Kristen Ashley - Own the Wind

Take Natalie, declare war.

They took Natalie.

They had war.

Now it was only deciding who would strike first.

“Need to get back to Tab,” Shy murmured, Tack dropped his hand and looked at Shy.

“Right,” he replied then Shy watched him draw in another breath before he stated, “She’s mine, but I get she’s yours in a way I don’t have anymore. Respect, but I’m askin’ you to carry the burden and let her breathe easy.”

“She’s yours, Tack, which means she’s not dumb. That bitch called her direct.” Shy lifted a hand to indicate the bandage on his neck. “Last night was not lost on her. She knows we bought trouble.”

“I get that, brother. I’m not sayin’ that. I’m sayin’, you carry the burden and let her breathe easy. Are you getting me?”

Shy held his gaze before he nodded.

Tack drew in another breath, this one he didn’t hide that, when he let it out, it was relieved.

“Lanie,” Hop muttered, bringing the matter back to hand that they needed to get back to their women.

Tack turned and nodded to Hop.

“Right,” he repeated. “Later, brothers. Have a mind, it’s early, he won’t move this quick, but watch your backs.”

Shy nodded. Hop did too.

They swung on their bikes and roared off to get to their women.

Tack

Tack Allen watched his brothers go.

He didn’t move as he did. He didn’t move for long minutes after they disappeared.

He stood there knowing.

Tyra, Tabby, Lanie, Sheila, the entire family.

Benito Valenzuela was hardcore cracked. Void. Empty. No emotion. No loyalty. No nothing.

Empty of everything but greed.

A man who felt nothing but greed, he gave you only one option for leverage.

But he had many.

“Fuck,” Tack whispered, closed his eyes, felt the pit weigh heavy in his gut and opened his eyes.

It wasn’t over.

It was never fucking over.

“Fuck,” he repeated, moved to his bike, swung his leg over and roared off to get to his woman.

Shy

Shy opened the door to his room in the Compound, stepped through, and stopped dead at what he saw.

Tabby was sitting cross-legged in his bed wearing his T-shirt. Her head was bowed and she was staring at her phone, her profile a mask of disbelief.

He closed the door behind him, calling, “Tabby?”

Slowly, her head turned his way, the disbelief in her face cleared, her beautiful blue eyes started shining just as her perfect rosy lips started curling up.

Then her body started shaking.

That was when he heard her giggles.

Shy froze at the sight.

There she was, his girl, after a night like last night, sitting in his bed in his room… laughing .

Oh yeah.

That was his girl.

On this thought, through her laughter, she forced out, “Shy, darlin’, I just got off the phone with Ty-Ty…” She trailed off shaking her head, giggling some more but before he could prompt her, she continued, “She just gave me the latest scoop on Lanie and Hop and, honey, you… would not… believe .”

She then told him what he wouldn’t believe and, in telling, proved she didn’t know Hop all that well.

Because Shy believed it.

Every word.

Start Now

Two weeks later…

I swung off Shy’s bike, my eyes to the view.

Denver was lit up, sprawling left to right but beyond, nothing but darkness.

All of it beautiful.

I moved to the edge of the mountain road, my cheeks stinging from the cold that whipped them as I rode up to elevation with Shy, me where I belonged.

On the back of my man’s bike.

I felt him move in behind me. He wrapped his arms around my chest, then I felt his lips against the top of my hair.

“What’s on my girl’s mind?” he asked quietly.

He so knew me.

“Natalie,” I replied, lifting my hands and curling my fingers around his forearms.

My friend had fallen off the wagon, not that she ever really got on.

It didn’t take long.

It also broke my heart.

After that, I broke ties. It killed, but I couldn’t save her so I had to save my peace of mind. The problem with that was, it wasn’t working.

I felt his lips leave my hair but his jaw replaced them.

We stared at the view silently.

I broke our silence.

“You gave her a chance, she blew it. Went out and scored. You cut her loose and now, I don’t know.” My hands gripped his arms tight. “Shy, I don’t know and as ticked as I am at her, I’m worried.”

I felt him heave a breath, his chest expanding, pressing into my back.

“You know what I know?” he asked.

“What do you know?” I asked back.

“I know you can spend your energy and head space worryin’, and a bitch who was minutes away from being force fed pussy goes out and scores is not worth it.”

I closed my eyes.

He was so right.

“You wanna know what else I know?” he asked.

I opened my eyes.

“What do you know?” I asked back.

“No amount of your energy or head space is gonna change her. She’s lost, Tabby, in a way it’s a miracle if she’s ever found. Before you use yourself up, cut her loose. Don’t just say it to her, to me, to yourself. Do it .”

I swallowed.

Shy was right again.

Therefore I nodded.

His arms tightened and he pressed his lips into the top of my hair.

“You wanna know what else I know?” he asked.

“What do you know, honey?”

“My girl is gonna marry me.”

I blinked.

His arms broke free from my grip and he turned me. When I was face-to-face with him, he dug into his pocket. When his hand came out, he grabbed mine and slid the marquise diamond on my left ring finger.

I stared.

It was stunning, beautiful. Not too big that it would catch on stuff and make me worry. Not too small it didn’t say what it needed to say.

And what it said was what the sapphire earrings right then in my ears said:

I was loved by a badass biker.

I held my hand in front of my face, fingers extended, Shy’s hand wrapped around mine, thumb to the base of the ring, and I stared through the dark at its beauty.

“You didn’t get to go with but picking this out was too important, so I took Cherry,” he told me and my startled eyes moved to his face.

There it was again.

I was loved.

“She said that would be your thing so that’s what you got,” he finished.

“It is,” I said softly. “It is exactly my thing.”

He grinned at me. “And that’s what you got.”

I stared at him then right out of my mouth came, “I’ve wanted you since I was sixteen, Shy Cage.”

Shy’s hand moved to slide up my neck and stopped, cupping my jaw.

“Then I’m slow on the uptake, though wantin’ that would be illegal. But I’ve wanted you since you were nineteen and you stuck your tongue in my mouth,” he returned, then muttered, “Thinkin’ on it, even before.”

“I didn’t stick my tongue in your mouth. I touched the tip to yours to show you what you were missing,” I corrected, and his grin got bigger.

“Good job, sugar. Taste was so sweet, years passed and I couldn’t get it off my tongue.”

Suddenly, tears filled my eyes.

“We’re getting married,” I whispered.

“Yeah,” he replied, still grinning.

“We’re getting married,” I repeated.

“Yeah, babe, and I like it that you like the way those words taste in your mouth, but I’d like it more if you’d shut up and kiss me.”

I didn’t kiss him. I said, “We’re getting married.”