Defiant Loyalty (Comanche Sons Motorcycle Club Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

weeks, and yet here he was imagining the rest of their lives.
     
    “What’s wrong?”
     
    “Nothing.” He turned to face her. As always, he was struck by the sheer beauty of her face. A woman like her could never blend into a crowed. It wasn’t just that she was pretty, but there was a depth to her personality that he found lacking in so many women who came before her. Perhaps it was the secrets that she held that intrigued him. Of course, now that he knew her well, Chance didn’t think that there was much that she was holding back. Still, he found her as intriguing as before. “Where do you want to have dinner?”
     
    Today was her day off from work, and they were making the most of it. “Whatever. You decide.”
     
    He considered the options. “Seafood. There is a great joint that I know where you can pick out fish straight from the containers and they will cook it for you.”
     
    She wrinkled her nose as a look of distaste crossed her face. “I can’t kill things like that.”
     
    He laughed at her absurd statement. “You kill them anyway. Where do you think the food that you eat comes from?”
     
    “Yes, but I don’t have to witness and be a part of the massacre,” she replied.
     
    “I will choose for you, ok. You won’t have to study the fish swimming and pick a target.”
     
    “Great, thanks,” she said in an acerbic voice. “That makes me feel a whole lot better.”
     
    “Hey, it’s a dog eat dog world, love. You can’t feel sad about everything. If you are over-sensitive, you won’t be able to survive.”
     
    Her smile was wry. “You’re telling me.”
     
    Immediately, he felt guilty. It was a silly thing to say to someone who had seen far more than anyone else that he knew. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it quite like that.”
     
    “And I didn’t take it in a bad way—so don’t feel upset,” she replied quickly. “Look, Chance, my past is a part of my life and I accept it. You don’t have to tiptoe around me.”
     
    “You are stronger than every other person that I have ever met.”
     
    “I’ve had to be. My childhood…well, you know how it was.”
     
    Chance had never much questioned her. He didn’t want to upset her, but in this case, she was the one who brought up the topic, and he had a feeling that she wanted to talk. “Did you resent your mother?”
     
    He fully expected her to draw away or to shut him down, but much to his surprise, she glanced down at the water as if she was actually pondering over his question. “I did, yes. She had a choice. As did my father. He chose to abuse me, hit us, and beat us to within an inch of our lives. Her choice was to live with that abuse and allow him to do the same to us as he did to her. I think…in a perverse sort of way, she was glad when he focused on one of us because that meant she could go to bed without bruises that night.”
     
    “I am sorry.”
     
    “It isn’t your fault. It was theirs. People who are not ready to have children shouldn’t have them. Or if she had us, she should’ve given us up for adoption. If my brother grew up without physical and mental abuse, he might have made a good life. Who knows? I don’t think genes are everything. Nurturing matters, and he was taught to hit, to hurt, and to maim.”
     
    “You don’t blame him for killing your parents?”
     
    She met his gaze head on. “You might think it crazy of me, but no, I don’t blame him. Honestly, I think, if he hadn’t, I might have done so. There were days when I thought about it, when I actually imagined myself throttling him or her, or doing some other kind of harm. If I stayed with them, I might’ve succumbed.”
     
    Chance glanced into her clear eyes and saw the resolute expression on her face. “I don’t think you would’ve done that. Probably, you may have run away as soon as you were old enough. I believe that’s what you would’ve have done. He could have done the same.”
     
    “It’s not a wonder that he hates