“Anyway, back to why I wanted to talk to you.”
Malice didn’t miss the fact Lucien changed the subject. “Sarah is planning on moving to California with that dead-beat boyfriend she has, and taking Kink’s kid with her.”
“Shit.” Just the thought of some asshole trying to take his kid, would have had Malice on a murderous rampage. He might have had issues at first with Stinger, Molly’s now old man, but things had settled down, and he respected the Grizzly MC member. But that wasn’t to say that if Stinger tried to stop him from seeing Dakota, or God forbid take his kid away… Malice tightened his arms across his chest and forced himself to push those thoughts out of his head. They weren’t real, and he wasn’t going to let them make him even more pissed. “I can see why he is on edge.”
Lucien grunted. “Yeah, seems like all this shit is going down in a short amount of time, but maybe that means we are getting all the drama out early.”
Yeah, Malice really doubted that. “Listen, I am not in the best of moods either, but my issues are nothing compared to what Kink is going through. I should have kept my cool, but—”
“It’s done, brother,” Lucien said in a solid, straightforward tone. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Lucien grinned. “But an old lady, huh?”
Malice shook his head. “Never thought I’d want another woman, hell not even after a few days, but I feel something for that girl. Pretty fucking crazy, huh?”
Lucian shook his head. “Nah. Look at the life we lead. We are surrounded by danger constantly, and it isn’t like doing all that immoral shit doesn’t weigh heavily on us.” He shrugged. “We are a different breed of male, Malice. We fight with our hearts, ride with pleasure because it is in our blood, and fuck with abandon.” There was no humor in Lucien’s words, because what he said was truer than most things. Lucien had this look on his face.
“What?”
He shrugged. “Nothing.” Lucien ran his hand over the back of his neck. “Well, that isn’t true. I’ve just never seen you this … enamored, not even when you were with Molly.”
“Enamored?” Malice grinned. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use a word that big.”
Lucien flipped him off, but he cracked a smile. “Fuck you. Anyway, that was what I wanted to tell you. Give him space, let him work out his shit, and I know he’ll do the same with you.” Lucien took a step forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, and then turned and went back to the main room.
Malice stood there for a few minutes replaying what Lucien said in his head. Yeah, he had known Adrianna was something different and special when he first looked into her face. It wasn’t just about wanting to protect her, or wanting to fuck her in the worst kind of way like he was some kind of dirty bastard. He liked being around her, liked the things she made him feel even though she had no clue the effect she had on him.
“Fuck.” He pushed off the wall and made his way to one of the empty bedrooms. Maybe his head would be in the game with a few hours of sleep under his belt? If not, well, then he was going to have to deal with what he felt for Adrianna, and see where in the hell it took him.
Chapter Eleven
Malice sat on the opposite side of Adrianna, and watched as she smiled and thanked everyone who offered her a dish of food. Tatum, a woman who had once started out as a club whore but was now an employee of the MC, now cooked, cleaned, and did their laundry. She was older, and was now more of a den mother to everyone that hung around the club. But Tatum took care of them even though they lived like slobs and did a bunch of shit that would make their mothers slap their faces. He leaned back in his seat, already having had his fill of the meal, and couldn’t help but just watch Adrianna. She looked relaxed and comfortable, and he was glad because the last thing he wanted was for her to feel out of place amongst a bunch of roughened bikers. He glanced at Kink, and from the scrapes and bruises it was clear he had come from a fight. But if that’s how he eased the pain he felt, then it wasn’t anyone else’s business. He turned his focus back to Adrianna, and saw that she was speaking to Tatum.
“You’ve been here long?” Adrianna asked the other woman.
She shrugged. “This clubhouse has only been up and running for the last few months, but I’ve known all these guys for years. I used to hang around another charter until I hooked up with them.”
Tatum grabbed her glass of wine. For forty-eight she looked good for her age.
The sound around them intensified as laughter rang out, jokes were told, and the whole atmosphere of the clubhouse went from tense and heavy to light and joyous. It was these times that Malice lived for. He saw that Adrianna was fully immersed in a story that Tatum was telling her, and he couldn’t help but watch her. He got hard just watching her sit there, and what a creepy as hell thing to do. A fucking mundane act made his damn cock like steel. And her fucking mouth… He ran a hand over his jaw and stared at those lush, red lips. He hadn’t been able to not think about it since their kiss.