by Eve R. Hart
“Yeah. Few years back there was a group of them that lived out here,” he said.
We chatted for a bit but kept it on the light side. Then he got into his car and headed off. I got back to work while I waited for Lake to return. It seemed like he had been gone an hour when I looked up and saw him heading my way.
“Everything alright?” I asked.
“Yep,” he said with a nod as he picked up his shovel and got back to work. “Just making friends.”
He shot me a smile that I knew was covering up something deeper. My eyes sought out the old man’s house then shifted back to Lake. With a half-shrug, he turned his attention back to the job. Whatever it was I could tell wasn’t a threat. It had more to do with him and whatever shit he had going on in his head. I wasn’t in the mood to get into it, so I let it go.
“I need a big, fat burger,” Lake said after we’d been working in silence for far too long.
I stopped, straightened and took a look at what we’d gotten done. Deciding it was enough for one day, I gave him a nod.
“Yeah. That sounds about right.” I let out a laugh as I took off my gloves. “I think we can call it a day.”
I knew this job would take a while. It was something I wanted to have done right then, for security reasons, but the reality of it was there was just too much to cover. Especially for two people. But I was done for the day. I was hot, stinky, and a little sore.
“I’m gonna stop by the compound and fill Iron in,” I said as I mounted my bike. “Probably take a shower, too.”
Lake let out a laugh.
“Yeah, I need one too. Pretty sure there isn’t a clean spot on me.”
“I’ll find you when I’m done and we can go to the diner.” I had no doubt that it would end up being a group of us heading over there.
“Sounds good.” He turned over his bike and waited for me to take off first.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Gwen
Three weeks.
Three long weeks of avoiding and silence.
Well, not complete silence. Knight and I would be courteous when we were in the same room. But those brief hellos and shallow, quick chats about how we were doing were not enough. In fact, they were almost worse. The distance came back full force and the slow, tortuous ache spread in my chest more and more every single day.
I had gotten the job at Royally Brewed and was loving it. Iron almost seemed relieved when I told him that I wouldn’t be able to work at the bar anymore. I had no doubts that it had everything to do with my dad and not my actual work ethic.
It seemed like everything except the whole Knight thing was going amazingly well. I had no complaints outside of the tension of my living arrangement. And even then it wasn’t all that bad. I was just living in my own personal hell. The guys would still come over a few nights a week and those nights I would muster up every ounce of courage and strength that I had to hang out for a bit.
I had no idea if any of them knew what was going on behind the scenes, but Knight did his best when everyone was around to make things seem normal, or close to it. I didn’t even know what our normal was anymore. And at this point, I was just doing my best to move on. Strange as it was, it felt close to being a breakup. A sick, twisted, unconventional breakup.
Tara had become my shoulder to lean on even if I didn’t really talk about what was going on. She pushed sometimes but she understood that I would talk when, and if, I wanted to. She wasn’t stupid, though. She knew it had everything to do with Knight. She had also started to come around more, sometimes stopping by unexpectedly. Usually, I liked my space when I wanted it, but having her around as a distraction and buffer was kind of nice.
I worked with Dale just about every shift that I had at the coffee shop. I was in no way complaining, though. He was light and fun. He smiled a lot. A lot. But I found that I was smiling too more often than not when I was around him. We had a good amount of things in common and he was easy to talk to. I would even go as far to say that we both flirted a little. It was all harmless and we both knew it. He hadn’t made any kind of move or indication that he wanted to ask me out. Which I was grateful for. He was professional and fun. And, like Tara, a really good distraction.
“Hey,” Knight said as he came into the kitchen. I looked over my shoulder at him. He was freshly showered, his stupid smell overtaking my nose as I breathed in. I gave him a short nod in return. “The boys are coming over. Ky is bringing Dino’s pizza. You want to join?”
And that was the moment when the microwave decided to chime, letting me know that my sad frozen meal was ready for me to eat. Popping the door open, I contemplated turning down the best pizza in the city for something that was supposed to be chicken and rice.
“Come on,” Knight said, his voice next to my ear and his back almost touching mine as he looked over my shoulder at what I had made. My whole body stiffened and I shoved all the feelings back down where they needed to friggin’ stay. “You don’t really want to eat that anyways.”
He was right and while I could have grabbed a hold of my pride, picked up my fork, and started to dig in right then and there, I just didn’t have it in me. Who was I kidding? I was never going to turn down pizza for cooked mush that had no flavor.
“Yes,” I said a little breathlessly because he was still right there, not touching me but so close that I could feel the heat coming off of his body. “Okay, fine.” It may have come out with a bit more bark than I meant for it to.
“Good, because he got you a sausage, pepper, and pineapple one. I’d hate for it to go to waste because I know none of us will touch that gross shit.”
My head whipped to the side in an attempt to look at him and give him my best death glare. But as my eyes moved to his lips, I saw the corner of one side twitch like he was doing his best to hold back a smirk.
“I think it’s cute you have your own taste and you don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks,” he said in an unfamiliar tone. A tone that had my body doing its best to rebel against a shiver. And don’t even get me started on my traitorous nipples.
