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Chapter Eighteen

I never thought I would want a future with anyone until her. -Levi

As long as I live, I’ll never forget the way her body quaked underneath mine. And how the thought of losing her made me feel…

She sends me another worried glance and I tighten my hands around the steering wheel.

“Are you sure it was okay for us just to leave like that? I need to call Sunny. She’ll be frantic.” Her hands twine nervously together for the fiftieth time. I reach over and still them with my own hand.

“Hey, I’ve got this handled, I promise. And your roommate has already been contacted. Everything will just be fine. We’re just going somewhere safe.”

My heart hasn’t stopped thumping along erratically since the bullets first struck Flora’s apartment. But the cleanup had been the usual routine. I had taken charge and reached out to Silver. I let our contact with the local police Logan Masters take over the questioning and all the hoopla of the police arriving. Logan was a good guy, one I had worked with before, and he would make sure that none of this showed up in tomorrow’s newspaper. He would also take care of contacting Sunny.

The illustrious District Attorney, Flora’s uncle, had been contacted also. I could have reached through the phone and strangled him for the way he handled things in the past, but I was beginning to think he genuinely cared about his niece. He was just an idiot with emotions and made some huge mistakes in the past. Mistakes that we would some day have a long talk about.

She chews on her lower lip nervously and I tighten my hand around hers. “I promise we’ll be safe, honey.”

“I believe you,” she says softly.

The gates to the compound are guarded by two of our boys as always. They grin and give me a wave as I let myself in.

“Who are they?” Flora asks in a voice filled with awe, “and what is this place?”

I know what she sees. A large brick house stands at the end of the road. It holds sentinel over a bevy of similar, smaller houses. Here and there, motorcycles dot the horizon, and a few people walk past us with wary looks. Their faces change when they see me. I get a wave from a few and return it.

I turn to her and don’t try to keep the pride from my voice. “This is the Silver Snakes compound. I have a house here. We all do. It’s the safest place you can be right now. These are my brothers, and they’ll have your back just like they have mine.”

A few moments later, I found myself in a tense conversation with my club president.

Silver had taken one look at my lovelorn expression around Flora and known. Five minutes later, we were alone in his office, and I was getting grilled.

“You sleepin’ with her?” he asks in his usual gruff phone while sitting back in his large leather chair.

My knees bounce as I consider my response. Silver could see through anyone’s lies. That was his specialty. All of us had specialized in something in the military. His blue-grey eyes were scarily intent, and he made everyone in his presence squirm.

“I’m going to marry her,” I reply. That answer even surprises me, but once the words leave my mouth, they feel right.

He merely raises an eyebrow, and we continue our talk about her protection.

After business is taken care of, I take her back to my house. I look over at my girl as she takes in the interior of my house. It’s masculine and comfortable. The brown leather furniture isn’t fancy, but it does the job. The only pictures around are of me and my buddies. I suddenly feel nervous. What if she doesn’t like it? What if she can’t see herself at home here? I was only at the compound a few months out of the year, but it’s still home. Or at least the closest to it that I have.

A small smile curves her mouth. “I love it. It looks like you.”

My shoulders relax. “Let’s get you settled. I’ve got an extra bedroom if you want it.”

She blushes and those blue eyes of hers twinkle with a mischievous glimmer. “I don’t.”

Immediately, my cock is at attention. This girl.