Chapter Twenty Two

The rumble of the Havlin members arriving filled the clubhouse. Skye nudged Mariah, looking at the women at the next table. Aunt Brooke, Daisy, Cora, Katrina, and Rachel patiently awaited the riders' arrival.

There were no other women at the clubhouse tonight. Ten members stayed behind, including Brett, who hung out with the other men by the door.

"I'll never get used to this," mumbled Mariah.

"You'll have to if you plan on staying with Brett." Skye stood from the table. "Besides, it's not always like this. It's only happened three or four times in the last thirteen years that I remember."

"It might not even matter if I can accept this way of life. I don't know how serious Brett is." Mariah leaned forward and put her elbows on the table. "We're just having fun."

"That's how it starts." She laughed. "Or so I heard."

For her and Dio, it was different. It'd taken a lifetime to get where they were now.

"Riders coming in," shouted one of the men.

Excitement filled her. She headed toward the entrance, only wanting to see Dio. It happened that she had the day off the day they were going to ride out as a club. Knowing Aunt Brooke was coming to the clubhouse to wait for her dad, she joined her. Then, after Mariah got off work at Whale's Tail, she came over with Brett. It was better to pass the time surrounded by everyone than shut inside the house or apartment with a Havlin member guarding the door.

The door opened. Men spilled inside. The whole atmosphere changed.

The tension and testosterone that came rolling in with them charged the room. She stepped side to side, searching for Dio.

Her dad strode in. Skye inhaled deeply, relieved that he came back unharmed, and then quickly stretched to her toes to continue looking for Dio when he walked into the clubhouse.

His gaze scanned the room, settling on her. She lunged forward, covering the span separating them.

A second before she reached him, he opened his arms. She flew into his embrace.

His mouth came down on her. She kissed him, glad to have him back, safe and unharmed.

There were times in her life when her dad came home, and he was different. She could never pinpoint what had changed, but it came through in the way he held himself, the way he breathed, the way he coughed, and the way he shut down, as if his need to protect his family was bigger than taking care of himself.

Luckily, Aunt Brooke had a way of bringing her dad back around. She wanted to be that strong woman Dio could depend on, and when needed, she could fix him.

By example, her aunt had taught her how to care for someone who rode for Havlin. For as long as she could remember, she always made sure Dio was okay, too. He had no one at home waiting for him—until now.

As much as she wanted to ask him the purpose of the ride, she refrained from doing so. She squeezed him hard. Having him back was enough.

Dio squeezed her ass. She pulled her mouth off him and gazed into his eyes.

"Is everything okay?" she whispered.

"Yeah." He inhaled deeply. "Let's go home."

She looked over her shoulder, found Mariah with Brett, and waved. Dio never let go of her but turned her in the other direction and walked toward the door.

She wrapped her arms around his waist. "Is my dad okay?"

He kissed her temple. "He's good."

Those she loved were safe for the night. She grabbed her helmet and walked out of the clubhouse. The sun had already set.

"Tomorrow, we'll get more of your things from the apartment and move them into my place." Dio straddled the bike. "We'll use the Havlin truck. It shouldn't take too long. Maybe two trips."

Anticipation spiked her heartbeat and at the same time guilt knocked her back a step. Not once had she talked to Mariah about what they'd do if one of them wanted to move out. Neither one of them could afford the rent by themselves. That's one of the hundred reasons why they lived together.

She slid onto the back of his motorcycle. "Can we talk when we get to your place?"

He patted her leg, started the Harley, and rode away. She hugged his back. In a predicament she hadn't thought about before, she worried. Mariah had been her best friend since she was eight years old.

They'd shared a lot of their firsts at the same time. The first time they skipped school, got drunk, smoked a cigarette, got high, and came down with the flu and missed a week of school together. Skye had gone to Mariah when she started her period while in class and spilled her guts when she was sixteen years old and found out the truth about her mother and what her father had gone through in prison.

Leaving Mariah without any warning made her sad. As if distance would sever the bond they'd created.

While they'd talked about Brett and Dio and their mutual excitement over the men and the direction of their relationships, she had yet to consider when or if Dio would ask her to move in with him.

She swallowed hard. Now that she had thought about it, he hadn't asked her to move in with him. He'd assumed.

Tonight, he sprung his plans on her without even asking.

A part of her melted inside that he'd want her to live at his house. Isn't that what she wanted?

When they were together, the possibilities were endless. A life with Dio was a dream to her, and her heart was whole with him.

But every woman wanted to feel respected, as if her thoughts mattered. She wanted him to seek her opinion, listen to her ideas, and share in her dreams.

Dio would discover she had the same wishes and desires as him. For her to be happy, she had to have a voice.

He couldn't treat her as if she was still a juvenile who needed guidance. She was an adult who wanted to share her life with him.

He pulled into the driveway, made the loop, backing the Harley up against the garage door until his rear tire touched. She slid off the seat and removed her helmet.

Her phone vibrated in her back pocket. She removed the cell, seeing a text from Aunt Brooke.

Just checking to see if you made it to Dio's house. XO

A warm burst of love filled her. She was grateful for her dad and Aunt Brooke's continual support, which followed her through life even when she wasn't living under their roof.

She texted back. Safe and sound. Love you both tons. XO

"Everything okay?" Dio looked at her while releasing the Bungee cord on his duffle bag.

"Yeah." She put the phone in her back pocket. "Actually, no."

"It wasn't a multiple-choice question, princess." He hefted his duffle over his shoulder and looped his arm around her. "You're either okay or you're not. You can't be both."

