Page 26 of In Death, Love Survives

FOURTEEN

Nova

Wolfe opens the front door of his home, and it’s nothing like I expected it to be. I’m not sure why, but I pictured something smaller and more discreet, given what I know about his operations.

He did tell me he owns something akin to a ranch, but I wasn’t expecting, well… this, a sprawling home fit for a family. This is nicer than any bachelor pad I had concocted in my head.

The outside of the house is white with deep, rich brown detailing, like the wraparound porch where I can already picture myself drinking my morning coffee.

As he sets me down, Wolfe doesn’t let go of my hand.

“This is the family room.”

It’s modern and minimalistic, with brown leather and wood furniture, and it reminds me completely of Wolfe. Something about that warms me to know that Wolfe hasn’t had a woman place her touch on his home yet.

“It’s nice.”

“Then through those doors is the kitchen. Opposite side of the kitchen is where the boys will sometimes crash if I have parties or late nights.”

“Parties?”

“Sometimes.”

“You’ll have to tell me about them sometime.”

He hums as he leads me down the hall. More deep wooden accents line the walls.

“Dining room in here,” he says as he pushes open a swinging door.

I nod as he then leads me to a game room, an office, and lastly, an empty room.

“Why is this one empty?”

He shrugs.

“Just haven’t thought of what to do with it yet.”

A room for a child, perhaps.

“One day,” I say with a small smile.

He smiles back, almost as if he’s had the same idea too. It’s too soon to think about that kind of future, but maybe one day.

Next, he pulls me toward another hallway, which has two guest rooms and his primary bedroom.

As I step into Wolfe’s bedroom, the sudden feeling of how real all this is begins to weigh on me.

His room is not unlike the rest of his house, with deep, rich brown wooden furniture, a simple white bedding set, a large television, and a sitting area with the same leather tones I’ve been seeing everywhere.

This home tells me so much and yet so little about Wolfe, all at the same time. He’s a simple man with big priorities, a complex creature I never saw coming, and now it’s all being laid bare for me to see.

I walk along the length of the bed, touching the soft fabric of the bedding set as I go. It’s a bit worn, clearly something he’s had for a while.

I can’t help but wonder how many women he’s brought into this bed. How many have lain with this man in these very sheets.

My insecurities are bubbling up.

It’s not his fault. I know he has a past, one that I’m assuming has been filled with multiple women, maybe even countless.

Wolfe is attractive, unbearably so. That, combined with his intellect, businesses, and everything else, makes him desirable to most women.

I may not know everything about what it’s like to be part of a club, but what I do know is that Wolfe is the top prize in some of their eyes, and I’m the new woman here, claiming him as mine.

It’ll be interesting to navigate all this newness at once.

“What are you thinking, angel?” Wolfe asks.

I glance up from the bedding to see Wolfe standing by the entrance, still, with his arms crossed, looking at me intensely.

“It’s nice too,” I say weakly.

I can’t let Wolfe know how insecure I’m suddenly feeling. I know he says he’s here for me every step of the way, but in my experience, people tend to let you down. I may be taking a chance on Wolfe, but I need to protect myself too.

“Nova girl, now tell me why you’re stiff as a board in our house and in our bedroom?” he asks huskily as he stalks forward.

Wolfe is on the opposite side of the bed, waiting for me to answer.

“It’s just a lot.”

“A lot,” he slowly repeats.

“Yes.”

“What’s a lot? Baby, you hate this house? I’ll tear it down and build us a new one. You hate the furniture? Take my credit card and buy every single fucking new thing you want. This bed?” He suddenly stops, and a sly smile appears.

“This bed hasn’t had another pussy dripping in it. Is that what has you clamming up? I promise you, angel, this bed hasn’t been touched by another woman.”

I swallow, trying to figure out what to say.

“And it sure as fuck can be replaced if you don’t believe me.”

“Of course I believe you,” I rush out.

“Good. But this bed isn’t the problem, is it?”

Wolfe walks around the bed slowly, as if I’m his prey that he’s about to devour. My heartbeat quickens as he comes closer. He’s right. I do want that.

“The problem is that you want me to tell you that I can’t wait to sink my cock into your pussy only on this bed, every goddamn day for the rest of my life.”

He stills as he finally reaches me.

“What do you say, angel? Can I fuck you in our home? In our bed. Where you belong.”

I exhale slowly as I nod yes.

“Yes, I would really like that,” I manage to get out.

Wolfe puts a hand behind my head and crushes his mouth to mine.

