Chapter Seven
“How are you feeling?” I hear Melanie answer over the phone, “We’re good. Brantley is freaking out, but it was just a little scare.” I sigh, “What had your blood pressure up?” She lightly chuckles, “Probably just everything. I promise I’m okay. They’re monitoring me weekly, and I only have two more weeks left. Maybe my baby will be here sooner than we thought.” I smile at that. “I can’t wait to meet that little guy.” She laughs. “You too? What if it’s a girl?” I smile, “Um…do men like Brantley make girls?” I can tell she’s smiling when she says, “We’ll see.” I look up to see Jason entering my living room.
I was setup on the couch just watching TV and reading a book. He shoots me a smile and I smile back. This morning I woke up in what I would now consider a normal position at this point. I don’t know how I end up full contact on him, but it happens every night. I get off the phone with Melanie and Jason says, “Is she good?” I nod, “I think so. She says Brantley’s making it worse. He’s on her like white on rice.” He shakes his head, “I tried to tell him, but you know him. I can only say so much.” That was true. “I get it; I also get him worrying. She needs to take it easy, and you know Mel. I don’t think she knows how to do that. She would never do anything to jeopardize that little guy.” To this he laughs, “You sound just like Brantley. Everyone will be shocked if that baby comes out a little girl.” I smile, “God wouldn’t do that to a poor little girl.” He nods, “That’s probably true.” Brantley would lock that poor child in the basement when it came time for her to date. Boys would be mortified to ever even pick her up from the house. Lord help us. I hear Jason laugh, “Did you just picture what it would be like if they had a little girl.” I give a short nod, “That poor child.” He laughs and sits down next to me picking up my feet and putting them in his lap. “Are we stuck here for the day?” He shakes his head, “What do you wanna do?” Ugh. “I didn’t have anything specific in mind. Honestly, can I tell you something without you being weird?” He gives me an odd look, “When am I ever weird?” I laugh a little at that, “I just mean…okay…I was sitting here thinking that the only thing I really would want to do on a day like today is be out on the bike. Obviously, you don’t want me to do that because you think it’s dangerous. I just wanted you to know what I would really like to be doing.” He closes his eyes for a second and I don’t know if he thought it over or he tried not to think about it, but he blurts out, “I’ll see what I can do.” My eyes get a little big, “Really?” He nods. “Sit tight for a hot minute.” Whoa. I didn’t think that would go over that well.
He walks away and I look to the TV where I’m watching reruns of Gilmore Girls. Seriously. Best series ever. I smile at how girly I am as Jason comes back into the room. “We have to go pick up my bike, but I think I have a sissy bar that I can throw on somewhere.” My mouth drops a little, “I’m not a sissy!” He laughs, “It just supports your back since you only have one arm to hold on with.” Oh. Well then. “Okay.” He smiles as I stand up, “Um…can you help me get dressed?” I’m sure that’s killing him. He’s showered me and dressed me, but we still haven’t been together again. I wish we could wait until this darn cast was off, but that was another five weeks. At least. Sigh. He breaks my thoughts with, “Yeah, let’s get you ready and we’ll head out.” I nod as he helps me off the couch and we get upstairs.
I head into the closet and pull out my skinny jeans. I hadn’t really been messing with them because they’re a job to get into, but I wanted to wear my boots that Jason had bought me, so it was necessary. I look to him and he had pulled one of my tanks down that he used to love. He was so good at this. I smile at him and go to grab the proper bra. I get into my panties and he helps clip my bra. He slips the shirt over my head and I look at how the crop cut looks. I’ve lost weight. I really needed to start paying attention, because I don’t want to look sickly skinny. He holds me up while I slide myself into the dreaded skinny jeans. The reason I noticed for sure that I’ve lost weight, is I didn’t even have to squat to get comfortable in these pants. Jason buttons them and says, “Hey, what’s with the face?” I look up to him, “I didn’t even struggle.” He gives me a weird look as I explain, “It usually takes like a good five minutes for me to squat and stretch into these pants. I’ve lost weight.” He nods, “It’s the pills. It’s making you not hungry. We just need to watch because you definitely don’t want to lose anymore.” I nod. I really didn’t. I look down and see though, that the shirt still looks okay. The back was almost all open, so the black from the crop cut and the crisscrossing strings holding the back together look pretty hot.
