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  “I gotta start at the beginning, ‘cause otherwise, none of this shit’s gonna make sense to you,” Jaeger says as he sits up against the head board, dragging me with him.

  “Alright.”

  “Your dad owed us money. He put up the farm as collateral. Obviously, he died and didn’t make his payment. But he also put the land up as collateral to the Crowes too. Remember the MC that shot up your house that night?”

  I nod my head and try to keep up with what he’s saying.

  “Cain, who was associated with us, wanted us to start muling his drugs. But the club said no.”

  I feel myself staring at Jaeger. My mouth falls open and already the questions are mounting.

  “Your father sold you to Cain, I think ‘cause he owed him gambling debts too.”

  “Did you know?” I ask, becoming apprehensive.

  “Nah. But anyway, Cain wanted to go ahead with the drugs and Aaron wanted part of it.”

  “Aaron?” I ask. “Your friend?”

  “My VP. He was the closest thing to a brother I ever had.”

  “Had?” What?

  “Yeah, had.” He looks down and I see regret flash across his face, before he becomes the arrogant ass he usually is. “Cain and Aaron staged a few things, making it look like the Crowes were our enemy. They figured we’d wipe out the Crowes, the Crowes’ bosses would wipe us out, leaving Cain and Aaron free to reign over this territory.”

  “What things did they stage?”

  “Made it look like one of our members was a mole at the table. Aaron killed him to make it look suspicious. Told the Crowes Hunters’ business, making it look like the guy who’d gone missin’ was the mole.”

  What a tangled web of deceit that all happened right under Jaeger’s nose.

  “How do you know you don’t have another traitor?” I ask him.

  He shrugs his shoulders, kisses the top of my head and pulls me tighter into his embrace. “I don’t,” he says after a few seconds of intense silence passes.

  “Can we just go to the farm, please? I want to live there,” I plead, knowing my haven is only a few hours away.

  “Yeah, about that…”

  I feel Jaeger’s arms slightly loosen around me, and he takes in a deep breath. His chest puffs out as he holds the breath, waiting.

  “What?”

  “I don’t own it any more. I had to give it to the Crowes for helping us to get you and Milina away from Cain.”

  I move away from Jaeger, and sit on the side of the bed, turned away from him. Running my hand through my hair, I find knots at the ends. I look at my body and notice that I’m wearing Jaeger’s ripped, bloody t-shirt, which comes down to the tops of my thighs.

  My body is covered in bruises. My legs and arms have angry blue and purple splotches all over them, but the worst thing for me…is the damn memory of everything that’s happened.

  Feeling like I’m going to be sick, I try to run to the bathroom. But my legs feel like Jello, and I instantly fall to the floor.

  The repeated punches Cain gave Milina.

  The guy who had me in a choke hold while he was trying to slip his fingers inside my sex.

  In a hopeless heap I lie on the floor, crying at what shit my life’s turned out to be.

  Jaeger leaps off the bed and completely envelops me with his body, protecting me from myself and everything around me.

  “You should’ve left me there,” I cry, hating that I’ve caused him any pain.

  “No way. No way will I ever let you go. But how did you get out of the choke hold he had on you?” He smoothes my hair as he cocoons me with his touch.

  “He relaxed the hold for a split second while he was trying to finger me, and I saw my opportunity. I elbowed him in the ribs, then swung around and punched him.” I look down at my hand and stretch out my fingers. “Then I grabbed his gun and killed that animal that was just about to kill you.” I go quiet for a moment. “I’m so sorry for everything that happened.”

  “I’m proud of you, Nix. But there’s no reason to be sorry, you were just a bystander.”

  Jaeger’s words resonate deep within me. He’s right. It’s not my fault any of this shit happened. It’s all because of my useless father.

  He chose to get into gambling after Mom died. No one forced him. He could’ve gotten help way before this got to the point of me being kidnapped and beaten.

  I’m not sure how long Jaeger and I sit on the floor of his bedroom before I make a silent promise not to hold myself, Jaeger, or his club responsible for this entire dark situation.

