Whisky on My Mind (15 page)

“You done?” he asked after she’d let him hear exactly what she thought he should do with his cave man tactics and a few other big words he didn’t quite catch, but thought would probably be wise not to worry about looking up later. “Sorry about that, but you’ve been avoiding me too long and it’s got to stop.”

“I haven’t been avoiding you—it’s called being busy.”

“It’s called being a brat.”

She opened her mouth and he would have chuckled at the look she gave him had he not been so God
damn miserable over the last few days.

“Do you think I had any part in leading Kiki on the other night in the office?”

“No,” she snapped.

“So why the hell are you still sleeping in the spare room?”

“Because I’m still mad.”

“At me?”

“At everything,” she snarled, turning away from him, but thankfully not trying to leave the room.

Ever since that night, he’d been hoping she’d still be there in the morning when he woke up. He knew all this stuff with the
Switchblades was spookin’ her—hell, it was spookin’ him too, but he’d seen something in her eyes the night she stormed out on him and it had him worried. She’d looked as though she was about done with this whole life—him included—and that scared him more than anything the Switchblades could do to him. “Things aren’t always this crazy, Babe. You know that,” he said, wishing he had the right words to make everything all right again. “I’m gonna’ go talk to Bruno, tell him Kiki’s isn’t workin’ out. I’ll tell her tonight.”

“You can’t fire her for being a whore,”
Whisky muttered. “I looked it up.”

“Really?”

“It’s okay, I’ve given Yvette permission to boss her around to her cold
, little, withered heart’s content. She’ll be resigning by the end of the week.”

“I’m kinda
’ turned on by your deviousness right now, Ms. McKenna.”

“
Oh yeah?” she asked, slowly turning around to face him.

“Oh,
yeah,
” he assured her, hope sending a spark of optimism through him as she tilted her head in that sexy little way that drove him crazy.

“It was
not
fun walking in on that.”

“Trust me,
Baby. It was not fun seeing you walk in on that.” When she narrowed her gaze on him, he added quickly, “And realizing what you were thinking.”

“If that had been me in your shoes, and Kiki was a guy—she’d be missing more than a few teeth…and probably in the ICU…you know that
, right?”

“Yeah.”

“You get where I’m coming from here? I have a right to be angry about it.”

“Yeah,
ya’ do…but I was put in a position that made me the bad guy—and that wasn’t fair either, Whisk. I didn’t do anything and I still got shafted for it.”

She let out a sigh and he saw her face soften slightly as she considered him silently. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry I’ve been so crabby lately.”

“I know things have been tough and you’ve had to take on a lot…but we’ll get through this thing with the Switchblades and the cops will leave us alone as soon as they realize they’ve got nothin’ on us…we just have to bunker down and ride it out…
together.
I love you Whisk.”

He saw her struggle to keep hold of her anger, but lost the battle. He took a cautious step forward and thankfully she didn’t turn away. Wrapping his arms around her tightly he breathed in the scent of her hair, burying his face in her neck and filling his senses with the heady scent that could only be his Whisky. He wasn’t a religious guy, but he sent a prayer heavenward then and there, praying that she would never leave him. He wasn’t sure how he would cope if that happened.

“Marry me, Whisky,” he said, surprising himself almost as much as he’d surprised her, but once the words were out of his mouth he knew it was right. He wanted her always by his side. Life wasn’t worth a damn without this woman next him.

“What?”

“Marry me. Now.”

“Now?
Are you insane?”

“Why not?”

“Why
not?
”she repeated, sounding almost angry.

“I love you. Marry me.”

She searched his gaze, still looking stunned by the question, but at least she wasn’t running. “I don’t know…I…can’t think straight right now.”

“Do you love me?” he asked bluntly.

“Of course I love you,” she said, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Then what’s to think about?”

“There’s lots to think about…my business…finishing school…” her voice trailed off uncertainly.

“Getting married won’t stop any of that.”

“What if it does?”

“How would it? If you’re still determined to get this business up and running on your own, I won’t stand in your way…I swear. I just…I want you to be my wife.”

He saw the confusion in her eyes and knew he had to back off, but the fact she hadn’t seemed exactly keen on the idea gave him an uneasy feeling.
Idiot! You sprung it on her out of nowhere. What did you expect?
  “Just think about it, okay? It doesn’t have to be right now.”
Ya’ think, dickhead?
He cringed as he realized how overeager he’d seemed. No wonder she was freakin’ out. 

“I’m heading back up to the warehouse to keep an eye on things for the next delivery. I’ll be back in a few days. Just think about it, okay?” he kissed her deeply, partly to stop her opening her mouth and telling him a straight out no, and partly because he couldn’t keep his hands off her a second longer. His original plan had been to apologize and then keep her in bed until she forgave him…but then everything went straight to hell after he’d opened
his big mouth and ruined everything. Damn it—now he’d have to go another two days without it…he’d be lucky if he could stay on the damn bike in his condition. Hell, he’d be lucky if he still had Whisky waiting for him when he got back at this rate.

