Page 29 of The Biker's Red Christmas

"Yeah, not my style. Don't be surprised if you show up one day and I'm already here. Just get used to having me around."

"That's insane." She blinks at me a few times.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll grow on you." I tilt my head in a nod.

"Yeah, like a fungus," she retorts and rolls her eyes.

I love her quick wit. "No, honestly, I wanted to give you something. I know it's not Christmas yet, but I thought you could use a little pick-me-up after everything that's going down." I reach into my pocket and pull out the small box.

"Lash, you didn't have to buy me anything," she says, but her hands are steady trying to open the box. She finally gets the wrapping paper off and moves the two flaps to show the diamond earrings I've bought her.

"Holy shit, are these real?"

I scoff and pull back from her, "Don't insult me like that. Of course these are real. Only the best for my woman."

She puts the jewelry down, no longer fascinated by the sparkling rocks and looks up at me.

I can tell just by the look in her eyes that she's about to drop something heavy on me. My skin itches just thinking about it. I'm not really equipped to deal with serious relationship talk, but I guess I'm going to have to learn.

"Is that what's going on here?" she asks, and I have to think back on what I said to know what it is she's talking about.

"You mean about you being my woman? This I can handle." I chuckle before I continue, "You thought I was joking? You're mine, Red. I'm not in the habit of saying things I don't mean."

"I'm not just going to be some woman you can keep hidden away in your clubhouse. I have my own life I want to live. My own people I feel responsible for." She doesn't take her eyes off mine.

"Why?" I ask, not because I want to keep her hidden away like some prize bird, but I've never understood why she was so attached to these women that she keeps around herself. The first time I met her at the party, she wasn't there to have fun; she was there to watch out for the other women. She spends her nights walking outside, helping those who have less. I don't understand why she feels the need to do these things; all I know is it's important to her.

"What do you mean, why?" she frowns.

"Why? Why these women? Why is this so important to you?"

She breathes a deep sigh and looks down at her folded hands. "It's not just these particular women; it's all women. It just so happens that these particular women, more often than not, are the ones that no one believes. The ones who are blamed when horrible things happen to them. If they didn't dress so provocatively. If they didn't work as strippers. If they didn't stay out all night. Always an excuse for why they are the ones targeted. No one cares about them. I know what that feels like, even if I didn't take the same route as many of these women."

I can read between the lines, but I want her to tell me everything. I want her to open up to me. "Go on," I encourage.

"When I was younger, I was out of my house for the first time. It was the first real taste of freedom I've ever had, and I wanted to do something with it. I wanted to party. Wanted to be the girl everyone remembered. I dyed my hair funky colors, wore see-through tops, did the most, as people would say. When I was approached by a few guys at a party for a good time, I told them no. Told them I was just there to dance, but they assumed because of what I was wearing and how I was acting, it gave them the right to just ignore my words. They forced themselves on me, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was I went to the cops right after and told them what happened, but they acted like they didn't believe me. They wanted to know if I'd led the group on in some way. They acted like I was asking to be assaulted just because of my clothes. I never felt more ashamed of the human race than I did that day. Ever since then, I vowed never to judge someone for what they had to do or even what they wanted to do. We all should be treated with kindness and respect. We all should have someone in our corner to believe us."

She finished her story, and I can feel the rage boiling up inside of me. I know this all happened a long time ago, but I'm seeing red right now. I want to murder whoever it was that harmed her. But then that would make it about me. This was about her.

I pull her closer to me and kiss the top of her head. "I'm sorry you had to go through something like that. And you're right, everyone should have somewhere they can turn if they need help. Even the ones most folks would consider unsavory." I hold her close until I feel the tension seeping out of her body.

"Thank you for being honest about that. It only makes me want you even more. So fucking strong." I lean down to kiss her, but this time she pulls back. I'm worried for a second that she'll try to hit me.

Talking about being honest, I think there's something that I should tell you." Red bites at the corner of her lip. If there was ever a more guilty-looking expression, I've never seen it. Whatever it is that she has to tell me is something I'm not going to want to hear.

"Spit it out," I grunt.

"Well, I just want you to know this has nothing to do with me not trusting you; it's more because I just can't sit and not do anything. I need to make moves of my own." She prefaces, and I wait for her to tell me whatever it is she's going to say.

"What are you talking about, Sienna?" I press on.

"Well, after you told me about Fisher, I know you told me to just be patient, but I was going out of my mind waiting for answers. I decided to do a bit of digging myself." She shrugs, and instantly my chest starts to get tight. She can't be saying what I think she's saying.

"Don't tell me you went to meet with that man without any protection," I growl, and she quickly shakes her head.

"No, no, no! I didn't, but..." She hedges, and I growl louder, nearly demanding that she just get on with it.

"I went to the clubs and talked to people on the street. I found out where Fisher is going to be on Friday. No one really wanted to talk about it. In fact, the one girl I got the information from went to great lengths to make it seem like she wasn't giving me any information. She slid me a paper like a drug deal." Sienna chuckles nervously.

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