Cadeon had no doubts, and although he should have been scared over what Scars was implying, he wasn’t, because he knew he would try with his last breath to make sure Stella was happy, and he would protect her with his life. He didn’t respond to Scars’s threats, and after a few very tense seconds, the other man took a step back.
“Well, you’re serious about my girl, and she is an adult, so not much I can do.” Scars scratched his jaw and glanced over at his Harley. “I think this shit is moving way too fast. One minute, you’re tattooing my daughter, and the next professing you love her.” He didn’t phrase it like a question. “I trust my daughter.” He pointed at Cadeon. “It’s guys like you that I don’t trust. But I’ll be watching, boy, and just waiting for you to fuck up.”
“Yeah, it is fast, I won’t lie, but I’ve known her for three years. Should I have talked to you about how I felt for Stella? Yeah, out of respect, I should have come told you that I wanted her, but I thought I could stay away. I’m telling you, Scars, Stella means a lot to me, and it took me too damn long to realize that.” Cadeon didn’t say anything for a moment, but Scars didn’t either. “And I’m not a boy,” Cadeon gritted out. “I would never hurt Stella.”
This man might be the president of an outlaw MC, but Cadeon wasn’t about to be intimidated either. Scars watched him with a scowl on his face, but finally he nodded once and gave a harsh grunt. Maybe it hadn’t been an all-out brawl, but Cadeon and Scars had come to an understanding, and right now, that was good enough.
Maybe he wouldn’t ever accept Cadeon, but the fact of the matter was he didn’t have a choice. He wasn’t going anywhere, and Stella was his girl.
That realization wasn’t much of a shock to him, and he accepted it as if it were his next breath.14“Come for a ride with me.”
Stella looked over at Cadeon. Her father and Booshie had left twenty minutes ago, and she hadn’t realized there had been a lot of tension that had been coming from her dad until he left. Cadeon sported a forming bruise on his jaw, but he waved it off when she asked about it.
He was still alive, so her dad hadn’t shot him with the gun she knew he carried on him. She supposed that was a good thing. “It’s late, and dark.”
He lifted one shoulder in a shrug and pushed away from the counter to stand right before her. “You don’t need the sun to enjoy a ride on the open road.” He lifted a hand and brushed a stray piece of hair back from her face. “God, I had no idea what I was missing.” He said those words softly, but they weren’t a question, and they hadn’t been directed toward her.
It was like he had been speaking to himself, and her pulse increased after hearing him say it. He would never truly know how much those words meant to her, because she had been feeling that way for so long. “Come on, baby, come for a ride with me to clear both our heads.”
She didn’t even need to think about it again, because she wasn’t ready for this night to end. “Okay.” The thought of being so close to him with the wind brushing by them and the ground rushing beneath them wasn’t something Stella wanted to pass up.
She had already missed three years, because she hadn’t been strong enough to confess her feelings, and because Cadeon had never spoken up. But she was young, and she didn’t want to miss any more opportunities. She knew her father would still talk to her, warn her most likely, because he didn’t trust Cadeon—not with her at least—and he would see there was just nothing he could do but accept it.
Cadeon took her hand and led her back into the bedroom. Once she was changed into a pair of jeans and a loose sweater, they headed out of her room and toward the front door. She was no stranger to being on the back of a Harley, and in fact got a thrill from straddling the monstrous piece of machinery.
She locked the front door, and when she turned around, adrenaline immediately starting thrumming through her veins at the sight of Cadeon’s bike sitting at the curb. His grin was infectious, and when she walked toward him, he handed her a helmet. Once it was secured on her head and he was sitting on the motorcycle, she threw one leg over it and sat on the cool leather.
But clearly, she was too far from him, because he reached back and curled his fingers around her waist. In one swift move, he pulled her forward so her breasts pressed to his back and her pussy was right up on him. She instantly became aroused, despite them having had sex that very day.