Don’t read too much into it. He was just making an offhand comment probably trying to break the ice. He didn’t really mean anything by it, Gwen. Get it together!
Even as I screamed those words to myself in my head, my body felt suddenly hot and my head a little dizzy. I simply blamed it on the fact that I had been super horny lately. It had been a long time since my last naked mambo and I was obviously in desperate need of release. Even my solo banjo strumming wasn’t helping lately. I was currently doing my best to break my own record of ‘how many times a week can I do this?’ and it was frighteningly embarrassing. So far this week, I was at four, and it was only Tuesday.
“I think Tara’s coming over, too. If that’s cool?” She wasn’t, or at least we hadn’t made any plans for her to. But you bet your sweet ass I was going to text her and beg if I had to. I needed a buffer.
“Cool,” he replied as he took a step back and his eyes did a slow scan of my body. “You alright? You look a little flushed.” His eyes narrowed on my face like he was trying to figure out what was wrong. Like he didn’t know what he was doing to me, but I wasn’t wholly buying it.
“Yeah, fine. Great. It must be the steam coming off of this thing.” I pointed down to the now cooled meal sitting on the counter in front of me.
“Right.” He stretched out the word just long enough to let me know he didn’t completely believe me.
His phone rang and I let out a relieved sigh as he pulled it out and answered it while he walked out of the kitchen. With lightning fingers, I pulled out my phone and shot a text to Tara basically telling her to get her ass to my apartment, now. She sent me one back right away, letting me know she was headed my way.
“Thank God,” I muttered to the empty room.
Not even thirty minutes later, the place was filled with noise and the aroma of greasy, hot cheese. The place was full. Mouse, Sketch, and I took up one couch. Ky sat in the chair
. I had dragged my desk chair out and Lake was currently claiming that as his. Brand, Knight, and Chris took up the other couch. Brand had decided to close the shop early that night because there had been like no business. Or ‘deader than Satan’s asshole’ as Sketch had put it.
I learned that Chris was there visiting for a few days. I got the impression that he came down here a lot. Through their conversations, I could tell he knew the guys well and that he and Brand seemed to be good friends. Chris was from Moon Hill and worked at the bar that the club owned there. I figured that was the connection because he wasn’t actually part of the club. Though, by the way the guys talked, especially Lake, Brand, and Ky, he was part of the family.
I sat back, watching and listening with a smile permanently glued to my face. I loved the banter between the guys. I loved how Brand, Lake, Ky, and Chris almost seemed to act like brothers, constantly ribbing each other and telling embarrassing stories and calling one another out. Or how Sketch had his raunchy but hilarious stories, which ninety percent of the time ended up in some sort of sexual act. Or how Mouse, despite how outgoing he’d become, still seemed like the quiet one of the group, sitting back taking in everything and occasionally throwing me a genuine smile.
Then there was Knight. Beautiful, maddening Knight. It didn’t slip by me how he was more open in a room full of people versus when we were alone. Or how he smiled and laughed more around these guys. The way he seemed like the old soul out of the group, watching over all of them with an intent eye, but still able to laugh along with them.
Oh, and no, it did not escape me that every time I turned my attention to him he was looking at me, his eyes holding a darkness that pinned me in place and almost stole my breath away.
The door opened and in walked B-ry. A few sets of eyes shifted only long enough to see who it was, but as I met his gaze, I noticed something was off. He hadn’t bothered to shut the door behind him, which was very unusual. His body was tight and rigid but I couldn’t tell anything from his expression. For a half second, I almost brushed it off as club business, but then I saw a figure move behind him, rushing in through the doorway.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Tara’s voice rang out from B-ry and because he was so big, I wasn’t able to actually see her. “I couldn’t find my keys.”
And that didn’t surprise me. It always seemed to take her a long minute to find anything. Probably because she carried the worlds biggest purse filled to the brim with only God knew what.
Then, like watching a car crash in slow motion, B-ry stepped to the side to let her pass, finally revealing her much smaller frame.
I blinked.
And blinked again.
The room went dead silent.
I mean, like you could have heard a pin drop.
No wonder B-ry looked so tense. He’d gotten the chance to see it before we had.
With the quickness of a cheetah, I averted my eyes, turning my head to look at something—anything—else. I honestly had no idea what to think about what I’d just seen. And it was obvious I wasn’t the only one.
“Your hair wasn’t that color two days ago, right?” Sketch asked, not giving a crap about niceties.
Yes, because Tara had not been that color two days ago. Not even a day ago. And it was hard to deny that the new blonde she sported was a similar shade to mine.
“Oh, yeah,” she said brushing it off as if it was nothing.
I looked over at Brand and Chris. Though they were a little confused because they’d never met Tara before, it was clear they were catching on fast.
“I’m starved. Can I steal a slice?” she asked like it was any other time.
“Yeah, me too,” B-ry said making a point and doing his best to snap the room out of the weird trance we all seemed to be in.
“Help yourselves,” Mouse called out, his gaze suddenly on his knee that was bouncing like crazy.
