Chapter Eight
Lyssa
I eyed the items I’d pulled from the hobby store sacks and wondered what I’d gotten myself into. Note to self: Never complain I’m bored.
I picked up a small mallet, which was far heavier than I’d anticipated.
I assumed it went with the large metal block and other items I’d found in that particular sack.
Looked like I’d be Googling how to use it.
It wasn’t that the idea of crafting something didn’t intrigue me. I’d just never tried it before.
Whoever had shopped for the items had also picked up kits for making soap, candles, jewelry, and even all the basics I’d need for painting canvas.
Not that I had any artistic talent. I had no idea how to even start using any of the stuff, but I had to admit, Beast had ensured I’d have something to do.
He’d even had Forge drop off a box of books, a combination of romance and mystery.
“Now I just need someone to talk to other than myself,” I said, looking around the empty house.
My dad and grandfather had left three days ago.
Ever since, Beast had holed up at the clubhouse trying to do his part to track down Tony and find the women who’d been auctioned. Which left me completely alone.
I turned on the radio so the house wouldn’t be so quiet, then I decided to read the soap and candle instructions.
If nothing else, I could make some for gifts for my family and set them aside for birthdays or Christmas.
Unless I was terrible at crafting. I knew how to defend myself, with my body or weapons.
And thanks to Wire and Lavender, I knew my way around a computer.
Math had always come easy to me, but things like this?
Being creative? I was stepping outside my comfort zone.
It looked like they’d bought everything I’d need for making glycerin soap bars.
I melted the cubes, then played around with colors, adding decorative pieces to the insides, and tried out every mold they’d bought me.
Hours had passed before I realized the sun had set and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
I heard the front door slam and a heavy tread coming my way.
“Tink?” Beast called out.
“In the kitchen.”
He came through the doorway and halted, staring at the mess I’d made. “I see you found a use for some of the stuff I had Iggy drop by the house. We won’t need soap for a while.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I got carried away trying it all out. I think I’ll get some sort of paper to wrap them in? Or maybe small boxes.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Did you have fun?”
“Yeah, surprisingly I did. I’ve never really done this sort of thing, but once I started I didn’t want to stop. Maybe I can find a place to store stuff as I make it? I thought I might put a bunch of soap and candles aside for presents over the upcoming year.”
“Or sell them at the local craft fair,” he said, picking up one of the first sets I’d made with an indigo color. “Charlotte liked that sort of thing. She couldn’t make any of it herself, but she’d run off to every fair that came to town. I think there’s quite a few over the year.”
“That could be fun,” I said, thinking it over. I’d never been to anything like that before. Then again, until today, I hadn’t known I was capable of making something like soap.
“Since your stuff has exploded all over the kitchen counters and table, I guess this means we’re ordering dinner out.”
“Or…” I leaned my hip against the counter. “Your clubhouse has a kitchen and I know you have burgers and stuff. Why don’t we go over there and eat tonight? It will almost be like going out to a restaurant. If it was a place with naked women and sex.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know you grew up around a club, but Tink, I’m not sure I want to take you to the clubhouse when my brothers are partying with the club whores.”
“I’ll wear my property cut,” I said.
“And if one of the girls decides to put her hands on me?” he asked.
“Then the bitch better be ready for a lesson in manners. I don’t share.
For that matter, just so we’re perfectly clear, my dad has been faithful to my mom all these years and I expect the same from you.
The moment your dick accidently slips into someone else, you’d better learn to sleep with one eye open because I’ll be biding my time for revenge. ”
He growled soft and low. “Fuck but you’re sexy when you get all bloodthirsty. Like a damn Valkyrie.”
I shoved his chest to get him to back up a bit. “You’re not right in the head.”
He grinned. “Yeah, but you like me just the way I am. If I were all normal and shit, you’d be out of here so fast my head would spin.”
He wasn’t wrong. Normal was highly overrated, whatever the hell “normal” actually was.
Having been raised by the President of the Dixie Reapers MC, what I wanted in a man was slightly different from the girls I’d met in high school and college.
I’d never understood women who swooned over a man in a suit.
Give me a guy in a leather cut, grease-stained ripped jeans, and a tight T-shirt and I was in heaven.
