His gaze turned intense. “You’re Storm now. This is what we do.”
With that, he took off towards the truck they’d brought with t
hem.
You’re Storm now.
What did that even mean?
Winter’s hand landed on my ass. Not in the kind of smack he liked to give, but more in the way of saying “let’s get shit done.” When I looked at him, he jerked his chin towards the house. I nodded to indicate I knew what he meant, but as he started to walk that way, I pulled him back.
Keeping hold of his hand, I said, “What does that mean?”
Lines creased his forehead. “What?”
“That I’m Storm now.”
The same intensity that had shone from Nitro’s eyes blazed from Winter’s. “It means you’re family now, Angel. These guys, the club, they’ve got your back. When one of us needs something, we give it. No questions asked.”
I stared at him in silence, turning that over in my head. Unsure of it. Probably because so much had already changed in the last couple of weeks that every new change of events had me racing to keep up. In a good way, but still, it was a lot to get my head around.
I was all for family, but what would that actually mean for me? What would our lives look like?
Winter moved closer. “It’s a good thing, baby. And you don’t have to figure out what it means right now. We’ve got all the time in the world. Okay?”
I smiled up at him, taking a deep breath. “Okay.”
As his arms came around me and he pressed a kiss to my forehead, a sense of peace settled over me. Winter was right; I didn’t have to figure out what everything meant right now. I just had to trust him and us. Trust that we were exactly where we were supposed to be.
32
BIRDIE
I moved off Winter’s bike and smoothed my hair after taking off my helmet, doing everything in my power to ignore my nerves and how they made me feel ill.
We were outside the Storm MC clubhouse, about to go inside to celebrate the birthday of one of the club member’s. While I’d met some of the guys a few nights ago when they’d helped me move, I hadn’t gotten a lot of time with them because they’d pretty much moved my stuff, eaten some dinner, and then left. So I figured tonight might be when I’d get to know them a little bit. Plus, I’d only met five of them the other night; there was a whole club to meet tonight. It was crazy how nervous I felt about it.
Deep breaths.
You can do this.
Winter is by your side.
God, why am I so damn nervous?
It’s just his friends.
“Angel,” Winter said, his voice all rumbly. “Stop overthinking this.”
“I can’t help it.”
“Why?”
For such a perceptive man, how this understanding eluded him was beyond me. “Because these people mean everything to you.”
His brown eyes searched mine, the love he felt for me clear as day in them. Reaching for me, his hand scrunched my top as he pulled me to him. “You mean everything to me”—he gave me more of that deep rumble that never failed to shoot desire through my veins—“and for that fact alone, every single person here tonight will be looking out for you. You’ve got nothing to worry about.” He brushed his lips over mine before adding, “But I love the hell out of you for caring enough to overthink it.”
I gripped his T-shirt and did my best to let him think I was good. He seemed to have a lot on his mind about the club the last couple of days, so I didn’t want to give him more to think about. Pasting a big smile on my face, I said, “Okay, let’s do this.”