Page 25 of Sully
But most of all, I just wanted to lie here with Sully.Just for a while.A short nap maybe.For the first time in my life, I understood what it meant to belong to someone by choice rather than circumstance or coercion.
I belonged to Sully, and he to me.Everything else was just details we could figure out later.
Chapter Seven
Sully
Tonio Miles and I sat across from each other at a table against a wall in the common room of the main clubhouse.Untouched whiskeys rested between us like some kind of liquid demilitarized zone while the noise from the rest of the common room faded into a dull roar.We sized each other up, neither of us reaching for our drinks, neither of us blinking.The second most powerful crime boss in Nashville versus an ex-con with more loyalty than sense.In any other circumstances, this would’ve ended with me in a shallow grave.But Darby had changed the equation, and now we both had to figure out how to solve for X again.
The silence stretched between us, thick enough to cut.Finally, he grunted, a sound of decision rather than defeat, and reached for his glass.He downed the whiskey in one smooth motion before setting the empty shot glass on the scarred wooden table with a definitivethunk.
“Let’s cut the shit,” he said, his voice low and controlled.“What exactly are your intentions toward my daughter?”
I almost smiled at the phrasing, like we were in some period drama where he might challenge me to a duel for Darby’s honor.Instead, I held his gaze steadily, letting the question hang there for a beat.“Iintendto never let her out of my fucking sight again.”
It wasn’t the answer he expected.I could see it in his eyes.But his expression said he knew I was being honest.Brutally so, but he believed me.I’d spent weeks searching for Darby after our first night together, then nearly lost her a second time.There was no way I was losing her again.
“She’s not the type to appreciate being watched,” Tonio mused, his expression unreadable.
“I know that,” I replied, finally reaching for my own whiskey.I didn’t down it like he had, but took a measured sip, letting the burn coat my tongue.“But she’s also the type to get herself killed proving how independent she is.”
Tonio nodded, a flicker of something in his expression, possibly agreement.“So what’s your plan?Chain her to the bed?”There was an edge to his voice, a warning.I knew better than to respond to that with anything other than a denial.
“That’d last about ten minutes before she got loose and stabbed me with a spork.”I shook my head.“No, I don’t plan to cage her.I plan to be there.Wherever she goes, whatever trouble she finds… or creates… I’ll be right beside her.”
Tonio leaned forward slightly.“Even if it puts you in my crosshairs?”
“Even then.”I finished my whiskey.“Though I’m starting to think your crosshairs and mine might be aligned when it comes to keeping her safe and happy.”
He studied me for a long moment before nodding once.“She’s reckless.”
“Fearless,” I corrected.“There’s a difference.”
“Semantics,” he countered, but there was something like respect flickering in his eyes.“Either way, she’s going to get herself into all kinds of trouble without someone watching her back.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
Tonio grunted again, this time with a hint of reluctant approval.He poured another shot for each of us from the bottle of Jack sitting on the table.Then we lapsed into a slightly less hostile silence.Progress, of sorts.
My gaze drifted to the bar where I knew she’d been sitting in silence.It was the first time she’d been to the common room without me right next to her, but she’d insisted.Said something about setting boundaries?
Darby stood at one corner of the bar, her posture deceptively casual.To anyone else, she might have looked relaxed, just another woman nursing a beer.But I knew better.There was a coiled tension in her shoulders, a calculated distance in how she positioned herself.The bruises on her cheek had faded to a sickly yellow-green, but they hadn’t dimmed the predatory gleam in her eyes as she surveyed the room.
“Your daughter’s at the bar,” I said, nodding in her direction.
Tonio nodded slightly.“She is.”He observed Darby for a long moment before glancing back to me.“And?”
“She’s getting ready to cause trouble,” I added, recognizing the signs all too well.The way she subtly shifted her weight, the slight tilt of her head, the too innocent sip of beer.It was like watching a storm gathering on the horizon.As beautiful as it was dangerous; inevitable no matter what you did.
Tonio’s eyes narrowed as he looked back at Darby.“You think so?”But even as he asked, I could see his own assessment confirming my read of the situation.
“Yep.”I leaned back in my chair, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth despite myself.“Let me guess.She pulled similar stunts at your place?”I asked.
“Within hours of arriving,” he confirmed, shaking his head slightly.“She had three of my most loyal men, men who’d had each other’s backs for years and trusted each other with their lives, fighting each other with every intention of drawing serious blood.When it was over, none of them could say why they’d been fighting.But all three of them cast more than a couple furtive glances in her direction.”
“Yep.”I took a pull from the beer one of the brothers sent over.Tonio followed suit with his own bottle.
“Should we intervene?”Tonio asked, though his tone suggested he already knew the answer.
