Chapter 5 #2
Yeah. Crow is cool like that. He rocks two personalities in one body. He told the club a while ago. I’m not sure he ever would have, if he hadn’t met Tarynn. She loves both Crow and Raven in equal measure.
“We have an apartment upstairs, above the shop. I mean, Crow does. Usually someone’s renting it, but it’s empty right now. You could stay there if you wanted to.”
Willow holds perfectly still, but her eyes flick rapidly around the room, dancing from Tarynn’s face, over to me, and quickly down to Crow’s bent head and his hands as he grinds red ink into her skin.
“I- that’s such a kind offer, but—”
“No buts! Even if it’s just for a little bit. You don’t have to sign a lease or anything. We’d be happy to help. The club likes to do that. It would be no problem at all.” Tarynn turns her gaze to me expectantly. “Ask Odin. He’s been with the club for a long time. He can attest to that.”
Great. As annoying as the acid in my gut is, the panic that grips me when it comes to Willow staying, is so much worse.
Without my permission, my line of sight travels straight to her creamy shoulder. She’s on her left hip, her legs folded out along the tattoo chair. Her hair falls over her shoulder, leaving the other bare and smooth, revealing a small constellation of tiny brown beauty marks.
I’d have to be a blind man not to be able to appreciate her loveliness and her allure. She’s pure fire wrapped up in a petite, pretty little package. I know exactly what her slight curves feel like pressed up against me. I’ll never forget that she smells like peaches, bubblegum, mint, and rose.
Spoiler alert? I still have one good eye.
She stirs something deep inside of me that I haven’t felt in a long time.
Not just the primal need for fucking. Something far more tender.
Something I used to long for, even if I couldn’t admit it to myself because wanting it was so unattainable it felt dangerous.
I’m not a kid anymore, looking for affection and warmth, but wanting this woman in any way, even just wanting to hear her laugh, or listen to her speak, or be in her presence, is a whole heaping amount of wrong for a man like me.
“You’re kind of leaving me hanging here,” Tarynn accuses, but only playfully.
“Yeah,” I mutter awkwardly, not really sure what more to offer.
Tarynn takes it anyway and runs with it. “There’s not much furniture up there right now. Normally there is, but Dravin took some when he moved. We could find a bed for there, just not tonight.”
“There are spare rooms at the club,” Crow says in that quiet, sort of naturally menacing tone he always has, even when he’s happy.
Tarynn is pure light and sweetness. She was raised extremely conservatively by very religious parents.
It’s a wonder that she could fall so hard in love with a man who was exactly her opposite.
The night to her day.
But maybe that’s why it works.
“We could talk to the Prez for you, if you like.” Crow dips the mag back into the little pot of red ink and keeps on grinding out those rose petals.
Willow hasn’t flinched once. Her hip has to be a tender area, but she acts like she doesn’t even notice the fact that she’s turning into ground beef with all that color. I have enough tattoos to know that there’s a point where the burn really sets in.
“I- I don’t know. I don’t want to cause trouble or be a burden,” Willow responds haltingly, her voice so damn sweet by nature. She’s not just being polite. She truly means it.
“You’d be no trouble,” Crow assures her.
He hasn’t looked up once. “Tyrant is a great guy. He’s what most people would call super nice, but the rest of us know there aren’t really words to describe a person as kind and wise as he is.
Our club has the motto that most crazy cat ladies have. Always room for one more.”
“Ooh, I’d like to get a cat! I’ve wanted one for so long!”
Tarynn laughs. She circles the room, studying the paintings on the walls, the sketches, the flash art, even though she’s seen them all before.
She stretches out the muscles in her lower back and neck that have cramped from sitting so long.
I’d love to do the same, but I keep my ass parked as though the whole place will crumble if I shift an inch.
“That makes sense, given that you want to be a vet.”
“I love all animals, but there’s something about cats.”
“I think it’s technically the eyes. I read somewhere that it’s the size of their eyes in comparison with the rest of their face that makes them seem so cute to people.”
“I think I’ve read that too.”
“If the club’s too full or something, you could always stay with us.” Tarynn’s invite makes Willow tear up, even though she blinks rapidly to hide it.
“That’s so nice of you. I could be an axe murderer for all you know.”
