Celeste Chapter 8 #2
“You don’t have to defend how you raised her, Celeste. She’s a remarkable young woman. You did a great job,” Zari said.
I had to blink back tears as I said softly, “Thank you. Aliya and Arif were clearly raised well. They’re so loving.”
“We’ve got to stop them, or they’ll end up crying, and you know we can’t handle that shit. On the count of three, you take yours, and I’ll take mine,” Twisted told Hulk, paused, then continued. “One…Two…Three.”
As he said three, Hulk wrapped his arm around my middle and hauled me to him.
Holding me close, he steered me away. I looked back to find that Twisted was doing the same to Zari.
She stared back at me. We waved and grinned at each other.
God, these bikers were crazy, fun, and nothing like what I had pictured.
I let myself be led wherever he wanted to go.
Outside, I was steered away from the clubhouse toward where the bulk of the houses stood.
They were widely spaced apart, leaving each with plenty of yard and privacy.
They didn’t have fences marking their property lines.
It was unlike in town, and I loved it. There was so much space to roam.
I doubted that if you walked across a neighbor’s yard here, you’d be yelled at or threatened with trespassing charges.
As we walked, Hulk pointed out whose houses were whose.
When we finally came to a stop in front of a home, and he said nothing, I knew it was his.
I hadn’t consciously thought about what it would be like, but after seeing it, I knew I’d imagined it as a small bungalow or cottage.
I was wrong. Standing before us was a big house—one that was way too much for only one person to live in.
Suddenly, I was dying to see what it was like inside.
The exterior was breathtaking. The front was a peaked roof with two stories of glass.
A covered porch with thick posts supported the roof, and two massive ones supported it in the middle, where the two levels of glass were.
It was made of medium-stained wood and had dark charcoal-gray siding.
An enormous light fixture hung in the middle of the peaked roof.
“Hulk, this is beautiful. What kind of design is this?” I asked.
“Believe it or not, this is technically a barnominium. Do you know what those are?”
I gasped. “Yes, I do, but none of the ones I’ve ever seen look like this.”
“Me either, which is why I liked it. Come inside and check out the rest. I want to know what you think of it.”
He didn’t have to ask me twice. I eagerly went with him.
He was still holding my hand. We entered through the center pieces of the first story’s glass, which turned out to be a glass door.
There were two wooden ones farther along, on either side of the porch, which I assumed were alternate ways in.
It led us straight into a living room. Beyond the living room, but open to it, was a dining room, and then a kitchen beyond it.
The three created one massive open living space.
The ceiling was two stories tall and vaulted.
Hulk took me left. Off the living space was a bedroom with its own private bathroom. Beyond were two more bedrooms, which shared a bathroom with sliding pocket doors. Behind the last bedroom was a small, covered porch.
We circled through the kitchen, its large island dividing it from the dining area.
Then it was over to the back right corner.
There was an identical covered porch off a mudroom with a half bath.
Next was a walk-in pantry. Last was the main bedroom, which spilled into a bathroom with dual sinks and, Hulk explained, a wet room.
A wet room I discovered was a glassed-in area that housed both a deep tub and a shower.
On the opposite end of the bathroom was the entrance into a large walk-in closet.
My head reeled with how amazing his house was, but Hulk wasn’t done.
Back by the mudroom, I was shown the entrance into a three-car garage and the stairs tucked behind the back kitchen wall, which led upstairs.
The second story was a massive U-shaped loft.
The middle was open to the rooms below. I could picture it as a playroom, a game room, or even an office.
Hulk took me to the island when we were done.
He pulled out a chair for me, and I dropped into it.
“Can I get you anything?”
“I-I, sure, anything is fine,” I muttered.
I was still thinking about the incredible house he just showed me. Hulk smiled and got into the fridge. When he came back, he held two bottles of water. He removed the cap on mine before placing it in front of me. I grabbed it and gulped down two big swallows.
“Your silence is killing me, Celeste. I know you liked the outside. What about inside?”
“Hulk, you can’t believe that anyone would dislike the inside. It has left me speechless. You are incredibly fortunate to have this. And you live here all alone? No one stays with you?”
As soon as I asked, images of him bringing women here to stay the night popped into my mind. My stomach churned. God, why did I ask? I didn’t want to know how many countless women had stayed in this house and had been in his bed.