Page 15 of Still Burning

He meant it. My thirty-seven-year-old body wasn’t a turn-off for him. It was the opposite. Relief had me smiling as I did as he’d asked and gave him the view he wanted. Feeling more confident, I gave him a little sway of my hips on the way to the shower.

The deep, pleased rumble sound that he made had me grinning from ear to ear.

6

Tex

Two weeks, and there had been nothing. No sign of the Irish cartel or a move from the Landiagos. It had been silent. I’d enjoyed the fuck out of it.

Salem was in my bed and on the back of my bike. When I wasn’t handling club stuff, I was with her. Rarely did life hand you second chances like this one, and I wasn’t fucking it up. Her smile had gotten brighter, and her laughter was just like I remembered. The way she lit up at the sight of me made me want to brand my fucking name on her body.

Waking up in bed with her tucked against me, smelling the scent of her honey-and-coconut shampoo from her hair that I’d been sure to go buy for her since she didn’t have what she needed here, and feeling the soft weight of her tits on my arm, was the type of perfect a man did anything to hold on to. I intended to. There wasn’t a force on earth that was going to take her from me this time. Without having to debate things, I’d immediately known if I had to choose between the club and her, it would be Salem. And that was before I’d spent the past two weeks with her being mine again.

Liam’s call had come after breakfast, and it made me uneasy that he was already heading back here after having been gone for such a short time. It wasn’t like him, and whatever he wanted to meet with me about in the library when he arrived had meanxious. Things were so damn good right now that I was afraid of something messing it up. I wanted to keep things like this. At least for now.

I’d been playing with the idea of building that house on my land. The house I’d always wanted to build for Salem. The one I wanted to live in with her. Our privacy was becoming more and more appealing.

Standing at one of the few windows of the compound, I watched Salem throw her head back and laugh at something Nina had said. The other woman was smirking as she sat across from her. Salem had gotten close to Pepper, and I’d worried that when she left, Salem would miss her female companionship. But she’d formed a friendship with both Nina and Goldie. Micah’s ole lady, Dolly, had come by twice to visit, and they’d bonded instantly. I liked seeing her in my world. With those who had become my family.

“You don’t deserve that.”

The annoyance in Lick’s tone had me tensing as I turned from the sight of my woman to look at the man behind me. The glint in his eyes, warning anyone who looked at him that he was cracked, didn’t make me nervous. I’d known the crazy bastard long enough. Sure, he’d done some wacked-up shit, but he was loyal to the club.

“I never did,” I agreed. “But she’s still mine.”

There was a slight tic in his jaw as he studied me. “For now.”

Bastard. He was trying to set me off. I knew how he worked.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about us, her, the past,” I said, wanting to tell him her husband’s last words to her, but knowing that wasn’t mine to share.

His lips quirked, as if he was amused. “There’s some shit you don’t know either. But you will soon,” he replied. Then, he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and stuck it between his teeth before walking off.

What shit did I not know? Lick was the master of playing head games. He could have very likely just said that to annoy me. It had worked.

Turning back to the window, I looked down at Salem. There wasn’t something that could take her from me. There was nothing that would change us. I wouldn’t fucking allow it. I’d fight anything that tried to stand in our way.

I stood, lost in the peace from just watching Salem, until I heard booted feet coming up the stairs. I glanced down at my phone to see the time. Five minutes until my meeting with Liam. That was most likely him. Ready to get this over with and calm the prickly unease from his presence yet again, I waited until he appeared at the top of the stairs. His eyes swung to me, and the grim expression on his face didn’t bode well.

Fuck. What was this about?

He nodded his head toward the library door, and I followed him without a word.

I’d expected Micah to be here for this, but he hadn’t come in all morning, which meant this wasn’t necessarily club business but personal, Salem-related. I fisted my hands and opened them while taking a deep breath. Whatever it was, I could fix it. I could handle it.

Closing the door behind me, I watched as Liam sighed heavily and then took a seat on one of the black leather sofas. He motioned for me to sit down on the one across from him. Dread was slowly sinking its talons into my chest, and I didn’t like it. I wanted to stand for whatever he had to say, but I went over and sat on the other black sofa.

“How important is Salem to you?” he asked as his gaze met mine.

That was a question he might not like the answer to, but I was going to be honest. I’d betrayed Salem once in my life, and I’d never make that mistake again.

“If it came down to her or the club, I’d choose her.”

Liam nodded his head, his expression becoming even more foreboding. Whatever it was, he needed to fucking say it.

“I thought so. As your president, I could take offense to that. But as your friend, I understand completely. That’s why telling you this is difficult. It’s going to cause you problems. And damn if I don’t hate it for you.”

I said nothing as I waited. Was he making me choose? Why? Did Salem know something?

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