It was likely he never took it off. Or at least he didn’t when I was around.
He slept with it under his pillow at night and kept it on until we went to bed or he took a shower. But it was never more than an arm span away. I even felt it while I leaned against him when we were on the bike.
I admired his back like I always did.
He had Roman numeral dates on his shoulder blade, three of them, which I guessed were his kids’ birthdays.
He had a skull tattoo on his bicep, and a US flag just underneath that.
And he was sexy.
Oh, so sexy.
“You know he gets bored easily, right?” Titty…or whatever her name was, said.
I ignored her and kept my eyes on Silas as the man in the middle of the ring with the referee shirt held up his hand and started to speak.
“No hair pulling, scratching, guns, knives, ball grabbing, or bitch slapping allowed. Ready?” The referee called out.
Both men nodded, grinning, and all I could do was snort.
Ball grabbing or bitch slapping?
I mean, they really had to spell that out in the rules?
At the nods of both men, the referee held his hand up and said, “Start.”
I blinked when Silas’ fist shot out and connected immediately with Stone’s face.
“Ohhh,” I said, putting my hands over my mouth as my stomach knotted.
That had to hurt.
And it wasn’t over, because Stone returned the favor two seconds later.
Then they proceeded to beat the ever-loving shit out of each other.
***
“Does that hurt?” I whispered, wincing when he hissed a breath in through clenched teeth.
“No, not at all. I don’t know what would give you that idea,” he said sarcastically.
“You’re gonna need stitches,” Rue said from beside me.
“And possibly a new face,” Baylee quipped from my other side.
“I don’t know about that,” Kettle drawled. “I’m pretty sure he’s happy right where he’s at.”
I laughed.
“Yeah, I’m sure he is,” I said, leaning into him.
His hands went around my waist and he pulled me in close.
“So I have a question to ask you,” he asked.
I leaned in, aware that the women at my sides hadn’t moved and were now leaning in, too.
“Yeah,” I asked with a laugh.
“So…what are you doing…for the next fifty years?” He asked nonchalantly.
I inhaled swiftly, but his twinkling eyes made me suspicious of what he was going to ask next.
“N-nothing,” I said. “W-why?”
He didn’t spare the women at my sides a glance as he kept his gaze on me, his swollen eyes looking like they were going to hurt for the next couple of days.
But his eyes were all for me as he said, “Because I want you to be my woman. In front of my family and friends, my club, I want you to know that I love you, and I want you to be mine forever.”
I was crying and I didn’t even realize it.
Crying hard, too.
He leaned forward until my face was in his hands, and his baby blue’s were staring into mine.
“You got anything to say?” He asked after a while.
I shook my head.
“No,” I whispered.
“Not even a yes?” He confirmed.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, I have something else to say.”
“Well?” He asked, sounding like he was starting to run out of patience.
“Are you asking me to marry you…or just be with you forever?”
He grinned and pressed his split lip against mine.
“Little bit of both.”
“Then yes.”
“Yes to which?”
I laughed.
“Yes to both.”
Cheers, whistles, applause and hoots erupted behind me, and I turned to find every single one of the Dixie Wardens MC, Benton Chapter, thundering their approval.
I laughed through my tears as I threw my hands around Silas’ neck.
It wasn’t long before the two women at my side did the same, and we gave Silas one big woman sandwich.
“I love you too,” I whispered into his ear.
He growled and rubbed his bearded face against the sensitive skin on the inside of my neck.
“Good,” he rasped. “Because that’s kind of a requirement.”
“Bossy man.”
“You know you like it,” he whispered into my ear.
I shivered when those words penetrated my brain.
Yet, I couldn’t disagree. Not even a little bit.
I did like it!
Chapter 22
I love food. But I hate my fat pants. The dilemma is real.
-Fact of Life
Sawyer
I woke up to a ring on my finger and a leather vest similar to Silas’ in my size lying next to me.
On the back of it was a rocker stating I was the ‘Property of Silas.’
I was freakin’ ecstatic.
Although it wasn’t the most romantic of gestures, I knew he’d really meant it.
He’d had the vest made.
He’d gotten me a ring.
He wanted it all, and I was so happy I could burst.
There were about a million and one things that went bad from the night I’d decided to go out with my friends, and I couldn’t name one single thing that I looked forward to after I was sentenced to prison.