Shit.

****

Marry him?
Whisky stared after the three bikes as they disappeared out of the car park and vanished into the distance.
How could he ask her to marry him and then just leave?

She suspected the proposal had been a spur of the moment kind of thing. Maybe after he had time to think on it, he’d rethink the whole idea.
Then why did you get all fluttery and gooey inside when he asked you?
She ignored that thought. She’d also gotten panicked and felt like she was going to faint! But she loved him. It should be a no-brainer. However, the what-if’s were racing through her mind, drowning out everything else. What if this meant she would never be able to start her own business? What if this meant she was going to be stuck in this life forever…and she would never get time alone with him? What if, what if, what if?

She didn’t want a life without him in it…but marriage was so…final. Was it just the fact she was young and that kind of commitment seemed daunting? Or was it something else? What if this was a sign…a chance to get out now while she could? “
You’re resenting the club more each day. He’s asked you to marry him—you know damn well he’s planning on this being forever…if you don’t want this to be your life, then now is the time to do something about it. You have to choose are you in or out?
Her voice of reason asked and she knew the time was coming when she would have to make her decision.

Chapter 14

She’d spent two sleepless nights and endless hours through the day doing nothing but thinking about Sawyer’s proposal and it was driving her insane. There was only one person she knew she could talk to who would give her sensible advice. Bella had always been the one who could talk her down from whatever ledge she found herself on over the years…and there were many. This, however, may just be the highest one of all.

Marriage?
She still freaked out whenever she thought about it. She picked up the phone on the bench and dialed.

“H
i,” Bella answered the phone on the second ring and Whisky’s cool, calm, and rational explanation flew straight out the window the moment she heard her old friend’s voice.

“
He asked me to marry him, Bell.” There was silence on the other end of the line. “Bella? Did you hear what I said?”

“I don’t think I did...
’cause I’m pretty sure what I heard wasn’t right?”

“It was. He did.”

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything…I panicked and he told me to think about it and then he left.”

“He left to go where?”

“I don’t know…away on club business…I don’t know…all I know is I that I have
no idea
what to do,” Whisky said, and heard her voice beginning to rise hysterically.

“Just calm  down,” Bella soothed
, and at any other time Whisky would have found this amusing that Bella,
Miss Drama Queen Extraordinaire
, was the one telling
her
to calm down. “Let’s just talk this through.”

“I don’t need to talk this through, Bella… I need to know what the hell I’m supposed to do.”

“Well, why are you asking me? Do I
look
like I know what the hell I’m even doing?” she demanded, sounding as though the hysteria was catching.

“You’re all I’ve got!”

“Well it sucks to be you right now, doesn’t it!” she snapped.

Whisky closed her eyes and took a deep breath before giving a frustrated chuckle. “What am I going to do, Bell?”

“Do you love him?”

“You know I do. That part’s not the problem.”

“Do you love him enough to put up with the other things that are the problem?”

“I have so far. But sometimes…lately…I wonder if I can see myself doing it forever.”

“Seems to me if you can answer that…then you’ll have your answer.”

Her mobile rang and Whisky dug it from her bag, biting back a sigh as she looked at the screen and saw it was from the bar. “What now?”
she muttered before answering.

“Whisky, you better
get over here now,” Jackson’s voice came over the line, and in the background Whisky could hear a loud commotion.

“Damn it,” she snapped. “Sorry Bell, I
gotta’ go. Something’s going on at the bar. Thanks for the advice.” She hung up on her friend and got to her feet.
Why the hell was Sawyer never here when this kind of crap happened?
she wondered irritably.

Pushing through the doors into the Bar and Grill, Whisky stared in disbelief at the sight before her.
Kiki the skanky waitress had a broken bottle held at Yvette’s throat and was screaming hysterically.

Whisky glanced around noticing some of the customers watching on warily
. Great, this was all they needed, word getting out that the Black Mustang had turned into a bikers brawling bar. 
“What the hell is going on?” Whisky demanded, as she crossed to where a line of big bikers were trying to placate the irate woman.

Mouse shook his big head, taking his wide
-eyed stare from the disaster before them. “I don’t know, but from what I can gather, Yvette said something to her and she lost it,” he said. Whisky shook her head as she pictured exactly what had happened. Yvette was as hard as they came and if she hadn’t been so distracted with Bella she probably should have seen this coming and stepped in earlier.

Stepping around the men, she carefully approached the blonde bombshell
, whose shaking hand held the bottle way too close to the older woman’s neck for comfort. “Kiki, I want you to put the bottle down and let Yvette go.”

“She threw a drink at me,” Kiki screamed, her face screwing up most unattractively as she seemed to recall the incident once more. “She’s a nasty old bitch.”

Well, the girl had a point, Whisky thought. There had never been any love lost between herself and Yvette, but still, stabbing the woman in the neck with a broken beer bottle was not exactly the way to settle anything.