It’s intentional and thorough by the way his tongue twists and turns inside me.

It’s as if he knows that he has to do everything in his power to keep me here when these negative thoughts start to creep in.

He’s exactly what I need if I’m going to try to have a relationship with anyone.

Suddenly, Wolfe’s phone starts vibrating in his pocket. He ignores it until the vibrations stop. If anything, it makes him even more eager.

The phone vibrates again.

“Wolfe,” I mumble as he still tries to kiss me at a punishing pace.

I giggle as I pull away, leaving us both slightly out of breath.

“I’m not getting it.”

“You just got back. I’m sure it’s important.”

Wolfe leans his head back and lets out a loud groan.

“See who it is.”

He pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and then looks up.

“It’s Caleb.”

“I bet it is important then,” I say with a small smile.

“He knows I’m with you right now.”

“Then it’s definitely important.”

The vibrations stop as he grips it tightly.

“Wolfe, didn’t you say we have forever? Call him back. We can do this… later.”

“But I don’t want to wait until later.”

Heat pools between my thighs at his demanding tone. I don’t want to wait until later either, but duty calls.

“Come on now, you can’t have everyone start to blame me for you still being disappeared.”

“Baby, fuck what anyone says.”

I tilt my head to the side and grin.

“Nice sentiment, but you know what I mean.”

“I do, but come,” he starts, until the phone begins to vibrate in his hand once again.

He clicks accept on the call.

“This is Wolfe,” he answers while keeping his eyes on me.

Anger suddenly flashes across his expression. Whatever Caleb is telling him isn’t good news.

I don’t know much about the businesses yet, but what I do know is that something has been going on, and it’s clearly not good.

“What?” he shouts.

Wolfe kisses me on my forehead and steps away to the other side of the bed.

“It’s fucking bullshit,” he says as he paces.

I take a seat on the bed and rest on the back of my hands.

Wolfe continues to talk to Caleb as he tries to get answers.

“I’ll see you at The Lodge in fifteen.”

Wolfe pauses his pacing and looks at me directly.

“Yeah, I’m bringing Nova.”

My eyes widen.

Wolfe hangs up and slides onto the bed.

“Come on. Time to go meet everyone.”

I look down at my outfit.

“Wolfe. What am I going to do for clothes? I didn’t bring much.”

“You look perfect, baby. Later this week, I’ll take you back to your place, or we can go to the store. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, I’ll come with you like this, but I’ll need to figure that out.”

“We didn’t exactly decide how to do this together.”

I laugh at the insinuation.

“No, we really didn’t.”

“Clothes later.”

Wolfe gets up and walks over to a set of dresser drawers. He opens one and pauses.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just been a while since I’ve been here. It feels good to be back.”

“How else are you feeling?” I ask.

He looks over his shoulder and smiles.

“I’m a fucking ten with you by my side.”

The Lodge looks like a biker bar you would see in the movies. The outside is simple and nondescript, except for the fact that there are about two dozen motorcycles parked out front.

The small neon sign shows people it’s there and open, but that’s about it. For a small town, I get the feeling everyone already knows who owns this bar and who frequents it.

“Don’t be nervous, baby.”

Wolfe holds onto my hand tightly as he opens the door, and we walk in.

“I’m not,” I lie.

He smiles down at me knowingly.

The inside of The Lodge is surprisingly nice, with dark barstools lining a deep mahogany bar, matching black booths along the walls, and high tops filling up the space.

It has a dartboard in a corner near a jukebox and a cigarette machine—I haven’t seen either one of those in ages.

This place looks like it’s from the past, only more modern.

Smoke surrounds us as I finally take in all the eyes that are staring right at Wolfe and me. It makes me nervous to be under their gaze like this.

Some people are at least trying to pretend like they aren’t curious about me or Wolfe being back.

“Look who’s fucking finally back,” Caleb says as he greets Wolfe.

Wolfe doesn’t drop my hand as he lifts his head up slightly.

“Good to be back. Thanks for what you’ve been doing, man.”

“Don’t you know it.”

Caleb faces me and beams.

“Dr. Fletcher, it’s one hell of a pleasure to meet you properly,” he says with an outstretched hand.

“You too,” I say as I let go of Wolfe’s hand to shake it.

A low growl comes from Wolfe.

I pretend not to notice it. I’m not about to leave Caleb hanging here. I know how important he really is to Wolfe.

“How are you liking it so far?” Caleb asks as he leads us to three barstools.

“It’s been all of thirty minutes practically,” I say with a laugh.

“Fair,” Caleb answers.

