“Goes without saying that where she goes so do you, right?”Rocker laughed and shrugged.“When I put it like that, it was a stupid thing to say.”
“I was just about to say,” Dan snorted.“For as long as she’ll have me.”He fluttered the edge of the bandana in his fingers.“She doesn’t see this.Even when I’m wearing it, she doesn’t see it.She just sees me, brothers.”
“You know we don’t give a fuck what your face looks like, right?”
“I know you don’t want it to matter.But I also know not one of you assholes ever argued for me takin’ off the rag.”He shook his head.“Doesn’t matter now either way, because for the first time since I got blown up I have someone who sees me.”Meeting the eye of every man around the table, he said, “And I see all of her.That shit tonight is going to mess with me, brothers.Makes me feel all murdery.”
“Made me feel murdery and I’m not banging her.”Rocker dodged, narrowly avoiding the back of Dan’s hand.“What?”
“Now you’re making me feel all murdery against you.”He shook his head.“Do not mention you and Riley and the word banging in any sort of sentence going forward, yeah?”He slugged Rocker’s shoulder hard.“Murdery.”
“Riley’s going to be okay.”Mad Dawg made the pronouncement like he would personally take offense if she wasn’t.“Ella is going to make sure of it.She’s going to adopt that woman of yours even more than she already has.”He laughed.“And she’s adopted her pretty damn hard.”
Tinder said, “Good friends like that are going to be important.Make sure she keeps them if you can.”
Dan upended the beer the prospect had finally dropped off, taking several long swallows.“I’ll see how much influence I have.”
“The way that woman looked at you as she followed you into church?You could tell her the sky was purple and she’d believe you.”Rocker grinned at him.
“Wanna know how much she trusts me?Lots more than the color of the sky.When we ride together, we get to a long stretch, and she slides in beside me, wrapping her left arm around my back or my leg.We’re tied together at that point.I’m vulnerable to her, and she’s vulnerable to me, but when we do it right, and we always do it right, we’re fucking invincible.”He turned the can up again, finishing off the beer.“Fucking invincible.That’s what she is to me.”
He stood and slapped Rocker on the back, nodded to Tinder and the rest of the men, accepted a warrior’s shake from Mad Dawg, and he turned, walking away, going straight back to where Riley was.
Chapter Nine
Riley
Next morning she woke with Dan’s arms wound around her, holding her close against his side.By his stillness she knew he was awake.
“Hey,” she said, her voice croaking.“How’d you sleep?”
“Like a baby,” he said, pressing a soft kiss against her temple, turning the question back on him “How’dyousleep?”
“Like a just-right koala was wrapped around me.”She laughed softly as she turned to face him.“Did you even sleep?Or were you up all night on guard?”
“I got some sleep.I also got up and went and had a couple of beers with my brothers.That helped get my head back on straight.Made me lots less murderous.”