Huh? I step further into the room and then I see it. Another vase of white and pink lilies is sat in the middle of her dresser.
“No, I didn’t,” I say through gritted teeth.
“No, I didn’t think you did.”
I backtrack out of the room and check around the rest of the house. There are no more vases and flowers and Nina assures me everything is still in place.
“Why would he come back? How would he know I’m back?” she asks.
“I don’t know.”
I do intend on finding out though, all these occurrences happening can’t be coincidences.
“You should come and stay with me at the club until I can find him,” I suggest and she’s immediately on alert.
“No.”
It wasn’t that bad of an idea to kick back so quickly.
“Don’t be so quick to dismiss it, there’s a guy out there I’ve caught looking through your windows late at night and now he’s been in your home leaving you fucking flowers.”
My voice is rising the same as my anger but she doesn’t bat an eyelid at it.
“This is my home, and I’ve told you before, he isn’t running me out of it again.”
“I admire your determination, but this isn’t the time to be stubborn.”
“I’m not,” she snaps back like a child.
She’s not bending, and I dig my phone out again. I find Mason’s number in my contacts and wait for him to answer keeping my eyes on Nina.
“Yeah?”
“I need you and Myles to come to Nina’s place tonight, after dark and don’t let anyone see you coming.”
“Trouble?”
“Not Crow trouble, creep trouble.”
“We’ll be there.”
He ends the call not wanting anymore details and I put my phone away.
“You called Mason?”
She looks appalled and I shrug. Does she seriously expect me not to care some guy is perving on her and breaking into her house? I was inside her all night and she thinks that means nothing to me?
“Why would you do that?”
“Someone was in your house,” I yell, losing my patience with her.
“Which is my problem,” she yells back.
“Oh yeah, and how are you going to handle it?”
“Like most people in the world, I’ll call the police. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve been here because of him.”
“And they won’t do a fucking thing, just like before. Letting me handle this doesn’t mean you’re running from him.”
“Whatever,” she spits out and pushes past me and out of the room.
The flowers catch my eye and I pick them up and throw them out her window and they smash onto the front path.
Who gives a fuck what the neighbour thinks of that, and I hope her creep is watching from whatever bush he lurks in.
The only thing he’ll be seeing from this house, is me coming and going and fucking her in every room and on every surface. I’ll even leave the shades open so he can see how much she wants me and not him.
Darkness fell a half hour ago and Nina disappeared into her bedroom ten minutes ago. I don’t care if she doesn’t understand why I’m not going to leave her with a madman out there.
And as for calling the police, that shit isn’t happening either. The back door slips open and Mason is first to enter, followed by his twin, Myles.
It still takes me off guard sometimes seeing them together. I can’t tell them apart until they open their mouths. Myles is the joker out of the two, and while Mason doesn’t walk around with a stick up his ass, he’s the protector of the two and is too serious sometimes.
“We circled around a couple of times and didn’t see anyone, apart from an old lady walking her dog two streets over,” he tells me.
“She wasn’t scary at all,” Myles snorts.
I nod to Mason and settle down on the chair I put by the front window. Myles falls back on the couch and throws his boots up on the coffee table.
“Hey, feet down,” I snap at him.
He listens and mumbles something about being pussy whipped. Fucking hell.
“Where’s Nina?” Mason asks, leaning against the doorframe.
“In her room, she’s pissed I called you in.”
“What is going on with her?”
I relay all the shit that has happened and her story from back in the day.
“And here we thought you picked a nice girl from town to fuck with,” Myles laughs.
“What do you plan on doing if he comes by tonight?” Mason quizzes me.
“I’ll make him see how that’s a bad idea.”
“We need details, brother. Gramps keeps telling us to ask for details so we don’t rush in like fools,” Myles informs me.
“You want details? Okay.” I breathe in and close my eyes. “If he comes around here, we’re going to have a chat with him. If he doesn’t comply, then we’re going to make sure he listens.”
“Is that code for, fuck him up?”
“Yes, Myles. We’re going to fuck him up.”
Cracking his knuckles, this placates him and tries to sneak his boots back up onto the table. With one pointed look, he withdraws them and places them firmly on the floor.
“Is she old lady material?” Mason asks, breaking the silence.
“She doesn’t like me smoking,” I shrug.
“Is that a deal breaker for you?” he snorts.
My dad has been on at me for years to stop with the weed, India always used to complain about it and my mom is pissed and doesn’t try to let me smoke in peace, I didn’t care what any of them thought. I do with Nina. In fact, I haven’t even had a smoke today.
“No.”
“What about your old man? I mean, Slade, does he like her. Your mom like her?”
“They haven’t met her yet.”
“If you ever want to talk about your dad, we’re around for you,” Mason offers, and I nod.
If it were Myles who offered, I would’ve knocked him back and thought no more, but Mason is serious, and I respect his thought for me.
