Page 35 of The Other Princess

Chapter 15

~ Declan ~

Ever ended up passing out once she had her fill of the Chinese food I’d brought to her apartment the night before. That meant I didn’t get any more of her sweet, fiery kisses. It also meant I wasn’t able to explain to her in depth what I meant about her being mine and me being hers. Instead, I had left her there, after putting her to bed and locking up. Once I had her settled in I ended up back at the clubhouse drowning my disappointment in a few beers.

“Thought you were going to be with your old lady tonight?”

“She was exhausted after working today,” I explained. “Passed the fuck out after she ate a little bit.”

My father huffed out a breath, and then took a solid look at me. “She passed out because of the work or the kind of work she was doing?”

“I don’t know, she seemed fine, just tired. I’m sure the emotional aspect of it is taking more of a toll than she’s willing to let on though.”

“Still, you’re here and not with her,” he stated as if I was once again doing something wrong where she was concerned.

It was then that I took a good, hard look at my father too. “Maybe you don’t realize this, but she’s never dated before,” I began explaining and it apparently caught my dad by surprise.

“That girl’s too pretty to never have…” He cut himself off, probably realizing the ‘why’ had nothing to do with her beauty or her personality and everything to do with the damage his own son had done to her. “Shit,” he hissed out. “You mean to tell me there wasn’t even one kid out there willing to fucking man up for her in all this time?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you. So, now you know why I’m here. I don’t think she’d appreciate waking up to a man in her bed, her place, or whatever when she’s not ready for that yet. Definitely not when she was too out of it to consent to my staying there.” My father’s earlier glacial glare seemed to melt away only to be replaced with an emotion I couldn’t really place.

“You’ve turned out to be one hell of man, son. I’m proud of you.” With that, he heaved his large frame off the barstool at my side and patted his hand down on my shoulder, squeezing once before he moved away toward the door. “Going home. Your ma still has me in the doghouse, so I guess if I tell her you’re doing right by your girl I might be able to ride that fair bit of news right into her good graces again.” He winked at me before moving through the door and out into the night’s shadows. I just shook my head and asked the prospect behind the bar for another beer as I listened to my father crank up his Harley and head for home.

I was half way through my beer when the bitch sat down beside me once again. Apparently, Debra or Delphi, or whatever the hell her name was didn’t know how to take a hint. Hell, for that matter she just didn’t know what those pesky two letters “n” and “o” meant when a person put them together to form words.

“Hey baby, looks like you could use some real grown up company tonight,” the woman tittered as she spoke. I turned slowly to look at her. Once again she barely wore clothes, but had herself painted up with enough makeup she could almost make up for the lack of clothing if only she’d spread it out past her face.

“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, you know, there’s talk that you’re trying to get with the uptight princess who thinks she’s too good for this club. From what I hear, she’s not even old enough to drink either, so like I said.” She sneered my way in what I’m sure she thought was a sexier version of a smirk. She was wrong. “I’m here for all your adult needs.” Then she made the mistake of trying to touch me again. I leaned in real close to her, so close she probably thought I was about to kiss her, at least until she heard the venom I spat directly in her face.

“If you so much as fucking breathe my air again, or think that you have any right to touch me in any way, I vow to you that I will see you are escorted out of here and taken somewhere that will make even seeing the light of day torture for you. I will be sure that you are branded in such a way that no MC member will ever think of touching you again. The best you’ll get is some drugged out asshole that doesn’t know any better than to fuck with you. Now, get your ass out of this clubhouse, because if I see you again tonight I will make sure I’m the last person who does. You feel me?”

“You can’t talk to me like that,” she sputtered out as she began to back away, looking around for someone who would take her side.

“I just fuckin’ did, and you have a lick of sense in your head you’ll get the fuck out of here without uttering another word to me.” She spun on her heel, nearly tripped when her ankle turned wrong, and then limped her way to the door. One of the other whores went to check on her, and my mood – having been thoroughly tanked by the bitch – was just so that I wasn’t having any kindness bestowed upon her. “You checking’ on her?” I asked loudly.

“I was just... um, she’s hurt.”

“You can leave with her now. Get out! Anyone else concerned with the bitch who doesn’t understand the word no?” I glanced around and all the other whores looked away, knowing better than the first two, apparently. “As for the rest of you… Listen up! You approach a brother and he’s uninterested you walk the fuck away. Someone else here will be willing to screw you. It will NEVER be me though. And if any of you touch a brother without permission you are out of here for good. Period. Pass that on to any of the other bitches who aren’t around tonight.”

“Damn, brother, I get that you’re claiming the VP’s daughter as your own, but that don’t mean you gotta run all the fun off for the rest of us.”

“Jury, I’m pretty sure you have an old lady waiting for your sad ass at home, yeah?”

“That bitch is probably bagging half the town behind my back too,” he sneered.

“Sounds to me like maybe you should spend more time at home then,” I told him before he got fed up with my mood and moved to the other side of the room.

“I was about to come over here and intervene on behalf of Ever when I saw you lean into that broad. Then I saw your face, and damn am I glad I waited.” My brother hooted out a laugh.

“Since when are you Ever’s champion?”

“I always was before I cocked it all up,” he reminded me.

“Yeah, but then you cocked it up,” I reiterated.

“I fucked up bad, and I know it. I own it. Hell, everyone here knows, and blames me for every bad mood the VP strolls in here with, because nine times out of 10 his shit moods are about her and his lost relationship with her. Trust me when I say, there’s no forgetting on my part.”

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