Patriot (Silver Saints MC)

He dropped down onto one of the couches in the corner of the room, and his eyes locked onto my woman before meeting mine. “This the Devil’s Jesters woman?” he asked.

I growled and clenched my hands into fists. “Those assholes have no claim on Cherry.”

Scout’s eyebrows rose. “Cherry?” He scanned my girl again—it was almost clinical, though, so I didn’t jump out of my chair and blacken both his eyes. “Fitting. I like it.”

“No one calls her Cherry but me,” I told him in a hard tone.

Scout held up his hands in surrender. “Noted. Hmm, okay then, how ’bout I call you cinnamon?”

“Um…” Cherry looked at me in confusion.

“Erin, this is Scout, our VP. He likes nicknames.” I rolled my eyes then glared at my VP. “This is Erin.”

“Okay, but, um, why cinnamon, exactly?” she asked Scout.

He grinned. “That sprinkling of brown freckles reminds me of the cinnamon sprinkled on my old lady’s frilly lattes.”

Cherry giggled, and I smiled at the sound. This was the first time I’d seen her face light up, and it was fucking gorgeous.

“Shut your trap, Scout,” Mac finally barked, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Got a call from an irate Razor,” Mac continued, his gaze on me. “Seems he’s of the opinion you busted up their bar and stole the property of a patch.”

“That’s an outright lie,” Cherry suddenly insisted, her body rigid and her face twisted with disgust. “I don’t belong to them. To anyone.” I was proud of her backbone but not happy with her statement.

“That so?” Mac asked, his tone curious as his eyes strayed to me. He watched me for a moment, asking a silent question.

A slight dip of my head gave him the answer. Cherry might not know it yet, but she belonged to me.

She responded to Mac by telling him about the death of her parents and the last five years with her sister and her old man’s MC, ending with how I’d stepped in and saved her.

Mac listened quietly, giving no indication of his thoughts. When she was done, he picked up his phone and sent a text message before putting it back on the desktop. “I’ll work things out with Razor’s prez,” he told me. “You put us in a spot by exiting so noisily. There a reason you didn’t just sneak her out later that night instead?”

“Didn’t think she’d make it to the end of the night without being assaulted,” I explained. Mac was smart enough to put together what I meant from Razor’s claim and my actions.

He nodded, accepting my reasoning. Then he looked at Cherry. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you need, Erin. If we have to help you disappear”—I was about to snarl at him for suggesting she leave, but he held up a hand and gave me a hard look that had me snapping my mouth shut—“we can do that. Whatever you need.”

Mac eyed me, and I understood the point he was making. It would be my job to convince her that I was what she needed.

Another small redhead entered the room and walked over to Mac. A gentle smile spread across his face, and he palmed her neck to pull her head down so he could kiss her. Cherry’s gasp prompted me to glance at her, and I was surprised to see her watching the couple with her jaw slack and wide eyes.

When Mac released his woman, he brushed some of her hair out of her face, then turned her to face us. “Erin, this is my wife, Bridget.”

“Wife…?” Cherry echoed, still frozen in a stunned state.

“His old lady,” Bridget said with a chuckle.

“You...you married your old lady?”

Bridget tilted her head to the side as she observed Cherry. “The Silver Saints tend to be a little more Neanderthal about their women.” Bridget laughed when Mac growled and made a grab for her, though she danced out of his reach. “They want the patch to warn other MCs and the ring to warn off everyone else.”

Erin looked back and forth between them thoughtfully. While Bridget turned to converse with her old man. “I take it you’d like me to get her settled?”

“Please,” Mac responded, making Erin’s jaw drop again.

Bridget walked over to Erin and drew her up, then linked their arms. “Let’s go—”

“Cinnamon,” Scout piped up after being quiet for so long I’d almost forgotten he was there.

Bridget did a sweep of Erin before laughing brightly. “A little on the nose for you, Scout, isn’t it?”

“No pun intended?” he quipped.

“What do you think?” she replied sassily.

The banter seemed to put Cherry a little more at ease. I didn’t like the idea of her being out of my sight, but I knew she was in good hands with Bridget, and I needed to report on the run.

Erin looked back at me as she was led to the door.