The Beats In Rift

Chapter 22

Meadow

RIFT'S DELICIOUS, WARM body is pinned against my back as he nibbles my shoulder. We're naked; sweat moistens our skin from our love making.

Justin has left, taking the DNA tests he and Jared took earlier with him. He's dropping them in the post on his way out of town. He said he needs time. I'm okay with that; he's had a lot to take in, and seeing me and Rift together on top of that wasn't fair on him.

"What are you thinking about, baby?"

"Nothing," I lie.

"How did you carry two babies in this body and not have any marks to show for it?" he asks, stroking up my stomach. I trace his hand, laying mine on top of his as I guide him to the small silver line where my bikini line is.

"This is my mark. I went into early labor. I was only six months so I didn't have time to get huge. Crystal swore by this bio oil stuff, and made me bathe in it. Therefore, no stretch marks, just the C-section scar."

"I want to take you to my life, Beats. Show you the good side. The glimpse you got was not it. You're my woman. You'll ride on the back of my bike. My boys won't ever treat you like they did that morning."

I'm nervous. I have a job, a house, I have Crystal, and I know what he is implying. When he says take me to his life, he wants me to live there. To give up everything I have to be with him in his world. My heart pleads to be there with him, but my head rules me now. I'm scared to allow my heart to make decisions for me again.

"We're having a barbecue over the weekend. I want to take you and the girls."

My breath hitches. "I don't think the environment is good for the girls, Rift."

"Baby, we're a family. A lot of my brothers have wives and kids; it's not all about the club. Please. Let me show you."

I turn in his arms to face him. His hand wraps around my waist, the other moving into my hair.

"What do you actually do there? For money, I mean," I ask.

"I handle our accounts and I have a hand in the running of a few other businesses. The bar you met me in the other night is ours. I won the deeds in a poker game. I play there with the band, we're quite well known." He smiles. "But anyway, that's club business. Stuff you don't need to know."

I pull away from him. "If you want me and my babies to move and be a part of your life, I do need to know this stuff."

"Baby, it's a different life to what you're used to, and you need to understand that club business stays within the club. We don't do pillow talk about this shit. You will be moving with me, no choice, and you'll gain a whole new family from it. You'll learn as you go that it's a good life and you'll always be looked after. You and the girls."

"Okay, I'll come to the barbecue. But if I don't like what I see, I can't promise I'll stay."

I wake to him strumming my guitar, the soft glow from the sun highlighting him like the God he is. He shifts in his seat by my window, roaming his gaze over me. "Do you play this, baby?" he asks.

"Always. I love it and what it represents."

He strums a few more cords. "What is that?"

I pull the covers away from my naked form. His eyes flash with desire as he soaks me in. "That you're the music in me, whether we are together in person or not. You're my soul, my riffs, you're in every lyric, every strum, and every breath I sing."