Curse's Claim (Chaos Bleeds)(34)

Curse watched as he climbed on the back of his bike and headed out of the compound.

“Devil’s worried,” Pussy said from behind him.

Turning toward his friend, Curse nodded. “Yeah, I know, and it’s all my fault.”

“No, it’s not. Mia needed you, and you lost it. There’s nothing we can do about it.” Pussy slapped him on the back. “You were right. Mia is something special. She’s got a lot of love inside her and a lot of pain as well.”

Nodding, he moved toward his bike. “I’ll be back on Friday. Take care of everything for me.”

“Okay.”

He headed toward Jerry’s house. The other man’s car was parked, and he parked his bike up, walking up the steps to knock on the door.

Mia answered his knock. She looked relieved to see him. “Thank God. I was so worried that I wouldn’t see you again.”

“Where’s Ashley?” Curse asked.

“I’m here.” The other woman stood behind Mia.

“Do you want a ride to the clubhouse?” Curse looked at the other woman, wondering what was going on in her mind. She looked scared of him. He didn’t blame her. She’d seen the damage he’d done to Dale.

“No, I’m going to stay here with Jerry. He’ll give me a lift back to the clubhouse when it’s needed.”

Handing Mia a helmet, Curse climbed on his bike and waited for her. He watched as she hugged her friend then got on the back of his bike.

“Thank you for waiting for me,” she said, whispering against his ear.

Not responding, he pulled out of the house and headed for the open road. No one was staying at the house out on the beaten track. Curse wanted to have a few hours to call his own before their problems caught up to them.

****

When Jerry entered the house and started drinking, Ashley had looked concerned. Leaving Ashley behind, Mia hoped to feel secure, but the way Curse was acting left her feeling scared. Mia stared at Curse and knew something bad was about to happen to all of them. Dale Worthington had started all this. His touch had repulsed her, and yet they were all about to be a in a lot of trouble for Dale’s death.

“He was a wanted man. Some guy called Frederick was waiting for the right opportunity to come and claim him. Mafia shit or something like one of those movies,” Curse said.

“I used to watch gangster movies. Is everything they say on them true?” She took a seat, lowering herself into the chair.

“Yes, and it can be worse.” He ran fingers through his hair. She caught sight of the cuts on his knuckles. “On Friday we’re to go and meet him at the clubhouse. He’s going to want to know why we killed him and what we got out of it.”

“Okay.” What more could she say? This sounded serious, even dangerous to her.

“There’s more.”

He turned away from her to look outside the window. She gazed at the length of his back. The tension inside him caught at her heart. Mia had caused this because of her stupid fucking pride. If only she’d accepted the money from him, she wouldn’t have continued working for Dale and causing problems.

“To the club, you’re now my old lady.”

“What does that mean?” She’d heard Ashley refer to some of the women as old ladies. The respect in Ashley’s voice was hard to ignore when she heard about them.

“It means you’re my woman, and when we get the time, we’re going to get married.”

As far as proposals went, this one sucked.

She locked her fingers together and stared at him, waiting for whatever else he had to say.

“If I didn’t agree to have you as my woman then you’d be taken care of. The club would have to get rid of you as you were a liability.”

“And we can’t have me being a liability, right?” she asked, tears filling her eyes.

Mia didn’t know why she was hurt by being ordered to get married. It wasn’t like there was a man waiting to wine and dine her. No, the only prospect she had was Curse.

You’re in love with him.

The pain hurt too much thinking of him being forced into marrying her when he really didn’t want to.

Biting her lip, she gazed down at the table feeling sorry for herself.

“Mia, I didn’t have a choice.” He took hold of her hand, kneeling in front of her.

“It’s not that.”

“Then why are you crying?”

“I don’t know. Nothing makes sense to me anymore.”

He kissed her knuckles. Curse stroked her cheek and she winced at the pain.

“Shit, I’m sorry. I would take the pain away from you if I could.”

“We all know you can’t play God, Curse. This pain is what I deserve.” Looking away from the sincerity in his face, she stared down at her hands. “You once asked what happened with Ashley.”