Chapter Nineteen Ro
Chapter Nineteen
Ro
The door swings open, and Gambit ambles into the room, looking like he’s been up for twenty-four hours. Bags are forming under his eyes, and his movements are stiff and slow.
“I know we need to talk about what happened yesterday, but right now all I can think about is sleep.”
“What happened?” I stand from the bed.
He shakes his head. “Can’t say.” He collapses onto the bed, with a satisfied sigh.
“Alright. Um.” I bite my lip. “Are you okay?” I kneel on the bed beside him.
“Fine, just exhausted.” He tilts his head. “Are you okay?” He reaches up and cups the side of my face. I soak up the warmth of his touch.
“Better. Happy to have it off my chest,” I admit.
“Except that wasn’t all, was it?” He frowns, brown eyes searching mine.
Damn this man and his freaky observation skills and intuition.
“No.”
Exhaling, he runs his hand through tousled hair. “We’ll get to the rest later.” Stripping out of his clothes, he dons a new set of sweats, walks over to the bed, and falls into it face-first.
“I won’t lie and say I’m not upset, but it’s for different reasons than you’d think. And yes, I have plenty more questions, but this bomb just decimated the belief system I’ve been operating on for the past decade or so. It’s going to take time to adjust to that.”
“Fair,” I whisper.
“I’ll say this one thing before I crash.” Rolling onto his back, he stares up at me. “Do not ever withhold anything from me again. If you have a problem, you bring that shit to me immediately.”
“Gam—”
“Fuck that, Ro. The only thing I want to hear you say in response is ‘Yes, daddy.’”
I whimper at the deep tone he reserves for that connection. “Yes, daddy,” I whisper.
“Good girl.” He closes his eyes. “Let me catch a few hours.”
“Do I have to stay here?”
“It’s not a prison; just make sure you have Viking or even War with you.”
I wince.
Gambit chuckles. “He’s actually a fan of you, so I wouldn’t turn my nose up at him.”
“He is,” I whisper.
“Yep. Good man to have in your corner.” His words slur, and his breathing evens.
That went far better than I expected. The time apart allowed me to think and calm down.
Tending to the women of the club, changing bandages, and prescribing medicine, I think, would be most helpful, and it would give me a sense of purpose.
I get out of bed and get dressed for the day in a pair of black jeans and a scooped-neck lavender t-shirt, wearing a rhinestone belt. Adding leave-in to my hair, I wrestle it into a crown braid that wraps around my head. Adding a little makeup, I exit the room and find the clubhouse alive and well.
“Rowan.” I turn my head and find Stone standing behind a petite, curvy woman with walnut-brown skin, kind brown eyes, and lemonade braids with a diamond pattern worked into the part.
Her white sundress with orange blossoms complements her shape, nipping in at the waist before billowing out just above her knees.
I walk over to them. “This is my wife, Tinsley. Tinsley, this is Gambit’s girl, Ro.”
“Hi.” I hold out my hand and we shake. She’s adorable. Petite, and curvy with a welcoming smile, she’s not the person I would’ve picked for the hardened leader.
“It’s nice to meet you. I just stopped in to visit Stone on my way to the shop and drop him off lunch.”
“Shop?” I glance at her, curious.
“Oh, I own my own beauty parlor. I’m a cosmetologist.”
“That’s amazing.” The normalcy is astounding. This club has the balance of family life and club life down.
“Thank you.” She smiles.
“Ro is a nurse,” Stone explains.
“Oh. That’s a demanding career. I went to nursing school for a while, but my heart lied elsewhere.”
“It looks like it worked out perfectly for you.”
“Thanks to Stone.” She side-hugs the older man, who beams like a kid on Christmas.
That’s adorable.
“Where’s little man?” Stone asks.
“Off with his Uncle Titus. I think he took him fishing this time.” She shakes her head.
“Good. Then he’ll come home tired out,” Stone says, making Tinsley laugh.
“We have a very energetic twelve-year-old son,” Tinsley explains.
“That is an interesting age. I raised my sister after my mother died, and once those hormones hit.” I grimace, and they laugh.
“It was nice to meet you, Tinsley.”
“Likewise. My schedule is booked. I think I’ll be home around five o’clock.”
“I wish I could give you a time.” Stones' smile droops.
“No worries, handsome. You know where to find me.” She gives him a sweet kiss and walks off glowing like she swallowed the sun. These men love their women hard. Could Gambit and I ever get back here?
“I heard you did excellent work yesterday under D’s watch.” Stone studies me. His intensity is unnerving. I can see how he’d be able to command his crew.
“It was nice to get back to work. I’m not used to having this much free time. Sad, I know.” I shrug.
“You’re essentially a single parent. It doesn’t leave space for much else, I'd imagine.”
“It’s true. She’s getting ready to head to college, and I have no idea what to do with myself.”
“Is that why you’re trying things out with Gambit?”
“The timing for it is perfect.” I avoid lying.
“We need him to have his head on straight.”
“You think I don’t want the same? Distractions lead to poor decision-making and accidents. I’ve been looking out for him since we were kids. That hasn’t changed, whatever disagreements we’ve had. If you believe nothing else I say, know that to be true.” I don’t back down under his stare down.
He nods slowly. “Good. He’s going to need you to have his back. We need him at optimum strength for what’s coming.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask skeptically.
“Because I need to know you’re not going to hop off the ride in the middle of the journey.”
“I’ll see him through whatever the hell you have going on.” I cock my hip as my irritation grows.
“Good, because you’re going to be the one driving the rig down to Los Angeles.”
“What?” I blink, thrown by the abrupt shift.
“I want you guys out of here by noon.”
Whatever happened last night, he wants Gambit distanced from it.