As usual, J braided my hair down the side, so it wouldn’t get knotted in the wind. I smile at him, “You’ve gotten so good at that.” He smiles. He always liked braiding my hair before we went for a ride. My face was little less noticeable today, so I went into the bathroom and threw on a little makeup. I came back out and Jason pulled me into his arms. I feel him kiss the top of my head, “You ready?” I nod, but I don’t move. I loved stealing moments like this. He didn’t even know what he was giving me with these five extra seconds. I step out of his arms and grab my boots. He helps me get the zippered and we head out.
He helps me into his truck and we head to his house. I haven’t been here in a really long time and Jason hasn’t really been here for a hot minute either. He lets us into the garage and we get out of the truck. I walk to the bike and smile looking down at it. It’s black, chrome, and most of all it’s hot. It’s the perfect day for a ride, so as he puts a bandana around my head I’m already ready to go. “Are we ready?” He shakes his head, “I gotta find that thing. One sec.” I nod and he starts to walk around the garage.
He comes back with something that he puts on the back and hops on. He guides me on and starts the motor. I can feel the rumble underneath me and take it all in. He starts to pull out and I see six to eight bikes pull into his driveway. I don’t recognize any of them and I see someone hop off the front bike that I recognize immediately. It’s the guy who put me where I am right now. Then I see the second guy swing off his bike and I know instantly that that is Junk. This cannot be happening. Jason instantly kills the engine on his bike, and steps off. He blocks me so I almost can’t see the guy and I know he can feel my leg shaking. To be clear, my whole body is shaking, it’s just that he’s making contact with my leg, so I’m sure he can feel it. “Crowley. What brings you to this side of town?” Jason seems so calm, cool, and collected. How is he so calm? “Just needed to be clear about what’s goin down here. I thought that was Creed’s woman.” Jason shakes his head once in the negative, “You thought wrong.” This “Crowley” guy steps one step closer and says, “We gonna have a problem here?”
Jason took one step closer to him removing the contact from my leg. “You tell me. A man breaks into your woman’s home, and leaves her lookin the way that my woman looks right now, you got a problem with that guy? Or no?” Crowley steps back once, “We have a problem then.” Jason confirms, “We have a problem. On top of that, you show up at my home, with back up, to prove your point. How are my brothers going to react to that?” I mean, not the best time to pick a fight. We are surrounded, and as far as I know we don’t have any backup. “Point well made. We don’t want any trouble.” To this Jason scoffs. It’s like he’s poking the bear, “You don’t want any trouble, but you’re tryin to sell drugs in our club. You need to get gone, and you need to do it fast. My boys are ready to go up against you and the moves you’re makin don’t seem well calculated. Are we done?” I can’t see him now because Jason has backed up against me now. All I hear is, “For now.” Then I hear the roar of pipes and they were all gone as fast as they came.
Jason turns around and says, “We gotta go to Brantley’s. Wanna ride or take the truck?” Crap. He pulls me into his arms and I still feel really uneasy. “Um…we can ride the bike if you want. If you think it’s better, we’ll take the truck.” He nods, “We’ll be fine. Let’s get you your r
ide. It might take that scared look off your face.” Doubtful. I nod and he gets back on the bike starting it back up. I wrap my arm around him and I can feel the bar at my back keeping me sturdy on the bike. Jason lives about fifteen minutes from Brantley’s, so it doesn’t take long before we’re pulling down his driveway. We get to the top of the driveway and Brantley comes walking out of the house. His face looks hard and I can’t imagine how he knows that anything is happening.
