Velvet Fire - Ashby Crime Family Romance

The only question was, would it be enough for me? With my track record, I had to consider this was just macho posturing and male ego, not anything resembling love. The men of the MC had a hard time admitting they loved someone, was Virgil the same? Would the Reckless Bastards even let me date a guy like Virgil?

Gunny said I was a grown woman, and to make my own decisions. He also said he’d always be there if and when I needed him, so I came to the conclusion that this was all on me.

He sighed. “It means what I said, I want you. I want you in my life. Around all the time. With me. All the time.”

He wasn’t gonna say it, and I felt all right about that, but there was still that pang of disappointment I couldn’t get rid of.

“I want you too, Virgil.”

“But?” He wasn’t angry, not yet. So far it just seemed like worried confusion.

“But until all of this happened, I wasn’t even sure you wanted to see me again. And now you want me all the time? It’s all a bit…much.”

I was the queen of rash decisions, and I didn’t want Virgil to be another one.

“Breakfast is ready.” Thomas’ deep cultured voice with just a hint of brogue, sounded behind us.

Virgil nodded and clasped our hands together. “We’ll pick this conversation up later, but Maisie, I need you to know, I’m not scared off easily.”

Not yet. “We’ll see.” I smiled. A little.

Breakfast got underway, a chaotic affair that included all four Ashby children, Sadie, me, and Bonnie, along with Jasper’s associate Terry and a few others I didn’t recognize. They all talked over each other, several different conversations happening at once. I couldn’t help but smile. It was like so many breakfasts on the ranch with Miss Martha back in Texas.

“Excellent bacon waffles, Sadie. Best ever.” Terry flashed a flirtatious wink that tugged a smile across Sadie’s face.

“Thank you, Terry. Full of compliments, as usual.”

“Full of something,” Kat mumbled, flashing a playful smile across the table that sent the rest of the guys into fits of laughter.

“I spoke to Ronan last night.” Sadie’s words had the desired effect of shutting everyone the hell up and quickly.

“As you can imagine he’s eager to have his daughter back.”

“Fat fucking chance.” Virgil growled and squeezed my leg under the table.

Sadie glared at him with a sliver of sympathy in her eyes.

“He claims he had no knowledge of Brendan’s actions, that they weren’t sanctioned by him. I believe him.”

“Ma, you can’t be serious!” Calvin’s outrage was palpable. I couldn’t say I blamed him, but I kept quiet, watching in twisted fascination.

“I didn’t say I’d give the bitch back. I said I believed Brendan acted without his knowledge. The boy is a rash idiot, nothing but trouble. Ronan should be thanking us, and I told him as much.”

“I’m sure that went over well,” Kat snorted with a laugh.

“He was oddly silent on the matter,” Sadie said as if it were a small detail. “The point is, what do you want to do about it?” She posed the question to Jasper.

“You know what I want to do. I want to choke off their supply and kill them slowly. Make them think they can still put up a fight, and then we end the fucking Crusaders.”

Holy hell, who knew behind that pretty boy office drone façade was a stone-cold killer? I had a newfound respect for the eldest Ashby sibling.

Sadie nodded, a small smile of approval on her lips as she let her gaze land on each of her children, ending with Jasper.

“Then let it be done.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Virgil

Long after the breakfast table had broken up, I sat there with my mind racing, spinning, trying to figure out what in the hell I did wrong to upset Maisie. Sure, she put on a good show for breakfast, answering questions with a polite smile but not too polite, and even joking with Kat and Cal. Terry too. But nothing reached her eyes. Not her smile. Not her laugh. Not even the genuine interest she showed in Cal’s tech shit.

Nothing.

I poured my heart out to her, ripped that shit open and laid it bare and she seemed…disappointed. I said I cared about her and wanted her around and it was like it wasn’t enough, like she expected more. I didn’t know what more I had to give. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure I could give what I promised, but I was willing to try.

Which meant I had to get my ass up and away from the piles of food growing colder by the second on the table and walk up the stairs to the guest room where she was staying. We needed to talk. Hell, we needed privacy and there was only one way to get that.