Cruz (Dark and Dirty Sinners' MC #5) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,141

I tapped out:

Me: Kirill, I have someone I want you to meet.

Kirill: Someone? A contact? I told you, I’m working hard on getting you the gear. It’ll take some time.

Me: No, you misunderstand. A woman. I’ve got a woman now.

Kirill: Don’t joke about this kind of thing. Monique will have my balls if you’re messing with us.

I snorted. Me: Don’t worry, I’m not joking. I want you to meet her when things have settled down.

Kirill: Boy, one thing you’ll learn in this life, even when you’re a retired teacher, things never settle down.

Me: True, well, you’ve never had your ass blown up. I want to keep it that way.

Kirill: I’d prefer it in one piece as well. Monique likes it that way.

Kirill: I’ll be in touch when I have the gear.

Me: Thanks, old friend.

After I sent a message to both Sin and Link, warning them about the backfiring car that had affected their women, I set off in the truck once more.

Thanks to that conversation with Rex, and the prospect of dealing with my she-devil of a mother, even after speaking with an old friend, all of it just made me want to be with Indy again. To be close to her.

There was something soothing about her, even though internally she was all riled up, she was starting to be a haven for me. That didn't exactly put me at ease, because monsters didn't deserve havens, but for whatever reason, she had yet to turn me away from the solace she gave me by just breathing.

As I trundled down the main street of West Orange and headed over the highway to Verona, I wondered if that was what love did. If it made you feel safe, if it made you feel like you had a place in this world. Some tangible tie that kept you bound to earth.

I'd never needed that before, and it wasn't like I needed it now, but I chose that, just like I chose her, and I knew I always would. All the while, though, I would wonder if she was insane, and I would wait for the day when she realized what I was, and she tossed me out on my ass.

But hopefully, that was a day far in the future, and I had time to make memories that would give me peace and some measure of solace when I lost her. Because lose her I would.

My past was something I’d forever be running from, and while Indy was too, she was full of hope for tomorrow where I wasn’t. Tomorrow brought as many problems as yesterday did.

By the time I was parking in Verona, luck being on my side as there was a space just outside the tattoo parlor– Christ, I missed my hog. Parking a truck was a son of a bitch–I saw Nyx and Giulia slouching out of the studio.

Nyx looked wrecked, and as crazy as it seemed, I wondered if he'd been crying. His eyes were kind of red, the skin around them flushed, while the rest of him was blanched, free from any color at all.

Peering at him, aware that he and his Old Lady hadn't noticed me, even though the truck I was in was a massive motherfucker, which spoke of the bastard's discomposure, I wondered—

"Shit!" I muttered under my breath as I shoved open the door and slid out of the seat, barely remembering to close it behind me, never mind lock it in my haste to get to her.

I knew of very few things that could make Nyx appear so damn wrecked, and one of those things was a woman who held my fucking heart. A woman who had a family history that belonged in a nightmare.

When I made it into the studio, I saw her, standing with her arms around her waist, her back to the front door. Her head wasn't bowed, though, and her spine was straight. In fact, as I looked at her, the strangest idea whispered through my mind.

I'd never expected her to reveal the truth to Nyx, had never thought she would feel safe enough to do that, but she had. Only, she wasn't sobbing like I might have imagined, her focus was on the wall ahead. A wall that was loaded with her accomplishments, the art she'd created, the history she'd made by etching drawings into living canvases.

Her shoulders weren't hunched, her posture was erect. Enough that I saw the ‘It Never Rains But It Pours’ tat, loud and proud at