Crow laughs, but coming from him, it’s a dark rumble that raises the hair on the back of my arms. “Even so, you’d be no danger to men like us. Most guys in the club have been through it. We can hold our own.”
“Yeah, and I’m wicked with a curling iron,” Tarynn adds to put Willow at ease, but she does walk up and set her hand lightly on Crow’s shoulder.
There’s so much tenderness in her touch, but a bit of a warning too.
She doesn’t want him to scare Willow off, even if he’s just being honest. And not entirely honest…
No one outside the club knows about Raven.
“Oh. I- I’m not. I don’t have a thing for any sharp objects. Or poisons. Or anything nefarious. I promise.”
Tarynn keeps her hand resting lightly on Crow’s shoulder for a moment before she smooths it down his back, tracing a small circle between his shoulder blades.
“You’ve been so honest with us about your story.
I wanted to let you know that you’re in good company.
About what Crow said, it’s not just the men who have been through rough times.
My parents were- they liked to basically keep me a prisoner in the house.
I met Crow and he was determined to set me free, even if it meant breaking down my parents’ door and taking me right out of their house. ”
Willow gasps, but there’s a little bit of excitement mixed in with the horror. “Were you already in love with him then?”
Crow’s hand pauses for just the slightest second before resuming his sure strokes.
Tarynn fondly cups the back of his neck over his long black hair.
“I’m not sure if I knew what that meant at the time, but I think I was, even though we’d just met.
” Her eyes dart to me and then back to Crow.
“I don’t know that it’s right for me to tell you other people’s stories, but every single person in the club has one.
I think if you stick around Hart, you’d be good friends with a ton of the old ladies in no time. ”
“Old ladies?”
“Biker’s wives and girlfriends. Old lady sounds terrible, but to bikers, it’s a badge of honor. Trust me, I love being called an old lady instead of a wife. Wife is so boring.”
Willow bites down on her bottom lip, the movement creating a shameful amount of heat in my gut. My hands clench tight in my lap, and I firmly block out any further mental images of her tongue.
“I don’t want you to think that Preston was… that he… that he was a bad person,” she stammers. She glances guiltily at me and holds my gaze for a moment before breaking to look at Tarynn again. “I truly think he was a good man who made a mistake. I- I just want to say that.”
Tarynn nods, turning to study me from under lowered lashes.
I’ve never kept it a secret that I had a kid out in the world. I explained who Willow was earlier, before I asked Crow for this favor.
It’s generous of her, the woman who was so horribly wronged by two people who were close to her, to want to try and make sure the world doesn’t see my son as a total asshole. She’s more than fair. I don’t know if I could offer the same kindness even now, if I was in her position.
“We have a dog,” Tarynn bursts out, changing the subject. “She’s the sweetest. After Crow hauled me off from my parents’ house, he took me straight to Vegas and married me so that they couldn’t demand I come back. We rescued Connie there and brought her back here with us.”
“That’s so sweet. How did it happen?”
Tarynn sits back down and launches into the whole story. By the way Crow stiffens slightly every now and then, I can tell that she’s obviously leaving a whole lot out, memories that belong to them alone.
Crow turns on his stool to share a private smile with Tarynn when he refills his mag.
That, of all things this evening, is the most unexpected sucker punch.
There have been times in the past when I wished I could find a woman to share my life with.
Mostly over the past few years, as I’ve watched my club brothers fall hard and fast, one by one, finding lovers and soulmates of their own.
When I was young, I doubted that I was capable of nurture and love, but I guess it didn’t beat the romantic out of me.
I’ve learned brotherhood and friendship.
I’ve witnessed firsthand how the love of a good woman can change a man who is ready to make that growth happen.
Sure, I’m old, but I don’t think that really means shit.
“It’s a wild story. I’ll fill you in on some parts tomorrow morning first thing, when I do your hair.”
“You really don’t have to do that. It’s insanely late already. You don’t have to get up at the ass of dawn to dye my hair before you even open.”
“Seeing as it’s a Sunday, we’re closed. We can set it for whatever time we’re ready to roll. I’ll take you to meet Connie after. She’ll be so excited for another new friend. She adores everyone and everyone adores her so much that she’s getting pretty spoiled.”
“Not a bad thing for a dog who had a rough life.” Crow’s voice rumbles with deep emotion.
“Not a bad thing at all,” Willow agrees.