man." He hadn't planned on drinking.
"Hell, you'll be better with a drink." Mike laughed.
As soon as the meeting was over, he wanted to go back to Marla Marie's house and see her. To do that, he needed to be cold-stone sober.
"Are you back on the road?" Clyde leaned against the pool table. The game, now forgotten.
"For as long as they'll let me. I missed it." He stepped over and put his cigarette out in an ashtray on a nearby table. "Nothing beats the blur of the asphalt underneath me."
"Better than sex." Mike grinned.
Buck slapped Mike's back. "That's what the women you fuck say, too. You're doing it wrong, man."
The tinkle of glass shattering brought Mike to attention. Dutch followed his MC brother's gaze and went rock hard.
Marla Marie stood empty-handed, staring at him. He stopped breathing. She was here.
His body pulsed—it was the only sign that he was alive.
The connection they shared sparked over the eight feet separating them. His body leaned forward, but he couldn't move, afraid he imagined her here.
Fuck, she was more beautiful than ever.
He would've known her anywhere. Those blue eyes, staring up at him, were everything to him.
He soaked her in. There were little changes over the last two years that he failed to pinpoint.
Always tiny, her body had changed. A slight curve at her hips and her breasts were rounder, but maybe that's because she had on a pair of cutoffs and a tank top, leaving nothing to the imagination.
But that was Marla Marie. He knew what she felt like underneath his hands. Without hearing her talk, he knew what she sounded like. All the soft sighs and quick breathing, they were planted deep inside of him.
All the color drained from her face. Broken glass surrounded her on the floor.
He jerked his gaze back to her eyes. The prettiest eyes now held a million secrets and a lifetime of pain. He'd missed out on nineteen months and six days of her life, and he couldn't get that back.
Her mouth opened. His chest squeezed tighter than a vise as she sagged in front of him before catching herself.
He stepped forward, needing to touch her. Like a deer, she spooked and fled. He couldn't let her get away. He had to talk to her. She needed to understand.
"Dutch," bellowed Falcon.
His gaze snapped to the president. Irritated at the interruption, he needed to go to Marla Marie.
Falcon motioned his hand in the air. "Come with me."
He hesitated. Marla Marie needed him more than the club. He needed her more than WACOM.
"Now." Falcon glanced toward the back of the pool hall. "She'll be okay until we're finished."
Rage filled him at the idea that Falcon knew what was good for Marla Marie. She belonged to him.
The men in the pool hall went back to their games, clearing his path. He strode toward Falcon, following him out the front door. What he had to do needed no witnesses.
As soon as the door shut, he rounded on Falcon. "What the fuck have you done to her?"
Falcon held up his hand. "Cool off."
"This has nothing to do with the club. That's my woman." He fisted his hands. "I'm one second away from killing you."
"You wouldn't get the chance." Falcon calmly leaned against the wall of the building. "At least ten brothers are watching us right now."
His spine stiffened. Nothing would stop him from going after anyone who has harmed Marla Marie.
"Just so you know, nobody has touched her." Falcon pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered him a smoke.
Ignoring the offer, he fumed. "She's working here?"
"For the last six months or so."
He stepped away and came back. "You knew who she belonged to."
"Not right away. I remember her as a child. She's a woman now." Falcon's gaze softened. "When I found out, I let those know who she belonged to, so they could keep an eye on her."
That was the problem. He didn't want anyone looking, touching, involving themselves with her.
"Is she okay?" He hated asking, but he couldn't process that she was here, under WAKOM protection.
"Depends on the day." Falcon crossed his arms, holding the cigarette between his lips. "She puts on a brave face, but one mention of your name or the club, and I can see the light go out in her, and reality hits."
Yeah, that was his Marla Marie. She was the bravest person he knew. All the men who'd killed and lived through hell had nothing on his girl.
"I need to find her," he said.
"She's around."