Page 232 of Savage Brothers MC: Tennessee Chapter

“Am I still on gravel duty?”

“Yeah, and if my mind doesn’t change you will be for the next year.”

“That’s a lot of gravel, not sure our parking lot can handle more than what we’ve got to spread now,” he yells.I don’t turn around.I’m going to find Rory and put an end to this crap.

“I wasn’t going to order more.I was just going to have you shovel it back off the drive and then spread it again,” I growl and I slam the door to the club on the fucker’s laughter.

If Rory gives me any shit, I just might kill that man.

Chapter35

Diesel

My anger lastsme until I get to my old room, I open it and find Rory still in bed.I’m about to wake her up, but instead I stop and stare down at the beautiful woman who I want back in my life.Her dark auburn hair strewn across the pillow, her pale skin relaxed in sleep, long lashes brushing against the rise of her cheekbone.She’s breathtaking, there’s no other way to put it, but that’s not what makes my fucking heart stop beating.Ryan is curled into her, his head resting against her chest.Rory is holding him tight and my boy…

Fuck, even in his sleep, my boy is smiling.

My boy rarely smiled before Rory came into our lives.Even with everything he has been through… he’s smiling now in his sleep.How is that possible?How does Rory give him good dreams after the nightmare that he has endured?

“Noah?”she whispers and that burn starts anew.Noah.My eyes close and I drink it in deep, so fucking deep it feels like my heart begins beating for the first time since I woke up in the hospital.

She’s still half asleep, her voice soft, her face tender… she looks like she does in my dreams.Dreams that have been haunting me from the moment I woke up in that damn hospital bed.

Without thinking or questioning myself I walk to her side of the bed, I bend down, cupping her neck in my hand and let my thumb press into her cheek, capturing her and not letting her pull away.

“I fucked up, Rory.I let my past cloud my judgment.What you don’t get is that my past was bad.That’s not an excuse, but it is a fact.”

“I don’t?—”

“But I had a vasectomy.I honestly thought I couldn’t have babies.So, I had this woman that I cared for.I had her in my arms, I let my guard down.I let her near the only thing in this world that mattered to me, I let her near my child and I let my heart guide me and not my head.Then you come at me with something I honestly thought couldn’t happen—something a doctor assured mecouldn’thappen.”

“Will you?—”

“The past taught me hard lessons, Rory, lessons that I fell back on without thinking and I lashed out.That’s not right, and it’s not fair, but it’s the God’s honest truth.”

“What do you want me to say to that?”

“I want you to know that I was working through it in my head.Had things not gone down like they had, I would have fixed it.I swear.I was already planning on seeing a doctor.I would have fixed the mess I made.”

Her eyes scan my face and for a minute I think I see indecision and I feel a spark of hope.Then, she shuts it down.I watch it as it happens.I can see it clearly, but I don’t give up.

“Diesel—”

“Noah,” I tell her and I don’t give a fuck that it sounds like I’m pleading.Hell, maybe I am.“No one calls me that.That’s yours.That’s who I am to you and that’s what you call me, Rory.I’m Noah to you.”

She swallows and I can see a hint of uncertainty in her face.I don’t know what that means for me, but I’m hoping that I’m getting to her.

“Regardless, you still needed a doctor to prove something to you.You didn’t believe me.You don’t trust me.”

“When I was in that truck and I knew that was it, I knew I wasn't going to be able to protect my son.I knew I wasn’t going to survive.I had two thoughts, Rory.Two.”

“N…Noah…”

“I grieved that I wouldn’t have the chance to fix what was between us and I knew that you were the only one I could trust with my son.I told him to go to you.To you, Rory.Does that sound like a man who didn’t care about you, or trust you?”

“Maybe, or maybe you were just a man who didn’t have many options,” she reasons.

“You can believe that if you want, Gorgeous.But I’m telling you right now that I was a man saying goodbye to the two things in his life that he loved.You might not have been there, but I’m standing here right now, and I’m telling you that was exactly what I was doing.I might have fucked up, Rory.I get that.You might need time to trust this change in me and trust me when I tell you, Gorgeous, Ifuckingget that.But, you have to give me a chance to prove it to you.You have to.”

---