Chapter Eleven
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Bonnie
“I take back everything nice I said about this chair,” Layna grumbled, pulling me from a deep, pleasant sleep.
Looking over, I saw her trying to unfold from the chair she’d clearly fallen asleep in some time before.
“Ow, fuck. Damnit,” she grumbled, then there was a thud as she fell to the floor.
“Shhh,” Luna hissed. “You’re gonna wake up Bonnie and Sully.”
“Where’s Gracie?” Layna asked.
“She snuck out a few minutes ago so she could shower before meeting Willa.”
“What time is it?” Layna asked in what she seemed to think was a whisper, but was probably louder than her speaking voice.
As she spoke, Sully’s fingers started to drift up and down my thigh under the blankets, letting me know I wasn’t the only one awake and eavesdropping.
“Five.”
“She woke up at five ?” Layna asked. “Blasphemous.”
“Where are you going?”
“Basement. I need a bed. Come on,” she said.
The two of them gathered their blankets and made their way to the basement. Where, apparently, there were beds for some reason.
Alone, Sully’s fingers kept moving up and down my thigh, then started to slip over my hip and up my back.
It was a chaste touch, all things considered, but my desire was a wildfire burning through me. My breath went fast and shallow, my skin warmed, and an ache grew in my core.
When his fingers slid up under my shirt and touched my bare skin, a little mewling sound escaped me.
Sully’s other hand lifted, sliding up my jaw, then tilted my head up.
My breath caught and my heart fluttered at the warm look in his eye, at the intent I saw there as his gaze dipped to my lips, then back up again.
I swear my whole body tingled as his head dipped and his lips started to brush mine.
Then just like that, the front door opened.
“The fuck is this fire hazard shit?” a voice asked, making me fly away from Sully just before the overhead light flashed on. “Oh,” the man said, glancing between me and Sully.
“‘Sup, Voss?” Sully asked, raking a hand through his hair as he let out a sigh. “Early, isn’t it?”
“Or late,” Voss said with a barely perceptible twitch to his lips. “Here to relieve the twins.”
“Right,” Sully said, nodding.
The moment, it seemed, was gone.
Sully stood, leaning over and starting to put the lids on the candles that had them, then blowing out the ones that didn’t.
I sat there, watching the gray smoke dance around under one of the closed candle lids before it died down, wishing my desire could extinguish that quickly.
The ache between my thighs only seemed to intensify with each passing moment as I turned to watch Sully moving around, still in his ridiculous duster over his equally absurd Hawaiian shirt with little kittens on it.
“Was that Layna’s car out front?” Voss asked.
“She and Luna are sleeping off the tequila in the basement,” Sully said, grabbing pillows off the floor.
“Are you… cleaning?” another voice asked, coming in from the back door this time.
I glanced over just in time to see the ‘twins’ Voss had mentioned moving into the common room. Both were tall and fit with tanned, golden skin, impeccable bone structure, and dark eyes.
The one in the back smiled, revealing two deep dimples. “You got a fever or something, man?” he asked, making his brother chuckle, revealing another dimple, but just one this time.
So he really was as allergic to chores as he’d claimed if these guys were ribbing him so hard about cleaning up a few pillows and blankets.
“Yeah, but what the fuck happened in that kitchen?” another man asked as he came out of the kitchen.
“I’ll clean that,” I offered, pulling the duster more tightly around my body, suddenly wishing I still had my sweatshirt on around all these strangers.
“No,” the men chorused, making me stiffen.
Sully held a hand up toward them. “And by that, honey, they mean my ass will clean up the mess.”
“Okay. Well, can I maybe make breakfast then?” I asked.
“Did someone say breakfast?” Dezi asked, appearing out of thin air, shirtless, and already snacking on a granola bar.
Did these guys ever go home?
“I guess you’re obligated now,” Sully said with a warm smile. “I’ll clean. You cook.”
It sounded positively… domestic.
“Okay,” I agreed, smiling.
“I stocked the place up yesterday,” one of the twins said.
“That’s Rune,” Sully explained, speaking of the twin with two dimples. “He’s older.”
