Chapter 9
Sadie
The sound of voices coming from somewhere in the apartment woke her from a bad dream.
She was dreaming she was back at her car in Big Dick’s parking lot, but this time, instead of Jed showing up and scaring the attacker away, the man managed to knock her out and carry her off.
Then her dream flashed to her waking up and finding Tinker looking down at her with a menacing smile on his face.
Luckily, she woke up before it got any further.
She tossed the covers off and went to the bathroom to take care of business.
She didn’t look at herself in the mirror until she was finished.
The large bandage on her head wasn’t something she could easily hide.
“Oh, God. I look terrible.” Would Dick take one look at her and tell her to go home until she looked better? She hoped not. She needed the money.
Maybe it didn’t look as bad without the bandage?
She peeled it off, hissing as it took a layer of skin with it.
She found a washcloth and wet the corner to try and clean up a little more around her injury.
“Huh.” The stitches didn’t look nearly as bad as she thought they would.
There were four nice, neat stitches in a perfectly straight line. Wow. Bacon did an amazing job.
She checked the bedside clock for the time and saw it was 7:15. Crap. She was running behind. She needed to move it if she was going to drop off her nephew at school on time.
Following the sound of voices to the kitchen, she found Oliver already dressed and eating breakfast. She almost stumbled when she heard him ask Jed, “What are you doing here so early?”
“Sadie promised me breakfast,” Jed replied. As excuses went, she thought that one wasn’t too bad. At least his brain was firing faster than her own this morning.
“Oh.” Oliver was good with that answer. He must be fully awake because he changed the subject so fast, it gave Sadie whiplash. “Guess what, Jed!”
“What, buddy?” Jed chuckled.
“We got you a Christmas present! I can’t wait for you to open it!”
Oh boy. Time to make her presence known. She hadn’t wanted Jed to know they’d gotten him a present because she didn’t want him to feel obligated to buy them one in return.
Jed was standing with his sexy butt leaning against the counter, fully dressed, a cup of coffee in one hand and his eyes locked on Oliver. God, that smile of his just about did her in. Her heart did that crazy flip thing, and she had to remind herself to rein it in. It was too soon to go there.
She padded her way over to the table, her hands settling on the back of the chair next to Oliver. Holy cow. He was already eating scrambled eggs and pancakes. She shot wide eyes toward Jed. He shrugged a shoulder and took a drink of coffee.
“Wow, buddy. You’re already up and dressed. How did that happen?”
“Jed got me up and picked out my clothes.” Oliver grinned before shoveling a syrup-covered bite of pancake into his mouth. His grin fell away as he caught sight of her stitches.
“Sadie! What happened to your head?” Oliver jumped to stand in his seat; his eyes were wide as he got a closer look at her forehead.
She opened her mouth to say something, but Jed beat her to it. “She had an accident at work and hit her head.”
Well, that wasn’t a complete lie. It did happen at work, and she did hit her head.
“Oh, Sadie. Does it hurt real bad?” His eyes squinted with concern.
“I’m okay. Just a little headache.” She ruffled his hair and smiled at him so he wouldn’t be so worried.
“Jed made breakfast.” Oliver dropped back down onto his seat, then pointed at the chair next to his.
“Oh yeah?” One side of her mouth kicked up as she turned her attention to Jed once again.
“His scrambled eggs and pancakes are almost as good as yours, Sadie. He just needs to put cheese in the eggs and chocolate chips in the pancakes.”
Jed laughed and set his mug on the counter. “You want coffee?”
“Yes, please.” She watched in amazement as he poured her a cup of coffee and added just the right amount of creamer. It was white mocha peppermint, one of her favorites for this time of year.
“Here you go.” He set it in front of her, then leaned down and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. He was grinning as he backed away, not caring that Oliver had seen him. “If you’re finished eating, Oliver, you need to go brush your teeth.”
They both watched her nephew shovel the last bite of eggs into his mouth before hurrying off to do as Jed told him.
“How are you really feeling this morning?” Jed’s voice brought her attention back to him.
“Okay. Just a headache, but it’s not bad.”
His eyes squinted as he leaned down for a better look at her stitches. “He did a good job. I doubt you’ll have much of a scar.” He straightened and crossed his arms over his chest.
“That’s what I thought when I looked at it this morning. How much do you think he’ll charge you for last night?” She took a drink of coffee and was pleased to see he’d gotten the amount of creamer right.
