Page 61 of Surrender (Angels Halo MC Next Gen)

Their hands swung back and forth, sweet smiles on their beautiful faces as they bounced toward us. Everyone in their way quickly scattered with Max right behind them, scaring the piss out of anyone who even looked at his reason for breathing.

His over-the-top need to protect his treasure was kind of sexy. If Elias ever got that desperate-to-make-the-love-of-my-life-smile-every-minute-of-every-day look in his eyes, I would melt into a puddle and never want to become a solid form again.

“He’s coming this way!” Blondie hissed to her friends. “Forget about Pool Shark. We’re takinghimhome tonight.”

I nearly snickered at how confident Blondie and her friends seemed. Sure, they were hot, but the scent of desperation oozed off them more than the booze that was sweating from their pores. Max was so in love with Delaney, he would have killed every person in the bar if they so much as caused her chin to wobble. No exceptions.

“Sammy!” Delaney greeted me with a hug when she and Nishia reached the bar, the two of them still holding hands.

Heart warming, I hugged her back with a smile and then gave one to Nishia. When the fairy didn’t shy away, I focused on that positive rather than all the chaos in my mind.

“I’m jealous you two are so happy. You had the dessert at Aggie’s, didn’t you?” My stomach growled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten anything except a single slice of toast that morning. “Is there any left? I was going to stop for a to-go box on my way home.”

“It was so good.” Nishia touched her free hand to her belly, her eyes bright. Considering she’d had nothing but protein shakes and soup for the last two months, I didn’t doubt she had appreciated the solid food. “I don’t know who the better cook is, Kingston or Marcy.”

“Kingston.” I gave my vote without hesitation.

Delaney agreed with a nod. “Without a doubt. He’s been in the kitchen since he could walk. You had the chicken tonight, but wait until you try his burgers.”

At Delaney’s dreamy sign, Max made his presence known by muttering under his breath about how he would kill his cousin, before asking Jack for a beer.

Ignoring the guys, I leaned back against the bar top. “Seriously, the best I’ve ever tasted. I can tell when he’s in the kitchen without even having to ask. He must season it differently than the other cooks.”

While Jack placed a bottle in front of Max, Nishia and Delaney scooched in closer to me to make room. The bar had gotten more crowded since I’d arrived, and my instincts were to stick close to the treasure and the fairy even though their men were right there to protect them.

Behind me, the drunken trio was whispering about Max, psyching one another up to approach him, although it was beyond obvious his eyes were glued to his wife’s ass. Delaney had her cochlear implants that gave her the ability to hear most things, but whispers in a crowded bar weren’t one of them.

As I stood there trying to block out Blondie and her friends, barely paying attention to Jack, Nishia, and Delaney discussing dinner, I felt Elias’s gaze. I clenched my fingers around my glass, willing him to come to me. Scared he wouldn’t.

If he missed me as much as his texts implied, then why hadn’t he approached me? I wanted his hands on me, not just his eyes. I wanted to feel his heat soak into my body as his fingers traced every inch of me. I wanted his mouth, his teeth, his tongue tasting and biting and fucking me until I begged for his cock to fill me.

But maybe he hadn’t missed me.

Maybe Berkeley had kept him busy while I was gone.

Maybe that was where he’d been all evening when he finished with work.

“Hey.”

I nearly groaned when Blondie finally gathered enough courage to approach Max. But at the same time, I welcomed the distraction.

I glanced at her as she tossed her hair back. “I would love a lemon drop.”

“Really?” Delaney’s sigh gave me a moment of pause. She was obviously frustrated with Blondie, but I could hear the trace of hurt in her voice, made even clearer when her lashes lowered in frustration. “Do not tell me they can’t see that ring on his hand. It’s right there. He shows it off like a dang trophy if there is so much as another guy in the same room. Even his freaking cousins.”

I snickered at the truth of that. “Especially if it’s one of his cousins. He nearly took off Chance’s head a few weeks back.”

We’d been at a barbecue at the clubhouse. Elias and I had taken Daisy. While he was letting the kids love on her, Chance had looked a little too long in Delaney’s general direction. Raven had had to step in and cool her son down.

“Chance is an ass,” Delaney grumbled.

“Or a margarita,” Blondie purred, not giving up, even though Max had yet to so much as glance at her. “Tequila definitely makes my clothes fall off.”

“Rum punch makes mine disappear,” the friend on Blondie’s right giggled. “They practically evaporate.”

“You don’t even have to buy me a drink,” the friend to the left husked.

Without bothering to look at them, Max lifted his hand, waving his ring finger in their faces. Because he was a mechanic, Delaney had given him a silicone ring so he wouldn’t risk taking his finger off if it got caught on something. He wore it with pride.

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