“By four minutes,” the other brother, with the one dimple, declared.
“And that’s Croft,” Sully introduced. “Guys, this is Bonnie. Who even bakes her own bread with this living goo at her apartment.”
“You got sourdough?” Dezi asked, eyes bright. “I saw someone make a chocolate swirl sourdough bread. Ever make that?”
“Not yet. But that sounds like a fun experiment.”
“If I got you some starter, could you make it? I’ll pay you.”
“Dez,” Sully said in a warning voice.
“I mean it. My girl’s loaded. I’ll pay good money for some chocolate swirl bread.”
“You are under no obligation to make anything,” Sully said, seeming to know that I found it impossible to say no to people if they asked something of me. It was a huge part of the reason I’d needed to go no-contact with my family. Who knew it about me. And walked all over me because of it.
“I know,” I said, giving Sully a smile. “But it really does sound fun. I’ll make it. But you’re going to have to show me the video too.”
“Okay. What time is it? Think the bakery is open yet?” Dezi asked, patting his pockets to find his phone.
“They’re not gonna give you their sourdough, man,” Rune said.
“Me? Who keeps them in business? Sure they will. I’ll be right back,” Dezi said, holding a hand out at me, like he was willing me to stay put.
“I’ll be here,” I agreed, nodding. “He’s kind of like a puppy,” I declared once he was gone, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste.
“Who has a rabid streak,” Voss said under his breath as he moved out the back door.
“Okay, so, breakfast,” Sully said, clapping his hands, making me jump. “Sorry. Hangover?” he asked.
Come to think of it, there was a pounding in my head. “Maybe a little,” I admitted.
“Gotta hydrate,” Sully said, slinging an arm over my shoulders and pulling me along with him into the kitchen. “Lucky for you, I am a connoisseur of all things electrolytes. I’ve got the classics: lemon-lime, fruit punch, and grape. I have the fun tropicals. I even have mocktails. And, yes, if you’re wondering, I do sometimes shake a little packet into my actual cocktail to make shit interesting.”
“I can always go for some lemon-lime,” I told him as I went over to the fridge to see what they had in stock. Which was… everything.
So I took out some eggs, veggies, cheese, and a package of bacon, found the pancake mix, then got to work.
Sully made me an electrolyte drink, then turned on some music and started cleaning.
“So was that okay?” Sully asked, making my belly tighten, thinking he was talking about the almost kiss.
“What?” I asked.
“Last night. The girls. I thought it would be more fun if we had some company.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, nodding. “Yeah, I already knew I liked Layna. But Gracie and Luna seem really nice too.”
“Luna is probably the most like you. But Gracie is the glue to the whole friend group.”
“And they’re all…”
“Princesses,” he supplied for me. “The daughters of club members.”
“Are any of them actual sisters?”
“No. I mean, they have siblings. But no one in the little girls’ group are actual sisters.”
“They’re so close.”
“The club does that,” Sully agreed, loading the dishwasher with an efficiency that said he knew exactly what he was doing, even if his buddies thought he was incapable of cleaning up. “It’s a business. But, even more so, it’s a family.”
“Is that what people are drawn to?” I asked. “The family thing?”
“Honestly, to a lot of the guys, I think that is actually the part they were least interested in at first. Guys like Voss or Dezi, even Perish. They were seeking secure work and fun times. They learned to love the family, though.”
“What about you?” I asked. “Did you want the family?”
“I guess that was part of it. I was in the military for a long time, so I was accustomed to the brotherhood. But my own actual family isn’t close. My folks divorced a few years back. Both moved to different parts of the country. Built new lives. There’s no real love lost there. This club… was everything I wanted and needed.”
“That must be really nice.”
“Can I ask you about your family?”
“I went no-contact with them a while back,” I admitted. It was the first time I’d ever said that out loud. It kind of sounded awful. But I think some people didn’t realize how bad things had to be for someone to cut off family.
“Sorry to hear that. That couldn’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t. But it was better than letting things continue as they were. My parents… they weren’t good people. And I had a hard time standing up to them. Actually, to cut them off, I had to move. Otherwise, there was no way I was going to be able to stand my ground with them. They’re the type to bulldoze right over boundaries. This was… easier.”
