I was against capital punishment.
Or at least I thought I was.
“You really want to know?” Elden asked me.
I regarded him. Was he protecting me because he thought I couldn’t handle the truth? Because he didn’t want me connected in any way? Didn’t want to taint me?
“Yes,” I told him.
“We’re going to kill him,” he replied without hesitation.
There it was.
I knew that the club was about violence. Though I was sheltered, I understood that. Had seen that. But I’d always seen these men as fathers, husbands, friends. And finally, the man in front of me as … mine.
Knowing that they engaged in violence in an abstract way was one thing. Having him say it straight to my face was another.
Maybe Elden expected me to recoil from him. Run. Beg him not to do that. Yell.
I knew for a fact that he didn’t expect me to lean forward and kiss him tenderly on the lips. He went stiff for a split second before he grabbed the back of the neck and kissed me back, not tenderly.
“Be careful,” I said against his lips. “Come back to me.”
His eyes burned with emotion. With everything. “Always,” he vowed.
Then they roared off.
ChapterNine
ELDEN
We’d gone backto the Rhode Island clubhouse to catch some sleep, a shower and to make some plans.
I’d filled Colby in on everything that went on as soon as we made it in.
His face had tightened with anger when I told him what happened to her roommate, but his eyes danced once I got to what Violet did.
“Okay, let me get this straight,” Colby snickered. “Violet tried to fight a rapist. Alone. In a bar. Dressed as a Playboy Bunny.” He waved his hands. “No, excuse me, dressed as Elle Woods dressed as a Playboy Bunny,” he corrected like that meant anything.
I nodded.
“And she got a few good licks in?” he asked.
I nodded again, unable to speak through my fury as I thought of the bruises on her knuckles.
“She’s badass,” he grinned.
I wasn’t going to disagree with him on that one. But I couldn’t stop thinking about her, not hesitating to go up against some lacrosse player twice her size without a thought because he’d hurt her friend.
Couldn’t stop thinking about her in that fucking outfit, my reaction to her despite the circumstances. The feel of her on the back of my bike. The way she’d kissed me before I left.
She was mine. I’d told her that in the police station. I was fucking sick of fighting it. Even though I knew I had to.
I put my phone to my ear.
“Elden,” she breathed my name.
My cock twitched, remembering the way her pussy tasted. How her mouth had tasted a few hours ago.