Jaken (The Untouchables MC 6.5)

“Right. In case someone recognizes me.”

“It’s not worth the risk. If you want to see someone, have them meet you in France.”

I nodded. I didn’t expect to go home. As much as it made my heart ache, I knew it wasn’t in the cards.

“And the cash?”

“There is a bank card in there, as well as a credit card. Also established,” he gave me a wry smile. “The payment is due on the 15th.”

I held the cards in my hand. I had been paying cash for so long, I couldn’t imagine the freedom of a credit card. Or the security of keeping my money in an actual bank, instead of stashed in old coffee tins around my property. I had saved a small fortune since I started working at the Jar. But with my situation, it hadn’t seemed prudent to try and open a bank account. I was a wanted man, after all.

This was real freedom. This was power.

“Thank you,” I said humbly.

“It’s nothing,” Cain said brusquely. “Ive been wanting to do this forever.”

“I know,” I said, finally cracking a smile.

“Does this mean you finally join us? You don’t have to initiate. You’re already one of us.”

Goddamn, the big guy was going to make me cry.

I nodded, once. I didn’t trust myself to speak. I was far too overwhelmed with emotion.

My life changed. Just like that. It was as profound as the day I had tried to save my brother. It was almost as profound as the first time I laid eyes on Colleen.

She was the love of my life. I had no doubt about it. I just hoped she felt the same way.

The barbecue was tomorrow. Maybe I’d get a chance to be alone with her. That was if Penny’s doctor gave her the go ahead to resume normal activity.

I had seen Colleen several times that week, but only with the kids around. I’d brought by dinners, watched movies, and gotten a few kisses on the doorstep, but that was it.

I wanted more. I needed her. I craved her.

It wasn’t just about sex. It was about connection. It was about love.

I fucking loved the girl. I was head over heels.

“What about the land?”

“It’s yours, if you want it.”

I nodded. A bunch of the guys were buying up land in the woods near each other to build houses. A couple of the guys already had places, but they were pretty damned close. Not too far from town, but not too close either.

I wanted to build a house big enough for all of Colleen’s siblings to have their own rooms. A place with space for visitors. For a home office for her. A workshop for me. And room for anyone else that came along.

Babies. I was hoping for lots and lots of babies. If they looked at all like her, they would be gorgeous. If they inherited any of her other traits, they would be angels on earth.

But I was getting ahead of myself. I needed to bed the girl first. I needed to make sure she was in this with me. I couldn’t push. I had to let her come to me.

I had to make her love me.

She felt something for me, too. I could tell. But she was afraid to trust it. I had to ease that fear. I had to be patient. I had to give her time.

Of course, time was my enemy. The longer I waited, the brighter the fire burned. The closer I was to losing control, and that was something I could never, ever do around the woman I loved.

“How long do you think it would take to build?”

“Any builder worth his salt would tell you six months. But if we enlist the guys, I think it could be done in six weeks.”

“Thank you, man.”

“Do not mention it,” he said. “I mean it.”

It wasn’t a platitude. He wasn’t a man who minced words. He meant it. He didn’t want my thanks.

He wanted my allegiance.

And that he would have, until my last dying breath.

“Now, all you have to do is get the girl,” Mason said after Cain departed.

“God willing.”

“If there is a God, I think he would want you to be happy,” he said philosophically. “You deserve it.”

“The two of you fuckers are determined to make me cry,” I joked. “It’s not going to happen.”

“Tears are good, man.”

I just shook my head. I hadn’t cried since I was a little boy. I didn’t plan to start anytime soon.

Chapter Seventeen

Colleen

“Please girls,” I begged. “You have to take it easy. No dance parties tonight!”

Penny and her friend Susie giggled. I rolled my eyes at them. Penny had been a relatively well-behaved teenager, but college was a whole new game. I was totally unprepared for how independent she was becoming.

“You are in charge of the littles,” I reminded her.

“I know, I know,” she said, slinging an arm around me. “I will be a good babysitter, I promise.”