Mouse: A Steel Paragons MC Novel (The Coast: Book 7)

by Hart, Eve R.

  They all excitedly urged me to try it on.

  Only I learned that it was a trap because once I got into the dressing room, Abigail and Laurel went crazy with bringing me things to try on. They were also doing it to Claire and Cami. Which made me feel a little less like they were trying to tell me that my clothes were awful.

  “Yes!” Laurel blurted out enthusiastically when I popped out of the tiny room wearing one of the dresses she’d tossed at me. “That looks really good.”

  “Yeah, you need to get that,” Gwen said with a big nod. She had met up with us not long after we arrived here.

  I hadn’t spent much time around her but I knew she was Knight’s woman. Knight, like Mouse and Ky, was one of the officers in the club. All I knew was that meant they held more power for whatever reason. Cami and Laurel’s men were also officers. And I was pretty sure that Cable, Claire’s guy, was too. I knew he was the club computer whiz, I imagined that had to come with some prestige within the club, right? Like I said, I was still getting the hang of things.

  Gwen wasn’t around much, but the times I’d been around her, I found she was nice and easy to talk to.

  “Lemme see!” Abigail said as she came skipping across the store. “Oh, definitely. That could be a day dress or a date dress. It is a must.”

  My cheeks heated and I ducked my head in an attempt to hide it. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that all the attention was on me or the word date.

  No surprise, I’d never been on a date. I had imagined what it would be like though, probably more times than I should ever admit to. For that reason, I wouldn’t tell anyone just how much I had wished for something like a date, ever. I also wouldn’t admit that I’d thought of Mouse every time I’d fantasize about those dates.

  Yes, it was time that I gave in and put myself out there to him. I was nervous but I figured that was only natural. I wasn’t dumb, I knew he cared for me. I knew he had feelings for me that went above and beyond friendship, but he’d done a good job putting those to the side and really being a friend for me these last few months. I respected it. I had to because he was doing what I asked of him. But at the same time, I thought I was ready to take the next step.

  I lifted my head to look at myself in the mirror. All their chatter faded to the background as I really took myself in.

  The neckline scooped down a little lower than what I was used to and met at a point right in the middle. There was a hint of the swell of my breasts. I found that I kind of liked it. The top of the dress fit snug and really accentuated my breasts. I maybe didn’t mind that either. Then it flared out a little, giving me the urge to twirl around. The bottom stopped right at mid-thigh, which was shorter than I was used to, but the scalloped lace trim for some strange reason, made me feel okay. The shade of magenta was a little bold for me but I think that made me like it even more. And it definitely helped that the fabric was soft and silky against my skin.

  I had to say that I felt really sexy in this dress. That was saying something because I never thought of myself that way.

  Yes, I liked this dress. I liked the way it made me feel. I liked the way it made me look.

  I was getting it. I knew that because I didn’t even want to take it off right now.

  “She’s thinking things,” Abigail whispered not all that softly. “Look at that smile.”

  My head fell back as I laughed.

  “I bet it has something to do with Mouse. Hmmmm?” Laurel said and I watched as she absentmindedly rubbed her belly.

  “What’s up with that?” Bridget asked boldly. I had learned quickly that was the type of person she was. I liked that about her.

  “They want each other but Mouse is a turd nugget,” Cami said and we laughed.

  “It’s not all on him,” I said trying to defend him. “I told him I needed him as a friend, remember? After that night, I felt like we kind of had to start over.”

  They knew all about that night, they had been there for me a few days later when I wanted so hard to go back on my word and kiss Mouse.

  I missed his touch. So very much. I missed his lips too. I really wanted that feeling back.

  My mind drifted back to the good parts of that night. The way he touched me. Where he touched me. Oh, and the how, too.

  I might have tried to recreate that night when I was alone a few times. I never could quite get the intensity that I had with him. It was like eating a sugar-free candy when you desperately craved a big bowl of rocky road ice cream.