  I stand from the floor and straighten my shoulders, hold my damn head high, because I know I’ve done nothing wrong. And neither has Jaeger.

  “Where are you going?” Jaeger asks as he stands and runs his hands up and down my arms.

  “I’m going to take a shower and then have something to eat.”

  “Okay, I’ll be here when you get out,” he says as I achingly lift my arms over my head to take off the t-shirt I’m wearing.

  “Oh and, sugar?”

  “Yeah?” I turn to look at Jaeger over my shoulder, still stepping toward the bathroom.

  “You’re moving in here with me,” he commands.

  “What?”

  “Just thought you should know. Gonna go make my woman somethin’ to eat,” he says as he walks out of the room, leaving me to process what he’s just said.

  What the hell is wrong with him?

  Is he delusional? Maybe he hit his head.

  Why on earth is he so adamant that I move in here?

  But then, I stop to really consider what he’s said.

  He could’ve just walked away with the farm and left me to Cain.

  But he called in a rival club, actually asked for help from them, and promised them the farm, in order to get Milina and me back.

  Well…

  Tick.

  Tock.

  Tick.

  Tock.

  He loves me.

  Grit: Chapter 34

  Eight weeks later

  “Nix?” I call over to my woman, who’s helping some of the other old ladies set the table. She’s deep in conversation with one of them, and doesn’t hear me. “Sugar,” I call louder. She’s still talking, not even paying attention to me. “Red,” I say no louder than my normal voice.

  “Excuse me?” She swings around and puts her hands on her hips.

  “I was callin’ you, Nix, and you didn’t hear me.”

  “I heard you, but I was ignoring you,” she says as she turns and walks into the clubhouse.

  “Hey, don’t walk away from me.” I chase after her.

  Damn it, wasn’t that me just a while back saying that I don’t chase chicks, and now what am I doin’? Like a damn lapdog, chasing after my girl.

  “For Christ’s sake, will you just stop?” I yell at Nix as she looks over her shoulder at me, shootin’ a filthy ‘piss off’ look.

  “Go away.”

  “Not ‘til we talk about this.”

  “Nothing to talk about, go away.”

  “I asked you a question and you haven’t given me an answer,” I say as I block her path from leaving the kitchen.

  “That’s ‘cause you’re a dick.”

  “No more than normal. What’s the damn issue? It’s either a yes or a no.”

  “Are you kidding me?” She puts the bowl with some green leafy shit down and crosses her arms in front of her hot titties. Man, I love sucking on those, but with the way she’s standing she’s seriously pissed off and I doubt she’ll let me run my tongue over her nipples.

  She scowls at me. I’m screwed.

  “You’re an idiot.” She throws her hands up, clearly frustrated. “A damned moron. How you’ve survived all these years is beyond me.”

  I shrug my shoulders, “I can fight; that’s how I’ve survived.”

  “You may be able to fight but you’re an arrogant, pompous ass.”

  “Well, yeah. But that’s not really givin�
�� me an answer, sugar.” I lean up against the wall, cross my legs at the ankle and my arms over my chest. I ain’t moving ‘til she gives me a damn answer.

  “Really?” she says, her tone low and damned furious.

  I am seriously screwed.

  Just let it go, Jaeger – let it go.

  “You want a damn answer? How about this, NO and go fuck yourself.” She shoulder barges past me, taking that salad shit and bread rolls out for the barbecue.

  “Why the hell not?” I say, again following her.

  She slams the stuff down on the table outside and abruptly turns on her heel to look at me.

  Half my brothers are here startin’ the barbecue and all the old ladies are outside. With the noise of Nix smashing the bowls down on the table, it gets quiet real quick.

  “No, you conceited prick,” she yells, taking a step closer to me.

  I swear the members of the club just multiplied.

  “But why?” I ask.

  Why don’t I just learn to shut the hell up?