I check on Nina just after midnight. She lays in her bed watching an old movie and ignores me when I block her view and stand at the end of her bed.
“You don’t have to hide out in here, the twins don’t bite.”
“You don’t need to be in here.”
Her snarky mood ignites me, and I step closer to her.
“I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight not knowing if you were going to have a creeper lurking around.”
I can’t do this with her again, but it’s obvious she wants to.
“What if he does come back, what are you going to do?”
“I’ll have a friendly chat with him,” I tell her and hope it’s enough.
She smiles, cocking an eyebrow. She doesn’t believe me, but she doesn’t call me on my obvious bullshit. When I get my hands on the guy, I’m going to scare him so bad he pisses himself. And I’m looking forward to it.
Her smile fades and her eyes drop from mine.
“What’s the matter?” I ask her.
“He doesn’t just affect my life, before, he affected my mom’s life and now yours and the twins.”
I lower myself on to the bed and climb up her body. “Hey, this is nothing for me. Fuck, the twins and myself don’t need an excuse to fight, but what this pussy is doing is wrong.”
“What happened to your friendly word?”
The hunger for her returns and I dip my head into her neck and line her skin with small kisses.
“I lied,” I finally say truthfully.
She shudders under me and if I’m not mistaken, possible violence is turning her on.
“Zach!”
Groaning, I roll off her before the door opens and Myles hangs against the frame.
He drops a piece of paper on the nearby dresser and smirks when he takes in our positions.
“That’s a plate number for a Sudan that’s driven by four times in
the last ten minutes. Mason and I are out of here. If you need us back, we aren’t going to be far.”
He closes the door behind him and I listen out till they both leave and then I hear the key drop on the wooden floor in the hall.
“Where were we?” I smirk, and she pulls down my face to hers.
“What if he comes back? The twins won’t be here.”
“I have one bad arm, yet I could still take out your creep and make sure you’re not harmed.”
“Then why call them here in the first place?”
The questions are killing the mood and I roll off her and lay beside her. She leans up on one elbow and stares at me until I answer. Resting one arm under my head, I stare back at her and I tell her the truth.
“I like you, a lot, and I don’t want to take any chances keeping this prick away from you. Just because I’m confident I could handle shit on my own, it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t ask for help to make it easier. That’s what my brothers are for, they have my back and in turn, yours because of me.”
“That’s insane,” she murmurs.
“That’s how it is.”
She falls on her back and stares up at the ceiling, in a way that doesn’t involve me.
“Zach?”
“Yes?”
“I like you too.”
Nina
His body is so warm pushed up against mine and I have never felt so secure and rested.
I was angry yesterday with him telling me how to handle my own business, but waking up to him this morning, I’m glad he stayed.
Wiggling around onto my back, he doesn’t wake and rolls onto his back too. I pay him back for yesterday morning and check him out while he’s sleeping. The morning sun sneaks in through the thin shades and I have the perfect view of his tattoos.
A huge monster looking thing is inked across his peck, with what I’m assuming is a joint hanging from his mouth.
His tattoos vary from monsters to Lost Souls insignias and writing so loopy I can barely make it out from this position. All of them have been done professionally, that much is obvious.
His skin is smooth and I yearn to run my fingers across him, just like he does to me.
He’s addictive and I don’t care if I develop a habit. My perfect form is interrupted when his phone rings and he jumps up to answer it. Wow, that was fucking fast.
He strains to keep his eyes open to see who’s calling him and then he rejects the call and the room falls into silence again.
He stares at the technology in his hand for a minute and then notices I’m awake. He drops the phone onto his jeans on the floor and comes back to bed.
“How long have you been awake?” he asks, pulling the sheets over him again.
“Not long.”
“Didn’t you say it was creepy to watch someone sleep?”
A chuckle leaves my mouth and I snuggle up beside him.
“It’s creepy when someone else does it, not me. What else was I supposed to do while I waited for you to wake up, buttercup?”
I love it when his eyes are lazy and still seeking sleep. He’s too cute in the mornings.
An almighty growl comes from his stomach and then again.
“We need to go to the store if you need to eat, I have nothing in.”
“I’ll make you a deal, I buy if you cook?”
“Sure.”
“Hey,” I laugh, as he traps me between him and the cart. “We’re meant to be shopping.”
“I can eat you,” he growls, snapping his teeth near my ear lobe.
A shiver racks through my body and I struggle not to go for him in the middle of the supermarket.
His teeth nip at my neck and I squeal.
“I’m all for freakiness but not here,” I grin. “Let’s hurry this up and get home. I’m feeling hungry too.”
Something catches his eye over my shoulder and his mood shifts from playful to guarded.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, placing my hand on his cheek to force him to look at me.
Before his mouth opens to answer me, a woman’s voice is calling out his name.
I turn in Zach’s arms, him not letting me go anywhere, and see two women and a guy covered in ink coming towards us.
