Chapter 22
Raeleen
“Iwasn’t invited, Pyre.” Smoothing my skirt down, I stepped out of my car. I’d insisted we take it instead of his bike so I could dress up and look presentable.
“You were invited.”
“No, you were. I’m your plus one, which you don’t do when someone is making dinner,” I said, nerves dancing in my stomach. “I’ll come a different time. When Warrant’s mom knows I’m going to be there.”
“It’s a barbecue, Rae. There’s going to be so much food every citizen in Sentinel could show up and there’d still be left overs. Cindy is going to be thrilled to meet you. Ten minutes after meeting her you’ll swear you’ve known her all your life.”
I made a face. This flew in the face of good manners and it was making me so uncomfortable. Plus, I wasn’t ready to meet Warrant’s family. Pyre had mentioned that they were like the fill-ins for most of the bikers’ families.
“Besides you brought a gift.”
Staring helplessly at the cake plate in my hands, I tried to figure out a way to get out of this before we got to the porch.
It wasn’t that I didn’t actually want to meet the family Pyre talked so highly of, it was more I didn’t want to integrate into a huge crazy crowd of people when it was so last minute.
We’d been spending every day together for the last couple weeks and it was amazing.
Pyre somehow fit seamlessly into my life.
But we were going to have to speak about him accepting last minute dinner invitations.
Especially when he didn’t bother to tell the host and hostess he was bringing me along.
He didn’t think it was a big deal. It was.
“Hey, Pyre. Rae, it’s good to see you.”
We turned and I smiled as Owen climbed out of his Tahoe. “Hi, Owen.” I liked him a lot. He was a nice man. Way better than Denison had ever been.
Owen’s shrewd eyes studied us. “This is new.”
“Off limits,” Pyre said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Owen rolled his eyes. “I’ve known Rae for years.
You think I wouldn’t have hit on her before now if I wanted to?
” He paused, cocked his head, then shot me an apologetic look.
“Not that I didn’t want to… Or that you’re not…
” He trailed off, not sure how to save himself.
I took a silent delight in watching him squirm.
“Good going, Asshole,” Pyre said with a toothy grin.
“It’s okay,” I replied to Owen, bailing him out. “I wouldn’t have ever wanted to ruin our friendship.”
“Exactly.”
“What friendship?” Pyre asked looking between us.
I gave him a wry look. “The one that kept us from ripping each other’s clothes off every chance we got.”
Both men were staring at me with their mouths open as I walked toward the ranch house. That would teach Pyre a lesson.
“You’re dead.”
I rolled my eyes when Pyre’s words floated on the night air. It wasn’t dark out yet, but it was so quiet outside of town I could hear the party happening at the back of the house. A moment later, Pyre’s hand encircled the back of my neck.
“If you don’t want the cop to get a pummeling you should reassure me that you were kidding.”
Batting my lashes, I looked up at him. “Of course I was.” He scowled at me. I laughed, juggled the cake, and patted his chest. “Don’t worry, I’ll reassure you later tonight.”
A grin spread over his handsome face. “That’ll be a good start.”
“You know I can still hear you two, right?”
We looked over our shoulders to where Owen was trailing after us. “Quit listening in on shit that doesn’t concern you then,” Pyre told him.
“It’s my face you’re threatening to pummel,” he pointed out. “Besides, we’re going the same damn way. What am I supposed to do?”
“Fuck off.”
Owen shook his head at me as if I was supposed to do something about Pyre. It occurred to me that maybe I was. Dating him apparently meant taking responsibility, in some part, when Pyre was…well…Pyre. I frowned, wondering what exactly I was signing up for where that was concerned.
“Oh thank God you’re here!”
I gave Ainsley a weak smile as she came up to me. “I hope it’s okay. Pyre didn’t bother to tell Warrant’s mother I was coming.”
“It’s fine, she makes enough to feed an army whenever the guys come over. Yours alone could eat a moose. Come with me, I’ll introduce you to her.”
“Shouldn’t I be introducing her?” Pyre asked, but Ainsley was already dragging me, and the cake, over to where a pretty woman in a dress was setting plates of food out on the picnic tables.
Pyre’s entire club was standing around, drinking and talking, and they greeted Owen as he walked up to them. It was nice to see that they all got along with Owen. Bikers and sheriffs were usually a terrible mix.
“Cindy, this is Raeleen.”
“Rae,” I said, offering my apology cake to Warrant’s mother like it would somehow fix the fact that I wasn’t supposed to be here.
“She’s Pyre’s old lady.”
I didn’t get the chance to say anything before Cindy had me wrapped up in a hug.
Ainsley saved the cake as I embraced Cindy.
It was impossible not to relax into the hug.