Jason swings off the bike and Brantley meets him in the driveway. I hear, “Creed…Crowley…Problems…War.” I don’t hear much more than that before both of them are swinging their looks at me. I’m standing beside the bike and completely unsure of what I’m supposed to do. “Um…hi?” I see a smile tug at Brantley’s face and Jason is smiling full on. Jason indicates for me to walk toward him, so I do. I walk right to his side where he puts his arm around me. I look up to Brantley and he says, “You okay?” I sigh into Jason, “Um…it wasn’t pleasant, but J handled it. I didn’t really like seeing that Junk guy, and apparently that guy’s name that threatened me is Crowley. I’m fine though.” Brantley clicks his tongue, “We don’t say that word around here anymore.” I give him a confused look, “What do you mean?” He smiles, “Trey, made a new rule. Fine is never good. We’re not allowed to say it anymore.” Trey was one of the newer guys, but I had met him and his wife Kelly multiple times. I give him a weird nod because I really am fine. “Um…are we okay?” They both nod, “It’ll be good.” I don’t believe them, “I heard talk of war?” Jason squeezes my side as Brantley says, “You’re on a need to know. I need to keep all of this on the down low. Mel needs to be relaxing. Not worrying about all of this.” I couldn’t agree with that more. “She’s not gonna like being kept in the dark.” He nods, “That’s my decision to make, though. I’m makin it. Got me?” His voice left no room for argument so I nod, “Got you.” It was almost whispered.
Jason decides it best to speak now, “Listen, we were heading out for a ride. Do you think that we can see Mel before we head out?” Brant nods, “She’s in the office.” We all walk inside and I hurry into the office. I see her look up and smile at us, “Melly Belly. You look amazing!” And that was the truth. She looked so cute. She laughs, “I do not look amazing. I’m ready to explode.” I shake my head, “We just wanted to say hey before we headed out on a ride.” She smiles and looks from me to Jason, “Mel, it’s not what you think. Don’t get too excited.” Jason pulls me into his side and says, “It’s exactly what you think. You can be excited.” I turn my glare to Jason who is smiling full on at Melanie.
I nudge him with my good elbow and he releases me. “Are you two done?” I look to Melanie who is beaming a smile at me. “We are so done.” She laughs, “I see this.” I go over and hug her anyways and Jason and I head out of the house. I don’t speak to him as he gets on the bike and I do the same. Unfortunately, when you’re mad at someone, riding on a bike with them is not ideal. You don’t have a choice, but to hold on. Even with a sissy bar.
I lean back on it releasing my grip a little from Jason, but he apparently wasn’t having it. He revved the engine and jumped us forward. My body slams into his and I grunt in pain. He turns his head and says, “You okay?” I guess he forgot that my entire body was probably still sore. I nod, but still don’t say anything and he pulls at my good arm and makes me hold onto him tighter. I comply mostly because I didn’t want him to do that again. He takes off down the road and I find myself getting lost in the scenery. My grip does loosen, but only because I was comfortable. I look around taking in all the sights and I have no idea how long we rode for, but I see Jason pulling off at a bar that’s in the next town over. Food sounded pretty good. He indicates for me to get off and I do as I’m told. He gets off, but looks me dead in the eye, “I’m sure you’re hungry. If I had thought this through I wouldn’t have let you wear that if I knew we were gonna end up somewhere like this.” My mouth pops open. I’m so sure. “Stick close, and don’t make me fight anyone.” I scoff at him, but don’t say a word. Reminding myself that I’m not speaking to him right now.
We head inside and he has his arm around my waist. I didn’t want him to fight with anyone because I didn’t want to deal with any of it, so I just let him leave it there. Plus, not speaking to him includes me telling him to stop touching me. We head to a booth in the back and a waitress comes to get our drink order and to give us menu’s. She walks off after checking Jason out and doing a once over on me. Maybe he’s not the one we need to worry about getting into a fight today. That bitch better watch herself, I was not in the mood to play. No idea where that came from.