“So far, it’s great. I can’t wait to meet everyone.”

“Well, sad to say, you’ll get your chance soon enough.”

The bartender slides over three cold draft beers. I’m not usually a beer drinker, but I can give it a try here.

“Why is that?” I ask.

“I’m holding a meeting at our place soon. I don’t want to leave you alone,” Wolfe chimes in.

“Wolfe. I’ll be fine. You can go do what you need to.”

“Nope,” he responds before taking a gulp of the beer.

I give him a pointed stare that he doesn’t back down from.

“First beer in ages. Tastes good.” Wolfe’s grinning at me, knowing what’s running through my mind.

“I’m going to like her here,” Caleb says with a chuckle.

“What have you learned?” Wolfe asks.

“A fire broke out at one of our warehouses. It was intentional.”

“And we know that for sure?”

“Fuck, yeah. We lost a lot of our recent… shipments.”

“You can talk about anything in front of Nova,” Wolfe says.

He squeezes my thigh and keeps his hand in place there.

“I know it’ll take a while to trust me, so I can leave if you’d prefer.”

“Nope,” Wolfe answers before Caleb can.

Wolfe pulls my barstool closer to him, where I’m practically sitting on his lap instead of in my own seat.

“We need to make a plan. What should we do? This is the third one.”

“But they aren’t going for the one on Bear Drive.”

“No…”

“It’s odd, don’t you think?”

“Something is wrong with the whole scenario. Between the robberies, the fires, the fucking mess, it all feels off. Fishy.”

“I know.” Caleb sighs.

I let Wolfe and Caleb keep talking as I’m sandwiched between the two.

“Wolfe!” A loud voice shrieks.

A woman with breasts larger than my head starts prancing over to the three of us. She’s waving frantically as if she’s a longtime friend.

“Diedra,” Wolfe says.

His hold on my thigh gets tighter, almost as if he can tell I was debating shrinking inward a bit.

“Wolfe. We’ve all missed you so much,” she says.

Caleb smirks as he takes a drink of his beer.

“Well, I’m back. I’ve brought my old lady too.”

Diedra’s eyes bug out for a moment as she finally looks at me and not Wolfe.

“You got an old lady? Her ?”

“The name’s Nova. It’s nice to meet you,” I interject with a wide smile.

“Nova,” she says, dumbfounded.

“The only name I’ve got.”

“That’s not true, baby,” Wolfe says as he strokes my arm.

“What’s my other name?”

“Dr. Fletcher. Dollface,” he starts.

Wolfe nuzzles his head into my neck and kisses my pulse.

“My little ragdoll is a new one I want to add tonight,” he whispers, placing another kiss.

Diedra huffs as she stalks off.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I whisper.

“I wanted to.”

“Why?”

“Everyone is going to know about you now. Saves me the time of letting every fucker out there know that the hot blonde in town is mine, and I’m hers.”

I can feel wetness gathering in my panties from him staking his claim.

“Fuck. Boss. Sorry to interrupt,” Caleb says.

We both look over to Caleb, staring at his cell phone.

“What is it?”

“Another fire. This time on Drake Lane.”

Dread washes over Wolfe’s expression. It feels like someone is out to get him and the Road Riders.

“Let’s head that way. Right now.”

“When should we meet with the brothers? I had coordinated a time for later this week like you had asked me to.”

“Tell everyone that church is still on, but make it tomorrow at ten p.m. at my place.”

“Will do. I’ll be right there,” Caleb says.

“Let’s get going, Nova.”

Wolfe stands abruptly and scoops my arm with his. He pulls me out of the bar quickly, with the door slamming behind us before Caleb has a chance to catch up.

“Wolfe, slow down,” I stammer.

He stops immediately and hangs his head low.

“Fuck. Sorry, baby. I’m just so fucking stressed about who could be doing this. I had to get you out of there immediately.”

Oh.

“You think someone could be targeting you? And now, in turn, me?”

Wolfe takes my hands in his and stares at me intensely.

“Baby, I won’t lie to you. I’ve fucked other women. Plenty. But I never bring them home, and I never make them mine. Me being seen with you here, it’s a message. I just don’t want you to get hurt. I should have assumed someone could be after my operation for more reasons than just competition.”

“It could still be that.”

“Yeah, it could be, but that’s what I’ve got to figure out.”

“Let’s head out that way then.”

Wolfe looks relieved that I understand.

He climbs onto the motorcycle and hands me the helmet.

“Hop on.”

I take the helmet and strap it on.

“Always.”