Chapter 23 The Stars
CASSIDY
“Do you think he left because I was too tired to do anything? What if he went back to the clubhouse to get some action?”
“Don’t be daft, Cass.” Amberlee slid a slice of triple chocolate cake toward me.
“That man hasn’t seen action since you were shot.
I can’t vouch for what he was up to before that, but probably not since your hot make out sesh in the back of the work truck.
Do you think he’d blow it all now to get a quick fuck in with a club girl when you finally agreed to be with him?
” My friend rolled her eyes as if the idea was ridiculous.
Maybe it was and James wasn’t the only one of us with a little emotional baggage from our past.
The morning was spent with my friends as we did the prep work for dinner at the clubhouse. It was on the regularly scheduled catering days that they had all been keeping up with in my absence.
“Honestly, this was easier when we were under lockdown at the clubhouse. There was nothing to transport, though their kitchen needs some serious upgrades to handle the amount of people they have.”
“You’re not wrong,” Amberlee agreed with Collette. “I missed my bed, though and the quiet. That place is a loud time in the evenings.”
“I’m going to prospect for the club,” Finch announced. “If that’s okay with all of you.”
“Of course, it is,” I insisted. The girls bobbed their heads in agreement.
“It will mean less time I have to work on the catering gigs,” he informed me.
“Will it make you happy?” I asked.
“I think so.”
“Then do it and don’t let us hold you back. We’ll be here if you need us.”
Finch leaned down and gave me hug before the other girls joined in. It was a good thing I was already sitting at the counter or I may have been knocked to the floor in the hug fest.
We finished prep at the clubhouse kitchen, and still I hadn’t seen or heard from James. Everyone else fussed over me and refused to allow me to lift a hand. Crutch, the former president, literally took a salt shaker out of my hands and said, “No, go sit.”
“I’m recovering, not an invalid.” I pouted and he simply laughed at me.
“Get used to it. When your doctor says you’re good to go for full duties again, then we’ll discuss you picking up salt shakers.” He walked off before I could say another word, but I didn’t miss the way he high fived his wife along the way to wherever he was going.
“They care. That’s a good thing, even if it is probably frustrating as hell,” Collette whispered in my ear.
“Thanks for at least letting me get some of this done before we made it here. I would have felt like a slug if I had to watch you guys do everything and not be able to help.”
“One day, I might have a bad period, and we’ll swap places,” she teased and then was off to finish setting up.
They apparently made a makeshift dining hall out of their bar area on catering days because it was the only space in the clubhouse that could seat everyone.
“Come on, you can at least wander out with me, but for heaven’s sake, don’t let them catch you carrying anything. ”
I rolled my eyes and followed along behind Collette.
Just as she set the final tray down on the table furthest from the front door, it opened and a ray of light from a motorcycle’s headlamp streamed in.
Two men made their way inside and I recognized them immediately.
James and Grunt. It felt weird calling one of them by their road name and the other by what I’d known when we were growing up, still that was the way they wanted it.
“Knuckles!” The same bottle-blonde who had been on his lap that time I came to explain that I didn’t own the property that was for sale, rushed over to greet them.
I noticed she didn’t call out to Grunt the same way.
She wrapped her arms around James and beamed up at him.
“It’s been forever since I’ve seen you.”
We shouldn’t have been able to hear her from across the room, but everyone stopped talking and the room had grown dead silent except for the radio that was playing at a tolerable level for once. I watched from the shadows of the corner I stood in as James removed the woman’s hands from his body.
“Don’t ever touch me or any of the other brothers in this clubhouse without permission again. That isn’t something I’ve ever allowed, so I don’t know why you just tried that shit anyway.”
“Sorry, you were gone so long. I haven’t seen you in over a month,” she said. I could imagine her bottom lip poked out as her shoulders sagged, but I couldn’t see if that was true from my vantage point, especially since her back was turned to me.
“I don’t give a fuck if I’ve been gone for a year.
You’re not my girlfriend and my woman wouldn’t appreciate you pulling that shit either.
We’re going to set a boundary right now where the club can witness.
Your attention is unwanted by me. Don’t come around, don’t think we’re friends, or that you have some sort of permission to touch me freely because you do not.
This is your notice. If you try that shit again, I will bring it before the club and see you gone. ”
“But I…” she started to defend herself and he shook his head.
“You heard the man, Tay. We all like you well enough, but there are rules and you swore to follow them,” Grunt added.
“I didn’t realize I was stepping over some new boundary. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t play the innocent or you’ll end up gone before you have a chance to fuck up again.
We just got rid of one manipulative bitch, you’re not about to replace her,” Grunt warned.
“You were told he has a woman, now shut your trap and move the fuck on.” Grunt turned her in the opposite direction and gave her a little push of encouragement.
As she took the first step away from James and Grunt, our eyes met and that time I could see when her lips turned down in a deeper frown before she shuffled off to hide somewhere down the hallway that led to some of the rooms the single men used.
