That business tone of his was back with a vengeance. It was that stoic, impenetrable and difficult to read version of him.
And it was the worst time for it with the way I was feeling. I wasn’t going to stand for it. He was in for a shock if he thought I was just going to capitulate here.
“No,” I told him.
“Tasha, we’ll deal when we hit Warlow and we’re not caught out in the middle of a torrential downpour getting soaked down to the goddamn bone.”
“Deal with what exactly? Normal human emotions? Me throwing up all over the road? The Strikers trying to run us off the road? Or, you being an ass to your pregnant girlfriend?”
He stared at me, looking me up and down as I angrily shoved my heavy, dripping wet hair out of my face. Expecting him to ramp up the fight I’d started, I was more than a little surprised when his hard, determined expression cracked and emotion sparked in his eyes, his face softening instead.
He stepped up to me and rubbed my leather-clad arms soothingly up and down. “All right, I’m sorry.”
He was? “But I’m being unreasonable and crazy. I just can’t stop it and I know it’s ridiculous starting a fight in the middle of a dirt road and refusing to get on your bike so we can hurry up and get out of this rainstorm.”
He smiled and told me gently, “You’re pregnant, Tasha. Haywire hormones and chucking up are all a part of it. And there’s a lot going down on top of all that. You’re leaving the security of your own home for a place where you don’t feel safe. There’s a high stakes mission against the Strikers MC looming over us. And we were just tailed by the crazy bastards intent on stopping us from crossing into Steel Titans home turf.”
I could feel my anxiety spiking at his words which were laying it all out so brutally. “Not helping,” I said, wincing.
He cupped my face. “Just letting you know you’re not crazy. You’ve got every right to be upset. But we’re both used to dealing with this bull. And we’re damned good at it, we always come out on top. You’ve got this, firecracker, and I’ve got you. You’re not alone in this, in anything.”
I couldn’t help smiling at his sweet, heartfelt words. “Yeah, okay.”
“Now, if you want to stay here for a bit to chill, we can, no worries.”
I looked all around. The torrential downpour flooding the road so quickly, the two of us drenched. Laughter bubbled up and burst out of me, the situation morphing from bleak to absolutely hilarious.
I couldn’t stop, my laughter becoming hysterical where I was fighting to suck in a full breath through it.
“Hormones, for sure,” Cole chuckled, pulling me into him for a bear hug.
He stroked my back up and down through my laughter.
It took a while, but I finally managed to get a hold of myself. I drew in a deep breath and eased back from him. “Let’s do this.”
He nodded and led me back to his bike, giving me a hand up. As I settled myself, his phone started beeping. He tapped his earpiece and listened. Right away, I knew something was very wrong. His expression grew fierce, his jaw ticking with barely-contained fury.
“Yeah. I hear you. Twenty minutes out.”
He ended the call with another tap, then scrubbed his hand over his face.
“What’s happened?”
I could see his reluctance to tell me. I wasn’t really surprised with the way I’d been so far. The last thing we needed was me losing it again.
Not looking at me, he reported, “Nik tried to retaliate against me for supposedly taking you away from him. He went after Luce.”
Terror gripped me. “Oh my God. Is she—”
He held up a hand. “She’s fine.” He took a beat, then revealed, “I knew it was a possibility, so I had Mason stick close to her while I was gone. I knew he’d protect her. Nobody can get through him.”
“Cole, that was a gamble.” I knew how much his little sister meant to him. He’d always done so much, gone to insane lengths to protect her against everything and everyone. In fact, he was so intense about it that he’d become more than a little suffocating to her. It all stemmed from him overcompensating for the loss of their parents at such a young age.
“It wasn’t,” he insisted. “Like I said, I knew Mason would do a good job. He cares about her as much as I do. Besides, there’s no way I’m gonna let Nik back me into a corner and keep you and me apart with those kinds of threats. If we give in to that bullshit, none of us would ever be able to live our goddamn lives. You and me have already suffered enough and I’m not letting anything force us apart again. We’ve already lived for other people’s wants and bullshit for way too long.”
Wow.
Unfortunately, I needed more. Things were moving so quickly, so intensely, I had to know that we were solid. So, grabbing his hand, I implored, “Tell me. Tell me you’re never leaving me again. Swear it to me.”
He took me in, no doubt seeing the worry all over my face, seeing I needed his reassurance on us so badly.
“I never should’ve turned my back the first time,” he told me, squeezing my hand. “I never stopped regretting it and I’ve been fighting to get back to you ever since. Nobody and nothing is gonna fuck with that. I’m never letting you go. I’ll wage a goddamn war if I have to. You’re mine. Now and always.”
Again, wow.
“Good?” he asked, grinning at my stunned reaction.
“Yeah, thank you.”
He nodded.
Before I could get out another word, he settled himself on the bike and gunned it.
11
~Cole~
I DROPPED NATASHA’S BAGS on the floor by my dresser and took in my room, the floor now dirty as fuck from
