“Then maybe I should have stayed at that poker game. I should have gotten shot. Or I should have just done what I was there to do…”
I gritted my teeth and my eyes went wide. My hands squeezed tighter around Harlee’s waist. No other woman in my life had pissed me off this much. Ever. This was why I didn’t keep women around. Ride my cock and then walk the fuck home. Or go to another member’s room and ride his cock. I didn’t do the morning breakfasts and morning breath flirty talk bullshit. No fucking way.
“You know what, give me the fucking ring back then,” I said. “You’re ass is gone.”
“Yeah?” Harlee asked. “That’s what you’re going to do now? Change your mind.” Harlee sucked in a shaky breath, like she was going to cry. “What did you think I would do here? Just show up… oh, Trent, yes… please, Trent, please marry me right now. Yes! I accept your proposal!”
I then saw Harlee’s eyes go really big. And she got really scared.
I looked over my shoulder and felt the same shock she must have felt.
A few steps behind us was Trev.
And he just heard what she just said.
**
“What the hell is this?” Trev asked.
“Give me a sec, Prez,” I said.
“Like hell I will. She shows up with a gun to a prospect’s head…”
“I put her in a bad spot,” I said.
“It’s my fault,” Harlee said. “I got nervous. He was gone. Because of yesterday.”
“I don’t give a shit about that,” Trev said. “Did you say something about a proposal?”
“Prez,” I said. “You didn’t hear that…”
“Yes,” Harlee said. “Trent proposed to me.”
“He did what?” Jasper asked as he started to close in on the scene now.
Fuck me.
“It’s not what you think,” I said to Trev. “I wanted…”
“Here,” Harlee said. “Look.”
She dug into her pocket and goddammit, she had the ring. The ring I had planned on giving someone else but never had the chance to do so. She had it in her goddamn hand, showing it to Trev and Jasper as her hand shook with fear.
“Holy shit,” Jasper said.
“You’re kidding me,” Trev said.
“Look, I gave her the ring, okay?” I said. “I’m not the one for big romance bullshit so I left her the ring this morning after we talked last night.”
“And that prompted you to pull a gun on a prospect?” Trev asked.
“I wanted to find out if he was serious,” Harlee said.
I looked at her. Our eyes were burning for each other, probably for all the wrong reasons.
“So what’s the answer,” Trev said.
Slowly, Harlee moved her hand toward me. “Yes, Trent. Yes.”
“No fucking way,” Jasper said.
I suddenly felt like I was no longer in the MC. That I was some outsider, purposely lying to get what I wanted. Like a fucking rat, trapped in a corner, doing anything to survive. The bigger problem was that it wasn’t about my survival, it also included Harlee’s.
I grabbed the ring from her hand and turned her hand around. And right there, in front of the President and VP of Back Down Devil MC, I slid a diamond ring onto Harlee’s finger.
That ring would allow her to stay at the clubhouse without worry or fear of the MC. That ring gave her protection. That ring gave her family.
“Jesus,” Jasper said. “That didn’t take long, Trent. I’ve seen you go through ten women in a weekend. What the fuck is she made of?”
“That’s something you’ll never find out,” Harlee said.
I turned and stood next to Harlee. I put my arm around her. My face like stone. I was simply the monster… well, a controlled version of the monster. And Trev ate me alive with his eyes. It was now two powerhouses staring each other down, trying to figure the other out.
Slowly, he gave a nod. “Okay then. We’re going to have us an outlaw wedding.”
Trev then turned and stuck his fingers into his mouth and whistled. He waved over the entire crew and announced that I was claiming Harlee to be my old lady and taking her hand in marriage.
There was an eruption of cheers and we were damn smothered by everyone.
Then fucking Cash had to go and open his mouth.
“We have to call up Jimmy,” Cash said. “Get some ink on that lower back of hers. It’s too clean and smooth. Trent needs a target.”
“He’s right,” Jasper said.
I felt Harlee’s nails cling to the back of my leather cut.
She really didn’t get it. And this was why I wanted her to stay the fuck away from the clubhouse today. I wanted to explain everything that would happen. But it was too late then. She had jumped right into the fire.
“She’ll wear my ink,” I said. “Don’t worry. Get her whiskey’d up and she’ll be face down, ass up, getting tattooed.”
“Now that’s a sight I want to see,” Cash said.
Trev threw a hand out and grabbed Cash’s shirt. “Hey. That shit ends now. Harlee is taken now. Keep your fucking thoughts to yourself.”
“The monster is getting married,” Kye said. “I never thought I’d see that happen.”