  “She’s blushing,” Bridget said and I looked over just in time to see her wink at me.

  “I think you should go for it,” Abigail said with a wide smile.

  “But what if he doesn’t feel as strongly as I do?” I asked feeling a little insecure.

  “Yeah, because a guy that can’t keep his eyes off of you when you’re around him doesn’t have those kinds of feelings,” Bridget said and I understood that she was being sarcastic. It took me a while to get sarcasm, it wasn’t something I was used to. But I thought I was able to pick up on it pretty quickly by now.

  “I think it’s cute how he always walks her to her car and buckles Chry in,” Claire chimed in and I turned to see only her head poking out of the curtain to her dressing room.

  There were a couple of agreeing hums and maybe even a few wistful sighs.

  “Get this dress. For sure. And then we’ll go to the lingerie store and help you pick out something to give you the extra confidence boost you need,” Gwen said.

  “Good idea,” Laurel said with a nod. “Bryan and I will watch Chry for you one night and you will go to Mouse and make your move.”

  They all seemed to like that idea.

  “I don’t want to stress you out,” I told her. I knew being pregnant didn’t make you incapable of doing things but I also knew how B-ry was with her. Really protective.

  “No, we need the practice,” Laurel told me with a wave of her hand and a little laugh. “And Chry is awesome. Besides, you say he sleeps through the night. See, no stress.”

  “Nope,” Cami said when I went to open my mouth. “If it’s something you want then don’t make excuses.”

  Well, she was pretty much spot on.

  “Okay,” I agreed.

  There were squeals and then a bunch of hugs, making me feel a bit squished in the middle of most of them for a moment.

  I ended up getting the dress like I knew I would. I had a feeling that even if I tried to put it back they wouldn’t let me. I also bought two other everyday dresses and a nice little cardigan.

  Then it seemed like all the focus was on me as they swept me away to buy accessories to match. The lingerie shop scared me a little, but by the end, I was having fun picking out things and giggling at the poor prospects as they stood waiting near the door looking extremely uncomfortable.

  I couldn’t wait to get home and try it all on.

  Luckily, we went into the mother and baby store after that and all the attention went to Laurel as we oohed and ahhed over all the cute baby things.

  Looking at all the matching bedroom sets made me think about how I would do Chry’s room when we got our own place. It had me a little excited for when that time came. But that was still a little ways off.

  It was a good thing I didn’t have to worry about it. I definitely had enough going on right now, that was for sure.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Mouse

  “This will be the last run for the month,” Iron said as he sat at the head of the table and went over everything. “And we have a drop with the Irish next week, too. Mouse, want you up high. Knight and B-ry, you’ll take lead on this one. Get Blade and Dade to go with you and one of the prospects.”

  I knew I’d be there, I almost always was. I was the one up on top of the stacked shipping containers with a rifle and a scope. I more or less trusted the Irish and the Russians, but that said, I kept my eyes open at all times. You never knew when shit could go sideways.

  I was a little surprised th
at he put Ky on the run and not me, though. I figured since Ky had Ingram here, Iron would let him hang back some especially since I was available to go. That said, you wouldn’t catch my ass challenging him on it. Iron knew what he was doing. Maybe he thought I needed a break since I’d pretty much been on ninety percent of the runs over the last year. I wasn’t complaining. Hell, I’d asked to be on most of those.

  “Alright,” Iron said and I knew there was going to be something important to follow. “Think most of us know that Moon Hill has been trying to go legit for a while now. Things got a little mixed up when we decided to take over down here.”

  I nodded. I knew that Moon Hill had been wanting to get out of the game for years now. Cal handed the table over to Axe even though he hadn’t been able to make it happen. Though it hadn’t been said, I had a feeling that Axe eventually wanted to follow through with that idea.

  “Now, I get they are the mother chapter and it might make things a little complicated,” Iron went on. “But we’ve been working out the details. Still gonna take some time but I wanted to let you know what was going on. Have a feeling that Gray Fort might follow them but I don’t think Brass and his table have made up their minds yet.”

