She had on what she'd been wearing earlier, with my black hat pulled down low over her face, concealing her eyes not only from people from catching them, but also from her eyes connecting with anything except what was directly in front of her.

She wasn't able to see me approach, nor did she see me as I took up a spot beside her, squeezing in between an older woman wearing a moo-moo and her.

At the displacement of air, Baylee's body shifted away from me, trying her hardest not to touch me.

Of course, she didn't know it was me, but it still hurt to see her withdraw from me.

After watching her roll unenthusiastically five more times, I moved closer to her, lifted my hand, and pushed the bill of my hat up off her head.

When she turned to me, startled and fighting, I restrained the elbow she'd aimed at my gut easily and pulled her closer.

Upon seeing me, she seemed to wilt, and sink into me. "I made a hasty decision." She said sadly.

"You and I have some talking to do. How much longer until you win?" I teased.

Baylee shrugged, threw the dice the dealer maneuvered towards her, and c.r.a.pped out.

Aww's and ohh's filled the air as the chips were cleared from the table, and Baylee moved the stack of chips as close to her as she could before grabbing a hand full and jabbing them into my pockets.

"You know, they make these little cups that you can put these in without stuffing them into pockets." I said dryly.

Baylee stuffed my pockets so full I looked like I could barely walk. Then took the single last stack into her hand and walked towards the exit.

"Don't you want to cash these out?" I asked worriedly.

Baylee shook her head. "No, I was about to leave. I need to drive to the grocery store I pa.s.sed on the way here. Like stat."

Deciding not to argue, I walked behind her, guiding her with a hand on her lower back as we maneuvered through the crowded boat.

Once we reached the exit, I had to practically run to keep up with the pace Baylee was keeping. "Hey," I said. "Where's the fire?"

She didn't stop until she reached her car, tossed me her keys, and then snapped her fingers at me when I looked at her with a bewildered expression.

Sighing, I dropped into her piece of s.h.i.t Cutla.s.s, started it up, and puttered out of the parking lot. Just with driving it for three minutes, I knew that the timing was off, it would need brakes soon, and I was fairly sure that the car's transmission was about to go out.

"Turn in here. Hurry." She said somewhat desperately.

Growing more and more concerned by the minute, I parked, and had to run to catch up to her as she threw the door open and jogged to the front doors of the Dollar Store I pulled into.

Just as she reached the first aisle, she looked up frantically, found the aisle she was looking for, and jogged toward it.

I didn't know what exactly I was expecting, but to find her frantically grabbing boxes of tampons wasn't even in the equation.

She tossed me two boxes which I caught awkwardly, only bobbling them twice, and gathered them against my chest as Baylee ripped into a box, pulled two out, tossed me the opened box saying, "Pay for these,' as she ran towards the back of the store.

I no longer needed to know what was wrong. I could guess.

When I made it to the register and saw the young girl there, I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as she slowly checked the three boxes of feminine products out. She didn't look at me, and I didn't look at her.

Instead, I studied the wall of candy that was laid out on the opposite side of the conveyor belt.

With just a few more seconds of contemplation, I grabbed one of each chocolate candy bar on the first three shelves and placed them on the belt without a word.

I heard the rowdy boys get in line behind me, but I didn't acknowledge them until one of them decided to open their mouth.

"Jesus, are you expecting a flood?"

I turned and gave cold eyes to the boy closest to me.

He was all of sixteen, at most, all lanky bones and styled hair.

His collar was pulled up on its end, coming to a stop right below his ears.

His pants hung low with a chain going from his wallet to his outer belt loop.

And his shoes. Well, don't even get me started on the shoes.

They were just plain hideous.

The boy stepped back when my cold eyes met his, and held up his hands in apology. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it."

I snorted and turned my head back to the total as the woman rang it up.

Thirty-seven dollars, three boxes of tampons, and seventeen candy bars later, I was standing by the front door with my arms crossed against my chest watching as Baylee slowly made her way to the front of the store.

The ache in her ribs a lot more evident now that she had the problem temporarily fixed.

Not one hint of embarra.s.sment shown on her face, though. In fact, she looked somewhat pleased, if what I read on her face was correct.

That surprised me since I vividly remembered my sister getting her period while we were visiting a zoo in junior high, while we were with a group of friends.

Now I could laugh about the fact that she'd made me buy tampons and toss them into the women's bathrooms like they were bombs.

She'd come out beat red, and refused to look at me, or any of my friends, for the rest of the trip.

