Chapter 18
Rooster
After Church, we headed to the bar. Most of the ladies were already zooming around to get dinner going. But I didn’t see Sparrow. My heart sank. I looked around the room and didn’t see her. Was I too quick to believe she was happy to stay?
“Hey, you seen Sparrow around?” I asked as Mama Hen followed Coop with a tray of meat.
“She was at my place. I had to get over here to get dinner started. Oh, some of her bags are behind the bar. She should have the rest.”
Hustling past them, I pushed the door open for Coop and followed them out, heading to Mama Hen’s.
But when I got there and opened the door, there was no sign of Sparrow.
“Kristie!” I shouted.
A door opened and light footsteps came toward the top of the stairs. “Hey, she’s not here. Just me,” Penny called from the top.
“Sorry, Penny. Hope I didn’t scare you. Do you know when she left?”
“Sorry, I took a shower, but I just went down for some water and she was gone. You okay?” she asked as she came down a few steps.
Nodding, I said, “Yeah. I’m good. You okay?”
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know, Rooster. Haven’t heard a peep out of you for a long time. She must be special.” She took a seat on the stairs.
“Yeah. She is. You see Red around?” I was closer to Red than the other guys. Maybe because we did bitch work together for so long. But he had a thing for her. I didn’t think they’d ever hooked up, but I accidentally witnessed a few heated conversations between them in the last few years.
Red’s a decent guy. Penny was off limits as the prez’s daughter, and she was several years younger than us, so none of us even thought about fucking with her.
Honestly, we hardly even saw her because she stayed busy with school and other normal activities.
A couple of their cousins who were members escorted her around until college.
But something must’ve happened a few years back, because that’s when I started noticing the tension.
Hawk’s cousins ended up going to other chapters when they were growing ranks, and Red and I had taken a few assignments to follow her around and be sure nothing happened to her.
It was after that I started noticing him watching her a few times, and caught glimpses of texts from someone saved as Linc.
I finally put together it was her. But I still didn’t understand the nickname.
“Fair. You know I got your back, right?” I asked. “If something’s wrong, you can tell me.”
She smiled, gently nodding. “I know. I appreciate it. I have studying to get to. But good luck finding your woman,” she said, standing and turning to leave.
When she headed back upstairs, I went back outside, looking around. Sparrow wasn’t out there. Pulling my phone out, I started to text her. But instead, I tucked it back away and decided to check one more place.
Heading inside, I went up to my room. Opening the door, the tightness in my chest dissolved and I rushed to her, wrapping her up in my arms.
“Well, hey. I didn’t realize you’d miss me so much after an hour,” Sparrow joked as she squeezed me.
“I miss you when you’re with me,” I whispered into her thick hair.
She pulled back a little, her hazel eyes sparkling as she looked up at me. “That’s…”
“Too much?” I asked.
“No. It’s kind of amazing. How was Church?”
“Hold on,” I said, then grabbed a handful of her hair and tilted her head back even further. Pressing my lips to hers, our tongues met and some of my anxiety melted away as I tasted her. She’d been drinking something tart. Maybe vodka and cran. “It was fine. But I gotta make a run.”
“You did that on purpose to distract me.”
“Did it work?” I asked, brushing my nose against hers before giving it a peck.
“How long will you be gone?”
“Only a few days. You’ll hardly miss me.”
She smacked at my chest. “Rude. You can’t tell me you miss me when I’m with you then assume I wouldn’t miss you for a few days.” She bit her lip, then said, “Plus, it’ll be the first time you’ve left since I got here. What do I do?”
“Hang with the ladies. They have all sorts of fun when the guys are gone.”
“When are you leaving?” she asked as she rubbed the short scruff I’d accumulated after a few days.
“Two days.”
“Ugh. I guess I can call a ride share for my interview,” she said, pulling away and going back to her bags.
“No. I’ll have one of the guys take you.”
She stopped pulling clothes out. “Really? On their bike?”
“Fuck no. You’ll take a cage.”
She smirked. “I wondered. But is that really necessary? This interview may take a while.”
“They’ll be fine.”
“Do I have to ride in the back like a child, or can I ride up front?”
“You’d ride in the back for a ride share,” I said. I trusted her and I trusted my brothers, but I just got her back. It was bad enough I couldn’t take her myself. I didn’t want to have to kill one of my brothers for looking at her wrong.
Her brows shot up. “Possessive much?”
“Maybe. You’re my woman.”
She sighed heavily, then sat on the bed, still holding a pair of pants. “What does that mean?”
Confused, I said, “Just like it sounds. You’re mine. And I’m yours.”
“Okay. Well what does Old Lady mean to you?”
“You wanna be my Old Lady?” I’d already planned that, but having her bring it up was a surprise.
“I asked what it meant. Don’t deflect.”
Crossing my arms, I said, “It means you belong to me. You belong to the club. You’d have their protection if anything ever happened to me. You’d always have a place here.”
“Belong? Like property? Like you own me?” she asked, her tone more curious than sarcastic.
“Well, they don’t call it a property patch for nothing.”
She grabbed a pillow and tossed it at me. “Jerk. So, what, I’d be initiated? Do I have to like… kill someone?”
One of my brows cocked. “Do you have someone you need me to take out?”
“I don’t know how this works, Rooster!”
Walking to her, I brushed my hand down her cheek, then pushed her hair behind her shoulder. “You know how so many marriages end up in divorce?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s no divorce from your Old Man. There’s no leaving the club once you’re part of it.”
She took a deep breath. “That’s a lot to take in. Were you um… do you think you would eventually want–”
“I already know I want you to be my Old Lady, Sparrow. But I don’t want you to feel pressured.
” Sighing, I knelt down, and grabbed her hand.
“We rushed to get to this place we’re in now.
There’s no rush for you to decide this. But in my heart,” I put her hand over the sparrow in her honor, “you’ve always been my Old Lady. ”
Unfallen tears sparkled in her eyes and the breath she blew out ruffled the hair around her face, sending a hint of citrus my way.
“So, we can just live together for now. And you won’t be upset?
” She reached for my face, cupping my jaw.
“I want to be with you, Rooster. I just need more time on the other stuff.”
“I’ve waited all this time, Kristie. I knew you were taking a gamble on me– on us. I’ll wait forever if I have to. I’m not going anywhere, because there’s nobody else for me. It’s only you.”
She blinked, a single tear falling from each eye but she quickly wiped them away. “Okay. Thank you.”
Standing up, I pressed a kiss to her soft lips, then rested my forehead to hers. “I was worried you’d be mad I had to go. But I’m sorry I made you cry.”
She chuckled, pulling me to her and wrapping her arms around my shoulders.
“One of the things I remember vividly about you is going on runs.” She pulled back enough to look at me.
“The ladies are nice and I was going to have to get used to this anyway, right? I have my interview and I can keep browsing for places for us while you’re gone.
At least I know since I’m here, you’ll come back. ”
I hated that my own stupid actions years ago had her thinking that way.
Even though I knew I wanted her to be mine forever and she had to learn to trust me again, I was still happy we talked.
Until I made her my Old Lady I’d continue to be worried about her leaving.
Even then, I’m not sure that feeling would ever go away.
But I deserved it after what I did to her.
The fact that she’s here at all was a blessing.
She’s not planning to take off, and for now that’s enough.
I promised to prove my love to her every day, and now I’ve promised to wait as long as she needed.
I didn’t promise her forever when we were kids, and that’s the only way I was able to leave the way I did.
But now, I gave her my word, and I’d meet my destiny before I broke it.