Chapter 10
EMMETT
My own bed is boring.
I chuckled at Nova’s text, quickly typing out a reply. Told you that you should have stayed in mine.
Her reply was instant. Tonight. Six.
I’ll be waiting.
Last night she’d opted to stay at her own place because she’d had an early meeting this morning. What type of meeting? No clue. I’d shared some personal details about my life, but she was as closed off as ever.
And it was really starting to fucking bother me.
In the past two weeks, we’d gotten into a routine. She’d come over each night. We’d have dinner. Over the meal, we’d talk about nothing and everything, the conversation interesting and engaging.
I was still reading the book of Dad’s and last night I’d told Nova what it was about. The night before, we’d talked politics. The night before that, I’d told her about my businesses around town and why I’d chosen to invest locally.
Though I could probably make just as good of a return putting my money in the stock market—I had a chunk there too—I liked being involved in Clifton Forge businesses. Nova had seemed impressed too.
I was a silent partner with a personal trainer who’d started his own gym.
I went in once or twice a week to check in even though I mostly worked out at my home gym.
A buddy of mine who owned a lawn service company had wanted to expand into landscape design, not just mowing and sprinklers, and rather than take a loan out from the bank, I’d bought into his business. Then there were my rentals.
Nova had peppered me with intelligent questions, wanting to know more and what I was going to invest in next and my capital strategy. The interest she took in my life was flattering. And it was a damn shame I couldn’t show her the same.
Still, what we had was working for us. There was no drama. Dash, Isaiah, Leo, Shaw, Luke . . . my friends had all started their relationships with their women with a mess of drama. Not that Nova would be around long-term. She had no intention of starting a committed relationship and neither did I.
But I could admit to myself that the idea had some appeal. It was nice to have someone in my home, my bed, each night.
Too bad she didn’t even want to know my name.
The anonymity had been fine at first. Now it was beginning to fester.
“Hey, man.” Leo came up to my side. He’d been in the paint booth for hours this morning. “What’s happening?”
“Nothing. Just reading a text from Mom,” I lied, tucking my phone away.
Maybe someday I’d tell my friends about her. Maybe not. If we weren’t going anywhere, why share? The guys would only have questions. Their wives would too.
And despite the secrecy, Nova and I had a good thing going. I didn’t need anyone butting in and screwing it up. That, and I’d feel like a damn fool if they asked a question—what does she do for a living, how old is she, where’d she grow up—and I couldn’t give an answer.
I mean . . . I could. I’d just have to run her plates. It was as tempting as the woman herself.
“Want to take off for lunch today?” Leo asked. “Cass and I were thinking of heading to the diner with Seraphina in about an hour. Try to beat the lunch rush.”
“I’m down. That’ll give me time to put the new fender on the Stingray.”
“Want some help? I’m done in the booth for today.”
“That’d be great.” The two of us returned to work and as soon as the fender was on, he went to the apartment upstairs to collect his wife and daughter while I washed up at the shop’s sink.
Lunch with Leo, Cass and Seraphina would normally have been the highlight of my day, but as I sat across a booth from them and watched Leo with his family, a twinge of jealousy pricked at my skin.
Leo and Cass knew each other. Past, present and future. They trusted each other.
Nova’s secrets shouldn’t bother me, because we weren’t headed in the same direction. But yeah, it was bothering me. Maybe it was time to start digging into Nova’s life and figure out what kind of woman would want our kind of relationship.
I’d hacked countless people, but the idea of doing that to Nova felt . . . wrong. Invasive. I’d betray her trust the minute I opened my laptop.
Every morning when I went to my office and checked through my alerts on Warriors and their families, I contemplated a quick search on Nova. So far I’d been able to resist. Except the longer she held out, the harder it became to leave the questions unanswered.
The afternoon dragged once we returned to the shop. The pit in my stomach made it hard to concentrate.
Was this temptation just because of my own trust issues? Dad had taught me early on to be wary of people. Probably from his experience with the club. He had only ever really trusted Mom and the Tin Kings.
I’d heeded that advice and kept my business private from anyone beyond my close circle. Relationships had never been a priority in my early twenties, and after Dad had died, after I’d seen the toll it had taken on Mom, I hadn’t been in a place for a steady woman.
