Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
M oon was still sitting outside when Winter and Beth walked out.
Winter stopped when the concrete path curved to lead to Beth’s house. “Good night, Beth.”
“Night, Winter.”
Watching through the smoking haze as Beth hesitated leaving Winter, Moon took out another cigarette. “Night, Beth.”
Beth gave him a sharp nod, leaving Winter to walk toward her house.
“When did you start smoking again?”
“Tonight.”
“Why?”
“I felt the need,” he said meaningfully.
Winter frowned. “Is that supposed to have some kind of hidden meaning? Because you left me in the dark.”
“Like you left me?”
“Moon, I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
He gave an internal sigh. Whoever had slipped into his bedroom wasn’t Winter.
“I see that.” Moon pierced her with his eyes. “But you’re not being truthful. You weren’t the only woman who came upstairs that night. Who else was there?”
“What’s the big deal? Why does it matter so much?”
A footfall on the path had their heads turning to the side as Ember came walking down the path from Lily’s house.
“It’s a little chilly to be standing out here this late at night,” Ember said when she was within hearing distance.
“I’m about to go home,” Winter told her. “Moon and I were just chatting.”
Ember wrapped her arms around his, blatantly pressing it against her breasts. “I put the order form on your bed, Moon. The girls are so excited for their extra presents.”
“I’m glad they’re all happy.”
“You want me to make you a plate?” she offered. “It’s the least I could do.”
Moon pulled his arm away from Ember. “I’ve already eaten.”
Pouting at Moon, she left to go into the kitchen.
“What made you so generous all of a sudden?”
Moon shrugged. “I can be generous when I want to.”
Winter raised dubious eyebrows. “You’re the least generous person in the club. You gave a whopping ten dollars to the toy fund for Christmas.”
“Lily caught me before payday.”
“Okay, I’ve had a long day, and I’m tired …”
Did Winter really think she would be able to distract him then slip away?
“You never did answer my question. Who else went upstairs?”
Her expression turned stubborn. “No one that I know of. You’re really being obnoxious, and that’s saying a lot for you.”
Flipping his cigarette toward the firepit, he told her, “Whoever went upstairs left a memento behind.”
A frown furrowed her brow. “What kind of memento?”
“A size-eight pair of panties.”
Winter started laughing. “Do you know how many times I’ve gone into that bathroom to find panties in there?” She rolled her eyes at him. “I’d take it up with the women who live up there to quit leaving their underwear lying around.”
Moon cocked his head to the side. “She didn’t leave them in the bathroom. They were left in my room.”
Moon could tell Winter was floored by the information. It wasn’t often he had seen her speechless. The silence didn’t last long.
“Your bedroom has a revolving door—”
“Actually, it doesn’t. Haven’t been in a mood for company the last couple of months, and before you can come up with another excuse, she was wearing them when she came into my room. I was the one who took them off her.”
“I don’t understand, then. Why are you pressuring me about who went upstairs?”
“I was lit, and the room was dark. She pulled a Cinderella act and disappeared before I could turn the light on. So, do you still want to stick with the story that you were the only woman who went upstairs?”
“No, I don’t think I do.”
“Then who was she?”
“I have no idea.”
Moon’s expression turned frigid. “You’re lying.”
One second, he was standing there. The next, he was flying through the air, hitting the side of the gazabo.
Managing to catch himself before falling to the ground, Moon spun around to see which motherfucker had tossed him through the air.
“Are you calling my wife a liar?”
Moon didn’t shy away from Viper’s gaze. “Either she’s lying, or I have something that belongs to her. Which is it, Winter?”
Bracing himself to be tossed off the side of the mountain, he raised his hands, preparing to defend himself.
Winter caught the back of her husband’s shirt. “Stop it, Viper!”
“Brother, you better explain yourself!”
“I’ll leave it to Winter to explain. Maybe she’ll tell you the truth, because she isn’t telling me jack shit.”
Viper grabbed him by the arm when he would have walked into the house. “I expect you to be in the office first thing in the morning,” he snapped.
“I’ll be there.”
Jerking his arm out of Viper’s grip, he slammed into the house to see Ember running back to the counter.
“You get an eyeful?”
“Sorry, I couldn’t help it when I heard you and Viper arguing outside.”
“Next time, mind your own business.”
Storming out of the kitchen, he took the steps two at a time. He hit his bedroom and shut the door with his foot. Staring around the room, he wanted to tear it apart. Instead, Moon sat down on the side of the bed and buried his head in his hands.
The room felt like a cage to him. He wanted his own damn home. Something with a big backyard so he could throw a ball to his kid. He’d had his backyard designed since he was twenty-five years old.
Raising his head to look around the small room, he felt it closing in around him tighter each day.
He was losing it, and Moon knew he was losing it. Why else would he have goaded Winter to answer his question, other than he was losing his fucking mind? He couldn’t understand why it mattered so fucking much to him who had slipped into his room. Maybe one of the club women had come up with the idea, thinking it was a game to spice the sex up. They had been successful, if so.