It was a mother’s hug, one hundred percent.
The type that made all your problems and doubts disappear.
It didn’t even have to be your own mother apparently.
It worked all the same. Tears pricked at my eyes as homesickness flooded me.
I needed to get home to see my family soon.
“I’m so happy to meet you, Rae,” Cindy said with a beaming smile as she stepped back.
“We’re just happy you’ve turned that grumpy asshole into a real boy again,” Warrant said, skimming his finger over the frosting of the cake and popping it into his mouth.
Both Ainsley and Cindy smacked him, one in the chest, the other on the back of the hand.
“What the hell?” he asked, looking between them.
“Quit cussing,” Cindy told him.
“Stop ruining Rae’s cake. No one’s going to want it now that you put your grubby fingers all over it,” Ains told him with a glare.
“Jesus.” He looked over at Pyre. “Maybe getting old ladies wasn’t the best idea we ever had. Just more women to nag you.”
“Just wait,” a pretty woman carrying a baby said as she approached. “We’re all going to get together later and complain about you.”
“Beth, this is Rae. Rae this is Warrant’s older brother’s wife, Beth, and their baby, Maxine.”
“Oh,” I said, melting as the baby smiled at me. She was all gums. “I know this is weird since you don’t know me,” I said to Beth, “but can I hold her?”
“Please.”
The baby was in my arms before the word was even out of Beth’s mouth. Laughing I bounced Maxine in my arms, making her smile again.
“Now I can drink,” Beth said with a grin as she grabbed a bottle of beer.
“Pyre’s offered to baby sit,” Warrant said with a grin.
“The hell I have,” Pyre said, looking startled.
“Like I’d let him watch Max,” Beth said with a roll of the eyes. “Maybe if Rae was there.”
The sound of gunfire split the air and made me jump. Maxine started crying and I handed her over to her mother while I turned to see where the sound had come from. I looked over at Pyre and put my hand on his arm.
He was tense, so was Warrant, as they searched for where the shot came from. Somewhere along the line he’d picked up a bottle of beer too.
“It’s just Lucas taking care of some ground squirrels,” Beth said in a soft voice.
“I told him not to do that before dinner,” Cindy added.
All the bikers were tense and watchful now. Everyone had sort of crowded in closer to the tables.
Just watching them being so watchful almost gave me chills. It was easy to forget just how dangerous these men could be. It also proved how protective they were, because they’d subtly shifted so that they were between the direction of the gunfire and us women and the baby.
My heart melted a little. The men in my family were the same exact way. They’d do whatever necessary to protect those they loved. I’d always had a soft spot for men like that. And now I’d found one of my own.
Beth, Cindy, and Ainsley motioned for me to follow them, leaving the bikers and sheriff to go back to arguing and watching for threats. “Thank God you’re here,” Beth said, unknowingly echoing Ainsley’s words from earlier. “We need more women. These guys are…something.”
I laughed. “Are Warrant’s brothers as… Uh…” I looked over at his mother.
“Yeah,” Cindy said in a droll tone. “They’re all like that. Just like their daddy.”
“You must have the patience of a saint,” Ainsley said with a laugh.
“I drink,” Cindy replied, saluting us with her own beer bottle. “Pyre’s a nice boy. I’m glad he’s found himself a sweet girl like you, Rae.”
“Oh, thank you,” I told her, smiling at being called a girl and Pyre being described as a boy.
“Took him long enough,” Beth said with a roll of her eyes. “Everyone in town knew he watched you anytime you were in the vicinity.”
“Really?” I asked.
Why didn’t anyone tell me?
She nodded in confirmation. “Warrant confirmed it a while back, but all it took was seeing him see you out in public. All of Sentinel’s been wondering when he’d make a move. Man is as slow as a damn snail.”
“He takes his time to make up his mind,” Cindy corrected. “Man like that can’t be pushed before he’s ready or he’ll just dig his heels in. Which is why I kept telling Warrant to keep his nose out of Pyre’s business.”
“He didn’t,” Ainsley confirmed, making Cindy roll her eyes.
“Of course he didn’t.”
“Let’s have a seat,” Cindy said. “Dale and the boys will be coming back from the east field in a few minutes and will fire up the grill. I want to hear all about how Pyre won you over.”
I blinked at her because her smile had turned a little predatory and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to leave out much without Cindy knowing it. She seemed like she knew how to pry secrets out of an unsuspecting person.
Glancing over, I met Pyre’s eyes and smiled, realizing I was completely relaxed.
Somehow seeing this side of him, and meeting some of the people he respected and loved, made me feel even closer to him.
I was looking forward to getting to know these women more.
And through them, seeing a different perspective on my biker.