Inked in Lies (The Fallen Men 5)

But his loyalty was forged first by the military and then by the brotherhood of the MC culture. I knew, as anyone did who knew him, that he would take a bullet for those he loved happily, voluntarily, while wearing a smile, because he’d do anything to save them from hurt.

He reminded me of Dane in that way, and so I let myself love him a little like my lost brother too.

It eased the ache somehow.

“Hey, man,” Jake greeted with a somewhat forced grin.

He didn’t like how the brothers made him feel, inadequate in his maleness, less alpha just because he wore a suit and he’d never fired a gun.

It wasn’t necessarily a fair judgement, but I’d been raised the kind of girl who struggled not to feel the same.

Bat looked down at Jake, his handsome face expressionless.

Bat never gave anything away he didn’t want to. I knew he wasn’t happy with his wife, that she struggled to deal with their twin boys, and that she blamed a lot of things on her ex-military husband, but you’d never know it talking to him. Bat was the guy everyone in the club went to when they needed someone to listen, and even more, have their back on something.

But there was always a banked intensity in him, as if he was forcibly chaining down the demons I’d seen lurking at the backs of his dark eyes.

Once, Nova had teased that Bat was what happened when hell iced over, and the contrast suited him.

“Both’ve you comin’ to King and Cress’s engagement party,” Bat said in a way that wasn’t a question. “It’s been too long since you dropped in.”

If Jake didn’t want to go, everything Bat had surmised about my fiancé would be solidified.

“Of course, we are,” I said with a faux bright smile as I squeezed Jake’s knee. “We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Jake stiffened beside me, but I only squeezed his thigh in a silent entreaty to go with the flow. I desperately wanted him to like the brothers, but more, I needed them to at least respect Jake.

Bat shot me a flat look that said otherwise, conveying with his dark eyes that he couldn’t understand why I was with Jake.

I smiled thinly back at him then sucked a breath in through my teeth when Nova appeared over his shoulder, that crooked, brittle grin he’d been wearing for the last few years stamped on his stunning face.

“Hey ladies,” he greeted as he dropped his mug of frothy beer to the table and grinned down at Jake and me. “Was lookin’ like you were plannin’ on hidin’ over here all night without sayin’ hey, so I thought I’d take matters into my own hands.”

Bat snorted softly, but it was Jake who surprisingly responded, “We weren’t planning on saying hello at all. We’re here on a date.”

“A date?” Nova raised a brow and looked between Jake and the bar with clear surprise. “Wouldn’t take you for a man who brought his lady to Eugene’s to wine and dine.”

“Just as I wouldn’t take you for a man who knows anything about properly wining and dining a beautiful, classy woman,” Jake rebutted.

My eyes went wide, and I made a face at Bat who only tilted his head slightly to left as if he felt I’d brought the situation I currently found myself in. I wrinkled my nose at him, and he huffed out a small laugh before rapping his knuckles on the table.

“I’ll leave you to catch up,” he said before slapping Nova on the back, tilting his chin up at me, then turning back to the bar.

“Traitor,” I muttered under my breath.

“You mind I take a seat?” Nova asked with a big smile as if we were all the best of the friends, and then, without waiting for a response, he sat on my side of the circular booth and scooted over until his hard thigh was pressed to mine.

I swallowed thickly as I realized I was pressed between the man I’d always wanted but couldn’t have and the man I’d pledged the rest of my life to even if I wasn’t sure about him.

Why did these things happen to me?

“You’re lookin’ good, Flower Child,” Nova murmured, low and intimate as he tipped his chin to pour his warm regard down my body. Suddenly, I regretted wearing the little, frayed jean skirt and the tight, white, ribbed tank without a bra on underneath. My nipples pebbled under his hot gaze, and I nonchalantly adjusted my long hair over my shoulders so they were covered.

Nova’s grin curled higher on the left side, displaying his wicked grin, his ‘I’m not going to behave’ tell.

He was a man of many smiles, and I knew each and every one of them.

His curled finger reached out so he could run the back of it over my un-inked arm. “You still thinkin’ of sunflowers along here?”