Page 81 of Always Mine

Angel laughed, and then tried to cover her mouth.“You’re not playing fair, and besides, I like taking care of people.I’m good at it.Stop teasing me.”

He pulled her onto his lap.“I love teasing you.Now, have you eaten anything?”he asked.

“I have my lunch in the kitchen.”

“That’s your stubborn way of saying no, you’re not eating anything, and it makes me want to spank your ass.”He picked up one of the pickles from his plate that he knew she loved.“Eat it.”

She took a bite and her eyes closed.“You’re a pain.I made that for you.”

“And if I don’t take care of you, who will?”

She didn’t argue with him.It was a good thing.Arguing with him got them nowhere.Daisy was still fast asleep, and he had known, even all those years ago, that her father hadn’t died from cleaning his gun.Anthony had been good at what he did, but not perfect.

Lash didn’t give enough of a shit to find out the truth.The story held up, and seeing the bastard was a drunk with a lot of enemies, it made sense for him to be cleaning a gun.It was a mess that took care of itself.

They buried him, no questions asked.

He hated that Daisy had gone through that.Her real father had been cruel.She would have been sixteen, or just turning that age.

She was the right choice for Anthony, just as Angel was the right choice for him, because she gave him hope, and she saw the good in everything.Daisy didn’t question the darkness in Anthony.She accepted it and still loved him.He had seen the two of them over the last few years getting closer, falling in love, and he admired them.

They never allowed their relationship to get in the way of the club.They never brought their problems to the club, or their successes.In that moment, he wasn’t happy.His son had married in secret, as had Daisy.They had moved in together without announcing it.Under the nose of the club, they had shared a life no one truly knew about, and that was because everything else had taken center stage.Anthony and Daisy didn’t need to be the center of attention.They were happy to just be together.It was how they were as kids, and right now he didn’t like that.

“You’re frowning, and you’ve got your angry face on,” Angel said.

“I think it is time you start organizing a wedding.”

****

Rachel hadn’t beenalone with Adam since his little lecture.She had thought he was the cool one, the one who would totally understand why they did what they did.

Yes, she got it, normal girls might be ...nervous or jittery at the fact they killed a guy.She didn’t care.It was part of being in the club, and she didn’t have rose-colored glasses on.

Her dad was an ex-addict who nearly got her mother killed.The club had killed people.They now worked for a much greater cause, and it was one she agreed with.Saving people, protecting them, and bringing down the scum that hurt them.There was no way she could be angry with that.

She loved the club, even though she wasn’t part of the immediate clique with Anthony, Daisy, Simon, Tabitha, and Miles, Sally as well, kind of Darcy too.Either way, it didn’t matter.They just connected, and well, she was kind of sidelined with Markus, which again was fine.More than fine.

She was still a Skull, and she was still part of the team.But she knew she was a little different.Yes, she loved makeup, dressing up and doing her hair, and all those things that made her a “girly-girl,” as her father would call her.However, she still didn’t have any problem handling a gun or killing people.

She did have a problem with Adam.His judgy attitude, and bringing their age gap into the conversation had annoyed her quite a bit.She didn’t give a shit what he did in the past.It didn’t matter to her that he was much older than her, old enough to be her dad, British, and just recently a grumpy old man.She liked him, for the longest time.Actually, she knew in her heart she was in love with him, and he with her.She also had a feeling he would never act on it—never, ever, ever, ever act on it—and that fucking sucked.It made her want to stamp her foot, scream, and throw a temper tantrum all in one, but that was childish.Instead, she glared at him.

He was playing pool with Alex.The two were laughing like they had not a care in the world.She sipped her juice.Along with all of her peers who had decided to take matters into her own hands, she was grounded.Yep, she was still getting grounded in her twenties, which was laughable.She took another swig of her juice, as she felt her blood boiling.She didn’t know why she was getting so angry.

Adam was there, enjoying his game of pool, laughing, and she was there stewing, getting angrier by the second.She had every intention of ignoring him.

There were a lot of men for her to pay attention to, only none of them were like Adam, and that pissed her off.She wanted to scream but instead she simply sat there and drank her juice.Festering.

And then it happened.Adam put down his pool stick and made his way to the bathroom.The same bathroom Anthony had been cleaning not too long ago.

Rachel tried to convince herself she should keep her ass on the chair.She shouldn’t move.She certainly shouldn’t be barging in on Adam’s bathroom break.That would be stupid.

She suddenly put her juice down, then stepped one foot in front of the other, until she found herself in the men’s bathroom.One glance around and she hoped someone would tell her to get her ass out.Of course, no one else was there.And that irritated her.

She tried to reason with herself, that she needed to get her shit together and just leave.Only, the toilet flushed, and any chance of escape was fast disappearing.There was no way she was going to panic.She was going to keep calm, keep her composure.Then Adam stepped right out of the stall.

“Rachel, you do know this is the men’s bathroom,” he said.

How dare he!

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