Page 9

All I could do was move my gaze from woman to woman, trying to see if they were playing me. The only thing I saw was complete sincerity. They meant every word. “Is this place even real?”

“Oh, honey.” Violet gave me a sympathetic smile.

“I know exactly what you mean. My advice is to just roll with it. I promise you this is the real deal. I can honestly say they’ve been the best role models for my son.

Way better than his own father.” A shadow crossed her face, but she smiled, pushing through whatever memory had dampened her mood.

“Xavier saved me.” I whispered. “My husband would have killed me, but Xavier made sure he never hurt me again. Just like he promised that night when he…” I took a breath before letting it out and slumping while I smiled up at Carrie, needing to change the subject before I said too much.

Or, worse, cried. “What and where is Oasis Number Two?”

“Oasis Number Two is where we’ve started going since they had to give Oasis Number One a thorough cleaning. Long story, but trust me when I tell you the son of a bitch deserved it.”

I should probably be horrified at all there was to unpack in her statement, but I found myself nodding with a grin on my face. “I can wholeheartedly agree with that statement.”

Violet looped her arm through mine. “I’m going to give you some advice and I hope you’ll take it because this place will change your life, if you’re like I was.”

“I don’t understand.” I frowned at the other woman, but the warm, comforting smile on Violet’s face never faltered.

“You’ve been betrayed in the worst ways by people you trusted.” Violet didn’t phrase it as a question. She spoke like a person who’d been in the same boat I was.

“Can’t deny that,” I muttered. “Xavier is the only person in my life ever to have sacrificed for me. And what he did for me I can never repay.”

“Riot told me Xavier killed your abuser.” Violet didn’t look judgmental or like she was fishing for information. “Riot protected me and my son, Caleb. He would have gladly killed my husband if he could have.” She put her shoulders back and her chin up. “I beat him to it.”

I gasped, reaching out to take Violet’s hand. “Oh, no! I’m so sorry! That had to have been horrible.”

“Only thing I hated about it was that Caleb was there and that he’d nearly killed Doug himself. Doug Harrington was a bastard who needed to die.”

“I’m glad you found your escape, Violet.”

“I am too. That’s why I want to tell you to take this club at face value. Don’t judge them, though I seriously doubt you have that problem given how you met Xavier.”

Hannah handed me a bottle of water. “We’ve got food on the way up, but I’m sure you’re thirsty.”

“Thanks.” I unscrewed the bottle and took a pull.

“Anyway, Knuckles knows every single guy here,” Hanna continued.

“He said Xavier wanted you to be his, but you need to know you always have a choice. These guys are the super protective and possessive types, but they’re some of the best people I’ve ever met.

If they have one flaw, I’d have to say it’s the tolerance they show the club girls. ”

“Hannah!” Pippa put her hands on her cheeks like she couldn’t believe Hannah had said such a thing. “They’re not going to be mean to the women.”

“No. And I don’t want them to be.” Hannah huffed out a breath. “But the next girl who touches Knuckles is gonna leave missing a paw.”

I nearly snorted water out of my nose as I laughed. “I’m so sorry!” I was equal parts horrified and resigned. Because, really. There was no recovering from water out the nose.

“Don’t be.” Hannah handed me a napkin. “Just get used to it. You stay around here long enough and you’ll discover we’ve all got a really morbid sense of humor.”

“I guess sometimes it’s either laugh or cry.”

“Exactly.” Hannah gave me a crisp nod, her smile wide and mischievous before sobering again.

“The point is, these are good men. I know you probably feel like you’ve followed the White Rabbit down the hole, but these men are the real deal, Tillie.

They’re socially awkward, and most of them are stone-cold killers, but they have a strong moral code and they are all protective of women and children in general.

” She glanced at Pippa. “Which is why they let the club girls get away with way more than they should.”

