Page 28 of Out for Blood

Everyone looked down at me and smiled before they moved off into their respective paths. Ace took my hand and kissed the back of it before leading me out to the row of bikes.

“Wait, I have to get my purse.”

“No, you don’t,” he said without letting me go. He picked up a helmet and fastened it on my head before he got on the bike, waiting for me to mount it behind him.

“Why are you smirking?” I asked him.

“You…back there. You kinda took on the role of the prez’s old lady. You know the one that takes care of the clubhouse and all our members.”

I got on the back of the bike, not sure how to feel about that. I knew what he was talking about. I’d seen his ma, Enna, do the same. She could control an entire brawling clubhouse full of men who had weapons drawn.

That was until she left with Cooper’s father’s VP. Nothing had been the same then. Cooper had been made VP at the tender age of eighteen. That had been the end of us.

I’d never cried as hard as I did the day he rode out of town, knowing I couldn’t follow.

Ace rode out of the compound and into the old part of town where I worked. Well, where I was supposed to be working. I hadn’t returned any of Terry’s calls after I told him I’d need a couple of weeks off. Maybe I didn’t have a job anymore.

When we got off the bike, everyone looked over at us, but I didn’t feel nervous. I felt strong. He slung his arm around my shoulder as I wrapped my arm around his waist and walked into the sliding glass doors of the old mall. I looked over at the grocery store and saw Terry there, barking orders at the girls who were trying to work.

“You good?” Ace asked me, following my gaze over to where Terry had spotted me and was now making his way over to us, marching right up to where we stood.

“And why aren’t you working today if you’re better?” he asked me, ignoring Ace standing right next to me. “Two weeks off for sick leave doesn’t mean you can gallivant around town without acare in the world. If you want to keep your job, you need to get behind that counter.”

I felt bile rise in my throat as I realised he could very easily end my employment.

“She doesn’t need a job with you, fuckhead,” he said, through gritted teeth. “Now scurry off before I lose my patience, rat.”

Terry looked up at the behemoth of a man next to him. He was momentarily startled until he found some kind of nerve to stand up to Ace.

“Listen here…”

Ace didn’t listen. He grabbed Terry by the jacket and hauled him up against the closest wall. The air left Terry’s lungs and he tried desperately to get away from Ace as he rounded on him. “She doesn’t need the job, dick. Before I lose my patience and ground you into a paste, forget the name Sheridan Sullivan.”

Terry was confused for a minute before he nodded and scurried back to his store.

“He doesn’t know me as Sheridan Sullivan.”

“I ain’t callin’ you that prick’s last name. You are Sheridan Sullivan to me, until you become Sheridan Malone, you understand?”

Immediately, I felt a flutter in my chest at the sound of that. There had been many days I’d scribbled that name on my school books throughout school, just to try it on for size. I liked how it sounded.

“I need that job, Coop.”

He grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled me closer. I looked up into those beautiful hazel eyes. “You ain’t workin’ for no one but us, mama. You’re my old lady, and no old lady of mine works for anyone outside the club.”

His lips claimed mine in a searing kiss that told me there was no arguing with him. I had no idea how, but I didn’t want to argue with him. I wanted to be his, and if that meant coming toterms with being part of the club, then damn it, I was part of the club.

He pulled away far too soon for my liking, and smacked my ass. “Now, come on, we need to get the girls something.”

ACE

In the time it took me to have a sleep after my morning with Sheridan, down to shopping for her daughters, to getting back and needing to pass out, I couldn’t believe how much they had transformed the clubhouse. Sheridan had slept next to me for most of it but when I woke up, her side of the bed was cold. I looked around the clubhouse at everyone putting up decorations and cleaning up the ruined furniture.

Shona barged through the front door with bags and bags of groceries.

“Jesus, Shon,” I said, grabbing half of them off her and helping her to the kitchen. I’d never seen the kitchen so bloody busy with half the bunnies and women in there chopping, mixing and baking while they listened to tunes. Sheridan ran over to me as I put the bags down and threw her arms around my neck, putting those lips on mine.

“Hey,” she said, her voice filled with lust.

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