Page 44 of Out for Blood

I wished I had made him stay that night, told him to take my virginity, and not go back to his Dad. It had been the second worst decision of my life.

The first was letting him leave without putting me on the back of his bike.

“You okay?”

I jumped at his deep voice behind me. When I turned to face him, his smirk was there on his lips, ready and willing to piss me off.

“How did you build this place exactly how I explained all those years ago?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I remembered.”

“You weren’t just trying to get me naked?”

“I won’t lie,” he replied. “It was high on my list of priorities that night, but we both know that didn’t work out. I liked how you described the house of your dreams. It made me want that.”

He closed the distance between us, wrapping his arms around my waist and turning me around so he could pull me up against his chest, and snuggle into my neck.

“One day, this will be our home,” he said, his voice almost a whisper, but I knew it wasn’t just him saying it, it was a damn promise. “And no one will dare come after my girls.”

A spark of passion ran its way down my spine and directly to my pussy, a need to have him inside of me. I loved how he protected me, and my girls.

I also loved how he called all of ushis girls.

“What are you going to do?” I asked him, suddenly feeling the need to wrap him up enough that Neal couldn’t get to him.

“You know I can’t let this last shit go unpunished,” he said, pulling from me. I instantly missed his warmth. He leant against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. He knew I wasn’t going to like this. That’s what he did when he wanted to protect me from the truth. “This town needs to know who is in charge, and it ain’t going to be a sadistic prick like him.”

I nodded. “I know. I just wish it was all over now.”

“It will be, Sher,” he said. “Then you can know what it’s like to be an old lady of a MC when we’re not at war. Until then, I need to make sure you’re safe.”

She nodded. “Who were the men that came to the club earlier?”

“Friends,” he said. “I met them when I was doing their uncle a favour, but they grew on me.”

I chuckled. “You do seem to pick up friends easily.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “They needed help. I helped them. Now we need help and they came straight away.”

“What should we do now? Me and the girls, I mean.”

“Well,” I said. “I do have an idea, but I don’t think you’re going to be okay with it.”

“Spill it, Cooper.”

He groaned, rubbing a hand down his face. “I want to send you to stay with the O’Farrell’s. You, Ryleigh and Shauna. They have a strong defence and no one will hunt you there. You’ll be safe, and I won’t keep worrying about you.”

“You want to send me away?”

“I don’twantto, Sher, but when you’re here, I can’t focus and I make fucking mistakes, and you end up hurt.”

I felt the pain in his voice as he admitted his weakness. We were his weakness. I closed the distance between us and hugged him tight. His arms wrapped around me, my ribs hurting a little, but I didn’t dare pull away.

“We’ll go,” I said on a whisper. “But you make sure you take care of this, I don’t want to miss out on more time with you, Cooper.”

His hands were on the sides of my face, tender, soft, so as not to hurt me. I could see the pain in his eyes, just as it was in my heart. His lips touched mine softly, so softly that it was barely enough for me.

“I fucking love you, Sheridan Sullivan.”

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