Dex steps behind me and massages my shoulders gently. “Relax, babe. We’ll be one step ahead of them all the way. They aren’t going to do anything to us. Our babies are safe.”
I exhale and close my eyes. “It will be good to have Talon and Ranger on our side. Talon’s pretty much already family to some of us.”
Besides being Shayla’s cousin, he’s also Anna’s quasi-brother. And now he and Tia, Bailey’s best friend, are attached at the hip. I think Bailey is quite fond of him too. Hell, maybe I should get on board this Talon thing. He must have some redeeming qualities if he’s slowly recruiting a fan group. As for Ranger, I don’t really know him, only what I’ve heard from Shayla. I do know that he’s a pretty good-looking guy though, and extremely intelligent, so he’ll definitely fit in here fine.
Talon trusts Ranger, and Dex must see something in him too—the men wouldn’t make this offer to just anyone. It’s like inviting someone into your family, into your household, and trusting them in every way. And given our history with the Wild Men, especially with Arrow and Rake, I truly can say that I never saw this coming.
Years ago, Talon’s stepfather—Anna and Rake’s biological father—was the president of the Wild Men. We were at war with them, and one night they broke into our clubhouse, guns blazing. The men were all gone, except for Vinnie, and the Wild Men knew it. We all survived the night, except for Mary, who at the time was Arrow’s woman. Arrow and I took the loss the hardest.
Although I hadn’t known Mary for long, she was such a sweet woman and tried her best to make me feel welcome at a time when I was completely lost. It’s unfair that her gentle soul had to leave us. Talon didn’t have anything to do with the attack, and didn’t even retaliate when Arrow took his revenge for Mary and killed his stepfather. Arrow didn’t know at the time that he’d killed Anna’s biological father. Maybe that’s why Anna is so close to Talon. He’s her last connection to her father. I hope Talon is a good man.
Some people only think of themselves, of what they can get out of everything, and they go with the highest bidder. People like that don’t belong in the Wind Dragons, and they don’t belong in my life. When I look back at what I was like when I first walked through these clubhouse doors, I can see how different I am; yet I’m also the same. I don’t think I’m harder, but I’m stronger, wiser. More diligent. I’m the best version of me, physically and mentally, and yet I’m still the goofy woman who arrived here, using humor as her weapon and coping mechanism, obsessively cleaning, and pushing boundaries with the men, turning them into family.
I’m now a mother, a wife, and a woman that people look up to.
Dex tells me that I’m everything. It’s the only word he can think of to explain it. I don’t know about that, but I do know that I’m this club and this club is me.
I sit down next to Rake and lay my head on his shoulder, staring up at the sky. Talon came and went, and Dex told me he accepted their invitation. “How are you feeling about the Talon thing?”
He wraps his arm around me in a brotherly way and makes a sound in the back of his throat. “The vote was unanimous.”
My eyebrows rise, surprise hitting me. “I thought you weren’t a fan.”
“Got to look at the club’s best interests, not just mine, yeah?” he says, removing his arm. “Besides, saves me from having to worry every time Anna goes to see him, or about whether she’s taking Bailey with her. And Ranger? He’s a smart guy. He’ll be an asset too.”
I gasp dramatically. “Rake, are you . . . growing up?”
“About time, I guess,” he grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest. “We all have to become an adult at some point.”
“Yeah,” I agree, smirking. “Never thought you would though.”
“Faye?” he murmurs.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
I can hear the smile in his tone.
“You shut up.”
“Make me,” he replies with narrowed eyes, contradicting his previous theory about being an adult.
I pull out my phone. “I’ll call Bailey and make her make you.”
He plucks the phone out of my hands and lifts it up in the air. “And now what are you going to do?”
When he starts going through my phone, I try to grab it back off him. “Trust me, Rake, if you go through that you’re not going to like what you see.”
He stills and flashes me a wide-eyed glance. “Nudes?”
I nod. “In all different poses and distances.”
He hands me back my phone instantly. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Because you know me?” I grin, sliding my phone into my bra. There’s actually only one photo on there I wouldn’t want anyone but Dex to see—a sexy one of me in lingerie that I sent to him the other night while he was working at Rift.
He was home in fifteen minutes.
Like I conjured him with my mind, Dex comes to sit on the other side of me. He doesn’t say anything about me sitting so close to Rake, or pay any attention to it, because he knows we’re like family. I’m like this with all of the men, pretty much. They’re like my brothers. Brothers I never expected or wanted, but ones that turned out to be everything I could possibly need.
“What’s the time?” I ask him, knowing that we have to leave to get Clover from school anytime now. I really hope the dogs haven’t destroyed the house in our absence, or I’ll never hear the end of it from Dex.