“Goodnight, darlin’,” Boxer said.
I got up and he pulled me in a side hug very much like a big brother.
“He needed you and I’m glad he saw that. We’re keepin’ ya, babe.”
“Then I get to keep you too, right?” I asked with a wide smile.
“That’s usually the way it works, yeah,” Reap said.
I waved and headed off to Colt’s room, my heart full and light despite the horror of the evening. Either I was becoming desensitized really quickly to this way of life, or I’d been right for it all along.
I washed the makeup off my face in Colt’s clubhouse bathroom and then went to his dresser to find a shirt to sleep in. It was only when I slid beneath the clean sheets that smelled faintly of Colt that I realized I no longer cared what people might think about the choice I had made.
A biker babe.
That’s what I’d become.
The Blue Angels had taken me in, no questions asked. My fight had become their fight. If that was the way they treated family, then I could’ve done a lot worse. I’d just have to find a way to explain to Shelly that this was truly what I wanted. To be with Colt. To have his protection. To learn how to weather the storm with another person by my side. Someone strong and loyal, someone who didn’t shy away from the grit and loss of life.
Colt may have been a rugged, tatted, biker, but his heart beat in synchronicity with mine. He understood me in a way no one else ever had. He understood the losses I’d endured, having faced similar losses himself. He knew what it meant to make a family with people that were good and true, and damn what they looked like on the outside.
I fell asleep with a smile on my face, warm and happy.
A low curse woke me up.
“Colt?”
“Sorry, babe, did I wake you?”
“It’s okay. What time is it?” I asked through a yawn.
“Late. Or early, depending on who you ask. I’m gonna flip on a lamp. I just busted my knee on the bed.”
I slowly opened my eyes. “Okay.”
A low glow washed over the room.
“How’d your talk with the sheriff go?”
“Valenti isn’t gonna be a concern.” Colt reached into his pockets and took out his cell phone and keys.
And then he reached under his T-shirt and pulled out a pistol.
He kept his eyes on me when he did it. “Does this bother you?”
“It’s a little late if it does, don’t you think?” I asked, smiling into the pillow.
“Guess it doesn’t bother you, then.”
“If you’d had your boy sweep my glove box, you’d have found out I carry too.”
“Do you now?” His smile was slow. “Well, well, Ms. O’Banion. Aren’t you full of surprises.”
He removed his cut and laid it gently across the back of the chair in the corner and then removed his shirt.
“I’ve yet to see this tattoo of yours,” I said, finally sitting up.
“Go for it.” Colt came over and took a seat on the bed next to me. I could smell the faint traces of sweat on his skin, mingling with his own unique scent. Something that made me want to trace his body with my tongue. Instead, I locked down my hormones and gently touched the edge of the bandage.