Page 28 of Tied to You

Dean smiles. “Yeah, it’s me. Good to see you again.”

Janette opens her arms, and Dean hesitates before he steps forward, allowing my aunt to embrace him. “We missed you,” she says lovingly, before coming to check Mollie.

“Missed you guys too.”

Janette smiles, tilting her head back. We’ve both grown in the years he’s been away; most people have to look up to talk to us now. “This you back for good, now?” Her question is tender.

Dean’s lips pinch into a straight line. There’s no way he’s going to back to Oz. Not now. The club needs building up, here. Rocco’s done a good job of holding the fort after we lost an entire southern charter, but with Dean soon to be stepping up as his vice president, we might actually stand a fucking chance of out numbering the Sodom Saviours MC one day. Every last one of those cunts deserves to die a slow death. The way they destroyed Dean’s family… Hell will freeze over before that grudge ever gets settled.

“Um, yeah,” Dean starts. I can tell he’s not comfortable having this conversation. He shifts on his feet, looking down. “Might take some time to find my feet again, but you know.” He shrugs.

Janette’s shoulders slump and her face turns down, sympathetically. “With time, you’ll find your place.”

I shake my head a little. His place? His place is here. With me. The club. Sure, he’ll miss his cousin, Jack, but the scars run too deep. This is where he belongs. And this is where he’ll stay.

I realise as I rack my brain watching my aunt and Dean catch up, my thumb has started slow, absentminded strokes across the arch of Mollie’sfoot. I suddenly look down in shock, hoping to fuck she hasn’t cottoned on to what I’m doing.

Her wide eyes tell me she has. But she doesn’t tell me to stop? I frown. “Yes, yes the prodigal son returns. Can we get her moved into Mick’s truck now?” I’m suddenly edgy, a slight sweat prickling at the back of my neck. Fuck’s sake.

When the door opens, my body relaxes seeing Mick with Mollie’s hoodie in his hand, her phone in the other. “Come on,” he instructs to all of us.

We all simultaneously start moving to get Mollie off the sofa.

“Here.” Mick gently tosses Mollie her hoodie.

“Thank you.” She starts scrunching the opening, looping it over her head, slipping it on.

It’s only when we stand, my hands guiding her to her good foot, do I notice the logo on the hoodie. “You played polo? Shouldn’t that mean you’re good with horses?” I crack a small smile in an attempt to make a joke.

Mollie hops on one foot, my hand still holding her as her other hand tugs at the end of the white hoodie, pulling it down to cover her arse. It’s huge.

Wait.

It’stoohuge. “It’s not mine. It’s Henry’s.”

Henry? Right. He must have been the posh prick she let drive her away from me two weeks ago. I feel murderous all of a sudden. I can see his face. The way he frowned and shook his head at me as Mollie ducked into his car to escape the rain. The cunt. I should have forced her to get out and stay with me.Then what?My face drops and my hand involuntarily starts to tighten its grip on her. Why? Why the fuck am I feeling like this.Because she’s wearing another man’s clothes that aren’t yours.Fuck my fucking life. Literally, never has a rage as fierce as the one starting to churn inside me been felt over a woman. I have no clue where this is all coming from. What I do know is that I need to get as far as a-fucking-way from her as possible.

Two weeks was Hell not seeing her. I’m man enough to admit that to myself. The pussy and the alcohol lessened the way my chest tightened whenever I thought about her, but to feelthis, like I do right now after only seeing her for less than one hour. It’s not healthy. It can’t be right.

“Travis,” Mollie says, looking at my hand on her. The same hand that was gently stroking her soft skin only moments ago. No. Fuck this.

I let go of her, refusing to give her any eye contact. “Get her out of here.”

Everyone either frowns or appears to have lost their fucking tongues. No one dares to say a word. Probably due to the fact that my own are still lingering like a putrid smell above them. Yeah, I heard how I spat them out, but what the fuck else am I supposed to do? Pretend that I’m okay with this? Actually, that’s exactly what I’ll do. “I’ve got somewhere I need to be.”

Mick and Dean exchange a look which I don’t miss as I stride out of the house.Fuck, fuck, fuck. My head is like a dreidel, spinning like it’s about to fall off the fucking edge of the table.

“Trav!”

I don’t stop as Dean catches up with me. “Don’t fucking ask.”

He stops and looks at me. “Wasn’t going to.”

I frown, but good, because I’ve managed to go this long without talking about my feelings. Not a chance in fucking Hell I’m starting now.

“Fancy writing this day off the good old way?”

Now we’re talking. “Fucking right I do.” I give Dean a nod just as Mick and Janette walk out with Mollie under their arms. A pang of guilt strikes me seeing my aunt struggling. My hand holding my helmet lowers a fraction. Then I see the she devil look up, and my blood turns to molten lava. “Let’s go.”