Page 66 of Concede

Chapter 36

Tanner

Dani and I are sitting in my bed eating blueberry muffin batter. Weird, I know. Don’t knock it till you try it. “So…. how’s the whole “old lady” thing going?” She asks. She licks her spoon. “I know what he told Dom, but I know that’s bullshit. What's the status?”

I lay back against the headboard with a sigh. “He wants us to be together. He told me he wants only me.” I rub my eyes with my fingers. “I don’t know if I can trust him, Dani.”

“So, he is meaning like no club whores anymore? Like a real relationship?” Her eyebrows shoot up.

“Yes. I told him he would have to prove to me I could trust him.”

“And is he doing that?” She asks.

I can’t help the smile that forms on my face. “He is actually trying. It’s kind of cute,” I laugh. “I mean, he threw out his mattress and bought a new one because I refused to sleep on the old one.”

She snorts. “I love it.”

“When I woke up this morning he was already gone, but he left a single sunflower on his pillow with a note.” Be good, baby. “So yeah, he’s putting forth effort.”

“Good! He needs to.” She takes another bite and makes a face.

“What?” I ask her while she hops up off the bed.

“Oh nothing, I need to hit the bathrooms. This batter is running right through me.”

She takes off through my door and I giggle. Dani and her bowel issues.

It’s been almost a week since I have been deemed officially Maverick’s. Not much has changed. The guys are sure to not make any more advances and they are nothing, but respectful. Chasity, on the other hand, has not been as pleasant. She is constantly glaring at me and anytime I pass her in the hall, or kitchen or wherever she appears I get called “slut,” or “trash” or another derogatory name. Has she even looked in a mirror? I ignore her. I have what she wants and that’s the only reason she’s being a bitch. I don’t think she even loves him; she just wants to be Queen.

Since it was my day off, I wanted to enjoy a little sunshine, so I went out by the pool. Gerry was relaxing on a lounge chair reading a book.

“Hey Ger,” I say, falling down into the lounge next to her.

“Hey T. Whatcha you doing baby girl?” She lays her book across her lap and smiles.

“Need a little sun.” I squint and pull my sunglasses on over my eyes.

“It’s the perfect day for it.” She rests her head back against the cushion.

We sat in a comfortable silence.

“It’s hard being the King.” She glances at me.

“How did you do it?” I whisper.

She smiles, lost in memory. “I got with Zeke’s dad when I was young. We were both young, but one thing we did share was love. We were very much in love. Now, I’m not saying when he became president that it was all roses.” She turns her head to face me. “At first, he made mistakes. He let the parties and the women interfere with what we had behind closed doors. It was hard, but I loved him.”

A tear rolled down her cheek and I reached over to grab her hand.

“Zeke was about nine when I had to decide. I had to decide if I could stand by him and let him be “the president” he now was, or if I couldn’t handle it, I had to leave.”

“So you chose to stay?” I shake my head.

“No I didn’t. I packed my bags and waited for him to come upstairs from a party one night. When he saw the suitcase sitting on the floor, I thought he was going to faint.”

“What did he do?” I scoot to the edge of my chair and listen intently.

“He sat on the bed, in shock.” She wipes a tear.

“I told him exactly why I was leaving. I got Zeke and I went to my parent’s house for a week. Zeke thought it was a vacation, he was so young I didn’t want to trouble him with adult problems.” She let out a deep breath. “He came to me one night in tears. He got on his knees and begged me to come home. He changed after that. He made me a promise and he stuck to it. That’s when we had Daniella and that really changed his view on what kind of man he wanted to be. He made the agreement about no drugs being dealt in Paradise and tried to do things as legal as possible.”

She cups my cheek. “Don’t give up on him, Tanner. Sometimes it takes them a little longer to realize what they have right in front of them. There’s responsibilities and sacrifices that come along with being the president of this club. What he needs is a strong Queen, one who never gives up on him, but will also put his ass in his place when needed.”

We both laugh and I wipe the loan tear that snuck out of my eye.

“Thanks Gerry. I needed that today.” I swing my legs back over and lay back on the chair.

“Anytime baby girl.”

---