Chapter Thirteen
Winter stood beside the bed where three boxes sat side by side, trying to decide what she needed for now and what could be put in storage until she left.
It was late in the year and the temperatures had dropped to what she considered “nice.” There were many days that were still warmer than the summers where she’d grown up.
That didn’t help a ton when paring down her closet, but it did mean she didn’t need to keep more than one, maybe two of her hoodies.
Putting those into storage would save her a lot of space.
She stared at the mess on the bed and tried to decide the best way to tackle the job.
The guys had packed everything. But they’d shoved it in whatever boxes and closed it up.
They were more concerned with speed and getting the job done than with organization or storage in mind.
Now, she’d have to go through at least some of it, sort out, and re-pack.
Not that she blamed the guys, and if she’d been there, knowing Kevin knew where she lived and where she was, she couldn’t say she would have done it differently.
After thinking about it for a minute, she picked one box and dumped it on the bed.
This way she would have somewhere to put the things she decided she didn’t need right now.
By the time she finished with all three boxes, she’d pulled out her cut and put it on.
She’d also found enough clothing to last her a few days and had two boxes of neatly folded clothes to send back to wherever they were storing the rest of her things.
She made sure they had her name on them, then set them in the hall outside the door.
She wasn’t sure how it would work here, but she’d mention them to Bishop and see how he wanted to deal with it.
He would likely tell a prospect to deal with it.
She could do that, but she was hyperaware this wasn’t the Angels and she didn’t want to wear out her welcome by issuing orders and building resentment.
It would be more prudent to let Bishop handle it.
That chore done, she grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs. She needed to get some work done, and she wanted a drink while she worked. In the common room, she found there were only a few men around, but Billy was there and there was an empty recliner. That was all she needed.
“Can I get one of those beers you gave me earlier?” She stopped by the bar on her way to the recliner.
“No problem.” He pulled the chilled bottle from the cooler, then set it and a bottle opener on the bar. She fought the urge to roll her eyes as she popped the top off the bottle. Leaving the bottle opener on the counter, she took the bottle with her to the recliner.
“Thanks,” she called over her shoulder.
It only took her a few minutes to get situated in the recliner, laptop open, headphones on, and music blasting. That’s when she realized she didn’t know the Wi-Fi password.
“Hey!” She called for Billy after turning off her music for a moment.
“Something I can help you with?” Billy asked from where he’d flopped onto the sofa not too far away.
“Any idea what the Wi-Fi password is?”
“Not offhand, but Bishop will know, or Hammer.”
“I don’t know where either of them is. I’ll just use the hot spot on my phone for now.” That’s when she remembered she didn’t have her phone. Bulldog still had it. She couldn’t use her hot spot if she wanted to.
“You could call or text them and ask.”
“I’ve got two problems with that.”
“What is it?” Billy asked.
“Well, number one, I don’t have either one’s phone number. And number two, I gave my phone to Bulldog earlier. Hammer’s going to look at it.” She waved one hand, not wanting to go into details about how shitty her life had gotten with yet another stranger.
“Give me a sec.” Billy pulled his phone out and tapped out a message. Several seconds later his phone chimed. “sonsofsinphoenix, no caps, all one word,” he said after a moment.
“Give me a sec.” She pulled up the available networks and scanned the list. It wouldn’t be anything obviously Sons of Sin, not if they wanted to keep it secure.
The network with the strongest signal, well, other than her hot spot, made her close her eyes and shake her head.
Could it be? Had they really done it? She clicked on the connection that said “MarlboroMan,” entered the password Billy had given her, and waited.
It didn’t take but a few seconds, and she was shaking her head.
That movie was more than thirty years old.
And yet, someone, probably the mysterious Hammer she had yet to meet, had thought it was funny to name the network for the clubhouse after it.
It made her wonder if every time he saw the name, it made Hammer smile.
“Thanks,” she said before turning her music back on and focusing on what she needed to get done.
She was almost done with the list of things she needed to do today, at least for this author.
She had another list of social media posts, newsletters, and graphics she needed to make for another author, but they weren’t expecting that for a few more days, so she had time to work on it.
She sat up, arching her back and reaching over her head as she looked around and stretched while she mentally shifted gears.
Working as a virtual assistant to indie authors was time-consuming, but it paid pretty well, well, enough she could live on it, and it didn’t have the overhead of gas back and forth to a traditional job.
And it gave her the freedom to work wherever she wanted, when she wanted, mostly.
As long as she met the deadlines, her authors didn’t care when she got things done.
That meant she could schedule social posts at 2:00 AM if she was having a hard time sleeping or even create teaser graphics sitting here in the clubhouse while her life was in shambles.
“There you are,” Bishop said as he approached her. She hadn’t seen where he’d come from but she smiled when she saw him. “I wondered where I would find you.”
“I’m right here, getting a little work done.” She motioned toward the computer on her lap.
“Got more to do, or are you done for now?”
“I can be done, are you wanting to do something?”
He lifted one shoulder and let it fall.
“I’m getting hungry again. Thought we might go get something to eat.”
She thought about it a second, then looked up at him. “
“What do you have in mind?”
“I hadn’t gotten that far. Is there something you want?”
Winter blinked. Was there something she wanted? Yes. Not to have to make the decision. She decided what to make and where to go three meals a day, every single day, and she was tired of it. But could she say that?
“What I want is for someone else to decide. I’m sure wherever we end up, I’ll find something I’m willing to eat.” She closed her laptop and put it in the backpack, then turned off her headphones and put them away too. “Let me just take this up to the room, then I’ll be ready whenever you are.”
She stood, picked up the bag, and swung it onto her back.
“Oh, I almost forgot. I put two boxes in the hall that can go with the rest of my stuff. I got what I needed to last me a while.” She tugged on one side of her cut, making sure he saw she was wearing it, as requested.
“Why didn’t you tell one of the prospects to deal with them?”
Winter lifted her brows at him. “And how do you think that would have gone over? A stranger in another club’s cut, issuing orders to your prospects?”
“You’re right.” He turned to Billy but didn’t say anything as he jerked his head toward the stairs, telling the prospect without words to take care of the boxes. “Now, let’s go drop that off and find some grub.”