Cruz (Dark and Dirty Sinners' MC #5) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,123

demand, "I need to speak with him."

Link stepped forward, just as the nurse started to turn pink in the face from the exertion of keeping Mav contained.

As he approached, Mav stopped struggling, and the nurse warned, "I'll be back with a doctor and a team. You need to keep him calm or they'll knock him out."

Mav's eyes flared wide with that, and Link got there just in time to pin him down. Steel was there next, and both of them worked hard to stop his struggles.

"We don't know who Nic is," Link ground out, when Mav just carried on asking the same damn question.

Tears hit me, slipping down my cheeks as I saw this powerful man be contained by his friends. Men who were like brothers to him, who'd do whatever they could to keep him safe.

Even from himself.

That level of love was something I'd never come across until now. They weren't bound by blood, but they might as well have been. Or, maybe that was diminishing the level of connection they shared.

They weren't blood, but acted as if they were, so didn't that mean their bond was a thousand times stronger?

I liked to think so, especially because I was living among these men, kept safe in the cocoon of their protection.

And I could say that even after their home, my home now, had been bombed.

Even unto death, they'd protect us.

I knew that.

I just... well, I didn't know my place now.

I had the nastiest feeling that Maverick didn't remember me.

I bit my lip, and the sting grounded me even as nerves overtook everything else.

Without Maverick, I...

Well, we were a...

What were we?

In all honesty, I didn't know.

We were man and wife, but we'd never consummated the relationship.

We slept together, both of us managing to get some rest in each other's arms even though sleep wasn't the respite it was for most people.

I made him eat, and he made me smile.

We were a source of refuge for each other, or, that was what I'd thought.

"We'll find out who Nic is," Link vowed, his face sweaty with exertion as both he and Steel worked hard to keep him on the bed.

But his words were like a passcode that triggered Maverick's cessation of struggling.

He stopped, just like they'd flicked a light switch.

"Until then," Steel rumbled, "Ghost is here."

Mav just stared up at him. "Who's Ghost?"

Two words.

I didn't know a heart could break with just the utterance of two simple words.

Steel and Link shared a look, but it was Link, the kindest and gentlest of all the men, who looked at me, pity in his eyes, that I knew this heartbreak went deeper.

I felt the cracks in my soul.

What a time, I realized, to accept my feelings for Maverick.

I loved him.

And he couldn't even remember me.

Cruz

I'd dumped my shit at the motel, because I hadn't actually thought I'd manage to wear Indy down, so when I drove over there to grab the bags I hadn't even bothered unpacking from Walmart, and as I pulled into the lot, found Nyx and Link heading into the first room on the ground floor, my plans changed.

Having heard about Maverick, I was curious. I knew all the brothers were.

Not only was the guy able to walk, but he'd lost his memory and was pleading for someone called Nic.

If I was closer to him, I'd have visited, because I couldn't imagine what he was going through, and he was a brother. Whether or not we were close, he was always that.

The gravel drive sang under the weight of the truck I'd borrowed from our garage to get around, and as I parked, I peered at the MC’s newest property.

The motel wasn't the best of places in town, but it would suit our purposes.

Maybe, eventually, Rex would turn the place into a legitimate business, but for the moment, it was a place for the homeless brothers to crash their heads at the end of a long night.

As expected, Storm had asked me to draft some plans for the clubhouse, and that was why I was here.

To grab my shit, but also to discuss particulars.

Any plans would need to be approved by someone who was licensed, but I was well aware that there'd be a set of drawings we knew about, and the ones that were signed off on.

I was almost looking forward to drawing those up. It would be a hoot to have secret rooms within the walls, places where we could store shit without it ever coming under threat from