Page 49 of Property of Stone (Kings of Anarchy MC: Pennsylvania #1)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Stone took it as a good sign that a whole month later they hadn’t heard a fucking peep from Vic the Dick. The warning that Taryn still didn’t know about—nor did she need to—must have been effective.

Using Gentry’s release as an excuse, he had convinced her to stay with him a while longer—for her and Wren’s safety, of fucking course—and continue playing house with their little patchwork family.

Crazy enough, that was what it had turned into. An actual family.

One Stone found he didn’t mind coming home to.

No invisible collar choked his neck like it had when Sheena told him she was pregnant. He’d hardly been able to breathe for a fucking week.

At the time, he thought the life he loved was over. It turned out he was wrong. He didn’t need to take Sheena as part of the deal when it came to his daughter.

Was she a thorn in his side? Damn right she was. But he didn’t need to share a home or bed with her .

Maybe it was different with Taryn because he knew this wasn’t long term and this arrangement would end eventually.

Right?

Damn.

That thought shouldn’t fucking bother him as much as it did. Since he wasn’t in the market for an ol’ lady, her staying should bother him, not the idea of her leaving.

At what point did his goddamn brain shift?

Was it too much pot, beer, and whiskey softening his gray matter?

Or was it because the sex between him and Taryn was fucking awesome?

He couldn’t get enough of sliding between her thighs, eating her pussy, or her lips on his dick. Despite fucking her every night and every damn morning, when he wasn’t with her, he had an insane urge to hunt her down and fuck her where she stood.

Once they got off, they continued going about their day.

Thank fuck she never said no and wanted it as much as he did.

Even better was when she was the initiator instead of him.

Sometimes if he was nearby, she’d finish filming her content for the day, then would grab his hand and they’d head up to his room at The Castle.

There, they could be as loud as they wanted since the kids were at school.

And hearing a woman orgasming echoing down the hallway wasn’t new to his brothers.

Or could his change of mindset be because of his girl slowly coming around to the fact that Momma and Baby Bird weren’t flying the coop anytime soon?

His girl was finally getting a fucking clue that Taryn was there for her; more caring and concerned about raising her right than Sunny’s biological mother.

Fuckin’ Sheena .

Sticking his dick in her was the biggest mistake in his life. Next to letting Taryn convince him not to kill Gentry.

But maybe he was wrong and Taryn would never have to deal with her abusive ex again.

For fuck’s sake .

That motherfucker better not pop up once they all dropped their guard.

It was the potential of Gentry lying in wait for the perfect time to strike that had Taryn staying put. Because he doubted the woman would’ve agreed to stay under his roof simply because Stone wanted her to.

While it normally took his bristly daughter a while to warm up to strangers, Stone was floored the other night when he poked his head into her bedroom and the kids were talking to each other. An actual civilized conversation .

It blew his mind that not only was Sunny actively listening, she was responding to the six-year-old’s constant chatter. And it wasn’t to tell the boy to shut the hell up.

Yeah, he was proud of his girl for turning a corner. He only hoped she continued on that path.

Taryn had been a fucking saint when it came to dealing with his hostile child. She instinctively knew when to give Sunny space and only ever had kind words for his girl, no matter what Sunny spewed at her in return.

Yeah, her having the patience of a fucking saint was paying off.

Good thing Taryn had more than him, despite Sunny being his nut nugget.

Since it was late, Stone finished working his way up the stairs as quietly as possible.

He had a collection job all the fucking way down in Carlisle tonight. While he hadn’t been excited about having to travel that far, that loan shark was a regular customer and gave them a hell of a nice percentage so it had been worth the long ride.

He glanced at his knuckles. And a little bit of pain.

After scrubbing away the blood, he found that they weren’t busted up too badly. Most of the blood hadn’t been his, but the dumb fuck’s who had borrowed a hundred grand from a seedy loan shark, then expected leniency when he wasn’t paying it back.

Tonight’s “job” had received the memo Stone delivered loud and fucking clear.

After a little convincing, he promised to pay it back, along with the interest, by the end of the month.

If not, Stone would be giving him another visit.

If a stronger statement was needed, he’d also bring one of his brothers along next time.

Stone liked to share the fun.

When he reached the second floor landing, he glanced toward Sunny’s room. The door was open a few inches and from what he could see, the room was pitch dark.

The kids were most likely crashed.