Pippa shook her head but still grinned. “I can’t deny they’re becoming a problem. I had to cut one woman’s hair the other day.” Pippa’s eyes were wide and solemn, like she felt sorry for the other woman. Then she shrugged. “It was only hair. Right?”

“Um, how short did you cut it?” I knew before I asked the question what her answer would be.

“I shaved it.” She grinned. “Well, OK, so I partially shaved it. I caught the club girl in question asleep and shaved a strip of hair from the top of her forehead to the back of her head before she got away from me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. These women were outrageous, and I could tell I was going to love them.

“Tillie!” Xavier’s voice had me turning to find him several feet away, pushing through his brothers with warm smiles and claps on the back as he did. When he got to me, he held out his hand. “Let’s go get you settled.”

“I’ve got a couple choices for you.” Hannah held up two sets of keys. “This one,” she shook one set, “is a single bedroom across the hall from Xavier’s room. You can be near him without him being underfoot. You’ll have your own space, but privacy too.”

“What’s the other one?” Xavier snagged my hand in his warm hand, and I laced my fingers with his before I realized I had.

“The other set is to a two-bedroom apartment in the same building with the rest of us. It’s not one of the top-floor apartments, but if you decide you want to take one of those let me know. We’re still finishing up those rooms. No one wanted them so they weren’t a priority.”

“Why would I need a two-bedroom?” I looked from Hannah to Xavier and back.

Hannah shrugged. “In case you wanted Xavier to stay with you, you’ve still got your own bedroom.”

I sucked in a breath, because that sounded fucking perfect. But Xavier had his own room, and I was sure he wanted to get back to what he probably considered his home. He wouldn’t have any desire to sleep anywhere other than his own bed, and I wouldn’t blame him.

“We’ll take the two-bedroom,” Xavier said, reaching out to take the keys from Hannah.

“What?” My gaze shot to his, but he merely smiled down at me.

“I saw your reaction, pretty girl. You like the idea of us being close.”

“I can’t lie worth a damn, Xave, so I’m not going to try and pretend you’re wrong. But I’ll be fine on my own. You don’t have to sacrifice staying in your own place after being away so long. I’m sure you --”

Xavier rolled his eyes as he placed his fingers over my lips. “Woman. Staying with you is no fuckin’ sacrifice. I don’t want you across the hall. Separate bedrooms is far enough away from you.”

And just like that, I lost the last piece of my heart. I sobbed out a small laugh. “OK. I’m not going to try to talk you out of staying with me when you’re right. I want you close too.”

“Awesome!” Hannah clapped her hands as she smiled. “Come on. I’ll take you to your apartment. Then you guys can get some rest. I’ve got everything all set up for you.” She talked as she led us outside to a side-by-side ATV. We waved to the other women.

Knuckles followed us outside and dropped a kiss on his wife’s cheek. “I take it I owe you that ten bucks, baby?”

“I’ll be taking Xavier and Tillie to the apartment next to Hawk and Carrie. And to answer your question, you do owe me ten bucks. I knew when I first saw them together Tillie would want Xavier to have her back until she got acquainted with her new surroundings.”

“Good.” Knuckles glanced from me to Xavier before sticking his hand out to Xavier who took it in a firm grip. “Let me or Gunnar know when she’s ready to wear your property cut. We’ll have the girls arrange everything.”

I couldn’t help myself. I turned into Xavier’s embrace and buried my face in his chest, my emotions getting the better of me.

As I knew he would, Xavier wrapped his arms around me without hesitation.

He and Knuckles spoke for a couple minutes.

I soaked up Xavier’s support while he let me compose myself and I loved him all the more for it.

“You ready to go see your new home, Tillie Girl?”

I looked up at Xavier, the man who had gone to prison for killing my abusive husband, the man who had come to my rescue when I’d been threatened and was terrified out of my mind, the man who brought me to the place he knew would be safest and circled the wagons with his brothers to protect me.

“I think I’ve been ready my entire life. ”

Xavier smiled down at me. “Ditto, baby. Ditto.”