Daisy

I try to pull my hand from Preach’s. ”I’m gonna go sit with Grams.”

Not letting me go, he says, “No.  You’re staying with me.”

With that, he pulls away and leads me to the bar.  

My anger starts to boil, and I can’t hold it in any longer.  “Why, so you can show me off to the rest of these guys?”

He finally stops walking and looks down at me.  “What are you talking about?”

“You told that guy he had to wait until my birthday to claim me.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he asks again, sounding confused.

Using my free hand to motion behind me, I repeat his words.  “She’s only seventeen. Gotta wait ‘til her birthday to brand her.  I can’t believe you’d think that I’d ever be okay with some random man branding me!”

He stares at me for a long minute while he processes my words, fighting a smile the entire time.  “Daisy, I promise you that dickhead and none of his brothers are ever gonna claim you.  Before long, you’re gonna belong to a Renegade Son.  I guarantee you that.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, shocked that again he’s assuming that I will let someone claim me.  

He finally lets the smile take shape as he leans down to whisper in my ear.  “You’ll be finding out soon.”

He straightens and continues walking through the clubhouse.  He leads me around the room by my hand, talking to one man after another along the way, but the only thing I really noticed was that each time Preach would introduce me to someone, he would loosely wrap his arms around me. I swear he was staking his claim to everyone inside of the club, wordlessly announcing to the world that I’m his.  By the time we make it to the table where my Grams is sitting, I am beyond confused and horny as hell.  What’s going on?  He can’t want me, can he?  Lord, I hope he does.