Page 25 of Nines's Time

“Don’t apologize, baby.” I don’t want to be talking about this. I haven’t spoken about my dad with anyone and the way I acted after he passed away. When it comes to Meadow, however, I find myself wanting to tell her. “My dad was a good man. Good president of our club. He raised me himself and was always there for me.” I stop to clear my throat and look away. “After he died, I guess you can say I lost my way. I fucked up, pissed at the world for taking my dad from me. In the end, the club forced me to become a Nomad for a while. I did what I had to do to get my head straight again. Finally, I did that and realized how fucked up I was to those around me.”

“If your dad was the President of your club, weren’t you supposed to as well?” she asks.

“Bylaws for the Devil’s Riot MC say the club votes who the president is when something happens to the one holding the patch or they step down,” I answer and look back to her. “That’s where I lost my way. I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps, and on his deathbed, he told those within the club he wanted it voted on that Blow become the Prez and me the VP. I got pissed about it and, as I said, I fucked up.”

“I can understand your anger.” To my surprise, Meadow sets her food down and moves to curls her hands around my neck. “You lost your person. The man you thought would always be there for you. You had to grieve and didn’t know how when all you ever wanted was to be just like him. You were in the dark and lost to the world.”

Fuck me.

How the hell is it this woman can understand something so easily? I don’t deserve her. Not by a long shot, but at this moment, I know she’s got me. I already intended for her to be mine. Now, she’s more than that. She’s becoming my heart, and that’s something I never expected anyone ever to get their hands on.

I drop the fork in my hand into the container and set it on the counter next to us. Doing the same with Meadow’s, I hold her gaze as I reach out, tangle both hands in her hair, and close the distance between us. Meadow’s head tips back in order to keep our eyes locked with each other’s. I use my thumb to stroke her cheek and watch as her lips part.

“You’re something else. You know that?” I rasp.

“No, I didn’t know that,” she whispers, her words no more than a breath.

Leaning in, I claim her mouth with mine, keeping the kiss light. I don’t think I could do it any other way right now. Not after earlier. Fuck, the taste of her still fills my senses, and I want more. She surprised the fuck out of me when I found her pussy bare. I figured she wouldn’t do something so erotic with what she’d been through in life, and fuck if I didn’t find it hot. Then the way she lit up for me, damn, Meadow was beautiful as she came, giving me her release.

The sound of the bell over the door rings, breaking the moment and I pull away dropping my hands from her hair. “We’ll finish this later.”

Meadow nods, licks her lips, and clears her throat as she turns her attention to the customer who’d come in the boutique.

While she helps the woman, I grab her phone off the counter and open the call log to find the ‘Unknown Caller’ had called multiple times. More than multiple. There’s got to be fifteen calls just this morning. I pull my own phone out of my pocket, pull up Nerd’s number, and ask him to look into Meadow’s phone, see if he can’t track the number.

It’s highly unlikely, but when it comes to Nerd, you can never be certain. The fucker is smart as hell and knows his way around electronics like no one else I know. Well, besides Keys, Cy, Gadget, and Flicker. I can’t say the four of them couldn’t do the damn job of getting to the bottom of who’s behind the calls. Keys might be our techy at the club, like Cy is for Hammer’s charter, Gadget is for Twister’s charter, and Flicker is for Grinder’s, but I’m sure Nerd would be pissed if anyone else handled it but him. They’re all damn good at what they do, and I swear, you put them all in a room together, nothing good can come of it. Well, not for those outside the club that fuck with us.

Nerd texts back that he’ll let me know when he’s got something. I shoot him one back, thanking him, before putting Meadow’s phone back down and picking my container up. I watch as she works while I finish my food. There’s a lot the two of us need to deal with, and I intend to do that soon. She talked to me, opened up about shit in her life, and now, I need to do the same. Meadow deserves to know what the hell’s been going on lately, so no one catches her off guard with the bullshit the cops are trying to pull with me. If I want something with her, then she needs to know exactly who I am. Hopefully, she’ll be able to understand that I didn’t rape some bitch to get my rocks off.

I’ll wait until she closes, then take her to my place. No one can disturb us there, and after we talk, I’ll take her to my bed and finish what we started earlier.

My cock twitches at the idea. Hell, the damn thing hasn’t stopped throbbing since I kissed her earlier. But I’ll suffer through knowing what will happen when I finally get inside her. I’ll get to watch as she lights up and goes wild for me. And I know she’ll go wild beneath me. I just fucking know it.

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

MEADOW

“Where are we?” I ask, taking my helmet off as Nines switches off his bike and puts the kickstand down.

“My place,” he answers and taps my leg.

“Your place,” I repeat but climb off, handing him the helmet. He places it over one of the handlebars and swings a leg over, coming to his full height. “Why are we at your place?”

Nines pulls me into him, his hands cupping my rear. “I want us not to be interrupted by anything. No noises outside of nature or us.”

I stare at him in surprise, and I have to admit he’s definitely not going to get any type of sounds out here but the crickets and whatnot because there’s nothing around us. Nines lives in the middle of nowhere. Okay, that might not be completely true, but his house is set back away from the road quite a bit, with a row of trees in front of it blocking the view. It’s honestly beautiful out here.

“Come on, let’s get inside,” he says, stepping back to take my hand and guide me into his place. He doesn’t drop my hand until we hit the kitchen, and he goes to the fridge, opens it, and pulls out two beers. Twisting the caps off, he hands me one and takes a gulp of his own. I follow suit, but I only take a sip of mine as I watch him.

“Is everything okay?” I finally ask, seeing the tension building in him. It’s been that way since our moment was broken at lunchtime, and I don’t know what to think about it.

“Yeah.” Nines downs the rest of his beer and tosses the empty into the can before getting another. He takes the cap off it, grabs my hand, pulls me from the kitchen to his open space living area, and settles me on his couch with him next to me.

“You sure, you’re okay?”

With the way he’s staring at me, I don’t know if he is.

“You opened up to me the other night and gave me a lot of bad shit you’ve dealt with,” he starts, and I find it’s my turn to tense up at the turn of this conversation. “I told you about my dad earlier, but I want to give you something else. It’s bullshit, but you need to hear it from me before you hear it from someone else.”

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