Taryn tried to stay up and wait for him if he had a late job, but if she was asleep, he had plenty of time-tested techniques to wake her. His dick got harder with each stride he took toward his bedroom, knowing Taryn was behind his closed door.

Preferably naked.

Better yet, with her pussy dripping wet from playing with herself.

He grinned at his fantasy, adjusted his hard-on, then slipped silently through the door.

Damn. She might not be naked but she wore the next best thing. One of his T-shirts. She looked damn good in it, too, especially with it being from a local Harley dealership. She might still not be a full-blown biker bitch yet, but she was slowly integrating into the MC lifestyle.

With her lips curved upward, she glanced up from whatever she was reading on her tablet.

“You watchin’ porn?” he asked, like he always did when he caught her reading.

Her husky chuckle made his dick kick in his jeans. “I’m reading a romance novel.”

“One with some those hot-as-fuck sex scenes?”

Sometimes she would get all worked up when reading and tackle him. He was glad she stuck to reading those types of books since he doubted he’d get the same reaction if she began reading thrillers.

She wiggled her eyebrows. “They’re not bad.”

That meant they were damn good. “Make you wet?”

“Hearing you coming up the steps did that for me.”

Fuck.

As soon as he closed in on where she was sitting up against the headboard, she grabbed his hand and yanked on it. But before he could join her in bed, she froze and inspected his slightly busted knuckles.

“Holy shit! What happened to your hand?” She glanced up at his face, suspicion clear in her narrowed eyes.

He wouldn’t lie to her but he also wouldn’t tell her the truth.

Stone slipped his hand from hers and went over to his dresser. “Told you before, don’t ask questions you don’t wanna know the answers to. Had a job to do and that’s all you gotta know.”

“But—”

“Those fuckin’ jobs pay for the roof over our heads, the food in our kids’ guts, the gas to take them where they need to go. ”

“A legit job would do the same.”

He shot her an annoyed look over his shoulder.

She sighed.

“Gotta do this dance again, Taryn? This is my fuckin’ life. You might not like it but gotta accept it if you’re gonna live in my world. Ain’t changin’ for anyone.”

“Even for Sunny?”

“Everythin’ I fuckin’ do ends up benefittin’ her.” His kid wanted for nothing. If Sunny needed something, he got it for her. Being a part of the Kings made that happen.

He unhooked the chain from his wallet, slipped it from his back pocket, and set it on top of his dresser.

Behind him, he heard Taryn put her tablet aside and the bed shift. Seconds later, she hugged her arms tightly around his waist and pressed a kiss to his back. “Not if you lose your freedom.”

He finished sliding his belt out of the loops, set that on the dresser too, and turned within her arms. He dropped his head and captured her gaze. “Would you be upset if I did?”

“Of course, I would.”

“‘Cause you’d be stuck with the kids?”

“I can handle the kids. Especially now that Sunny is warming up to both me and Wren. But that’s not why.”

“Then what would it be?” When her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip and her eyes flicked to the side, one side of his mouth pulled up. Just what he thought. “You’d miss me.”

Her blue eyes flicked back to him. “Okay, I’ll admit it. I would miss you.”

His grin expanded into a smile. “Like hearin’ that.”

“I don’t want to miss you.”

“I like fuckin’ you a lot, too. ”

“This has nothing to do with—” She pulled in a breath and blinked.

“What’s it gotta do with?” Stone already knew the answer, even if she didn’t want to say it.

He knew because he might be experiencing the same shit. Only, he tried not to think about it because he didn’t go into this agreement with her in an attempt to change his life.

And, for fuck’s sake, because of her, it was slowly changing.

The change wasn’t a bad thing, it was just fucking unexpected.

If he claimed Taryn at the table as his ol’ lady, he’d be stuck with the same pussy for the rest of his life. Could he live with being tied down? Or would he get so damn restless that he’d start searching for pussy elsewhere?

A couple of the Kings’ ol’ ladies were raised in the club. They didn’t give a shit where their ol’ man stuck his dick as long as he wrapped it tight, he came home at night, she maintained her position in the club, and he provided enough scratch for their family.

Taryn wouldn’t be one of those. To her, that shit wouldn’t be normal. She’d leave his ass the same way she left Gentry’s.

If he fucked around, he’d “find out” the hard way.

No matter what, he wasn’t rushing to hand her a “property of” cut. Hell , he wasn’t sure if she’d even accept it.