Granted, my grandfather had worn suits for the longest time and still tended to dress more business casual than anything else.
As much as I loved my grandfather, I was definitely a daddy’s girl.
“So can we? Go eat at the clubhouse?” I asked.
“Sure, Tink. Put up what you can of this mess, then get ready. I think it’s going to rain so we’ll drive over in your Cadillac. Don’t want you getting soaked on the bike, even if it is a short trip.”
“The big, bad Pres is going to show up at the clubhouse in an Escalade? You sure you can handle the fallout?”
He swatted my ass. “Yep. Be ready in an hour. I need to check on Pirate and Bandit.”
Now why the hell hadn’t I thought to let them out of their room?
It wasn’t like they could talk back, but at least I wouldn’t have looked like an idiot talking to myself today.
Of course, I’d have to make sure they couldn’t reach any of the soap stuff.
I wouldn’t want them to get sick if they tried to eat or drink it.
I cleaned up what I could without having a place to pack it all away, then ran upstairs to shower and change.
It was cold outside so I dried my hair before pulling it back in a ponytail.
I left a few wisps of hair around my face.
Even though I wasn’t big on makeup, I did take the time to at least enhance my eyes and use a lip stain in a deep raspberry.
If I was going in there on Beast’s arm, as his old lady, I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t embarrass him.
Well, not with the way I looked at any rate.
I couldn’t make any promises when it came to my behavior or my mouth.
The long-sleeved black shirt I’d chosen had cutouts down the arms with little silver buttons holding the pieces together.
It fit snug across my breasts and nipped in at the waist. I’d always felt chunky in it, but Beast was slowly showing me I was sexy just the way I was.
He loved my curves, and I was starting to like them more too.
My skinny jeans clung to me like a second skin, and I’d tucked them into the boots I’d been wearing the first day I’d met Beast, since he seemed to like them so much.
Or rather, he’d said something along the lines of every time he saw me in these boots he wanted to fuck me.
I wasn’t sure it was the boots to be honest. He seemed to be set to “want to fuck” default whenever we were in the same room.
I couldn’t complain. The man had given me so many orgasms there were nights I thought I might die from pleasure.
I hurried downstairs and nearly tripped over my feet when I saw him standing by the front door.
He’d apparently changed clothes while I was in the shower.
The jeans he’d put on hugged his thighs in a way that made me tingle.
His shirt was tight across his chest and biceps.
But the leather cuff on his wrist nearly made me melt into a puddle at his feet.
Well, that and his scent. I didn’t know what cologne he’d put on, but it made me want to rip my clothes off and beg him to take me right here. Holy. Shit.
“You all right, Tink?” he asked, a smirk gracing his lips.
“Y-Yeah. Just need my property cut.”
He took it off the hook by the door and helped me into it.
His fingers brushed the bare skin peeking through the cutouts on my shirtsleeves and a shiver raked my spine.
It was going to be a long damn night. Maybe we could eat fast and come back home.
Did he have any idea the impact he had on me?
The way just looking at him made my knees weak?
That his scent made my panties damp and my nipples hard?
The heat in his eyes suggested he knew damn well what he was doing to me and was loving every second of it. Fucker.
I handed him the keys to my Escalade, then pulled open the door. He slammed his hand against the wood, making it shut as he gripped my hip with his other hand. He leaned in, the heat of him pressing against me, his lips by my ear.
“You’re mine, Tink. Mine to touch. To kiss. To fuck. Anyone touches you tonight, and I’ll remove their hands.”
I glanced at him over my shoulder. “You really think your club would do that?”
“Not mine, but we have some visitors. I haven’t dealt with them much in the past so I can’t say for sure they’ll behave.”
“Do I have permission to teach them a lesson if they get out of hand?” I asked.
It was second nature to protect myself, but for Beast, I’d hold back if I needed to.
Back home, my dad wouldn’t have had an issue with me putting a man on his ass.
But this wasn’t the Dixie Reapers, and I was still feeling my way when it came to the Reckless Kings.
As the only old lady, there wasn’t much for me to go on.
“You won’t have to, Tink. I protect what’s mine, and, baby, my name is written all over you.”