“It’s not how much he’ll charge; it’s more of what he has me do to pay him back.” He went back to leaning with his butt against the counter and picked up his coffee.
“What do you mean?”
“The last time I got him out of bed, I was injured, and he came to patch me up. As payment, he wanted me to mow his lawn.” He took a drink, watching her over the rim of his cup.
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“For the rest of the summer. It was the middle of June. I had to mow his grass once a week until mid-September.” If he could smile about it now, she figured it must not have been too bad. Or, maybe it was a long time ago.
“It’s December. What do you think he’ll have you do this time?” Maybe if it wasn’t too outlandish, she could help him with it so it felt like she did her part to pay back Bacon.
“Hard to tell.” He set his mug down and turned toward the stove. “I was waiting for you to wake up before I made your pancakes. How many do you want?”
“Thanks, but I don’t want any. I think I just want toast and butter this morning. I don’t have time to eat if I want to have Oliver at school on time, and I have an appointment this morning. I should get dressed.” She got to her feet, needing to get her butt in gear.
“What kind of appointment and what time do you need to be there?” Jed topped off his coffee and watched her over the rim.
“I have a doctor's appointment this morning.” She held up a hand when he would have asked more. “It’s been scheduled for a week. I’m just getting,” she checked the hall to see where Oliver was at, “birth control,” she whispered so the nosey boy didn’t overhear and start asking questions.
“Oh, really?” Jed sauntered his way to her, settling his hands on her hips. He pulled her in close, so she was forced to tip her head back to see him.
“Yes. Really.” She let her hands roam over his firm chest, then up and over his shoulders, ending behind his neck. Her fingers absently played with the silky strands of his hair.
“When is your appointment?” he asked. “And where is it?”
“It’s at 8:30, and it’s in the doctors' complex across town.”
Jed frowned. “You’ll never make it there on time. I’ll drop Oliver off at school on my way to church. That way you won’t have to rush. Traffic this time of the morning will be bad.”
“Are you sure you want to take him? If I hurry and dress, I can drop him off and still make my appointment.”
“It’s not a problem.” He leaned down and kissed her. “I’m going to have Miles or Cutter drive you.”
“Do you really think it’s necessary?” She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of one of the prospects tagging along.
“Yes. After last night, we can’t take any chances.” He brushed his finger along her cheek, his eyes intent on hers. “I’ll tell them to wait downstairs while you see the doctor.”
She agreed. After last night, she was a little leery of going anywhere by herself. It just proved to her how easy it was for Tinker or his friend to get their hands on her. “Okay. That I can do.”
“Seeing you on the ground last night and finding all that blood on you scared the hell out of me. The thought of Tinker getting his hands on you,” he couldn’t finish the sentence. His eyes drifted to her mouth as he lowered his head, his intention clear.
“Sadie! Where’s my present for the party?” Oliver shouted from his room.
She bit into her bottom lip and snickered at Jed’s deep frown. “That boy is a cock blocker.”
She couldn’t help it. Her head dropped back, and she laughed because she completely agreed. “I need to go help him get his stuff together.”
“Go ahead. I’ll call Cutter and have him take you to the doctor.” He kissed her quickly, then steered her toward the hall and swatted her butt as she walked away.
She hurried to get Oliver organized so that Jed was able to head out the door with him by 7:35.
It was pushing it to have him there by 7:45, but he would still have plenty of time before the bell rang.
She kissed them both goodbye, then hurried to get dressed.
She needed to be at her appointment early in order to fill out paperwork.
Although she didn’t have insurance, she’d made sure to ask them how much it would be out of pocket and transferred that amount from her savings account to cover it.
There was no way she could have afforded an E.R.
visit last night, and there was no way she was going to let Jed pay for it.
A knock at the door told her Cutter had arrived. Time to go.
* * *
Jed
Chance and his crew were leaving the Sons' clubhouse as Jed was pulling in. He waved at the three black Chevy Suburbans with their heavily tinted windows as they passed him by. Chance had his window down, smiling like an idiot and giving him a two-finger salute. He shook his head and laughed as he watched them pull off the lot from his rearview mirror. He liked most of Chance’s men; they were fun to hang with and great to have at your back during a fight.
Except Reaper. He couldn’t quite figure that guy out.