“You’re going to play hairdresser?” Murphy asked.
“I’ll do a better job of it than you. I know what I’m doing.” She didn’t have a clue what she was doing, but it would be better than him just grabbing fistfuls of hair and chopping it off.
“It’s only hair. It always grows back.”
Shaking her head, she picked some up and started to work the length off with the scissors. She’d put him in front of the mirror in the bathroom. He was staring at her intently.
“What happened at the warehouse today?” she asked.
“Club business and you don’t need to know.”
Dropping the scissors to the floor, Tate walked out of the bedroom.
Grabbing her clothes she headed toward the door.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he asked, charging for the door. He stood in front of it blocking her exit.
“I’m not going to be one of the sweet-butts you fuck and enjoy. I’m not made like Angel, Rose, and Eva. If I’m going to be part of your life then you need to bring me into your world. You’re going to have to involve me in your world.”
“It’s not how The Skulls work.”
“I know, but if you don’t make changes for us, Murphy, there won’t be an us.” She folded her arms refusing to back down.
“Tate,” he said.
“No, no Tate this or Tate that. It’s pretty simple. You’re going to come home bruised, bleeding, and probably covered in blood, and you’re going to expect me to pretend I didn’t see anything?” Tate stared at him waiting to see her words register to him. “I’m a lot of things, Murphy, but playing dumb is not something I can do. I won’t interfere, and even my dad won’t know what I know. I can do that for you.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“I’ve had a gun pulled on me twice. I need to know what shit is going down, or I walk. That’s my final offer,” she said.
He stared at her. “This is not negotiable?”
“It’s not.”
“Fine, then I don’t want any woman with her lips on yours.”
“Make sure my lips aren’t available for anyone else,” she said, counteracting his argument.
“You’re one tough bitch to please, do you know that?” Murphy asked, smiling.
“I’ll be the only bitch you’ve got to please. You’re not going to get it easy. I grew up with Tiny, remember that. I’ve got his genetics inside me.”
“Don’t I fucking know it.” He took her hand, leading her back to the bathroom. She watched him go under the sink producing a pair of hairdressing shears. “These are for you to finish the job,” he said.
He sat down, staring at her in the reflection of the bathroom mirror.
“The two guys who were shooting at you, we took them to the warehouse.”
“Did they know anything?” she asked.
Murphy told her everything. She saw it in his eyes, the fear he held at what he was doing. Tate knew he hated sharing with her, but it meant so much to her. Also, she knew he wouldn’t be able to handle lying to her. This was their only solution. No matter what he told her, she wouldn’t judge him at all.
“You did what you had to do, Murphy. There’s no shame in that,” she said, looking at him in the mirror.
“You’re not seeing me differently?” he asked.
Leaning forward she pressed her lips to his. “No, I don’t. This is your life, and I’m sharing it with you. You can share what you want with me. There’s no need for you to hide.”
Murphy wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. “Thank you.”
She watched him visibly relax as he started talking once again, opening up about his world. Tate could do this for him. He wasn’t alone in the world, and she’d stand beside him no matter what he did as a Skull.
There’s more to this than him putting the club first.
Tate didn’t even resent the fact the club was coming first. She was slowly accepting how important the club was, not that she’d tell anyone yet.
She listened as he talked about Killer getting the information out of the other man. The Skulls never gave anything away to their women.
“Do you trust Killer, Time, and Whizz?” she asked when he’d finished talking about everything that happened. She didn’t like the thought of a drug group in Fort Wills. Tiny would end it at the first opportunity.
“I know they’re hard guys to trust because of The Lions, but I vouched for them.”
“If they go wrong, Murphy, your ass is on the line for bringing them in.”
“They won’t,” he said.
Turning on the electric shears, she finished off his hair, removing a lot of hair as she did. All the time he looked at her, talking.