Chapter Thirty-Three
REACHER WAS A DECENT guy, kinda like a dad to the entire club, but I was struggling to concentrate on his words, while I worried about my lady. My old lady, or so I’d hoped. Had I just lost her before we even got there?
“Honestly, you’re as bad as every one of us when we found our old lady, Harley. We can talk about VP stuff another time, son. Go check on your love.”
Those words permeated, even though the others hadn’t, and I had no idea how that was possible, other than maybe he was giving me what I really wanted, and so I chose to hear him.
“Sorry, Reacher. I’m being disrespectful.”
He laughed. “Like that doesn’t happen to me every fucking day with this lot. Seriously, it’s all good. You’re putting her first, and that’s good. That’s what good men do.”
He waved me past him, taking the beer I hadn’t even opened, and setting it on the ground by him.
“Tell Ally her old man’s getting lonely while you’re in there.”
Old man? No way was I saying that. What the fuck. I shot him a frown, and kept moving, my legs carrying me to Caroline, even without conscious thought or effort.
As I tapped on the door to the building, which led to the lounge first, I held my breath, but I heard a voice call out.
“Come in, Harley.” How the fuck did they know it was me?
I pushed it open and found myself facing a whole fucking gaggle of old ladies. A gaggle? Was there an actual collective term for them? Why the hell was my mind going off on that crazy tangent right now?
“Uh… hi.”
Caroline was in the midst of the women, with them sitting around her and opposite her, but she didn’t look panicked or uncomfortable.
She looked relaxed. Relaxed. How the fuck did they do that, and could I take notes?
I was so fucking relieved to see her like this, instead of terrified and overwhelmed.
“Baby, you doing okay?”
She smiled and reached out a hand to me, so like a puppy I headed over to the seat she occupied, and crouched beside her, taking and gently squeezing her hand.
“I’m sorry about them. They’re jackasses, and I’m incredibly fucked off with both of them.”
“Wow. Classy,” Jamie murmured, and I ignored her completely. The only woman my eyes should be on was the beauty right in front of me.
“Of everyone, I thought I could trust those two to help you feel comfortable here. That’s on me, for expecting anyone here to act like grownups. You want me to take you home now?”
She nodded, but gestured to the nosy group of old ladies still watching and listening, like this wasn’t a private moment between just the fucking two of us.
“Everyone’s been so lovely, Harley. I’m sorry I weirded out on you.
I mean, I know Grease and Rocket, so I know they wouldn’t hurt me, but I guess it was just shock.
I’m not usually in places where men fly at each other and start throwing punches.
” And unfortunately, that was exactly what this place was, wasn’t it?
“That doesn’t happen that often,” Cammy offered, and then she rolled her eyes as the other women laughed.
“If it helps, they might roughhouse with each other, but they’d never put one of the women in danger.
These men are all about protecting the women in their lives.
They’d stand between them and bullets, trust me.
” I turned to stare at Grace in surprise, because we hadn’t really spoken beyond a quick hi and bye now and then, but her words were exactly what Caroline needed to hear, because they were true.
Not of the Rogues, but definitely of bikers Phoenix MC were willing to put their colours on.
“Thank you all for keeping Caroline company, but if my old lady’s ready, I’d like to get her home.”
I turned back to raise my eyebrows at Caroline, a slow smile creeping across my face as her cheeks flushed red again.
Why was that so fucking appealing? It wasn’t that I liked embarrassing her, but it was knowing I made her feel something with my words, or my behaviour.
Never bad things either. She talked about being weird and not good with people, but she was showing me the opposite every fucking day. I wished I could help her see that.
“Nothing weird about you, babe, except for the fact that you seem to keep choosing me.” I stood up and hauled her up from her seat at the same time, grinning as she fell forward against my chest.
“Oops, my bad,” I murmured in her ear.
“I’d say get a room, but we all know you did that already,” Jamie said snarkily, and since she made my old lady giggle, I shot her a grin.
“Catch you all later. Enjoy the lounge.”
Tori practically sneered as she stood up. “I know it’s new, but it smells like feet or something. Men don’t know how to use air fresheners, that’s for sure.”
I dragged Caroline out of the lounge, and back outside, where the noise had dulled appropriately, and Grease practically followed us to my ride.
“You want something?” I asked, turning and putting myself between him and my old lady.
“Wanted to talk to Caroline, man, you wanna sod off?”