The woman had taken over his thoughts so much he had lost his fucking mind enough to insult the club’s president. He’ll be lucky if Viper didn’t give him his marching orders.
Rising from the bed, he threw off his clothes, deciding to go to sleep. Turning the light off, Moon grabbed a pillow as he rolled onto his stomach. He thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but the early morning sun woke him when he rolled over.
Yawning, he stretched out, looking toward the clock on his nightstand. Damn, it was only five a.m. It would be several hours before Viper would be at the office at the factory. No one else would be awake, either. And he didn’t feel like working out so early in the morning.
After showering and dressing, he went downstairs to make himself a cup of coffee. Echo and Jade were already looking at the coffee machine, blurry-eyed, as if something was wrong.
“You forget how to make coffee?” he joked, moving to where they stood.
“We’re out of coffee,” Jade said, as if he could make coffee materialize.
“Sorry, I don’t keep a spare bag on me.”
Neither woman appreciated his humor.
“Could you run to the convenience store in town for us?”
“I can.”
Jade smiled at him. “Thanks. We were dreading going out.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Moon left the women working on getting breakfast started. Going to the front closet, he grabbed his thicker jacket and took out the stocking hat he kept in the pocket.
He grimaced as the freezing air hit him when he opened the door to Domino, who moved aside to let him exit.
“You’re going out early.”
Moon closed the door. “It’s cold as a witch’s tit out here,” he observed, drawing his gloves on.
“Not too bad today. Yesterday was worse. Where are you heading so early?”
“Puck must have forgotten coffee when he went to the grocery store yesterday,” Moon told the new prospect.
“I’m out of cigarettes; you mind picking me up a pack?”
Moon reached into his pocket and handed him the smokes. “I’ll grab me another pack. Text me if you want anything else.”
The icy steps were no joke as he went down. And if he hadn’t been awake when he straddled his motorcycle seat, he was when he sat down.
“Motherfucker,” he hissed. “I need to get another life. I’m getting too old to freeze my balls off.”
At least the roads were in good shape, and he made it to the gas station without a problem. Parking at the gas pumps, he fueled his bike before heading inside the convenience store.
Finding the coffee on the shelf, he decided to grab a ready-made cup as the tantalizing aroma filled the store.
He grabbed a lid after making a to-go cup, then went to the front of the store. There was a woman already in line, checking out. Recognizing who it was, he almost decided not to get in line behind her.
Fuck me , he inwardly groaned at seeing the woman from the day before.
“Your advice came in handy last night. I had dinner ready for Mandy after she got off work and did the dishes without her having to ask,” the cashier was telling the woman. “She didn’t cry once before going to bed.”
“That’s good to hear. Being a first-time mother is overwhelming. She needs all the help you can give her. Parenthood is a partnership. It’s not fair to put all the responsibility on her.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m going to do better. I don’t mind telling you it shook me up seeing her crying like that.”
“Pretty flowers and a night out would do wonders, too,” the woman suggested.
“I’ll do that,” Joel told her.
Jesus, breakfast would be over before he could get back to the club with their jibber-jabbering.
“You mind giving Joel marital advice after I check out?”
The woman turned her head, a strange expression crossing her face when she recognized him. “Excuse me. I didn’t realize someone was behind me. I’ll get out of your way.” She picked up a plastic bag and a cup of coffee then maneuvered away on her crutches, out of the way. “I better be going, Joel. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Have a fantastic day, Larissa!” Joel called after her.
Balefully, Moon stared at the cashier.
Turning red, Joel started ringing up his purchases. “Anything else?”
After adding two packs of cigarettes, Moon paid after Joel gave him the total. Taking his items, he started to leave, but then Moon raised an eyebrow to the cashier. “You aren’t going to tell me to have a fantastic day?” he mocked.
Joel turned a brighter shade of red. “Sure… have—”
Shaking his head at the embarrassed man, Moon walked to the door. He would kiss Joel’s ass if the fucker had actually cooked and did the dishes for his wife.
Mandy worked at the factory and had just come back from maternity leave a couple of days before. He had heard her talking during their lunchbreak, complaining about Joel. Moon didn’t need to be a psychic to see a divorce in Joel’s near future.
Coming out of the door, he raised his cup to his lips to combat the cold, which was about to attack him.
“Watch where—”
Startled at the female voice directly in front of him, Moon started to lower his cup at the same time his body came into contact with the woman who had just left.
“What the fuck?”
The force of their bodies coming into contact had his coffee tilting toward her before he could stop. In a split-second, he had to decide to keep the coffee from spilling or saving her from falling on the crutches. If he let her fall, she would trip over the step and hit her head on the corner post right behind her. He had just tasted the lukewarm coffee; she was better off getting wet.
Moon let the coffee cup complete its trajectory when they bumped together, then grabbed her by her forearms to steady her.
Gaping up at him through a sodden clump of damp hair, she jerked her crutch back under her arms. “Dude! What’s your problem with me?” she snarled at him. “Either you’re trying to take me out, or you’re the world’s biggest klutz. Which one is it?”