Page 38 of Mace

His hand rubs his nape as he winces. “About last night?—”

I stop him before he can say anything that’s going to piss me off. “Don’t.”

“It won’t happen again,” he assures me.

“No, it won’t, because I’m going to be here every fuckin’ shift she works.” I have no idea why I say this or how I plan on pulling that off. Nicky’s not going to let me spend all my fuckin’ time here. Not with shit as bad as it is in the club.

But Steve doesn’t know that, and his surprise is genuine.

Fuck him.

“Mace.” Maylie’s voice breaks through the fog of anger shrouding me, and I don’t step back, but Steve does, moving away from us.

I turn slowly back to her, trying to calm the tornado blowing inside me. She’s a fucking vision, but Steve is right. Her innocence drips from her, and I don’t mean innocence in the sense that she’s unworldly. I don’t get that vibe from her, but I don’t know how to explain it either. She doesn’t fit in the world she’s trying to be part of.

She watches him go before she turns back to me. “Don’t give him a hard time because of me.”

I’d put him in the ground because of her, but I keep that to myself. Instead, my fingers tangle in a strand of her hair.

She freezes, her eyes widening, but she doesn’t pull away or ask me to stop. “I’ll be at the end of the bar all night,” I tell her.

The frown lines between her eyes are as fucking sweet as she is, and I want to smooth them out. “You don’t have to stay. The guys can handle things.”

Like fuck they can.

“No.”

The sigh she makes tells me I’ve won, but I don’t feel victorious. I want her to want me to be here. “There are still some brownies left in the dressing room,” she says to me. “If you want one, I mean. Don’t feel like you have to. They’ll get eaten anyways. The girls are obsessed, and Archie could keep me in business if I decided to run one…” She trails off, her cheeks burning.

Fuck, she’s adorable, and I don’t do adorable. I’ll destroy her in the same way I destroy everything aroundme, and yet there is no force on earth that can stop this. I want this woman.

“I’ll grab one later.”

Her smile nearly unseats me. It’s genuine and, fuck, it makes something pleasant stir within my gut.

“They might not survive that long.”

Bella twists to glance over her shoulder at Maylie, and the tightness in her body tells me she doesn’t like what’s she’s seeing.

I ignore her, focusing on Maylie instead.

“Can I ask you something?”

I want to tell her she can ask me anything, but that ain’t true. The club has a lot of secrets, and even if I don’t respect Crank, I would never betray the patch to outsiders. But I doubt she’s going to ask about the inner workings of the Sons, so I answer, “Sure.”

“Is your club planning to keep the bar?”

I indulge her question. “As long as it stays profitable.”

“Right. Of course. Businesses are no good to anyone if they’re not making money. Temptation does make money, right? I mean, we’re always busy.”

“Yeah, sweetheart, it makes money.”

A surprising amount, according to Dash. He’d pored over the books since we took over, and even he was astounded at the profit coming through the business.

“How did you get involved with the club? I can’t imagine they send out job applications.”

Fuck, that’s a complicated tale and not one I want to share with her yet. I don’t want to fucking scare her away by revealing the man I truly am. “Long story,” I say.

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