“Mom, Bonnie, Sparky,” Zachery rattles off and I tense.
I’m guessing the woman watching me closely is his mom and I could cringe at her first impression of seeing me with her son.
“This is Nina Rollins.”
“Hi,” I smile, and the women smile back, although his mom’s smile is pinched.
The guy simply nods and looks back to Zach.
“We’re having a cookout at the club, you should bring your friend,” the guy says. “I know Cas wants a talk with you.”
“I’ll call him soon, but I don’t think we’ll make the cookout.”
We’ll. He’s including me.
Obvious tension is crystal clear between them all and I feel like the reason standing in the middle of them.
“Please, Zach. It’ll be nice to see you, especially after the other night,” his mom says and I jump in before he can refuse her again.
“He’ll be there,” I say.
“He’ll think about it,” Zach growls close behind me.
All eyes fall on me and I swallow heavily.
“What time?” I push on.
“Two.”
I smile my best girl next door smile and hope she forgets she first saw me up close and personal with her son in the middle of a supermarket.
The two women walk around us and the guy, Sparky, hangs back.
“I’ll send a couple of brothers to ride back with you.”
And then he’s walking off and joining the women, complaining about them taking too long.
We finish our shop in silence and Zach makes it clear not to argue with him when he pays for the breakfast haul.
We don’t see his mom again, but he nods to a few guys hanging around outside the store. They’re obviously waiting for his mom and company and Zachery stays quiet as we load the groceries into the trunk of my car.
He takes the keys from me and opens the passenger door for me. I slip in and wait for him to round the car and join me before asking, “What the hell was that all about?”
He doesn’t answer and the longer he remains quiet, the angrier he seems to become.
Once we’re back at mine, he helps carry the bags inside, takes a quick look around the house and slips out the back door. He leaves it ajar and the smell of weed hits me soon after.
I can’t work out what just happened and after I’ve put the groceries away, I go outside and join him.
“Talk to me, why were you so rude to your mom?”
She seemed nice enough to me, a little uptight but nice. He kicks out a chair and I sit, joining him, waiting for him to speak.
“I found out a while ago Slade isn’t my real dad, my mom came to Willows Peak when I was a year old and she learned my biological father had been murdered.”
Oh my god.
“Was he a Lost Soul?” I ask, not knowing what else to say to that.
“He was prospecting for the club, he was beaten to death outside the cabin.”
“The cabin? As in, where India, your sister now lives now?”
“The one and only, yes.”
“How can you face ever going there, knowing what you know?”
“I couldn’t at first, then one day I woke up there and it felt right. I don’t understand what I feel about it or what keeps me going back, but I do.”
This guy has more issues than I first thought.
“Why are you so angry with Slade?”
“He lied to me, they both did, and I heard him talking shit about me not long after I found out.”
“What did he say?”
“He wished I wasn’t around.”
There’s more to it than that, it’s written all over his face. I want to know more but I can’t push him.
“That wasn’t nice, but it still sounds to m
e like he loves you and he chose to protect you and be your dad, that’s pretty cool.”
“How can you be so positive when you had to leave your life here and go into hiding?”
“It’s because of that I am. Did your dad ever make you feel unwanted, up till the point you heard him say what he did.”
“Everything that happened before that day is now void to me, it’s blackness that I struggle to remember.”
“I think you do remember, and you choose not to because you’re hurting.”
He purses his lips together and reaches for his tin. It’s becoming clear this is his action when he doesn’t want to talk. I stand and cross my arms over my chest.
“Let me know if we’re going to your club, I’ll get changed.”
I open the back door and his hand shoots out and grabs mine.
“If I show up with you after you showing up the other night at the club, they’ll think we’re a thing.”
I smile down at him and rub my thumb over his knuckles.
“We are a thing of some sort, we’re having sex and we went grocery shopping together, we’re just not a couple. You don’t strike me as someone who cares what people think? Unless, you don’t want me around your club?”
I didn’t think of it that way. He might like to keep me out of the way, somewhere he can have his fun with me and then return to his normal life at the club with his brothers.
“Get changed, Nina.”
Another smile invades me, and he lets go. I can’t wait to see what his life is like around the Lost Souls.
Zach
I couldn’t give a fuck what the guys think of me bringing Nina around again, however, I do care what she thinks.
She obviously likes me so the club shouldn’t be a problem, but then again, you never know.
We take her car, there are too many Crows lurking around and there’s Vincent. I hate these threats coming at us.
Tal nods as he lets us through the gates and I tell her to park where I usually do. She does and neither of us move to climb out when the engine dies out.
“I should warn you, if I hold your hand and walk in there my mom and the old ladies will be all over it. They’ll think we’re together.”
“Have you not brought a girl here before?”
His Ride or Die : Sons of Lost Souls MC Book Three Page 12