Tara came back out and I was determined not to make it a thing. I’d never wanted to do something that drastic—as far as color was concerned—to my hair, but there were millions of women out there who did it every day. Hell, there were women that went to the salon to try and get a color like I had naturally, even going as far as to go every other week for a touch-up so no one would know it wasn’t their natural color.
Sketch slid closer to me and I found it odd that he didn’t leave the space for her to sit down between us. But then his legs were spreading out wider and it was clear he was trying to take up as much of the middle of the couch as possible. I didn’t miss the little chin lift Knight sent him out of the corner of my eye.
She scanned the room and gave a half-shrug at the fact that there weren’t any open spots. She moved to the other couch, balancing the plate with one hand. Then she did her best to squeeze in between Brand and Knight until they had no choice but to make room. Poor Chris looked like he was about to sink into the corner of the couch, it was that squished. Brand scooted even closer to Chris in an attempt to give her some more room, there wasn’t even a breath of space between him and Chris. It was almost comical.
“So,” I said, breaking the strained silence that had gone on way too long. “Sketch here was just telling us about something that happened last night.”
“Oh, I didn’t miss any of the good parts, did I?” she asked and her eyes lit up as she turned her attention to Sketch. She’d heard enough of his tales to know how crazy they got.
“Oh, yeah. I mean, no.” He was clearly struggling a bit. But after he gained his composure, he carried on like normal. This story ending with a ‘Blade and Sketch tag team,’ as he had called it. It was hard not to roll my eyes at him. Never a dull moment around the guy, that was for sure.
I breathed out a sigh of relief internally.
It was weird. Like, maybe a little. But I didn’t think it was as big of a deal as they were making it out to be.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Knight
Mouse, Ky, and I were the only ones left. It was well past midnight and I knew I should try and get some sleep, but I just wasn’t feeling all that tired.
“Weird as fuck, right?” Ky finally said breaking the silence of the room.
We’d had some action movie on but I could tell that we were all half watching it. It seemed that, like me, they were lost in their thoughts.
“What?” Mouse asked turning his attention to Ky.
“The Tara thing,” he said as a confused expression crossed his face like he was trying to figure out what the hell was going on with that.
“Yeah, man,” Mouse blew out a harsh breath and scratched his head.
To say that it was an uncomfortable conversation would have been a bit of an understatement.
When Tara showed up, sporting her new hair color, it wasn’t lost on me how the whole room halted in a shocked silence. Truth be told, I had no idea what to think, let alone say about it.
And it wasn’t just the hair, there was something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It didn’t slip by me that Tara had been wearing more makeup than when I’d first met her. Or that her clothes seemed to get a little more fitting.
Looking back, I remembered Tara seemed a bit shy and timid the first few times I’d been around her. I was sure my first impression probably had her a bit standoffish but I could see beyond that. From what Gwen had told me, Tara was a bit shy when she first introduced herself to Gwen.
But then again, it didn’t surprise me that Tara seemed to be coming out of her shell. Gwen had this way of rubbing off on people in the best way possible. I also could see where Gwen was giving her a little nudge in the confidence direction. So who could have said that it wasn’t Gwen’s doing behind this whole makeover thing? But then again, she did seemed taken off guard like the rest of us. Or so I thought. Hell, for all I knew, Gwen was just stunned at how good she thought it looked or some shit.
I didn’t want to think about it too much. I had this weird feeling that if I did, my head would make up all kinds of crazy things just because I had this
deep urge to protect Gwen with everything that I had in me. If I looked too closely, I might start making up insane scenarios and I knew that wouldn’t do any good. It would only lead me to doing my best to put a wedge between those two and I had a feeling if I tried to do that I’d end up putting the wedge between Gwen and myself instead.
“Eh, who knows,” I said, trying to brush off the subject. “Maybe she’s just trying to find herself. Girls do that shit all the time, change their hair and whatnot.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Mouse said but didn’t sound convinced that it was simply just that.
“But blonde? I mean she looks just like—”
“Drop it,” I said cutting Ky off. I wasn’t trying to be a dick but the last thing I needed or wanted was for Gwen to overhear and freak out or get pissed. Just because she’d said she was going to bed a while ago didn’t mean that she was actually asleep. “Just, not now.” I softened my tone a bit so he would understand.
With a firm nod, he dropped the pissed off expression on his face and turned back to the TV. The room once again went silent.
A while later, Gwen’s door opened and she dashed through the apartment to the kitchen. All three of our heads whipped around to see what the hell was going on.
She was wearing those damn skimpy clothes she called pajamas and my blood headed a hundred degrees. How the fuck she thought it was alright to walk around in front of them in that shit was beyond me.
I took a deep, calming breath, realizing that it was my alpha male coming out to roar. Though I knew they both were taking in their own eyefuls. Not that I could fucking blame them, but at the same time, I hated the shit out of it. In my mind, that was mine even though I really had no claim on her. I knew if I said anything I would give myself away.
Then it slapped me in the face. What the hell was she doing up and why had she seemed panicked?
With lightning steps, I made my way to the kitchen, glad as fuck that no one followed me. I turned the corner to see a frantic Gwen rummaging through the drawers.
