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“No.” I snap the word too hard and force myself to soften.

“Christ, Margot. You’ve seen me come unhinged when a guy so much as breathes in your direction.

You really think I’d let someone—male or female—touch you?

” I snort and shake my head, searching for something—anything—to move away from this topic.

“And one of them said I need to accept that on the nights you’re not with me, you’re probably with one of them.”

“That’s absolutely not true. Not since we’ve been together.” I rub my knuckles against her cheek. “Not since you asked me to be your sex coach.”

She frowns. “But we didn’t agree to those terms until?—”

“Margot.” I meet her eyes, holding her there, needing her to see the truth etched into every word. “I’ve been more than a little obsessed with you since the day we met.”

She stares at me with wide eyes. “I believe you.” The corners of her mouth turn down. “I really want to.”

That cuts deep. But it might be an easy problem to solve.

I’ve got nothing to hide.

“Here.” I pull my phone from my pocket. “Give me your phone.” I hold out my hand and back my way toward the bed, dropping onto the mattress, thrilled to finally be able to do something that might fix this.

She follows, cautious but curious, and reluctantly places her phone in my palm. “Why?”

“I’m adding an app. You’ll be able to see where my phone is anytime you want.” I don’t look up as I swipe through her screen. “And my watch. You’ll have access to my location. My heartbeat. Everything.”

“Why?” She wrinkles her nose. “So I can watch your heart rate spike in real time when you’re having sex?”

“No. Jesus, no.” I stare her dead in the eyes, needing her to hear this. “You’ll feel when that’s happening, because I’ll be doing it with you. No app required.”

“This is ridiculous.” She holds out her hand, asking for her phone back. “I’m not going to track you down like a jealous lunatic.”

“I want you to be able to find me, no matter what. I’ve got nothing to hide.” It’s taking forever to log in to my accounts. Back and forth between phones. Email codes. Security questions. What a pain in the ass.

Finally, we’re linked.

She sits next to me, peering at my screen. “Can you track me too?”

I turn, studying her expression. “You want me to?”

“It only seems fair.”

Given her favorite hobby, I probably should’ve done this sooner.

I side-eye her. “This way I can make sure you’re not out hunting anyone without me.”

Her cheeks flush, but she lifts her chin, pure defiance. “That’s a solo hobby.”

“The fuck it is,” I mutter.

I check that both ends are working, then hand her phone back.

“No more worrying about anything those girls said. If I’m not with you, I’m thinking about being with you.” I lean down and drag my lips over her shoulder. “And if I want something from you, I’ll ask for it.”

She hums and leans into me, finally relaxed.

We’ve been awfully focused on me and my supposed needs tonight. I shift, brushing her hair away from her face. “And if you want something from me, you’ll tell me.”

She pulls back, a wrinkle forming between her eyebrows like she’s giving this a lot of thought. “I really liked when you chased me through the woods.”

Now we’re talking.

A slight shiver ripples through her. She bites her bottom lip, eyes flicking up to meet mine.

“I’ve thought about doing that again with you,” she says. “A lot. I think I want to find a wrap dress, so you can just untie it, instead of ripping off all the buttons.” She twists a piece of her hair around one finger. “Although the button ripping added an extra thrill.”

This woman might be what finally makes me believe in God.

“I’m glad you said that.” And I absolutely love how much thought she’s been giving it. I flick my phone open and pull up the photo Rooster sent me. “Rooster’s place has a whole lot of woods surrounding it.” I tilt the screen toward her.

“Oh my God.” She laughs and bumps her shoulder into mine. “What if he catches us?”

“We’ll wait until he’s out of town.”

“Okay.”

“Anything else?”

She hesitates, glancing toward the door. “Well, there is one other thing I wanted to ask you.”

A sense of doom tightens my chest. “Did those girls make up some other shit I’m supposedly into?

” I run a hand down my face. What else could they have possibly said?

“Okay, just so we’re clear—no, I don’t ever want you to call me Daddy.

I’m not into having you dress up like a schoolgirl, nun, or anything else.

No, that’s not true, you’re definitely wearing my property patch and nothing else when I give you one. ”

She shakes with laughter. “No, nothing like that.”

“You’re right.” I gesture toward her heels. “You can wear those heels with the patch, and nothing else.”

She stops laughing. “Oh, I’ll definitely do that for you.”

One corner of my mouth slides up. “Yeah?”

She nods quickly.

“So what is it? What else do you want to ask?”

She takes a deep breath. “The one in the tacky shorts?—”

“Amanda?”

She turns and glares at me. “I never got her name.”

Christ, now she’s definitely going to think I used to yank Amanda’s ponytail. “She was a friend of Serena’s,” I explain.

“Some friend.” She scowls. “Well, Amanda said you and Serena…and implied Rooster and Serena too…” Her brows pull together. “I guess it’s none of my business, but I’d like to know. I don’t want to—I don’t know. How does that work with her being engaged to Grinder?”

It takes a second to piece her choppy explanation together and find the question.

“I’ve never slept with Serena.” I really need to give her more context. I shift closer and lower my voice. “Please don’t repeat any of this, and don’t bring it up to her unless Serena wants to talk about it. But yeah…she used to be a club girl here.”

Margot’s eyes widen. “Really? But she’s so nice.”

“Exactly. She never behaved the way those girls did tonight. She’s always been a sweetheart.”

Her eyes narrow, just a little.

“I used to talk to her a lot when she was hanging out here. She was trying to go back to school, and we’d talk about that kind of stuff.

” I press my lips together, hating that what I’m about to share is even part of my club’s history.

“Our old VP was an absolute garbage human. Even though he had a wife outside the club none of us even knew about, Serena was his girl here toward the end.”

“End of what?”

I hold up a hand. “Let me get there.”

She nods but keeps frowning.

“He was always kind of a jerk. Even as a brother—the loyalty wasn’t there. And our old president was an asshole too.”

“The one who had Stella as his side piece? What a surprise,” she mutters.

That earns a small smile from me. “Anyway. None of us realized how bad it had gotten with the VP. Serena used to be a lot quieter. Had a hard time standing up for herself. When Z took over, some things happened. He saw what was going on and put an end to it.”

I hate being so vague, but I don’t want to utter Shadow’s name and have Margot accidentally repeat it one day.

She lifts an eyebrow. “End to it how?”

“Serena had left the club by then.”

“End to it how ?” she repeats, slower this time. With an edge to her voice.

“He put his hands on Lilly one night.” I grit my teeth at the memory. “And it’s the last thing he ever did.”

She stares at me, mouth open. Then a slow, savage smile curls her lips. “Did he die hard?”

“Very. And at the hands of the whole club.”

“Good.” She nods, satisfied.

I knew she’d approve.

And that’s one of many reasons she’s so perfect for me.