Damaged & Dangerous: The Sacred Hearts MC Book VI (29 page)

“Pin this on me?” he asked. Aaron smiled warmly and pinned
the rainbow pin to Disney’s cut, over his heart, just below his name flash. I
smiled and hugged the slender man.

“Thank you.”

“Any time, Dani,” he said and pressed a kiss to the top of
my head.

“Thank all of you, for what you did for me. For what you did
for Thirteen, for us, so that there could
be
an ‘
us’
.” I sniffed
and went to Thirteen, who was seated at the table, and dropped into his lap. He
put his arms around me and kissed my shoulder.

“Darlin’ you know you didn’t have to do any of this for any
of us right?” Trig asked gently. “You’re supposed to be rebuilding a life for
yourself out of these bits of metal and pretty rocks.”

“I have more,” I said softly and smiled. Ashton was braiding
her man’s hair and smiling softly to herself as she bound the end with my gift.
Her face was alight with pride and love.

“I think what the Big Man is trying to say is: we ‘preciate
it, and thanks.” Dragon said with an affable grin. I smiled broadly.

Thirteen cuddled me close and the rest of the women were
similarly close to their men. Reaver slid the ring with a bright blue topaz,
the match for his eyes around and around on his thumb. Hayden smiled at her
husband and raised the palm of his hand to her lips to press a kiss at its
center. Reaver’s eyes closed and it was the most at peace I had ever seen the
man. Like whatever demon resided inside him was kept at bay simply by his
woman’s touch.

Thirteen gave me a gentle squeeze and I looked down at him
and smiled.

“I love you, Baby Girl.”

“I love you, too.”

Safe. Loved. Family.

Never in a million years did I dream I would live to see the
day, but I had, and it was here, and I vowed to be a smart girl and seize it. I
kissed Thirteen under the bright, Florida summer sky and felt a little less
damaged, a little more together and with a whole bright future in front of me.

Cutter…

“You doin’ alright, Captain?”

I blinked and looked up from where I’d been staring off into
space, my gaze drifting downwards to Hannah Hossler crouched at my feet, her
hands pressed to my knee. I smoothed fingers through her long blonde hair, an
affectionate touch, and pursed my lips. She gave a sigh that was somewhere in
between exasperated and pained.

“I can’t believe her. You carry her ass for six fucking
months then he shows up and she’s right back to him like you never existed.”

“Hossler…” I growled, warning in my voice.

“No, it was a bitch thing to – “ The crack of the back of my
hand silenced her quick. The back of my hand stinging. She brought her head
back around and glared up at me.

“I warned you.” I told her, and gave her a pointed look. She
lightly tongued the spot of blood forming at the corner of her mouth and
nodded.

“That you did. Doesn’t stop you from being a real son of a
bitch.” She pushed herself to her feet and stalked out of the back room of my
bar and out to the front.

“Don’tcha think that was a bit harsh, Cap’?” I looked over
at my best buddy and Road Captain of my club. Pyro put up his hands and leaned
back in his chair, cocking one knee out further to give his bitch some more
room to work his cock.

“Just sayin’, Hoss is worried about you. Hell, we all are.
You ain’t been the same since Li’l Bit left town with her man. Shit, we all
knew you had it bad for her since the minute you laid eyes on her…”

“It doesn’t matter.” I grated, and it was true. It didn’t. I
liked Reave. Bonded with him pretty fast and pretty fierce, he was just that
kind of a guy. He’d asked me to take care of his woman. I knew he was alive but
I couldn’t tell her and it killed a part of me watching her spiral down;
diminishing more and more each day with her grief. I promised Reaver I would
take care of her and I did. I just hadn’t counted on falling in love with her
myself in the process. I didn’t envy them their pain, but I sure as fuck
couldn’t keep myself from envying their happiness.

I stared out the porthole set in the wall and took another
pull off my beer. I was brooding and I knew it but fuck all… I missed her and I
was probably going to keep missing her until a suitable distraction came
through the front door. Which was likely to happen about, oh, the time it
started fucking snowing outside.

“You’re a cruel son of a bitch, you know that?” I muttered
at God, Fate, the Universe or whatever the fuck it was.

I sat on my throne in my tiny little castle in my kingdom by
the sea, and wallowed in the deep, tearing ache of my loneliness.

“Man, you should’ve fucked her rather than hit her. Now the
bitch is going to put a snake in your underwear drawer.”

I scoffed, “Might just fuck her yet, now shut up and get
your dick sucked.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Pyro saluted me with his drink and
settled into a more comfortable position. The bar was closed to the public so
there was no concern there. I sighed and returned to my brooding and staring
off into space… haunted by a pair of emerald green eyes and the loss of a woman
that was never mine to begin with.

A.J.
Downey has been a resident of Seattle, WA her entire life, that being said she
has lived in many different places and many different worlds through her
imagination. She enjoys music, coffee, writing (obviously) and a bunch of other
boring things that you probably don’t really care about. She is ever so
grateful that you either picked up her writing or that you continue to read her
stuff!

You
can find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authorajdowney