  I held back my eye roll on that one. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the shit out of Brass and everyone back home, but I didn’t think it mattered how many legit businesses they owned, they would never fully step away from the guns. It just wasn’t who they were. I wasn’t saying that there was anything wrong with that. Hell, I didn’t think we’d ever be able to entertain that idea here at this chapter. Which I was completely fine with.

  “For now, things will stay the same. But I’m thinking that eventually, Moon Hill will not handle any more of the trade-offs and drops.” Iron looked around the table. I couldn’t tell if he was lost in thought for a moment or not sure what to say next. “Just puttin’ this out there because I feel this is the way it might go, but I think that one of the other chapters might take over as lead as far as the guns go. Have a bigger feelin’ that chapter is going to be us, since we are the fuckin’ youngins and all.” He actually rolled his eyes at that.

  I held back my chuckle. It was kind of true. With the exception of Iron and Mason, all of us were pretty much under thirty. Though some of us were toeing the line.

  “Want you to really think it over. It’s going to mean more on us. I want the table to decide if it’s something we want and can handle so I know how to answer when the time comes. Keep it in the back of your minds and we’ll revisit it soon.”

  With that, he ended the meeting.

  I thought about it for a few minutes before I got up and left the room. I wasn’t the only one.

  I thought it was something we could handle. And I didn’t think I’d mind the extra workload. I wasn’t ready to leave the guns behind. Maybe it was a little bit of a falsehood, but I felt we were the ones controlling where they went. Axe had been good at vetting the people we worked with. Most of them were much like us and bought them to mostly to protect their clubs and families. And I trusted them enough to work with them.

  In short, I didn’t want the club as a whole giving up the docks. I felt like all of us here had a pretty good judge of character and could find new people to work with no problem without getting deep into shit that we didn’t want to.

  A few of us went downstairs to grab a beer, though I stuck to soda. It felt good to hang out and I was glad that my mood had turned around the last few months.

  Ingram was definitely on my mind. Truth was, there were very little times when she wasn’t. I tried to hide it most of the time because I didn’t want to fuck this up again. I really didn’t. I needed her and Chry in my life. There was no way around it, I was in love with Ingram and I had a good damn feeling that I’d been for a while now.

  But sadly, I was still kind of on the outside. I saw her a few times a week but we usually hung out around people. I didn’t mind that because I’d take any piece of her that I could get. I wasn’t trying to rush anything and I knew it would take her time to get back the trust I broke.

  I wished more than anything I could take that moment back. It wasn’t like it really did any good.

  “You’re thinking about my sister, aren’t you?” Ky’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

  “Uh. Ermm.” I wasn’t sure what I should say here.

  He actually chuckled at that.

  “As long as she’s wearing clothes in those thoughts, then it’s okay,” he told me with a look that could kill.

  “All of the clothes,” I assured him but he didn’t look convinced. “Full snowsuit and all. Even wearing one of those floppy sun hats and pink fuzzy slippers.”

  Sadly, that image did nothing to take away from her sexiness. I could see her looking adorable and cute in just about anything. Which was only one of the things about her that turned me on so fucking much.

  “Yeah…” he said with a few slow shakes of his head. “Hey, listen. I need a favor.”

  “Yeah. Anything.” I sat up straight and gave him my full attention.

  “I got this ride now next week and I told Ingram I’d watch Chry one of the nights I’d be gone. She has an inventory or some shit that night and will be there late. Chris is working that night too. I’d get him to see if he could switch but it happens to be on Thursday.”

  I nodded because I got it. Right now, Chris was the only person on staff available to work that night.

  “Hey, I’ll do it, no problem,” I rushed to say.

  “Do you mind coming over to the house. Since it’s so late I think Ingram would rather have him there so he can sleep in his own bed and shit.”

  “Yeah, no big deal.”

