My gaze drifts to him again. Still watching me. My mouth turns up.

We've got a full house tonight. Couple members from the downstate charter even came up to celebrate Wrath's return.

Obviously no one learned their lesson from the Inga incident, because I spot a few dancers from CB milling around. I recognize one grubby little gold-digger-Lexi, and I want to kick the shit out of her when she perches her perfectly tight ass in Wrath's lap.

See, this right here is one problem. I don't want all my possessive instincts stirred up.

I do laugh when Wrath pushes her off his lap and she almost falls because she can't balance herself on her seven-inch fuck-me stilettos.

Strike one.

She stumbles over toward me and leans on the bar. "He's in a worse mood than usual. What's his issue?"

I wasn't aware that we were friends, but I answer anyway, trying to be a good hostess. "Maybe he didn't want you sitting in his lap, with the broken leg and all."

Or maybe he meant what he said earlier.

She glances over her shoulder at him. "Oh yeah. Oops." She giggles and I work on keeping my hand still so I don't smack her. We almost died the other night and he's laid up for the next four months, yeah, it's a real laughfest.

Bitch.

Rock stops by the bar again. "You okay back here?"

"Yup."

"Hey, Rock. We miss you at the club," Lexi coos while running her hand up his arm.

Even though he smiles back, he removes her hand and takes a step away.

Strike two.

"Z and Dex treating you okay?"

"Oh yeah." She lets out the fakest giggle and tosses her hair. I roll my eyes. "But it took two men to fill your shoes."

Good God.

Rock smirks, and turns to me. "I'm gonna be outside waitin' for Hope. She should be here any minute."

"Sounds good. Will you at least let me say hi to her before you tuck her away upstairs?" I respond with a wink.

"I'll do my best." He takes another step from the bar. "Good to see you, Lex."

"Are any of these guys DTF?" Lexi bitches at me.

I scan the room. No one here I dislike enough to sic her on.

"Maybe one of the prospects?" I suggest. They never get any ass.

Finally she wobbles away. Just in time too, because Hope breezes in about five seconds later.

"Finally!" I shout and throw my arms around her. She laughs and hugs me back.

"Rock said you were bringing supplies."

She nods at the hallway. "He asked the prospects to unload my car."

I quirk an eyebrow. Just how much did she bring?

"I'll go check. Make sure you give him lots of attention," I say nodding at Wrath.

Her gaze sweeps the room, nose wrinkling at the antics of some of the guys. But her lips curve into a smile when she spots Wrath.

"Hope! You're finally here," Wrath calls out.

She turns to me. "Did the doctor ever tell you how bad his head injury was?"

It takes a second, but I realize she's joking. When I'm finished laughing, I tap the bag in her hand. "What's in there?"

She tilts her head in Wrath's direction. "He asked for Jack Daniels."

"Oh boy, he'll love you forever."

She laughs and crosses the room, shyly handing him the bag. Wrath said she brought him burgers in the hospital. It's cute that they've reached some strange, friendly truce since the accident.

Shaking my head, I walk down to the kitchen to make sure the prospects don't make a mess out of my pantry while they're unloading Hope's car.

When I return, Wrath's over on the couch with Rock and Hope. Without me behind the bar, no one could figure out how to serve themselves, so there's a bit of a line waiting for me. I get most of them taken care of pretty quick. When I glance up, Hope's on her way over, looking dejected and annoyed. My gaze flicks to Wrath and Rock who seem to be having an intense discussion.

"I've been sent away," Hope grumbles as she leans her elbows on the counter.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why. "Club business?"

"Something about Wrath's gym."

Okay. Furious Fitness isn't exactly top secret, but I feel I should warn Hope should she ever overhear something relating more closely to the MC. Especially as I spot a number of other members from our downstate charter in the room. "Always play dumb when it comes to club business, Hope."

Poor girl reacts like I threw a bucket of ice water in her face. Shit. I should have kept my mouth shut. "I'm sorry, Hope. I didn't mean to sound like I was scolding you. Just ifyou know, we were ever around any other clubs or one of our other charters-always act as if you hear nothing."

She pauses then leans back over the bar. "Sorry, Trinity. I know you're just looking out for me."

That's a relief. The last thing I want to do is disrespect Rock by offending his woman. She flashes a pained smile at me. I try to picture myself in her world-wearing a suit, arguing in a courtroom-I'd be completely out of place. And while I'm aware of and understand a woman's place in the MC world, I'm sure it pisses Hope off. "I'm used to it, but I imagine it's weird for you."

She still looks a little forlorn. Even worse, I notice a number of the guys in the room checking her out. Rock's wrapped up in his discussion with Wrath, so he hasn't noticed yet. Only a matter of time before he does and loses his shit.

"FYI, I wouldn't keep standing like that in a room full of bikers. You know how they say men think about sex seventy-five percent of the time? With these guys, it's closer to ninety-nine percent."

