Page 108 of Pope's Penance

To come back to us breathing.

That didn’t mean I appreciated all the marks left on him.

He just got a kick out of me bitching and moaning about them and loving on him after I took care of him.

Stupid lovable idiot.

Pope informed me I didn’t have to worry about Frankie anymore.He said they took care of him.He didn’t go into much more detail other than to say that he’s not getting off easy.

If it was anyone else, I’d be hesitant about the implications.Frankie deserves everything that’s coming to him.There’s not a kind bone in his body.In the beginning, when he first started coming into the diner, there was.Or at least I wanted to believe there was.When he started putting his hands on me, that’s when I realized it was just an act he’d put on.However, leading up to the assault were angry outbursts and the irritation he felt when the children misbehaved.It was things he apologized for the next day.Apologies which felt sincere at the time.

I still can’t believe I was fool enough to turn a blind eye to the red flags.

Finding out he’s Pope’s brother helped me understand what the draw to him was.

My heart and soul were seeking out the similarities to the man that owned them.

It was the little things Frankie did that whispered to the broken parts of me that remembered Pope.

The way he ran his fingers through his hair.The way the left side of his mouth would curl up when something made him happy.It was the way he would eat with his non-dominant hand and the way he’d tilt his head to the right when he was listening to someone talk.

It was quirks they both did that helped me find solace in someone who should have brought me peace, but threw me into hell instead.

There’s a warning in my brain.One that tells me this isn’t over.There’s still something coming.Whoever helped Spunky in the past is still there in the club.The eyes are still on me when I’m around the clubhouse.They’re weighted with anger, with frustration.It’s the longing and the lust that I don’t understand.The intensity that I feel from them causes the hair to stand on my arms.

I no longer feel comfortable being at the clubhouse by myself because, even surrounded by my friends, those eyes pierce my skin as if they’re begging me to see them, to find them.

Arms snake around me from behind.My body jerks and my muscles tighten at the unexpected touch as fog rushes over my brain.

“It’s just me, little mama,” Pope murmurs, his lips brushing my ear.

Closing my eyes, I picture my muscles loosening one by one until my body melts into his.“Sorry.”

He nips at my jawline.“Don’t fucking apologize when that happens.”

I get lost in the feel of his arms around me as I consider bringing up what I’ve thought about since the first time Frankie hit me.“I’d like to learn some self-defense.”

Pope is quiet, but his arms tighten around me.He sways us back and forth to the slow tune of Alex Warren singing about finding someone who takes him out of the ordinary.The first time I listened to the lyrics, the song called to me.They reminded me so much of what I shared with Pope in the past, and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since.

Placing my hands over the arms he has wrapped around me, I tilt my head to the side as he brandishes my neck in feather-light kisses.Sweet little brushes of his lips to reassure me he’s here, that he loves me, that he’s the steady fucking beat of my heart.

“I need to know that if something happens—”

“It won’t,” he growls.

With a sigh, I turn in his arms and lean my head back to peer up at him.“I need to know that if something happens, I’ll be able to protect me and the kids as best as I can.You can’t be everywhere all the time, Apollonos.You have a club to run and so many businesses that you all have to look after.Not including the shit you do in the dark.If I’m going to stand at your side, I need to know I’m worthy of being there.”

“You’ve always been worthy of being at my side.Fucking always.Understand?Property patch or not, you’re mine.They’re mine.I’m the one not worthy of you.That won’t stop me from claiming you, but it doesn’t mean I don’t know that I’m lucky as fuck to have you.”Then he sighs.“This will help?”

“It will.I know you all have Frankie, but I feel it building in my gut, Pope.This all feels unfinished, like there’s something waiting in the shadows to pull me in.”

“Fuck.Okay.I’ll bring one of the women we have fighting in the ring for us.If you’re going to learn, I want it to be from the best and Tapping It has the best.I’ll see if Verena has time.”

“Verena?Pretty name.”

Pope snorts, amusement dancing in his eyes.“She’s pretty, but she’s a fucking beast in the ring.You know what she told me her name means?”

“What?”

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