Making the Cut (Sons of Templar MC 1)

I smiled at him, head held high. He gave me a chin lift, “Gwen,” he murmured, voice rough.

Evie sidled up to him, stroking his chest. “Baby what you doin’ in the kitchen? One of the Sweetbutts could’ve got you whatever you needed,” she purred.

Steg rubbed her ass, eyes on me, I struggled not to squirm under his gaze.

“Nar sunshine, was after a word with Gwen. Knew you’d bring her in here for your stash.” He gave Evie a look and without a word she nodded.

“See yah outside sweetheart.” She kissed him, then strutted out the door.

I gulped, feeling mighty uncomfortable being alone with this man, but still not wanting to show it. Steg gazed at me a sec then gestured to a small table with some chairs.

“Sit, Gwen. This won’t take a sec.”

It didn’t escape me that this was not a question. I sat down, palms sweating. I couldn’t shake the first impression that I had of this guy. Steg sat across from me, hands clasped in front of him, smiling big at me.

“So I just thought we could have a chat since we weren’t properly introduced when we last crossed paths.” He leaned back in his chair, reminding me of some sort of sleazy businessman.

I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded; he took this as a cue to continue.

“I’ll admit Gwen, first impression, thought you were just Cade’s latest piece. Thought he might’ve wanted a taste of some high class pussy. But by the looks of it my VP has it bad for that pussy.” His tone was official, which totally contradicted the crudeness of his words.

I gritted my teeth. “If what you mean is Cade and I are serious about each other, we are.”

He smiled again, like some sort of predator; I would say it was more a show of teeth than a smile, but whatever.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to say. I just wanted to get a few things straight.” He leaned back in now, eyes focused on mine. “Firstly I wanted to thank you for what you did for Bull, you tipping Cade off saved a brother’s life. The club owes you for that.”

I inspected my hands, feeling uncomfortable. “It was nothing, I don’t expect anything in return,” I murmured.

“No, but that’s the way our world works, you saved a member. That’s a big deal, accept it,” he commanded.

I smiled tightly and nodded.

“Secondly, I get that a woman like you might not be entirely comfortable with our way of life, which means this will rub off on Cade, put some ideas in his head. That is not happening. I’m not having some piece of ass fucking with my club, so you got any problems with what you see or hear, you don’t say a word, you fucking pack that tight ass back to the city.” Steg’s tone brokered no argument, it was not cruel exactly, but firm. But the way he was ordering me around, trying to delve into my relationship pissed me right off, my anger seemed to outweigh my intimidation of this man. I stood, my chair squeaking as I pushed it back.

“I don’t think you have any right to command me how to act within my relationship, especially since you don’t know me worth a damn. Cade loves this club; I would never fuck with that. He makes his own choices and I’m sure as shit not going to be some whiny girlfriend who nags him twenty-four seven. If you tried to get to know me before spouting out this crap you might have figured that out.”

Steg arched an eyebrow and gave me a dangerous look. “Since you’re new to the club and what you did for Bull I’ll give you a pass for that little outburst.” He stood and slowly stepped towards me, getting close enough that I felt his breath on my face. I refused to step back, jutting my chin and meeting those cold expressionless eyes.

“You are an Old Lady, which means you are off limits to the boys and we give you some form of respect.” He paused. “But you ever talk to the fucking President of this charter like that again, you’ll wish you didn’t.”

He didn’t say another word, just tagged a beer and walked out. I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Fuck, well he just decided to wave his dick around. It was starting to dawn on me how different life in the club was going to be, it was like a whole new set of rules, where women were obviously expected to serve food and suck dick. Cade cared for me, obviously. But the burn from the unreturned ‘I love you’ was still scorching the back of my throat.

“Gwen, what the fuck?” Cade’s voice shook me out of yet another mental battle. He was in front of me and hauled my body flush with his. He looked pissed. “Saw Steg and Evie walk out, what did they say to you?” He sounded ready to explode, and I knew he’d go out and rip into them both if I mentioned either of my little talks.

I stroked his face, smiling hopefully convincingly. “Nothing, Cade, they were just properly introducing themselves since the whole time I’ve been with you we haven’t officially met.” This was the truth, just not the grizzly details. Cade wasn’t buying it.

“Bullshit,” he growled. “Evie’s a tough bitch, she’s more likely to scratch your eyes out than roll out the welcome wagon. And Steg is too far up his own ass to talk to someone without an ulterior motive. What the fuck did they say Gwen?”

I gave him a peck on the lips, which he barely responded to, he just kept frowning at me. “It was nothing, Cade, seriously.”

He didn’t look convinced so I kissed him again, this time running my tongue across the seam of his lips.

“Didn’t you promise you were going to have a different kind of breakfast than the one you just ate?” I whispered, nibbling his ear.