“In your dreams,” I said lightly, but Caroline peered around me, so I tucked her under my arm.
“Hi Grease.”
“Just wanted to say sorry about before, Caroline. Rocket can be a real prick, but I punished him for you.”
Dickhead. I rolled my eyes, but she giggled as he winked at her, and I hated that, because it looked too much like fucking flirting. With MY woman.
“You wink at her again, and I’ll remove that eyeball.”
“What if I do it with the other one, VP? Isn’t that a loophole in your little threat there?”
He backed up, laughing at my face, which was probably telling him I’d remove both his fucking eyes.
“Later!” He disappeared among the others, but thank fuck my old lady was giggling again.
“He is funny though, right? I mean, they’re all still a bit too… but, but he’s… cute with it.”
Cute? She found him cute? I turned, dragging her with me, so she couldn’t see anyone but me, and I bent my knees so we were eye to eye.
“He’s cute, is he? You like Grease, Caroline? Think he’s cute?” Her eyes widened, even though I kept my tone light, because possessive or not, I didn’t want to scare her.
“I-”
“Think he’ll look so cute with two black eyes and a broken nose? You think he’d still be a mouthy fucker then?”
She pressed her lips together, but she couldn’t fight her smile.
“Um… probably?”
And fuck me, she was right. I got us the hell out of there, because if she left there in a lighter mood, smiling and not feeling so intimidated, surely it’d leave her with good memories of the place I wanted to call home.
Surely it’d leave her with a little less fear, and that was all I wanted for her.
Caroline
MY MIND WAS BUZZING with ideas for the clubhouse and compound, and we spent the evening discussing Harley’s ideas, while I took notes and even sketched some parts loosely to give me a guide to work to.
I hadn’t done anything like this in so long, and I was eager to get started, only Harley the protective showed a little more of his bossy side.
First he insisted on making me dinner, which was delicious, because he had a knack of cooking chicken in spices and sauce, and filling the house with scents that made me want to drool.
After that, we talked some more before bed, but it wasn’t until the next morning that I was able to work fully on it.
I got set up at my desk in Harley’s shop, and Harley read a message on his phone as he was getting set up.
“No Rocket today. He’s got tattoo appointments at his other place.”
His other place? Tattoos?
“He’s a tattooist too?”
It made sense, I guess. His artwork was gorgeous. Why not tattoo skin and bikes alike?
“Just us, baby… I hope you can restrain yourself from jumping my bones for a few hours.”
I swear he said things like that just to see me blush.
We’d grabbed coffee on the way in, so I set up a new project in my CAD program, and began to lay out the basic clubhouse grounds, marking out the size of the land, and working next on the building, based on Harley’s notes.
We could always reposition it on the land if I placed it wrong.
“Excuse me, any chance you can check on my motorbike for me?” I lifted my head at the unknown voice, and Harley stood up from his chair to greet the man who’d walked in.
He was a little older than Harley, I’d say, and looked friendly enough.
He was carrying a black and silver helmet under his arm, and was smartly dressed with a leather jacket hanging open to reveal his shirt.
“Sure. What’s it doing?”
The guy scratched at his jaw, and pointed outside to a sleek black motorbike that I instantly coveted for myself.
“Nice. ZZR? Any mods?”
He sighed heavily. “No, she’s pretty bog standard, and I was going to upgrade her, but Jesus… Got a baby on the way, so I guess I’ll probably be selling her soon.” He looked conflicted, like the idea of giving up his wheels was breaking his heart, but the idea of the baby was making up for it.
“Congrats. You wanna bring her into the workshop, and I can take a look? What did you say was wrong?”
The guy frowned, leaning his helmet on the counter, and glancing briefly at me.
I ducked my head, but I was still watching him.
He was acting a little shady, and I found myself wishing that Rocket was here after all to back Harley up.
I certainly wouldn’t be much use to him, even though I wished I’d be brave enough to try.
“Uh… You’re Harley, right? Of uh… Phoenix?” And there it was. The hint that he wasn’t really here to get his motorbike looked at, after all.
“Caroline, you wanna get back behind Rocket’s counter, babe?”
Harley stepped between the man and me, blocking him from my sight, but the guy was already protesting.
“Jesus, man. I’m not gonna hurt your woman, I’m just… I swear I used to be good at this. Those fuckers have really messed up my style. My name’s Adam, and I’m a PI. They uh… they wanted me to check you out, and the rest of your club.”