Crutch was closest to the men, so he was the one who got up and pointed me out to James.
As soon as his eyes found me from across the room, he moved in my direction with a smile on his handsome face.
It lit him up as if someone had a light on him the whole way.
I wondered if that was how he looked all those times he sought me out at the fire pit when we were younger.
He was always so quiet when he approached me that I never really had the option to watch his face back then.
I probably wouldn’t have known what to look for either.
“Hey, I wanted to text you but couldn’t take my phone with me today.”
Understanding dawned. He was off doing something they couldn’t take a chance on being traced back to them.
I wondered if they were getting rid of a body - specifically Simone’s - but I pushed that thought from my mind.
She probably deserved to be killed for everything she had done, but that didn’t mean I needed to know the details.
“It’s okay. I helped out a little with the prep work for tonight. It was good to feel useful again.” I glanced around with accusations written in my eyes. “Until I got here and no one would let me lift a finger.”
James laughed. “Good on them. I told them if you got here before I did to make sure you were comfortable and not working your ass off. I figured your friends let you help with some of it before you got here and that’s all you should have done.
Baby steps, Cass. Don’t want to see you backslide because you’re doing too much, too soon. ”
Guilt swamped me because I didn’t even have the energy to properly make out with James the night before. I guess he had a point. I’d rather reserve my energy and efforts for the good stuff.
“I want you to do something for me,” I said.
“Anything,” he returned.
“Take me for a ride later. I want to enjoy being on the back of your Harley from here to home.”
“You saying you didn’t enjoy the ride with me from Phoenix?” he teased.
“You know I didn’t, but I love you anyway.” James went stock still and I had to think about what I’d just said. My eyes got big and I was about to tell him it slipped out in a general way I’d say to my friends, but he didn’t let me retract those three words.
“No take backs, Cass,” he murmured against my lips before he kissed me stupid in front of his entire club and all my friends.
By the time our ride was over later that night, I knew I’d want to go again. It felt nice to hold on tight to James and feel the wind pass us by as we flew down the highway toward the ranch.
When James angled us toward my house, I shook my head and pointed toward the fire pit off in the distance. “Are you sure you’re up for more tonight?” he asked.
“Promise, I’m doing well. I want to sit under the stars with you for a few minutes. When we got settled, James bent to light the fire, but I stopped him.
“It will dim their shine.”
“It’s too chilly out here without it, Cass.”
“We won’t be long.” I smiled as he came back to sit with me in his lap again. I leaned my head back on his shoulder and stared up at the night sky. “The day I left for the Army, I had to walk from the house to the highway to meet the recruiter and it was not even five in the morning.”
“What the fuck? You could have been attacked by coyotes or something.”
“I wasn’t, but the stars looked an awful lot like they do tonight. The sky was so clear and it felt like I could see every damn inch of the universe. I bet that was why the stars were so important to people before we managed to dim their shine with all our light pollution.”
“Here, cover her up.” I turned to see Tim with his arm outstretched and offering a blanket to his grandson. “Virginia sent me out with it. She wanted to come see you, but didn’t want to interrupt you two.”
“I see you didn’t have a problem doing that,” James said to his grandpa, but there was a hint of amusement in his voice, so I knew he wasn’t mad at the old man.
“Damn right, I didn’t. Told Virginia that our grandson needed to learn to share, especially when it comes to our girl.” My heart might have exploded from all the love I felt if James hadn’t given me a little squeeze to pull me back together.
“You had her to yourselves for eight years when I didn’t,” he said and I could feel the sadness behind his statement.
“That was your own damn fault, boy, so it doesn’t count.” Tim winked at me and then leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Mighty happy to see you back and looking ready to take on the world again.”
“Thank you, Tim. I missed you guys while I was away.”
“We would have come to see you, but apparently everyone was worried there might be a safety issue.”
“They were right to worry, but it has been handled,” I said to make him feel better about it listening to what he was told.
Tim glanced up at the night sky and smiled.
“You know, I was so angry at your father and even my grandson that day. I knew they both played a part in driving you away. But I was damn proud, too. You didn’t give up, roll over, and take the little that was given to you in life.
You went out and found better and did it on your own terms. I am so damn proud of you, sweetheart.
Walking away for a chance to better your life took courage when you had no reason to have any.
I will never forget how brave you were that day, or how alone.
” He moved his gaze to his grandson then.
“You take care of her the right way this time, or I’ll bury your body so deep in the ground they’ll find an oil pocket where you used to exist one day. ”
Tim walked back to his house after that and James rubbed my shoulders under the blanket he’d pulled up around us and under my chin. “It’s safe to say my grandparents love you more.” His ensuing chuckle made me laugh, too. It was a wonderful feeling to be loved and cared for.
“I love you, too, Cass. I think I always have, in my own way, and I don’t see that ever changing.”
I snuggled into him deeper and leaned up enough that I could pull his face down to meet mine and kiss his lips. “I hope it never changes,” I whispered against them as I pulled away.
“Let’s get you back to the house.”