Page 26 of Covert
I'm not ready to end this conversation yet, so I grab her by her wrist.
"I'm sorry you got hurt," I say, my voice deep, low, and full of regret.
She swallows and looks up at me before nodding. "I'll survive."
I release her wrist and follow her back over to Diesel, who's been watching the entire exchange, ignoring the people around him.
"Nice right hook," he says as a greeting. It's a tough-guy olive branch. I owe him one back. I likely embarrassed him in front of his friends
I throw my hands wide in offering. "Go ahead," I say, closing my eyes and waiting for the hit.
I hear a scuffle and open my eyes again to see Nikki standing in front of me again. "You are not going to hit him," she glares at Diesel. He smiles down at her like she hung the moon.
He folds his arms across his chest, too, mimicking her stance.
"He owes me one, baby girl. It's against man code to punch someone who isn't looking."
"I swear to God, Diesel..." she growls. I place my hands gently on her hips and guide her to the side and slightly behind me.
Diesel throws me a right hook that pulls the air from my lungs. Blinding pain slices through my cheek. As I catch my breath and let the sharp sting settle into a strong ache, I look up and we turn, watching a fuming Nikki stomp over to another group where Leana's chatting with a few other MC guys.
Shoulder to shoulder, we watch her.
"How long do you think she'll be mad at us?"
"Not mad at me. Mad at you," I retort, but standing next to him, we settle into a strange sort of companionship.
Chapter eleven
Diesel
My girl's mad at me.
She's not really, but she's pretending to be, and it's cute as hell.
After she stormed away, she found Leana and a couple of the other girls from their book club and chatted it up with them. Hawk, Ghost, and I simply watch them from the other side of the makeshift boxing arena. I nurse my beer bottle slowly. If I have any luck at all, she'll be coming home with me tonight, and I will not drive us home drunk.
She keeps peeking over her shoulder at me to find me already watching her.
Ghost nudges me. "You've got it bad, eh?" he comments like he doesn't already know the answer to that.
We bullshit some more about club logistics, where we're going next, the new exhaust Hawk put on his bike, and I wait until finally, I watch as Nikki waves goodbye to Leana and walks back over to me.
"Talking to me again?" I tease. My girl's not the type to bail when something gets hard. That little skirmish with Maddox needed to happen, and I think deep down she knows it, too. She surprised the hell out of me when she didn't balk at the bare-knuckle boxing. She seems so polished and proper, I'd worried about bringing her out here. But the idea that she would bury her face in my chest to avoid seeing the violence was too good an opportunity to miss.
But her gaze slid over the bleeding men, beating each other senseless, uninterested. It digs at the urge I have to learn more abouther history - where she came from, and why she resisted me at first, what the danger in her life might be.
She slides her arm around my waist and tucks herself under my arm, and she has no idea how that simple act makes my chest feel like a balloon. She's out with me, under my arm, letting everyone know she's mine. She feels so good tucked in at my side, like she was always meant to live here. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her in against my chest so I can hold all of her.
Her arms wrap around my lower back, and we stand there for a moment, breathing each other in.
"I was never not talking to you," she grumbles against my chest. I chuckle.
But she tilts her head up to look at me. "I just don't want you guys fighting over me. This isn't going to work if you guys can't figure out how to share." Her face falls sullen. "I'd rather not even begin if it's going to end badly."
I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and tip her chin up to look at me. "I'm happy to have you anyway you'll let me, and for however long you'll let me."
I drop my lips down to hers in a chaste, reassuring kiss.
