Page 56 of Property of Thrasher
My eyes widened. “You’d fire her? Just like that?”
“Damn right.” His tone left no room for argument. “I protect what’s mine. She made herself a problem the second she came at you. I don’t let problems linger. She knows the deal. She doesn’t ever approach an old lady. She did. She’s out.”
The fierceness in his voice should have scared me, but it didn’t. It steadied me.
My fingers fisted in the fabric of his shirt, holding on like he was the only solid thing in a spinning world. “Why me, Enzo? Out of everyone… why me?”
His gaze softened, but it burned just as deep. “Because you’re real. Because when you look at me, you don’t see the cut, or the reputation, or the shit I’ve done. You see me. And no one else ever has.”
The words sank into me, heavy and healing.
He leaned down, brushing his lips against mine—soft, deliberate, nothing like the rough demand I’d expected. I melted, the fight leaving me.
His hands slid over me, not rushed, not greedy, just steady. Like he was proving every word he’d just said.
By the time he laid me back against the pillows, my body trembled with something that had nothing to do with fear.
I didn’t need to question anymore. I didn’t need to doubt. He was here. He was mine.
And when his mouth claimed mine again, I let go of everything else.
He moved slow, unhurried, like we had all the time in the world. Every kiss, every brush of his hands over my skin, stripped away the pain of earlier, replacing it with something warm and consuming.
I’d thought he’d be rough, that the fire in him would burn me down. Instead, he was careful, steady, his touch gentle.
When I gasped his name, he hushed me with a kiss, whispering against my lips, “I’ve got you, Mel. Always.”
The world narrowed down to just us—the sound of his breathing, the weight of his body, the way he held me like I was precious.
It wasn’t about proving anything, or taking, or claiming. It was about giving. About showing me I didn’t need to cry myself to sleep anymore.
By the end, when I was curled against him, spent and shaking, I realized I found my place. My home was right here with him. It all simply felt like home.
I must have drifted, because the next thing I knew, his voice was in my ear again, gravelly but soft.
“You don’t ever doubt me again, you hear?”
I nodded against his chest.
“I’ll handle Maria tomorrow. She’s gone. And if I gotta carve it into the walls of the clubhouse to make you believe, I will. You’re mine, Melody Holton. My old lady.”
Tears pricked my eyes again, but this time they weren’t from pain. They were from something deeper, something I hadn’t let myself hope for.
I pressed closer, whispering the only truth I had left. “I hear you.”
His arm tightened around me, pulling me into the safest place I’d ever been.
And for the first time in a long time, I fell asleep without worries.
16
THRASHER
I was at my desk in the garage going over logistics for a run when Tiny said my name standing in the doorway.
“Thrasher.” From the threshold, voice even, eyes steady. “Got a minute?”
“Yeah. Always, brother.”
