Broken Ride (Men of Valor MC)

But the club was its own nightmare. The guys were respectful of Skylar, most of them, if not all of them, knew she was Miller’s daughter. But big and rough looking men were triggering for Sky. I’d felt how she shook in my arms when she felt threatened. Another issue was the club whores, girls who liked to be used by the exact kind of men Sky was frightened of. Seeing that all play out—the dynamics had set her off too. She didn’t seem to like to be around women who wielded their sexuality as transactional, something to be given or taken. She shut down when that kind of stuff was going on and I generally tried to keep her away from just about everyone who hung out at Valor.

Thing is, the two of us? We had no problems to speak of in that area—the same one Claire worried the day away about, thinking Sky was so scarred she’d never function in a romantic relationship. Guess again. Skylar bloomed under my touch and we connected on that level. She wasn’t shy or evasive, she told me what she wanted and I was more than overjoyed to meet her needs and get through any bumps along the way. But so far, we hadn’t encountered any.

“You okay?” I asked her after hanging her coat on the back of my door.

“Yeah, just exhausted. Midterms are kicking my butt. After I left here last night, I stayed up almost all night studying.”

“What were you studying?”

“Anatomy and Physiology. Just rote memorization. I noticed you had a couple anatomy books on your shelf? Did you take a class or something?”

“Naw, I never did. But I do like anatomical drawing and I picked those up along the way.”

“Really, Dex? That’s so cool. Do you have any you can show me?”

“I do,” I said. I leaned across her body to reach the other side of the bed. She popped up and kissed my cheek, then pulled me down into a longer kiss.

My sketch pad was full of pencil and charcoal drawings I’d done of Skylar, and not just since we’d started dating; I’d been full on sketching her since the day I met her. I wasn’t sure if that was too much. I felt like I could tell Sky anything, that she understood deeply who I really was. But with her past, she probably wouldn’t think it was cool that I was borderline stalking her. But I only had one choice and that was to be honest with her.

“I’ve got a pad under here. Along with the full skeletons, I do a lot of detailed work of single bones, joints, skulls. I also like to do the inner ear, just out of personal interest. Aaand, don’t freak out, but I like to also draw real people. Especially the beautiful ones.”

“Why would that freak me out? Some people would think drawing skeletons is creepier.”

I pulled out the jumbo sized art pad that was wedged beside the bookcase, flipped through to a cluster of anatomy drawings and handed it over.

She ran her hand along the page as she slowly leafed through them.

“These are incredible, Dex. Truly breathtaking.” She smiled at me. I scoffed like an idiot. “I’m not fucking kidding, your talent is a true gift. Why aren’t you in art school?”

“I’ve taken some classes. Keep turning before you give me too many compliments.”

The next section was sketches from her graduation. She looked so pretty in her dress, so proud that day, I couldn’t stop recreating her likeness. I even did a charcoal close up of her face after I gave her the locket. She took them in without a visible reaction, just turned the pages delicately and gave the sketches her full attention.

When she got to the end she looked up at me, her face full of wonder. She’d just seen a few dozen anatomy drawings and easily double that in sketches of herself.

“You do all of those from memory, Dex?”

I nodded. I had the urge to make up stupid excuses or say something self-deprecating, but I stayed quiet and looked into her eyes.

“Your drawings are outstanding. You could sell them,” she told me.

I shook my head and took the art pad back from her. I returned it to its place and took both of her hands in mine. “You don’t think it’s creepy that I drew so many sketches of you? I mean, an artist has a muse, and ever since I met you, Skylar, you’ve been mine.”

“Honestly?” She looked at me and shook her head. “I don’t think anyone, in my whole life, has ever really seen me besides you after looking at those drawings. To see yourself through someone else’s eyes like that, it’s moving. I feel honored that you drew me, not creeped out at all.”