Page 97 of Tinsel & Chrome

“I don’t see this as a terrible thing,” I said. “We can travel or if you need to feel grounded, we can rent or buy a place anywhere in between trips.”

“I’m happy in Mercy with my Club,” Noah said, the tone of his voice resolute.

“Is it really so important?” I asked, not understanding how that could compare to the world at his feet.

“Without question, it’s important to me,” Noah declared.

“I want to be a freelance photographer, maybe for nature or for travel. Hell, probably both,” I said, trying to make him understand it meant a lot to me.

“No one’s stopping you, sweetheart!” Noah said, and took a swig of his beer.

Gazing out at the water again, I felt tears pooling in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Frustration churned through my body, strong and intense. What was wrong with him?

Chapter 6

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Noah/Zen

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This girl really was crazy if she thought she was enticing me with money and travel. Sure, those things were nice, but my Club meant everything to me. I’d prospected for the Club for about a year. Back then I mostly did Enforcer duties, especially after Storm’s Old Lady, Sutton had shot her stalker at her fitness studio. Life had been good at the Club. Now I did a lot of graphics and advertising projects for our various businesses. We’d added Amara’s restaurant to our list when the couple who owned it asked Storm if he wanted to buy it so they could retire.

I was ready to put this whole interaction away when Sienna said, “fine, we can stay in Mercy. Can you at least spend some time with me before you just say no.”

“Alright, we can do that,” I said, not expecting to ever say yes to this outrageous proposal.

Sienna was sexy as hell, but that wasn’t all it took to sign up for something so serious. Money was great, who didn’t want more money, but I had all I needed and a good future with the Merciless Few. I could empathize with her plight, and I wasn’t a dick. I wanted her to get her inheritance, but an arranged marriage was just too crazy to think about.

*****

It had been two weeks and I decided to introduce Sienna to the Club. We were having a Christmas Party and the clubhouse wasdecked out in Christmas decorations. Santa baby crooned from the sound system and I took a long swig of my spiked eggnog.

Annie came sliding up to me and leaned in, giving me a side hug, “Oooh, crazy girl is here, does that mean you’re dating?”

“We’re getting to know each other,” I said noncommittally.

“You are such an oversharer! So, what happened after I left?” Annie said, watching me.

“It’s a little complicated. I’ll tell you about it sometime over a beer,” I said, scanning the room, wondering where Sienna had gotten to.

“I have a beer right here,” Annie said and chuckled.

“Some other time,” I said, and walked away having spotted Sienna standing with Sutton and Amanda on the other side of the room. I’d decided not to tell anyone about the proposal or that Sienna was worth a lot of money. Somehow it seemed better not to open about that as I didn’t want to invite any more chaos into the mix.

“Zen, where have you been? We’ve been getting to know your girlfriend,” Sutton said and smiled.

“Oh, girlfriend might not be quite right,” Sienna jumped in.

“Yeah, I was going to introduce you, but it looks like you found her first,” I said and smiled, pulling her into me. Things were complicated enough without us having to announce to everyone whatever the fuck she and I had been doing over the last couple of weeks.

“Well, it's good to see Zen dating someone,” Amanda smiled.

“Thanks, that’s kind,” Sienna smiled softly.

“You Zen, what’s up, brother?” Storm came over and fist pumped me.

“Have you met my girlfriend, Sienna,” I said to Storm, President of the Merciless Few.