around it.

I never even got to do that. Hold my own child.

“That girl has the heart of a mother, though she’s not one yet. She reminds me of my grams. She was the salt of the earth and everyone knew my grandpa was the luckiest son of a bitch because women like that are hard as hell to find.”

Beats of silence spread between us. I see the truth of her words before my eyes.

“I hear you’re responsible for that bandage on her neck.”

Holy fuck!I’m going to find out who’s ratting to her and break their fucking neck, after I cut out their tongue. “Who told you that?”

She raises a brow. “I have my sources.”

I chuckle darkly. I’ve never doubted that she knows almost everything that goes down at the clubhouse. Cap must have too, because he kept Becca in an apartment across town. She wasn’t allowed to live at the clubhouse.

“You know, Edge won’t care who he fucks when he gets out. Star or Jade. Either clubpiece is just as good as the next. It would be a shame to turn that beautiful girl into something ugly when she’s so obviously somethin’ special.”

She pats my face roughly, right over the bruise her son gave me. “She’s old lady material, Mav. Anyone who can’t see that is a fool.” Then she hammers the last nail in the coffin. “Dozer’s smart, but I thought you were smarter.”

She looks over at her son pensively. “He made a good decision speakin’ up for her though, so maybe he’ll make another good decision and claim her before the party.”

Over. My. Dead. Fucking. Body.

I grind my teeth and my skin tightens all over. I grunt and cross my arms. Not only has she insulted my intelligence, but she’s also prodding at the jealous feelings that stir inside me every time I see Doll with Dozer. She’s right, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to tell her so.

“God knows I’m not always gonna be around to take care of you boys, especially if somethin’ happens to Cap. It would do my heart good, havin’ an old lady like her around.”

Fighting solves nothing . . . That’s bullshit. Fighting solves a whole hell of a lot.

MAVERICK

I push through the swinging door of the kitchen expecting to find Doll alone, but what I find instead is a leather cut, and the back of Dozer’s head.

“Septic’s gonna kill me. I was supposed to be at the hospital twenty minutes ago,” Dozer says hoarsely. “But I was hopin’ to get a minute alone with you. Maybe get a kiss to tide me over for the night.”

He’s standing against the counter, and on either side of his hips are feminine legs. Legs that he’s currently running his hands over. Legs that look a hell of a lot like the ones I was eye-fucking not ten minutes ago.

My pulse goes from a steady beat to a fastthump, thump, thumpin an instant.

Dozer’s head bends forward. The airs discharges from my lungs. The need to haul him off her and rearrange the bone structure of his face grabs hold of me.