“But it also isolated you.”
“I mean, not really. I didn’t have anyone there.”
“Job, friends…”
“No. I mean, yeah, I had a job. I was working in this awful little cubicle. My closest coworker did nothing but trash talk everyone else in the office. I dreaded going in each day. Finding my job here was a complete dream.”
“Did you have training?”
“On the job. Courtney originally just helped me handle the front desk and do chores around the place. But when she realized how much I love dogs, she started training me. Then I got a promotion and raise. And now I do most of the grooming.”
“Seems like you were meant to come here.”
“I really love it. It kind of has a small-town feel, but literally everything is close by. I can stop at the craft store, bookstore, and grocery place on the way home. And just about everywhere delivers. I’m just trying to save up to get out of my building.”
“Got any other places in mind?”
“Depends on how much I can save. On the hopeful side—that is more a pipe dream than anything—I would love to get my own townhouse. But I might have to settle for a bigger apartment that allows dogs. Or maybe a duplex, if I can find one. The market around here is… rough.”
“Think I heard one of the guys saying they were outbid four times in two months. Damn, those look perfect,” he said as I flipped four pancakes, revealing their perfectly golden tops. “You know, I should probably taste one. Just to make sure they came out right.”
The conversation went in a lighter direction after that, Sully mostly filling me in on more members of the club and the other club princesses who hadn’t been around for our little movie night.
By the time all the food was set on the table for everyone to help themselves, I felt like I practically knew all of them.
“I got it!” Dezi declared, rushing in holding a plastic container full of gooey sourdough starter above his head like a trophy. “I got it.”
“Well, she just finished making breakfast, so maybe we can give her a chance to eat before we demand more cooking from her?” Sully suggested.
“I guess… are those pancakes?” Dezi said, going from mopey to delighted in a blink.
“Easily distracted,” Sully said with a smile as he pulled me out to the common room, then over to the poker table. “Want to play?”
“I don’t know how,” I admitted. “So, we’ll play in a team,” he suggested, waving over a few of the guys as they came out with their plates.
Then we spent the next two hours playing poker, talking, laughing.
And it was so surprisingly… easy.
There was none of the usual awkwardness I felt in social interactions. Because, unlike in those past situations, for some reason, I didn’t feel like an outsider here. Even if, objectively, I was far more out of place in their clubhouse than I had ever been anywhere else in my life.
“Four of a kind,” Rune said, laying down his cards on the table next to an alarmingly large pot.
“Wait, so… you’re sure?” I whispered in Sully’s ear as I looked down at the cards in my hands.
“Positive,” he said. “And do me a favor and gloat about it,” he added. “Rune has kicked my ass the last four times we played.”
Taking a deep breath, I lowered my hand to the table dramatically. “I might be mistaken, but I think this is a royal flush,” I said, beaming at the look of shock on Rune’s face.
Then I leaned forward, gathering the pot, and scooping it toward me.
“You won’t be needing this.”
“You gotta play Layna next,” Croft said.
“Why Layna?” I asked, looking at Sully.
“Layna is a professional poker player,” he told me.
“That’s a job?” I asked.
“Believe it or not, yeah. There are big matches all around the world. With the kind of pots that could change lives.”
“Wow. That’s really cool. But I don’t think I will be playing Layna anytime soon, then.”
It was right about then that the club’s president came in, zeroing in on Sully.
“I should go get dressed,” I said, even if my day clothes and sleep clothes were practically identical. Fallon clearly wanted to talk to Sully. So I needed to excuse myself.
“And then… bread?” Dezi asked.
“Yes, then bread. But, remember, it’s going to have to rise for a while before I can bake it.”
Sully reached to give my hand a squeeze. Was it thanks for knowing to excuse myself? Or reassurance that everything was okay, even if Fallon looked particularly tense?
I had no idea.
But I moved off down the hallway, dropping down onto Sully’s bed, suddenly in desperate need of a nap on a bed after sleeping in a cramped position on the couch for only a few stolen hours that morning.
Dezi was just going to have to wait a couple more hours for his bread.