“Evie, King,” Kick introduced us, and I gave King a huge smile. I didn’t care if he came across as scary, he was the man who helped save battered women from their abusive husbands, and he was the man who helped Kick take care of the asshole who tried to kill me.

“Hi,” I greeted him.

His eyes sparkled with mischief. “Fuck me, how the fuck did Kick score a woman as beautiful as you?”

“Fuck off,” Kick said, and I practically felt the possessive vibes circle me.

Shit, my man’s caveman side had kicked in.

And I kind of liked it.

King laughed, and Jesus, if that man was hot before, he was fucking sexy when he laughed and his eyes lit up.

Another guy entered the room and zeroed in on us. Shit, another good-looking dude. This one had short dark hair and a beard. His arms were covered in tattoos and his brown eyes held a sadness to them. He smiled at me, but it was like his mouth was pretending because the smile sure as hell didn’t hit his eyes.

Kick introduced him, “Nitro, this is Evie.”

“Hi darlin’,” he said, his voice deep and husky.

Good Lord, he would make some woman very happy one day.

“Hi,” I said, watching as his gaze on me changed from looking at me to pretty much looking through me. His eyes turned vacant, and I wondered where he went. My arms wanted to circle him in a hug and make it all better for him, whatever it was.

He excused himself to go and get a drink, but almost as soon as he’d left us, another two guys wandered in and came straight to us.

Huh . . . turned out Kick’s friends were mostly all hot. Out of these two, I found one of them extremely attractive with his almost bald head, tattooed muscles and piercing blue eyes. It turned out his name was Devil, and I instantly liked him the minute Kick introduced us. The other guy scared the hell out of me. Sure, he was good looking, but I couldn’t get past the hard, cold eyes that tracked my every movement, or the indifference I heard in his voice. It was like there was no feeling there, and as far as I was concerned, people who felt nothing were the scariest of them all.

“Hyde,” he introduced himself.

“Evie,” I replied, giving him a small smile. Even if he scared the shit out of me, I could still be polite to him. He surprised me with a smile back.

“Do you want a drink?” Kick asked.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to chance it interfering with my painkillers.”

“Shit, I forgot about that. Good call, babe,” he said.

“You want a beer, Kick?” Devil asked.

“Yeah, thanks, brother,” Kick replied, and Devil left to take care of it for him.

Hyde walked away, too, which left only me, King and Kick. King lowered his voice a little when he spoke. “The info you gave me on that drunk driver last week? I took care of him for you.”

Kick stared at him and then nodded. I had no clue what they were referring to, but kept silent. If Kick wanted to fill me in, he would. And it turned out he did. He looked at me with a new sadness in his gaze that hadn’t been there before. “The guy that killed Jeremy,” he said softly, and I felt the pain in his words.

“Oh,” I said, not sure what else to say, guessing that when King said he took care of him, he meant he took care of him.

King’s face clouded over with anger. His gaze shifted between Kick and me when he said, “Assholes like that don’t deserve to fucking live, sweetheart.”

I sucked in a breath. He was right. “No, I don’t suppose they do,’ I murmured, holding his gaze.

He stared at me for a couple more moments, the angry mask still in place, and then he broke out in a grin and turned to Kick. “I like her,” he declared, and then he left us to go and talk to the woman behind the bar.

I soaked in the atmosphere, looking around the bar at everyone having a good time. Without knowing these people, I could still sense the family vibe. Kick had spoken to me about his reasons for joining Storm, and the main reason was the family he found within the club. And I could grasp that now.

Devil came back to us, handing Kick his drink. Eyeing me, he said, “I hear you’ve agreed to marry this fucker.”

I laughed and nodded. “Yes, not that he actually proposed to me.”

“Bullshit,” Kick said, “I proposed.”

My eyes widened, and I placed a hand on my hip. “Oh, really? Was I asleep or knocked out from painkillers when you did it? Because I don’t remember it,” I challenged him.

Chuckling, he leant close to me, and let his lips brush mine before saying, “I suggested we should get matching rings. Do you seriously not remember that?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh my god, Kick, that is not a proposal.”

Devil interjected. “What would a proposal look like, sweetheart? Like, say, if Kick were to propose right now, what should he do?” There was a glint in his eyes that I couldn’t pinpoint, but I decided to play along anyway.

“For a start, there’d be a really big, fucking ring. And then he’d get down on one knee and tell me how much he loves me and that he can’t live without me. And he’d assure me that I was the only one for him and that we’d be together forever.” I stopped and took a breath. They were both staring intently at me, and it unnerved me.

Devil raised his brows. “Anything else?”

I looked at Kick and shook my head. “No,’ I said softly. He was watching me with a strange look, almost as if he was soaking in everything I’d said and filing it away for later use.