I sit here looking at the menu and thinking that I really need to pee. I pick out what I want and she brings us our drinks. We place our order and she walks away. I go to stand up and J grabs my good arm. He shoots me a questioning look and I shake my head at him. I mean where else would I be going? I give him a “Yes?” look and he shakes his head at me. I head off to the bathroom and handle my business. When I come back out I had to walk passed the bar to get back to our booth in the back. I look to the corner and see the waitress leaning against the table throwing her boobs in Jason’s face. Seriously? I was gone for two minutes. Maybe five because I had to button my pants on my own. “You can come home with me, if you don’t wanna put up with a wanderin eye.” I turn my head to a sturdy guy at the bar. “No thank you.” He smiles, “I’d never look at a woman like Wanda if I walked in with you on my arm. Did he do that to your face?” Shit. “No. Rival club. I’m good.” He gives me a half nod and I walk over to the booth. “Excuse me, did you take our order already?” The waitress “Wanda” spins and sees me standing there. “Uh. Yes?” I look to the table, “Did we need a refill or something?” She looks to Jason and then back to me. “Uh. No?” I nod, “So is there a reason you’re over here?” She half smirks, “Yeah, this guy was just gonna show me a good time.” To this I snort out a laugh. “Have at it Wanda. I just want my burger.” She gives me a weird look and then turns back to Jason, “So you aren’t with her?” He shakes his head, “We’re together. I asked you to leave like six times. Just do your job, and we won’t have a problem.” She looks back to me and then scoffs as she walks off. I really had to check that burger. She was probably going to spit in our food.
I look up to Jason and he’s giving me a once over, “I was not flirting with her. She wouldn’t leave.” I give him my best “does this look like a face that cares” look and he shakes his head. “Are you gonna keep this up for long?” I nod. He sighs as our food comes and he looks me dead in the eye saying, “Don’t think I didn’t notice that guy talkin to you at the bar.” I roll my eyes, because that is completely irrelevant. He doesn’t say another word as we eat our food. We finish and I decide I better pee again before we head out, so I head back into the bathroom.
When I come back out I hear, “You should treat an ol’ lady like that right.” Seriously. Are people stupid? “You better know your place. You don’t know the first thing about my situation with my ol’ lady.” God. This was ridiculous. “I know enough that I wouldn’t let a rival club near her.” Shit. I step around the corner just as Jason took a step toward the guy. It was time for my silent treatment to stop, “Jason.” His eyes snap to mine. “Please, let’s just go.” He looks to the guy, “Today’s your lucky day.” He walks toward me guiding me out of the bar. “Rival club? How’d he get that?” I knew that was going to be questioned. “He asked if you did it to me. I kept my answer short, so I could get away from him.” He gets us to the bike and hasn’t said anything. I look up to him and see he’s smiling at me. “What?” He laughs a little, “Glad you’re talkin to me again.” I shake my head, “I’m not. I just didn’t want you to fight. I’m done talking as of right now.” He shakes his head and leans in close. He’s a whisper away from my lips as he says, “I can handle no talking, too.” Before I can protest his lips are on mine and his arms are wrapping around my middle. The skin on skin contact is amazing, and unfor
tunately I melt into him. When he pulls away he says, “Maybe I actually prefer not talking.” I shake my head as he gets on the bike and I swing on behind him. He pointed the bike back toward home and I was leaned into him thinking about not talking to him later. Shit.
Chapter Eight
Standing in the kitchen I open up a banana and decide I need to force it down. I bite into it and I feel Jason enter the kitchen. I head over to the refrigerator and grab a water bottle. I set my banana down and start to try to open my water. I get frustrated and decide I don’t need to be hydrated right now, so I set that down and pick my banana back up biting into it. I walk out of the kitchen on the opposite side of Jason and plop myself down on the couch. I hit the button to turn on the TV when I feel the remote being taken from my hand. I look up to see Jason standing there holding my water. He has a flat look on his face as I bite into my banana again. It was the last bite, so I threw the peel onto my coffee table deciding to deal with that later.
I put my focus back on the TV when I see it go black. Seriously? I look up to Jason again who throws the remote onto the other couch. What the hell? He hands me the water that has the cap off and says, “Are you done with this yet?” I take a drink of water and sit back onto the couch not even looking in his direction. I am literally sitting here staring at a blank TV screen when Jason drops down in front of me onto his knees. “Soph, I know you’re pissed. I get it. We’ve had a long day, and I need to be sure that you know what’s goin down.” I close my eyes and sit up setting my water on the coffee table too. I pull my legs up and fall to the side closing my eyes. One second I was trying to relax and the next I’m being lifted off of the couch.
Shifting Minds (Skull Shifters MC Book 2) Page 6
