Page 45 of Savage Heart

She gasped, her eyes widening in affront. Who the hell did he think he was, calling her a bitch?

“If I’m a bitch, it’s only because I’m dealing with an asshole,” Liz sneered, making Tessa snort. She tried covering her laugh with her hand, but Liz saw the humor on her friend’s face. But this was no laughing matter—they were actually talking like she and Erika staying with Trouble was a foregone conclusion, and it wasn’t. Staying with Trouble was a fucking nuke in a freight train, headed for a collapsed bridge over a deep canyon. Could she be suck it up and maybe deal with having him around for a few days? Probably, as long as he never opened his mouth. But to stay with him for however long it would take the Raiders to deal with Danil Oblek…while also fielding the shit storm that was Trouble and Erika together….

But Erika…she’d be safer staying with the MC, and since none of the other members had a place for them….

“Come on, Skizzy,” Trouble rasped, moving closer. The utter size of him taking up all the space and air in the room. She’d always loved how large he was, how easily he’d engulfed her curvy, soft body in his hard, thick arms. And she absolutelyadored looking up at him—all those times he’d come into a room, stride right over to her, wrap his arms around her, and stare down at her with his beautiful green eyes sparkling.

How had that all been a lie?

Her heart squeezing, she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from cursing at him—for now and for then.

“I know that you and I have our history, but we can put that aside for now. Now, we need to focus on getting you recovered, and keeping Erika safe.”

Letting his words and her own fears swirl around in her head, she closed her eyes against the rising terror. She could do this. She could put aside her own anger and hatred of Trouble to make sure her little girl was safe.

Clearing her throat, she opened her eyes and met his intense gaze. He looked almost…anxious, as if he were waiting on pins and needles her for her answer.

“If not at the clubhouse, where will be stay?” she finally asked, and watched as Trouble’s shoulders seemed to release a smidgeon of the tension in his body as they relaxed slightly.

“I have a house. It isn’t much, but it is three bedrooms. There’s a small, fenced yard in the back where Erika can play, and the house has all the bells and whistles Savage Protection Inc. can provide. I know it’ll be an adjustment, having us all together, but we can make do.”

God, why did he have to sound so sensible? Where did the arrogant asshole from that morning in the club med clinic go? Back then he was all sensual ignorance that stank of sex and cheap perfume, and now he was…what? Trying to be a good man?

And speaking of sex and cheap perfume….

“What about Amelia? I’m telling you right now, Trouble, if that fucking skank comes anywhere near me or Erika, I will ripoff her tits and shove them up her loose as fuck cooch. So keep her and your fuckfests to the clubhouse.”

Trouble’s eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open in shock. Beside her, Tessa’s head was thrown back, and she was roaring with laughter into the ceiling.

“O-oh my God,” Tessa wheezed. “That’s funny as shit, Doc. I never knew you were so bloodthirsty.”

Liz couldn’t help but laugh, too. “I will do whatever I have to do to make sure my daughter is safe and happy.” She lifted her gaze to a now smirking Trouble. The asshole.

“I can promise you that Amelia will never come within fifty feet of Erika. You can obviously handle yourself, Skizzy.”

God, she hated that nickname, but she ignored it, refusing to rise to the obvious bait.

Sucking in a breath scented with hospital disinfectant, and the heady aroma of leather, oil, bergamot, and man, Liz fisted her good hand, and said, “Fine. We’ll stay with you.”

He couldn’t believe how easy it was to convince Liz to move in with him. Logically, he knew it was only temporary, a place for her to crash until the Raiders dealt pain and vengeance to Oblek and his goons, but his heart wasn’t thinking logically. The woman he loved and the child they’d created, were going to be under his roof. With him. Where they should have been ten years ago. If he hadn’t fucked everything up.

Now was his shot, though, to right the wrongs of his past, and make up for all he’d missed since then.

That is, if Liz gave him a chance.

After asking Liz what she and Erika would need from her house, and then arguing about not letting her back there to pack for herself because she was basically crippled, and they didn’t know if the Russians were staking the place out, Trouble headed out, leaving Tessa to calm down the fuming Liz.

He snickered, unable to stop the grin the spread across his face. Mounting his bike, he pulled his cell from his back pocket.

“Yo,” Hawk answered. Hawk, as the club’s sergeant-at-arms, was in charge of keeping the brothers in line, watching out forclub interests, and being muscle when necessary. “How’s the doc?”

Trouble chuckled, remembering the murder in Liz’s eyes when he asked her how she expected to pack her clothes when she couldn’t even pull up her own pants. “She’s pissed, as you’d expected, but she agreed for her and Erika to stay with me.”

“Bet you’re grinning like a fool right now,” Hawk remarked, humor in his voice.

Snorting, Trouble replied, “Whatever, fucker. I’m callin’ ‘cause I need you and Fae to head over to Liz’s place and grab whatever she and Erika might need for a few weeks.” With Erika in school, Hawk and Fae didn’t have to worry about bringing the little girl along to the place where her mother was attacked. Thankfully, they’d called in help with the cleaning the morning after the attack, so the place was spotless—no blood congealed on the kitchen floor. But the stank of Russian violence would forever taint the walls.

Hawk hummed thoughtfully. “Weeks? You really think it’ll take that long to deal with the Russians?”

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