  He let out a long, relieved breath and I patted him on the back.

  “I’m always here if you guys need anything,” I said to him. “I’ve told Ingram that too. And I mean it.”

  “Thanks, brother. I know things got a little crazy between us, but I really appreciate you.”

  “I’m going to remember that you said that,” I said with a laugh.

  He eyed me and I did my best not to shrink under his gaze. Then his lips twitched causing me to shake my head at him.

  “Sometimes you’re an asshole, you know that?”

  “Pretty sure you’ve mentioned that a time or two before,” he said with a smile.

  “What do you think about what Iron said?” I asked him after I made sure there was no one around. Though Iron hadn’t said, I had a good idea that he wasn’t ready for the rest of the club to know yet.

  “I’m cool with the way we are now. I think we could take on more.”

  I got what he was saying and understood why he was being a bit cryptic.

  “Me too. I think we could take over the duties without much trouble.”

  That was all we were going to say on it for now.

  Surprisingly, he hung out with me for a little bit, chatting like I didn’t have the world’s biggest crush on his sister. And when Brand, Lake, and B-ry came over, it started to feel just like old times.

  At some point, our attention turned to Sketch. There were quite a few women hanging around the clubhouse tonight and it seemed like Sketch had the attention of at least half of them.

  “Ten bucks he tries to take all five of them back to his room,” B-ry said referring to the five, barely dressed chicks currently trying to climb into Sketch’s lap all at the same time.

  I let out a loud laugh.

  “No,” I said. “He’ll take the brunette with the pink top back to the bathroom in about eight minutes. Then fifteen minutes after that, he’ll take the busty blonde and the redhead out back. Don’t ask what his plans are. Then in an hour, the other two will get to see his room.”

  “But wait,” Brand cut in. “He’s looking at Blade. They have that eye conversation thing going on.”

  I looked at Sketch’s face and sure enough.

  Damn. I had called it wrong.

  “So then, I’m betting the redhea
d makes it back to the room,” Lake added knowing that Blade was going to end up in the mix at some point.

  “Big boobs blonde, and mermaid hair are out for sure. I’m with Lake, redhead in his room in… seven minutes. All the others get forgotten for the night.”

  We all looked at Ky after he spoke. He nodded his head like he had that shit in the bag, then casually took a pull of his beer.

  Sure as shit, a few minutes later, all Sketch’s attention was on the redhead. He whispered into her ear while pointing across the room to Blade.

  After she took Blade in for a moment with hungry eyes, she gave a little eager nod. Sketch stood, taking the redhead’s hand as he got to his feet. I had to chuckle at the mound of pouty women he left behind.

  Two minutes after that, the three of them were walking out of the front door.

  “Told you,” Ky said coolly.

  We all laughed and reached for our wallets. He earned it with that call.

  “You miss those days?” B-ry asked no one in particular. Since I was still technically the only single one here, I had a feeling he was talking to everyone else.

  “Nope,” Lake said with a dopey smile on his face.

  “Wouldn’t trade what I have for anything,” Ky said.

  “Damn, we’re a bunch of saps,” Brand chimed in with a little chuckle. We all knew how he felt about Cami.

  “Me neither,” B-ry added.

  Not like I needed to hear them all say it. It was too damn obvious how deep they were in with their loves.

  “You guys suck,” I said and I might have pouted a little.

  “You had that Amber chick,” Lake said and though it was a joke, I shot him a deadly look.

  “Yeah, whatever happened to her?” Brand asked with a raised brow.

  I let out a heavy sigh and tried my hardest not to roll my eyes.

  “She wasn’t the one,” Ky said with a sniff but he wouldn’t look at me.

  “We all kind of got that much,” Lake mumbled into his beer.

  I could tell they weren’t really big fans of Amber but maybe that had been my fault. Or, now that I thought about it I saw that it was kind of hers. I took her around my brothers constantly but she never really made an effort to get to know them. Guess that should have been my first clue, huh?