I'd been grateful that she'd not said anything else, either.

My friends, on the other hand, had teased not only her, but me for the rest of the day.

Baylee didn't show one single sign of embarra.s.sment.

We were silent as I drove back to the hotel where my bike was parked, stopped for the package in my saddlebags, and still silent as I paid for a room for us to stay in for the night.

As the elevator doors closed on the busy lobby, I finally turned and looked into Baylee's eyes. Or at least tried to.

My hat was pulled low over her eyes again, making it hard for me to see her face.

Reaching forward, I tipped the hat back until I could see her eyes, and what I saw nearly tore me to shreds.

She was silently crying.

Her eyes were leaking fat tears that trailed down her face, and disappeared down the collar of my sweatshirt that she still wore.

Closing the distance between them, I lifted my hand and dashed the tears away with the palm of my hand. "Stop crying. You're tearing me apart."

She nodded, closed her lips tightly, and visibly willed her tears to stop.

She wasn't successful though.

"Come on." I said, as I gave her hand a small tug when the elevator doors opened on the seventh floor.

I'd purchased the biggest room they had on the top floor, at the end of the hallway. I really hated the traffic outside hotel room doors.

In fact, I would've rather gone home, but I wanted neutral territory for Baylee, and my place wouldn't offer that.

Once I sat her down on the bed, I tossed the package on the bed beside her and started to pace.

"Okay." I said. "I think it's time we had a long discussion. First and foremost, we'll start with why you left tonight. Talk to me."

My demand hit her hard, and she turned her face down so the hat concealed her eyes.

Frustrated, I ripped the hat off her head and threw it to the ground at her feet. "Let me see your f.u.c.king eyes!"

She flinched back from the booming sound of my voice, and then flinched again in pain.

Which made me feel like a world cla.s.s s.h.i.t.

"I'm sorry. Do you need another pain pill?"

At the shake of her head, I continued. "Please talk to me."

It took her a few minutes, but she finally answered.

"You never tell me anything about your life." She swallowed hard. "It's like you keep that part of you separate from me. Like you don't want me to be a part of that."

I sighed, and dropped down to the red chair that faced the bed and let my head fall into my hands. "You never acted interested in that part of my life. I didn't know if you wanted to be a part of it."

She snorted.

I looked up, barely keeping my glare from taking over my face.

She looked tiny sitting there in my huge sweatshirt.

It was an old one from the very early days from my stint in the Marines.

Her blonde hair was in a messy bun at the top of her head. Her eyes were red, her cheeks splotchy.

And she was beautiful.

"When I tell you about the club, bring you in, what you do and don't do becomes my responsibility. This isn't something that you can just leave if it gets to be too much for you. You'll have to stay and work it out with me. You won't be able to talk to your mom, or your brother. You'll have me, and the club. Sometimes my sister, but not even she knows everything. Do you think you can handle that?"

She hesitated.

Going on a hunch, I let her in.

All the way.

And when I left two hours later, I still didn't know which way she was going to run.

Towards me, or away from me.

Chapter 17.

This b.i.t.c.h won't fall off.

-T-shirt Baylee I looked down at the leather vest again. For the millionth time.

It sure was beautiful.

The st.i.tching was extraordinary.

And the patch that said, 'Property of Shiva,' gave me tingles.

I'd gone over what Sebastian had said hundreds of times.

I examined every word that had come out of his mouth over and over again, looking at it from every angle I could think of, and kept coming up with one single truth.

I loved him; did it even matter at this point whether I liked the club?

I loved the man, and if that man was part of the Dixie Wardens MC, then I was supporting that man with every bit of myself, and then some.

With shaking fingers, I picked the leather vest up, and brought it up close to my face, smelling the new fresh scent of leather.

It was soft, like b.u.t.ter. The st.i.tching on the leather was a hot pink accent that really made the word 'Property' pop.

The design was very simple. There were only three words on the back in big bold letters, but I loved it.

With a terrifying thrill coursing through my veins, I slipped the soft vest over the tight hot pink t-shirt I was wearing, and settled it on my shoulders. The b.u.t.ton on the front was pink, too, and I couldn't help the smile that overtook my face as I b.u.t.toned the two b.u.t.tons, and then looked at myself in the bathroom mirror.

I remembered what he'd said as he was leaving that night. You put that on, there's no turning back. You're mine. Forever. Your body. Your soul. Your heart. It's all f.u.c.king mine.

With one final smile, I turned to survey the writing on my back, and walked out of the room.