"I'm fine. That was Aunt Brooke texting me to make sure I arrived here safely. "

He let go of her to open the door and waited until she stepped inside before following her. "Hungry?"

Earlier, the Havlin women ordered takeout and delivered it to the clubhouse. She walked into the kitchen. Both she and Mariah had enough pizza to overfill them because they tended to eat when anxious, and it was worse when they were together, multiplying their emotions.

"No, but I'll fix you something." She opened the fridge. "Katrina ordered food about an hour before you returned to the clubhouse, and I pigged out on pizza."

She leaned closer looking through the shelves. There was still deli meat from yesterday. There were also enough eggs if he wanted her to scramble them.

"Do you want eggs or—?"

He patted her butt. "I'll take a sandwich. Just slap some meat and cheese between the bread and leave off—"

"All the veggies. I got it," she said.

She pulled the items she'd need onto the counter and grabbed the loaf of bread. Tension over her current dilemma made her slow, and she dropped the butterknife on the floor and had to get a new one.

Her mixed emotions took away her excitement over Dio making plans to move her into his house. That was a huge step in the direction she wanted to go. If she could ignore what she was doing to Mariah, her heart would burst with excitement.

But she couldn't be happy knowing she'd hurt her best friend.

Mariah meant too much to her not to think about the consequences.

She slapped the top piece of bread onto the sandwich and cut it in half before sliding the plate toward Dio on the other side of the island.

He caught the food before it slid off the edge onto the floor and caught her gaze. "Talk."

"I..." She inhaled deeply. "Nevermind."

She walked around the island. Dio stepped into her path.

The air in her lungs deflated, and she sagged in front of him. He'd accepted her, faults and all, throughout the years, but their relationship was now different and new. Fragile.

She wouldn't want to hurt his feelings by putting Mariah first in her life when that wasn't the case. She loved them both.

"Skye." He framed her face with his hands and lifted her gaze. "What's troubling you?"

"Mariah." She inhaled swiftly. "We haven't lived in the apartment long, but we'd planned to move in together since we were teenagers, and now I'm leaving her. Don't get me wrong— I want to move in with you and I will. But I feel like I'm hurting her to find my happiness, and that's not fair to her. She's important to me, Dio."

He stepped away from her, reaching into the pocket of his leather vest. She swallowed heavily, already feeling that her worries separated them when that was the last thing she wanted to do.

"I'm sor—"

"Stop." He held up the phone and tapped the screen, putting the cell to his ear. "Where are you?"

Skye hugged her middle as he talked to whoever he called. There had to be a way to please Mariah and Dio, so that everyone could be happy.

"Come over." Dio's attention locked onto Skye, though he spoke to someone else. "Bring her, too."

He disconnected the call. She bit her lip, unsure how to get past the problem she'd placed at his feet.

His gaze never left her, comforting her like a warm towel after doing sixty-four laps at the pool early in the morning. "I'll fix it."

"How?"

Within a single breath, he pressed her against the front of the double-sided refrigerator, pinning her hands against the slick surface of the appliance. Taken by surprise, she forgot about her worries.

His nose skimmed her cheek. "You need to trust me."

"I do."

He moved his thigh between her legs until her whole body was pressed against the fridge door. "You don't, but I'll make sure you learn to trust me from here on out."

She quivered, liking when he taught her things. But trusting someone else when it came to one of the most important people in her life was hard.

"Fuck, you smell good." He nuzzled the side of her neck. "Remember last night?"

Her stomach fluttered. He'd wanted her to sit on his face. She'd hesitated, thinking it would be too much for him to accept from her compared to how he'd given her oral sex before while kneeling between her legs. But the roughness of his beard and the freedom to ride his mouth the way she wanted, hearing his moan, had given her an orgasm that made her inner thighs sore that morning.

"Trusting me will make you feel good." He pressed his knee harder between her legs.

She tilted her hips and moved with the friction of his denim-covered thigh.

"You came hard, princess." His breath warmed her neck. "Wild and sexy, pulling at my hair. I could taste your juice on my tongue.

Her heart thrummed, and she closed her eyes, giving him access to her neck. She could barely stand. Her pussy spasmed, throbbing and begging for more.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

She opened her eyes, searching for the reason behind the knocking. For a moment, she'd forgotten where she was.

Dio kissed the side of her neck, released her, and stepped away, all while watching her. She cocked her head, trying to make sense of why he'd stopped touching her.

"If you worry about something, you need to tell me." He gathered his beard in his right hand and pulled down, straightening the whiskers. "I could've saved you pain by telling you Brett already mentioned he wanted to ask Mariah to move in with him."

She pushed off the fridge with shaky legs. "Oh, my God. He is?"

Dio walked backward to the door. "No worries, Skye. Not when you're with me."

He opened the house up to Brett and Mariah. She stared at her best friend, trying to see if her life was turning upside down, too .

She needed to talk and find out what was going on. Dio left her dizzy and disoriented.

Mariah rushed to her, grabbing her hands. "We need to talk."

"I know," she whispered, pulling her into the kitchen.

The men stayed in the living room. She dragged Mariah to the corner, the farthest they could get from the guys without shutting themselves into a room—which would be rude.

Mariah leaned closer. "Brett asked me to move—"

"I know. Dio told me," she whispered back. "This is perfect because Dio wants me to move in with him."

They stared into each other's eyes. She could see the excitement in Mariah's face and knew it was impossible to hide how happy she was about the changes in her life. They were both getting what they had spent thousands of hours talking about since they'd discovered their fascination with the opposite sex.

Simultaneously, they clung to each other, hugging hard while jumping up and down, keeping their squeals of happiness between them and away from the men in the other room.