Dax: Silver Saints MC by Davenport, Fiona (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📗

able to share,” I admitted. Nova had become a prospect at eighteen. She’d been eight, meaning she’d basically grown up with her brother in an MC. I hoped she understood that I wasn’t holding out on her. This was simply the way it was with a motorcycle club. We protected our old ladies from the seedier—and sometimes questionable—side of things.

She nodded. “Of course.”

My brow arched in surprise. I’d hoped she’d come to accept it, but I hadn’t expected her agreement to be automatic and resolute. “You’re fucking perfect, you know that?”

Arya smiled brightly and opened her mouth for another bite. “Everything else?” she asked after eating a little more.

I tilted my head to the side, pretending to think. I’d done it to tease her, but then I realized there was in fact one more thing that was mine, and only mine. “Yeah, baby.” I slipped a hand down between her legs and cupped her sex. “This pussy. This is mine.”

Arya’s cheeks bloomed crimson, and she shifted restlessly on my lap.

Just in case she thought I was joking, I grabbed her chin in a firm grip and forced her to look at me. “I mean it, Arya. You don’t touch my pussy unless I tell you to. You don’t come unless I give you permission. It’s mine. Do you understand?”

Her eyes grew wide at my words, but not with fear. There was an element of shock; however, they were mostly filled with desire.

She finally nodded, and I released her chin to pick up the fork to continue feeding her. “Fucking perfect,” I murmured with a shake of my head.

Arya beamed at me before she relaxed against my chest. We sat there in comfortable silence while I finished feeding her breakfast, then I deposited her back on the counter while I did the dishes.

“How long have you been a patch with the Silver Saints?” she asked suddenly.

“Since I was eighteen,” I replied as I loaded the dishwasher. “I was a prospect as a teenager. Unusual, but Mac knew what my home life was like, and he knew if I didn’t have the club, I’d probably end up on the other side of the law.”

“Home life?”

I sighed and shut the door to the dishwasher before walking over to stand between her legs. If I could have, I would have kept my past from touching her, but I’d promised everything was ours, and that included my history.

“My parents were junkies. I guess they ran out of condoms and couldn’t afford anymore because my mom ended up pregnant. My dad took off, but I have to give my mom credit. She cleaned up while she was pregnant with me. She tried to take care of me, to stay clean, but my dad never stayed away permanently. Every time he came back, she fell down the rabbit hole with him. Then I’d end up in foster care, and she’d clean up so I could come home, only for the cycle to repeat. When I was in middle school, my dad decided I needed to earn my keep and wanted to force me to work for his dealer in exchange for drugs.”

Arya’s expression had turned sad, but there was no pity in her eyes. It repaired some of the cracks in my heart I hadn’t realized were still there. Her hands went around to lock at my neck, and she hugged me close.

I wrapped an arm around her and used the other to rub soothing circles on her back as I finished the story. “Shortly after that, Mac caught my dad trying to get drugs into the club, and a girl died as a result. The day they came to take care of him, Mac spotted me in the window watching. I knew they’d come to kill him, but instead, they beat the shit out of him.” I chuckled at the next memory. “Then Mac came swaggering up to the door and knocked as if it were just a pleasant visit. He told me to get my ass to the Silver Saints compound the next day after school. When I showed up, he put me to work. He knew my dad would take every cent I made, but it would also keep him from attempting to make me work for his dealer again.”

Arya chuckled softly. “I knew he was a big softie.”

I kissed the top of her head. “Don’t let him hear you say that. He’ll kick my ass just to prove a point, then Bridget will let him have it, and he’ll be a son of a bitch until she decides to forgive him for being an asshole. Anyway, Mac taught me the meaning of family and brotherhood, taught me how to fight so I could protect myself, and made sure I kept up my grades and went to college. When I was eighteen, he told me he’d gotten everyone to agree to a change in the bylaws. They counted all the time I’d been working as being a prospect and invited me to become a patch. Not all clubs have this rule, but the Silver Saints don’t usually allow anyone to become a prospect until they’re at least eighteen. I don’t think they’ve used the altered bylaw more than one other time.”

“What happened to your parents?”

“Dad overdosed shortly after I patched in, and my mom is living in a house I own just outside of town. She’s been clean for about five years.” I was silent for a minute, then asked, “Do you want to meet her? We have dinner every other Sunday.”

Arya leaned back and looked at me with an apprehensive expression. Shit. I hadn’t considered she might not accept my mom. “Will I get to see pictures of a naked baby Dax? Because if that’s a deal breaker, then I’m uninviting you to my dinner with your mom.”

A hearty laugh burst from my chest. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d laughed so much. Arya had changed everything. Changed me.

“I’ll see what I