Sex was easy. There were always women at The Betsy and they knew the score when we hooked up. Casual worked for me. It fit into my lifestyle.
So why was this thing with Nova bothering me so much? I had the best of it all. An intelligent, witty woman who liked to fuck. We weren’t in a relationship. This was mind-blowing, casual sex. That was it.
If she didn’t need my name to let me inside her body, that was her choice.
“You okay?” Leo asked around five thirty as we finished up for the day.
“All good.”
“You’ve seem distracted since lunch.”
I waved it off. “It’s nothing.”
“Everything okay with your mom?”
“Yeah, man. She’s good.”
He gave me a nod. “I’m taking off. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
Leo was the last to leave today. Dash had changed his work schedule since school had started so he and Bryce could both pick Xander up from kindergarten.
He’d left around three. Isaiah was out before five to meet Genevieve at her law office.
Presley had locked up the office after Sawyer and Tyler had clocked out at five.
Now there were no vehicles left in the lot.
I locked up the garage and padlocked the gates behind me before heading out on my bike, doing my best to shake off the mood from the day.
It would be better once Nova came over. We’d eat.
We’d have sex. I’d take what I needed from her while she did the same from me.
And since tomorrow was Friday, maybe I’d tell her I was busy.
I’d go to The Betsy and see what was happening.
Not to pick up another woman, but because I hadn’t been there in a month, not since the last time I’d seen Nova there.
Maybe what I needed was a normal night at the bar and some distance from the woman tormenting my thoughts.
The fall air bit through my long-sleeved T-shirt as I rode for home.
Nova and I hadn’t been on a ride lately because it was getting colder.
Maybe tomorrow I’d take a long ride before going to the bar.
It would do me some good to hit the road for a few hours.
Sooner rather than later, the bike would be in the garage, and I’d be driving my truck through the winter.
By the first snowfall, maybe Nova and I would have fizzled out too.
The rumble of my Harley echoed off the walls as I pulled into my garage. I went inside, tossed my keys on the kitchen counter and headed for the office. I had a little time before Nova showed up and I wanted to check a few emails.
The PI in South Carolina had sent a follow-up while I’d been at the shop earlier. I’d glanced at his summary but hadn’t dug in. I logged on to my laptop and spent thirty minutes reading his report and looking at photos.
Tucker Talbot’s ex-wife was the main focus of his summary.
She’d started dating a man since our PI had been tailing her.
He’d been thorough, checking out the guy just in case it was a tie to Montana.
But the boyfriend was clean, and besides a speeding ticket from three years ago, he was just a normal guy who had an ex-wife of his own and rented the occasional porno.
There was nothing new on either of Tucker’s daughters. Both women had inherited their mother’s chestnut hair, but they bore a marked resemblance to Tucker in the shape of their faces and the set of their noses and dark eyes.
The PI we’d hired wasn’t cheap, but I shot him a note, asking him to stay with the ex and daughters. Peace of mind, priceless.
I logged off my laptop and shut it down completely, then went to the safe in the corner, opening it up and taking out some cash.
Back in the days of the club, cash had flowed like a mountain stream brimming with melting snow.
Running protection runs on drug routes and betting thousands on underground fights weren’t legal, but they had been lucrative.
For the most part, I’d saved the majority of mine, whereas most of the brothers my age had blown through their envelopes of cash, spending it on booze and women and bikes. Sometimes drugs.
After Dad had died, I’d had my own dark days when I’d longed for any substance that might take the pain away. Alcohol had been my go-to. Weed an easy score. Cocaine on the worst days.
Not a proud time in my life, but I’d been lucky.
Draven had seen me spiraling and he’d stepped in.
He’d been heartbroken after Dad’s death too, but he’d hit me with the truth—literally, he’d punched me and broken my nose—and told me Dad would have been ashamed.
He’d reminded me that I had a mother who didn’t need to watch her son lose himself to grief.
For Mom, I’d cut the drugs immediately, though the drinking had taken some time.
Even through all of that, I’d been flush with cash. What I hadn’t spent, I’d saved, just like my father had taught me.