Page 40 of O'Mega's Revenge
My confession stopped the jokes.
Nonno dipped his head. “Also, their clean up man.”
“You mean like the kind of guy that goes around and dismembers corpses?” Missile asked.
“Not always corpses.”
Nonno’s admission created a vacuum of silence.
Trot glanced at my chest. They all had seen my scars and the tattoos I’d chosen to cover them up. None of them knew exactly how they’d happened.
Some secrets didn’t stay dead, did they?
Chapter Nine
The cavalcade of bikes moving north was divided into two distinct groups. At the head, because Nonno was too proud and Trot was smart, the Destroyers tucked Wolf and I into a neat pocket of protection. For once, I was at his back. He kept my left hand captive every moment he could. At stops, during long stretches of road, all of it. He’d pull it from wherever I’d drop it and wrap it up around his waist, then clamp down on it with his own.
Once, he went as far as to bring it to his chest, right over his heart. And the spot where his road name graced the Destroyers’ colors he wore. My own colors were in his saddle bag.Rules.
We didn’t talk. Couldn’t. There was no privacy to rant, scream, cry, or fix the rifts that threatened to swallow us.
Trot followed with the officers from our chapter. Quick and her man stayed behind to bury Margaret. I wished they were the ones guarding me, but I’d stupidly agreed to cooperate with Nonno.
Jackson led us to a wooded lot. There was a hunter’s road that led us deep into the property. An oversized garage sat at the road’s end. We stopped and gathered in the clearing. Hickey unlocked the door and let us in.
“This is your plan B?” I strolled around the space, trying to walk off the road miles.
“Not my plan.” Wolf frowned and kept his gaze busy by quartering the room and monitoring the people who joined us.
“To be clear, any bargain you had with Tits extends to us.” Trot was at Nonno’s side.
Missile followed on her heels, fighting her way through Nonno’s bodyguards. “Looks like a cage to me.” She scanned the blank walls.
“We couldn’t take you back to the club. It’s being watched.” Jackson strode in and poked Nonno in the shoulder. “Yours is too.”
“You have men on my club?”
“Fuck you. And yeah.”
I caught Wolf’s quick smile. They made a good team. I’m certain this had been discussed somewhere between the decision to come get me and the actual act. Or maybe it was accomplished during the long ride north. He noticed my scrutiny and gave up trying to play tough.
He walked to me and wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, tugging me into his chest. His lips met my hair, and he captured my ass to pull the rest of my body tight with his. Then he sighed. “Ain’t giving you up. Ever.”
I looked up at him in disbelief. “You pick now for that kind of bullshit?”
His face tightened in amusement. “Yeah.”
Then he got serious. “Marry me.”
“No.”
He rolled his eyes and stared at the gathering crowd. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Do with me? What am I going to do with you? Knucklehead, a proposal is supposed to be from the heart and not in some lame attempt to protect me.” I poked at his ticklish spot near his hipbone, knowing he’d flinch.
“Itwasfrom the heart.” He lowered his voice so we wouldn’t be overheard. Whether it worked or not, I didn’t check.
The words scared me. Suddenly my world was much bigger. I had more to lose. More people who would mourn if I didn’t come back. I didn’t want that. There was too much to do.
