don’t still blame me for what happened,” she whispered, those gorgeous eyes of hers staring deep into mine, looking so far into them that I felt sure she could see my goddamn soul.
“Found out the truth before your pa died. He admitted it to us.” I smirked. “Fucker was lucky he was on the way out. I’d have finished him off for that alone.”
“Yeah, but you believed him the first-time round,” she snapped, shoving me away, but I hauled her right back.
It had been too long since she’d been in my arms, and I wasn’t about to lose her because she had her panties in a twist—even if that was rightfully so.
“Pepper found you with a kilo of coke, Lucie. What the fuck was I supposed to think?” I’d thought she’d be punished, not fucking exiled, and when Bomber had laid down that decree? I’d been too chicken shit to do anything about it.
Her nostrils flared. “That it had been planted? Like it was?”
“And who’d do that? If not your father… he was the only one not fucking terrified of you.”
My nickname was earned. I liked fire. Always had, and that’s why Lucie and I had always got along well. She liked it too. Except, everyone always knew that her daddy would have called her Lucifer if the fuckers at Births, Deaths, and Marriages hadn’t squawked at the sight. They’d settled on Lucie where the law was concerned, but around here? Everyone knew exactly what she was.
Our little hell-raiser.
She popped her lip into her mouth. “Ryan wasn’t scared of me.”
“He was. He just hid it better. Plus, he wasn’t scared you’d lop off his cock in the middle of the night. He just—” I blew out a breath, unsure how to explain it. “You’ve always been like fire, Lucie. Best to have a healthy respect around it.”
“Thanks, I think,” she grumbled, scowling up at me. “Anyway, I’m not as bad as you all say. I mean, I haven’t done half the shit you guys have.”
I snorted. “Because that’s a good thing in decent society. Did you, or did you not, cut off Sparrow’s left testicle?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Did Sparrow, or did he not, get a kick out of watching me shower? Without my consent?”
“I ain’t saying he didn’t deserve an ass-whooping, Lucie, but a man’s ball sack is precious. It’s sacrilegious to lop one off, and that’s why every man here cups himself when you’re around.” I could still remember that fateful day, and I didn’t doubt it was prevalent in Sparrow’s mind too… Ha!
“And I thought it had to do with my tight ass.”
I smirked at her. “That too, but they can’t admit to that when any of us are around, can they? Not without us threatening their right ball sack, as well.”
She giggled, honest to God giggled, and my heart went BOOM. Fuck, what this bitch could do to me.
And fuck if I didn’t love it.
I pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “You want me?” I asked, for the first time in over six years making myself vulnerable to someone with a cunt. “Or just Wolfe?”
She pulled back to gape at me, and if my heart didn’t sing at that sight— well, fuck.
“What the hell do you think?” she snarled, her rage battering me like the flames I loved so much.
“I don’t know, Lucie. I don’t have a clue what your game is. You come back here, making threats and shit, telling Wolfe how it’s going to be? Where do the others and I fit in with your grand plan?”
Her eyes rounded at that, then she about broke me by whispering, “Do you even want me?”
I grabbed her hips and pushed my cock into her belly. “What does that feel like?”
“That’s sex. That means jack shit. I grew up here, Flame, and you know sex is like breathing in this goddamn clubhouse. Just like pissing, shitting, and eating.”
“It’s disturbing that you put those three in the same sentence.”
A smirk was her first reply. “Disturbing is what I do best.”
“How did you live in regular society?” I breathed, curious and concerned at the same time.
“I was good at it, I’ll have you know. A regular old soccer mom.”
“First of all, you’ve never been, and never will be, regular, sweet pea. And you’re not old. You’re what? Twenty-four now?”
She shrugged. “I feel old.” Her hand went to just above her tit and she pushed her fist there. “Inside, where it counts, I feel ancient.”