  “Because you don’t ask me to marry you while I’m on my knees and your cock is in my mouth shooting it full of your cum. You don’t say,” She sticks her chest out and slouches, obviously tryin’ to mimic me, “‘Hey, sugar, you give great head. I think we best make it real and I put a ring on that finger’,” she says in a deeper tone, but then continues in a higher, pissed-off voice, “ You don’t say shit like that before you even tell me you love me. You’re an idiot, and you can shove that stupid proposal up your damned ass, Mr. Dalton,” she screams at me.

  I hear a few snickers and look around to see Sarge pissing himself laughing at me, but trying to hide behind Milina so I don’t kick his butt.

  Hash is holding a beer and tryin’ to contain his laughter, but he can’t hold it in. Wake and Lion have their backs to me, but their shoulders are shakin’ quickly; they’re laughing at me too.

  Sarge walks over to me, and smacks me one on the back.

  “Can’t call you Sarge no more,” I say as his chuckles echo loudly outside.

  “Not calling me VP. You can screw that,” he says of his new role. “Seriously, you asked her to marry you while you were gettin’ head?”

  “Fuckin’ intimate act and all that shit. Thought she’d like it.”

  Sarge’s booming laughter rings in my ears. I’ll put him down if he doesn’t watch himself. “You, brother, are the dumbest prick I’ve ever met. Even I know that chicks want hearts and flowers and crap like that.”

  What?

  Chicks don’t want shit like that. They just want us to not lie to them. C’mon, what better way for me to tell my girl I want her with me forever, than when she’s on her knees and I’m fuckin’ her mouth?

  “Nah, man, they don’t want that crap,” I say, not believing a word coming from my VP’s mouth.

  “Yeah they do, trust me.”

  “Man, you’re talkin’ out of your ass. How do you know what chicks want?”

  “Lina,” Sarge calls his woman over. She‘s at the ice chest getting a drink, and when she looks at him, her face comes to life.

  She’s as screwed as he is.

  “What’s up?” she asks as she reaches up to kiss him on the cheek.

  “Do you chicks want romance, chocolate, and flowers?”

  She looks at him and tilts her head to the side.

  The last eight weeks has seen her body go from completely bruised to small light yellow blemishes left on her skin. The scars are still pretty obvious, but over time they’ll fade too. Sarge has pretty much assigned one of the prospects to be next to her when she’s not here, and two will wait for her to finish work so they can escort her home, when she gets back to her job – not that Sarge wants her to work.

  Nix wakes occasionally in tears, and all I can do is hold her and tell her everything will be alright.

  “We like to know we’re appreciated,” she says as she slides her arm around his waist and he leans down to kiss her forehead.

  “What if say, this asshole, proposed to Phoenix while she was giving him a blow job?”

  “You did not!” she exclaims as her head rips around to look at me, her eyes wide and incredulous.

  Great. Two women pissed off at me. All I need is Cindy or Sandy, whatever the hell her name is, to be pissed off at me too.

  “Yeah, I love her givin’ me head and I love her. What’s the problem?” I say, shrugging my shoulders.

  “Please tell me you’re bullshitting us?!”

  I look her dead in the eyes, essentially tellin’ her I ain’t bullshitting.

  Seriously, I don’t see the problem.

  “Haven’t you figured her out yet?” Milina asks as she points toward where Nix should be.

  “What?”

  “She’s tough, she’s headstrong, and she’ll take you on any day of the week. But she needs a man strong enough to love her, not only with his mind but also his heart and sometimes with his words.”

  “Right,” I say. I think I know what I did wrong. She does want flowers and shit, but not all the time, just sometimes.

  Well that’s shit too. How am I supposed to know when I have to do and say romance crap to her?

  Christ, this relationship shit is damned hard. Maybe if she tells me the day before, then I can have time to go get her stuff she likes.

  I head inside to find Nix and talk to her. Seriously, how people can do this shit every day is beyond me.

  I walk into the kitchen and find her getting the meat out of the fridge. She looks pissed but also sad.

