Page 19 of Derick

I was. This was the longest he’d ever been away from me—well, since Hope had been conceived. When our father was around, Toby stayed as close to me as he could. If Toby’s mother was around with our father, he would never leave me alone with them. His mother wasn’t ‘mother of the year’, but she did love her son, and even protected him from our father.

“Yes,” I said. “This is the longest—well, besides…” I trailed off, not wanting to get into how Hope was made. “He’s only ever been away this long once, but this time he hasn’t gotten in contact much. I miss him.” My brother knew of Derick, but I hadn’t told him the story about the Silverman family with their soulmate and that I was Derick’s, or that Hope and I were living with them.

“You haven’t spoken to him much?” Derick asked.

No, I hadn’t. That wasn’t new though. When Toby went away, we didn’t usually talk as I didn’t want to put him in danger, and before now, I hadn’t really had a phone. He worried about me, and I knew when he was away, his focus needed to be on himself.Especially this time when he was cleaning up the club, helping the police and Silvermans, making it safe for everyone.

“I wasn’t allowed a phone before this. My father took five cheap, disposable mobiles off me, smashing or hiding them from me, so Toby stopped buying them. I sometimes sneaked one of the club bunny’s a time or two and one of my dad’s guys phones to call the police or Toby. I’m used to having no contact for a week, mostly with Toby, this has been the longest. I’ll have a lot to talk about. All he knows is that I’m safe and Hope and I are happy.”

“We’re here,” Dean said, pulling the car to a stop. He was the guard who’d stick close to us tonight. I knew there were more around, but the rest would stay hidden.

Derick got out of the car. I opened the door only to have Derick take over, spreading it wide and holding his hand out to help me down the step. “I’m looking forward to meeting your brother officially,” he said as I placed my hand in his and eased out of the car.

We were outside a huge building that had bowling, mini-golf, and an arcade in it. My brother had taken me bowling before and they’d had an arcade in it, but this was huge and with all three combined. I didn’t want to think about my brother anymore. I’d worry about Derick and Toby meeting tomorrow, or maybe never. Tonight, I was looking forward to my first date.

“I don’t want to talk about Toby. I want tonight to be about you and me.” I sent what I hoped was my sincerest smile to him.

He gave a sharp nod. “Okay. No more talk of your brother.” He held out his hand and I threaded my fingers with his and we walked into the big complex.

“Can we not talk about my family at all tonight please?” I squeezed his hand. We stopped a couple of feet from the service desk.

“Sure.” He cradled my hand for a moment and gazed into my eyes. I had a feeling he was trying to reassure me.

Derick talked to the young girl that was behind the counter. I watched as she batted her eyelashes and played with her hair. I bit my tongue to stop myself from screaming when she pulled her top down to show more cleavage.

Brand came out of hiding and stood beside me. His chuckle had me looking up at him to see his smirking face. “What is that about?” I hissed between clenched teeth.

“Go tell her who he belongs too. Trust me when I say that Derick will eat that up. If I didn’t know them,” he said, jerking his head in Derick’s direction, “and hadn’t seen this soulmate shit a couple of times before, I wouldn’t believe in gypsy gifts, curses, or whatever. But I assure you, for the Silverman family, it is real.” He laughed and made a shooing motion for me to go over to Derick.

I don’t know what came over me, but as I watched the girl hand over shoes and her fingers lingered on him, I stormed over to them, snatched her hand away, and threaded my fingers through Derick’s. “He is mine.”

I had no idea where my courage or newfound confidence came from, but I loved Derick’s reaction. He brought our interlocked hands up and kissed every one of my knuckles before he slowly leaned down and brushed his lips over mine; once, twice, and the third time, I gasped when he nipped my bottom lip and opened my mouth. His tongue met mine and tangled. I had never felt anything so good.

My body that had been tense since going out and being on my first date melted into his embrace. The kiss was better than anything I had ever imagined. I loved kissing Derick. I adored my romance books, and I’d played out scenes in my head over and over, but it had never had my body heating, my pussytingling, and my breasts aching with need. I wiggled against him, eager for more.

Something was slammed down on the counter, and I broke the kiss to see the girl giving me the evil eye and the second pair of shoes next to us. I returned my gaze to Derick and said, “I love your kisses.” My voice sounded breathless even to myself.

The smile that spread over his face had me sighing as his perfect, white teeth showed and his lips spread wide. His warm eyes held my own and had a sparkle to them. It was that spark that had me holding tight to him and smiling at the girl.

“Precious, I loved that show of claim.” His hands glided down my back, sending shivers of pure passion through me. I squeaked when he squeezed my butt cheeks. His head came to nuzzle my neck, and his lips brushed over my earlobe. “This date is off to a perfect start. I can’t wait for more.” His whispered words were like a feather tickling the sensitive outer rim of my lobe. He eased back and grinned down at me. “Let’s put our shoes on and choose our bowling balls before I forget I’m trying to be a gentleman and treat you like the goddess you are.”

I sighed in contentment and followed him as he guided me down the steps toward the lanes. “You always seem to know just what to say,” I muttered.

His laugh was deep, raspy, and damn sexy. He was turning me into something I never thought I would become… a sex-starved woman.

I suck at bowling.Mini-golf wasn’t my thing either. But on the arcade games, I was kicking Derick’s arse. Gaming machines were something that were at the compound. When the men were out, I played them—well, before Hope came along. Derick and Iwent over to a basketball game and tapped our cards, and the balls came out. Derick had a competitive nature, and until we started playing the arcade games, I didn’t realize that I had one too.

“Ready, precious? This time I’m going to cream you.”

I adored the nickname he had for me. Every time I heard it, my heart skipped a beat and my body came alive with a need I’d only felt since meeting Derick. Enjoying his lighthearted banter, I gave it back with confidence that I wouldn’t get hurt for anything I said.

“Oh yeah. You’re on. Don’t cry when I kick your butt.”

His chuckle had us both going into action, throwing the ball at the hoop. This game wasn’t my strong suit, but my brother taught me to play the real thing with some of the nice children of my father’s motorbike gang. They were some of my best memories. The other kids in my father’s club helped me as much as they could, but some had similar issues with their parents, and others were careful to not let the attention fall on them. Not many of the members treated their children well, unless the kids followed in their parent’s footsteps and were mean, selfish, uncaring bastards. Some of them, like my brother, played the game the best they could to protect loved ones, or to stop getting hurt themselves.

The buzzer rang, and I realized that I’d zoned out thinking of my past life. But it didn’t matter anyway as I’d won, but only by one point.

“Ruby, you okay? You seemed to zone out there.” I knew he was serious as he used my name and not the nickname he had for me.

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