“I’ll be packed.” A sense of urgency has me retracing my steps to the room to get my things in order.
Nothing is going to happen to Gambit on my watch if I can help it.
Not when I’m so close to having him back in my life.
The elephant in the room has been addressed; it can only get better from here.
Six hours later, I follow the directions off the highway. “Where are we going?”
“To meet up with a brother from the Los Angeles chapter. We’re mixing a little business with pleasure. I need a safe place to debrief him, and I think we could both use a little fun.” He gives me a lazy smile that makes my heart race.
Turning off the highway, I see a familiar backdrop on the horizon. “Wait. Why do I know this place?” I whisper.
“Let’s park and find out,” Gambit insists.
My jaw drops as I realize we’re on a boardwalk. “Wait. Is this...?”
“The filming location for the Lost Boys. One of the greatest horror movies of all time. That we made Lotte sick to death of? Yes.”
I squeal, eagerly pulling into a parking space. “How did you do this?” I peer through the windshield, trying to take it all in.
“Called in a favor. You ready? We have an hour until we meet them to explore.”
“Let’s go.” Parking the car, I scramble out, slamming the door as I pull out my phone and take pictures of the iconic boardwalk. Twining our fingers, he takes the lead, guiding me down the wooden walkway. I take in the booths with games, snacks, and touristy tchotchkes.
“I figure we should start at one of the most recognizable locations. The carousel.” We pause in front of the circular structure, and I drink in the details. Locked away, it still holds the charm.
“I can just picture all of them walking on this,” I whisper. Taking out my phone, I snap photos. “I never thought I’d see this in person.”
“There’s plenty of life for you to live, Ro.” He runs his thumb in a circular motion on my hand. “Let’s take a picture together.”
Snuggling up to his side, I can’t hide my smile as he puts us both in the frame and takes a few shots. “You have to send that to Lotte.”
He laughs. “You’re right.” Typing quickly, he presses send.
Her response is immediate. I giggle at her screaming smiley face with a mass of exclamation points behind it.
“I think she approves,” he says amused.”
Of what? I want to ask questions, but I also want to let him lead. We can take whatever pace he needs.
“Are you ready to see the steps where they race motorcycles? It’s close by.”
“Yes.” I rock back and forth on my heels to expend energy.
He leads me over to a set of stairs that lead up to large white and pink columns.
We spend a few minutes taking more photos and falling into an easy rhythm.
With the secrets between us brought to light, the underlying distrust and unease are rapidly vanishing.
Continuing our walk, we stop by more movie filming locations before we make our way to the wharf.
Finding a bench in a low-traffic area, we look out over the water.
“When I first came out here to California and I got a chance to visit here, I missed you so keenly. It felt wrong to be here exploring this without you.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
He squeezes my hand. “I know why you did it now, but it hurts you didn’t trust me to figure things out for us.”
“No. I didn’t want to burden you—”
“You were never a burden.”
I sigh. “I know you think that, but I’d just seen you spend years taking care of Lotte and trying to get her on the straight and narrow after she got together with that pathetic, sorry excuse of a man. You deserved freedom and a chance to live. Not being locked back into responsibility.”
“And what about you, Ro?”
“I did what was necessary. We both know life isn’t always fair.”
He growls. “I hate that for you.”
“I know.” I close both my hands over his fist.
“Why didn’t you spend the money to set you and Betti up at least?”
“Because my father—.” My voice cracks. Sniffling, I swallow down the lump forming in my throat.
“Led me to believe our mother took it when she ran away.” Tears flow down my face.
I hiccup. “F-Funny story, she didn’t. He killed her and hid it till the damn day he died.
” Hugging myself, I rock back and forth.
“Rowan.” He steps toward me. I shake my head and step back.
“If I stop or accept comfort, I won’t be able to answer your questions. So please. Just....” I shake my head.
“Son of a whore’s son.” He spits on the ground. “How did this happen?”
“He used the storm to cover it up. Between the flooding and the ruckus, it was easy enough. She had a long history of drug abuse, and trying to leave Pa. No one was shocked.” I duck my head.
“Least of all me. It was what I was waiting to happen deep down. For her to fall off the wagon again and leave me holding the bag. Maybe that’s why I just accepted it.
I felt jinxed, and the thought of dragging you down with me made me sick. ”
“Rowan.” He runs a hand up and down my arm.
“You asked me for honesty, and this is it. The ugly truth. You were the best thing that ever happened to me. I knew exactly what I was getting into with you, and I never regretted it for one single second. I am so sorry that I made you doubt yourself, and us. But at the time, it was the only thing I felt I could do.”
He closes his eyes, and we sit on the bench overlooking the water. “So where do we go from here, Ro?”
“I was hoping you’d tell me,” I admit.
“What do you want?”
“You. I want this to work, Gambit. Being here and seeing you again. Knowing that Betti is going to be fine living her life without a looming shadow over her has returned my freedom.”
“How would it work?”
“I don’t know the details. But I’m willing to be flexible and prove myself. I know I hurt you badly. If I could take it back, I wouldn’t.” I hold up my hand when he starts to protest. “Because you might not end up here, and we can both see it’s exactly where you need to be.”
Humming, he nods. “I see your point, even if I don’t fully agree.
You did what you did out of love. Misguided as it might’ve been, we were young, and this is the purest, most selfless act I think anyone has done for me.
I want us back. No one ever had my heart like you do.
I think it’s obvious you feel the same.”
I nod as my heart tries to escape by crawling up my throat.
“So, we’re doing this?”
“Yeah, baby girl, we are.”
I throw myself in his arms, laughing and crying like an escapee from an insane asylum. We’ve been on a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs since he came back into my life.