  “Hey,” I say as I come up behind her and put my hands on her hips, drawing her into my body. The moment my body touches hers, I start gettin’ hard.

  “Hey,” she says. Her shoulders relax a bit, and she takes a small step back into me. Her ass rubs against my semi.

  “Sorry, I probably should’ve waited to ask you to marry me.”

  Her right hand’s holding a kitchen knife. She stills her movements and lays it on the counter before turning in my arms and putting her arms around my neck.

  “Yeah, probably,” she says, sarcastically.

  “C’mon, sugar. Screw the cookout.” I link our fingers together and start walkin’ out of the kitchen.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I got something important to tell you, and I need to tell you in our room.”

  She tries to hold her smile in, but really, her beautiful face has brightened the whole room.

  We walk into our room, and I close and lock the door behind me.

  Leaning up against the door I notice she hasn’t turned around to look at me. Nix shifts her flaming red mane over one shoulder, and exposes her wickedly tasty neck to me.

  The perverted part of me wants to rip her clothes off and drive my cock into her pert little ass. But the ‘romantic’ part of me is arguing, telling me I need to tell her how much I love her first.

  Devil on one shoulder, and a tarnished saint on the other.

  “Sugar,” I say as I step up to her, and lower my mouth to the exposed part of her throat.

  “Hmmm,” she replies as she moves to the side, giving me more access to her sweet skin.

  “I really want my cock in your ass.”

  I can feel her smiling as she rotates her hips and pushes back into my groin.

  “Do you?”

  Nix reaches behind her and starts palming my wood through my jeans.

  “Hell, yeah.”

  My hands go to the hem of her tank top and begin to lift it up over her head. Screw this, too much time.

  I grab it between my fists and rip the thing off her body. She moans as my hands go straight to her bra and I unhook those two little clip things in the back.

  “God, yes,” she murmurs in a low sexy voice.

  “Take these off, now,” I say as I smack her butt, then quickly get undressed myself.

  Within seconds, she’s still standing with her back to me, completely exposed.

  “Hmmm, what should I do to you
?” I say, though it’s more a rhetorical question.

  “Whatever you want,” she answers, a purr coming from deep inside her chest.

  I push my fingers into her red curls and pull her head back. Her neck is nice and long; she’s got her eyes closed and mouth open, panting.

  “That’s right, whatever I want. And now, I wanna fuck this hot little ass,” I say as I spank her once, hard enough to leave a hand print on her alabaster skin.

  She instantly drops down a small amount, spreading her legs, wanting me to touch her pussy. The pleasure I’m giving her with such a small caress is clearly intoxicating her body.

  My lips skim over her shoulder as I continue holding her head back, not allowing any other part of me to touch her flaming skin. Her body curves into mine, as she tries to take the warmth between us.

  “No way,” I snap at her, and smack her ass again. “Not until I want you to touch me.”

  “Please,” she begs, her voice husky and hungry.

  I’ve barely touched her, hardly let our naked bodies touch, yet she’s greedy and wants more of me.

  “Please what?” I say as I jerk her head back further. Her back is slightly arched and her neck is completely elongated, but the little vixen has her butt sticking out, wanting me touch it.

  “Please, just touch me,” she pleads.

  My left hand has her hair in my grip, so I slide my right hand across her tits. Her nipples are long and begging for attention. I pull on the left one and twist it, just enough to give her a taste of pain.

  “God yes, please keep going,” she moans.

  I let go of her nipple, and grab at her jaw, forcing her to turn and look at me. She snaps her eyes open, and her usual big blue orbs are completely dark, greedy with lust.

  “You don’t tell me what to do. I tell you what I want. And right now I want you wet and ready to take my cock in your mouth, your cunt and your ass. And if you don’t like what I say, then get over it, sugar, ‘cause I fuckin’ love you and this is me.”

  “You love me?” she asks, damned tears ready and waitin’ to spill as soon as I admit I love her.

  “Not when you cry,” I say as her lips twist, playfully. “But yeah, I love you. Now, get on your knees and start sucking me off.”