She doesn't answer, but she does turn and glance at Rock, who's got his eye on her now.

Z walks up behind her and by the grin on his face, I know he's about to cause trouble. "Hey, Hope. Keep standing like that and you're just begging for a spankin'," Z says, eying her up and down.

Her reaction is pretty funny. She straightens up and yanks her shirt down over her ass. "Told ya," I say through a mouthful of giggles.

"You startled me, you perv!" she yelps, slapping his arm.

Z gives her one of his panty-dropping smiles, but Hope's immune to anyone's charm but Rock's.

Although, if he keeps acting this way, "Rock's gonna kill you," I warn him.

"Nah. Hope's like that hot sister-in-law you got inappropriate feelings for, but wouldn't touch on a dare."

She has no idea what to do with that. "Thanks, I think."

Z winks and I know whatever he's about to say will embarrass me. He's got some sort of agenda tonight and I can't figure it out. "Now you," he says, focusing all his attention on me. "Nothing about my feelings for you are brotherly. What are you doing later?"

Is he fucking kidding? In front of Hope? Why?

"Can I get a Crown and Coke to go, please?" Hope asks.

After she practically runs away with her drink. I turn my glare on Z. "Why would you try to embarrass me in front of her?" Shit, my nose stings and my cheeks feel like I've been standing in front of the oven for too long.

"Give it a second." He glances over his shoulder at Hope, who's now snuggled up against Rock. "I love the girl, but she won't be able to keep her mouth shut."

Sure enough, Wrath's angry gaze swings our way. The scowl on his face deepens when he notices, Z running his fingers over my hand. "You're an ass," I grumble, while snatching my hand away.

A wave of people come in the front door and I'm swamped. Not enough that I miss Wrath slap Z on the back-hard-and tell him Rock's looking for him. Z laughs and ducks away.

Wrath crosses his massive arms over his chest and leans against the wall behind the bar. "You almost done, babe?"

"In a minute."

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch him yanking his phone out his of pocket.

A few minutes later I realize what he did. Hoot nudges me out of the way to take over bar duty. I edge out from behind the bar. A few of the guys ask where I'm going. Bitching about Hoot not being as pretty a bartender.

"What's wrong?" I ask Wrath as I approach.

"Gettin' tired of you waitin' on everyone else. You're supposed to be waitin' on me." He flashes that boyish smile of his that does me in every time.

He bitches about the crutches the whole way to my room and drops them at the foot of the bed as soon as we're inside.

"What was that all about with Z?" he asks.

I can't stop the immediate eye-roll. "Messing with you. Obviously it worked."

"What did he say?"

"I don't know, he made a joke about spanking Hope's ass-"

"Oh, so he's as good as dead," he quips and flings himself onto the bed.

"You need your pain meds?"

His jaw clenches and I know he wants to say no. Wrath's very much a Real men don't need pain killers type of guy.

"I probably shouldn't. Had a lot to drink."

I hesitate because this is weird. "Um, I'm going to change."

"Okay," he answers making no move towhat I don't know. Where's he supposed to go? I grab a nightshirt. As my hand closes over the bathroom door, Wrath asks, "Where you going?"

"Uh, in the bathroom to change."

"Why? I've seen you naked."

Yes, that's true. I turn and find him grinning. "What do you expect? A strip show?

"No."

"This is weird," I mutter.

"What?"

I point at him and then myself. "You, me, us, this whole domestic weirdness we're doing."

The smile slides right off his face. "Why? You were staying up in my room before the fight," he says softly. Too softly for Wrath.

"That was different."

"Why? Because I told you I love you?"

Shit. "About that. Can we not tell people about whatever this is just yet?"

He's silent, but his jaw's ticking like crazy. "Tell me why," he finally says.

Why? Because this is never going to work. "Everyone knows you're just staying here because of the cast."

"Trinity, I could have figured something else out. Hell, I could have kicked you out of here and told you to go stay up in my room if I really wanted to."

My throat's so tight I can barely speak. "If this doesn'tif we don't make it this timeI don't want everyone feeling sorry for me." Then there's the biggest reason of all. The one I hate the most because it means I'm only thinking of myself. "I don't want to be kicked out." I hate how pathetic and miserable I sound. Inside I'm ticked he's forcing me to voice my insecurities.

"Shit, baby. Come here." He holds out his hands to me, but I'm rooted to my spot. "Trinity, come here. Now," he says, much louder.

That voice my body responds to, and I find myself in front of him. His hands curl over my hips, holding me in place. "I'd never do that to you." There's no judgment or anger in his voice and I relax a bit. "Besides, you know the club wouldn't survive without you takin' care of us."

I snort and lift my gaze to meet his eyes. Those deep, ocean-eyes, pulling me under. Making me think maybe we have a chance.

Did I finally get through to her? It's hard to tell. For fuck's sake, I don't know what the hell I'm doing. What does she need?