Gunnar A Motorcycle Club Romance - Nina Levine Page 0,31
I can no longer see them. I then collapse onto a barstool and order wine. I fucking need it after the day I’ve had. I also need it after seeing Mason. We’ve managed to go months without running into each other, and now he’s everywhere. I have no idea why, but it seems his club is doing some work with Joe. I make a mental note to find out why. I need to know how much longer I can expect to be seeing him every damn day.
The journalist turns up before Joe returns. I’ve just ordered my second wine, after guzzling my first, when she arrives. Not a bad thing; it means I’ve taken the edge off enough to dazzle her with engaging conversation and laughter.
“Oh good,” Joe says when he comes back, “you two have met.”
I shoot him a big, wide smile like a real wife would. “Darling, come and tell Susan all about how you proposed to me.” I look at Susan and wink. “He’s such a romantic. He made me swoon so hard.”
Joe watches me carefully. No one but me would note the assessment going on in that brain of his. They would only see the love he’s taking care to project. But I see the way he watches, and right now, I’ve had enough to drink to play with him.
He moves to my side, casually placing his arm over my shoulders as he recounts our fake proposal. We didn’t come up with this story together. I made it up during the first interview he forced me to do, and I’ve embellished it every time I’ve told it since then. The last time I told it, he pulled me aside after and told me in no uncertain terms to fucking stop adding extra layers to it. I took that as a win.
“So when can we expect baby Hearsts?” Susan asks.
I almost choke on the sip of wine I’m taking as she throws that question out.
Joe squeezes me tightly. “Soon I hope.” He looks down at me, a cautionary glint in his eyes. “We’re working on it.”
I place my hand to his chest. Lovingly. So very fucking lovingly. “Darling, let’s not start a rumour. That’s not fair to anyone.” I look at Susan and smile sweetly. “He’s being silly, Susan. It’s a joke between us. I mean, we want kids for sure, but I’m only twenty-five and just at the start of my career, so it’s going to be a few years before we think seriously about children.”
Joe’s fingers dig into my arm. “I’m sorry, Susan, but we need to wrap this up now. Our dinner guests have just arrived.”
“Oh, of course!” Susan exclaims. She’s been flustered since Joe arrived. Most women who meet him have the same experience. If only they knew his devastatingly good looks don’t match his soul. “Thank you so much for this interview. I’ll send a copy through as soon as it’s written up.”
Joe reaches for his scotch and takes a sip as he watches her walk away. He then looks at me. “Don’t ever fucking do that again.”
His tone crawls all over me. Even the wine I’ve had doesn’t dull the effect his voice has. I hate that I swing between wanting to go head-to-head with him and wanting to run away. Joe handles me in such a way that some days he lets things slide, while other days he doesn’t give an inch. There doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason to which things he refuses to ignore, so I don’t have a playbook figured out yet.
I drink some wine, doing my best not to show how much he’s affected me. I then take a risk I’m not fully feeling, but damn him, I can’t keep allowing fear into this relationship. When I agreed to marry him, I did not agree to give him all the power. “I’m not having children soon, Joe. That was never part of our agreement, and I don’t appreciate you telling people that.”
The displeasure he feels is splashed all across his face. So much so that anyone looking at him right now will see it as clearly as I do. Gone are all the pretences of a moment ago. “Our agreement was for a marriage. Marriages produce children as far as I’m concerned, Chelsea. You’ll do well to remember that.”
I’m in a mood today. It’s the only reason I have for saying, “And you’ll do well to remember I actually hold the power when it