Asking for Trouble (The Fallen Men, #8)

by Giana Darling

“I want you to get that you’re worth somethin’. First moment I saw you, I lost my fuckin’ breath to the sight’a you. Not ’cause you’re damn pretty, Blue, but ’cause a man like me knows pretty girls. Nah, the sight’a you knocked the air straight from my chest ’cause a pretty girl with a sweet smile was mannin’ a gas station in the middle’a the night on a dangerous stretch’a highway, and I thought, this girl doesn’t have anyone in her life to tell her not to risk herself like this. She’s fightin’ and clawin’ for everythin’ she’s got, and what she’s got is no one. And, Blue baby, that sucker punched me. A girl like you should have a whole army’a family at your back keepin’ ya safe and makin’ ya promises they always intend to fuckin’ keep.”

sayin’, “Men like us don’t fall in love the way they do in storybooks. We see a woman, and somethin’ hits us like a bullet through the chest. We get this sense in our blood and bones, through the center’a our bein’ that this person is meant for us. It might take a while to get there.”

“You could say that. All’a us have felt broken at some point in our lives, maybe even wondered if it’s worth it to go on. We’ve been disillusioned and lost, and the club gives people a purpose to tether them and a long lead to give them the slack they need to recover on their own terms. No one here has to be any one way or one kinda person. The lines are blurred ’cause we all learned the hard way that life’s painted in shades’a grey instead’a black and white.”

You think you’re more trouble than you’re worth, but you gotta understand, I’ve always been the kinda man who’s not afraid to ask for trouble if it’s worth the effort, and there’s no doubt in my mind keepin’ you safe and loved is worth it all.”

He loved my curves and my hard edges. The scars and the soft places. He loved me enough to burn down the world for me, and I loved him enough to trust he’d keep me safe even when the monsters came back to haunt us.

“Thank you,” he told me, cupping my face in both hands, his rings cool against my skin. “For trustin’ me when you were terrified to take a chance on anyone. For stayin’ by me these past few months even when shit got so bad we thought it wouldn’t end. Thank you for bringin’ the colour blue into my life.”