11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Kaison
The look on her face when I tell her to call me by my legal name is funny as hell. I can only imagine what she thought about that. Probably like she shouldn’t know it or something. Plenty of people outside of the club don’t understand why we have and use club names, and they think using our real name is off limits. Which is true for most people. It’s a privilege to know our real names—if you didn’t know us before the club. But the only person who uses my real name anymore is Pig, and even he’s getting better at not doing it.
Cora isn’t part of the club, and not that I want to keep her separate from it because I know that’s not possible, but I want this just for me right now. Something for myself that I don’t have to share with everyone else. A little secret no one knows about. Something the guys can’t tease me about. It’s nice to have her just for me .
She gets up with a sigh, and I follow her through the kitchen. There’s a narrow door beside the bathroom I thought was a pantry, but when she unlocks all the locks on it and pushes it open, I see a set of concrete steps leading down. The dingy smell tells me they lead underground.
Cora moves down the stairs with ease. They curve around the cement walls, and I hardly fit because of my large size. Falling down the stairs is never fun, but falling down these stairs would really be a bitch. Bet that’s why she keeps it locked up, so her father doesn’t fall down them. Which has me going back up and closing the door behind me before I squeeze back down. It isn’t locked, but hopefully we’ll hear it open if he gets up and, for some reason, comes this way. Don’t think we’ll both be down here long. I only need her to show me where the washer is, and she can head on up.
I hunch when I follow her, not wanting to hit my head on the beams. The washer and dryer are about twenty feet in on the wall to the left. When she stops, she laughs at me.
“Oh my god, I’m sorry,” she says, covering her hand with her mouth. “I should have told you it’s a small space.”
“I’m fine, sweetheart.”
She steps away when I get to the washer to give me room. I lean over it to look behind it, and when I can’t see, I pull out my phone to use the flashlight. Still can’t really see. Tugging it out of its spot, I get a better look and see the issue immediately.
“You need a new drain hose. This ones broken clear in half.”
“Is that expensive?” she asks .
“Fifteen bucks, maybe. A heavy duty one would be more. I can pick one up tomorrow and fix it for you.”
“No, absolutely not. Sh—Kaison, you’ve done enough for me already,” she says adamantly.
I love the way she says my name. Love that she fights me on things. I scoot the machine back in place, then go to her, grabbing her waist.
“How about you let me decide when it’s been too much, yeah?”
“But I—” I press my finger to her lips and she stops talking.
“I like doing things for you. I like spending time with you. I know that’s crazy since we hardly know each other, but trust me, I know what I like. And you’re it, sweetheart.”
I kiss her before she can try arguing with me some more. When I pull away, she rests her forehead against my chest, rocking it back and forth.
“This is a lot,” she says quietly.
“We can take things slow.”
“No, I mean me . My life.”
I cup her face and make her look at me. I fucking love when she looks at me. There’s something in her eyes… this look she has when she looks at me. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s only there when she looks at me. Trust me, I’ve watched her for a while, and I’ve never seen her look at anyone like this.
“You have no idea what I deal with on a day-to-day basis. Trust me, this is nothing. Besides, like I said, I like being with you. ”
“That isn’t quite what you said,” she whispers.
“Well, I’m saying it now.”
It falls silent, and all we do is stare at each other. I wait for her to argue with me some more. I feel like she wants to, but I see it the moment she gives up.
I grin, brushing my fingers along her cheek. “There’s my good girl.”
Her eyes widen, then she bites on her bottom lip, ducking her head.
“You can fix the washer, but I’m paying for the hose.”
“Fine.”
“And I am paying you back for my car. So you need to tell me how much it was.”
She steps back, holding my gaze.
“Already told you I don’t know a damn thing about that car.” I hold in my grin.
She huffs, shaking her head. “I’ll find out one way or another, believe you me.”
“We’ll see about that,” I call after her when she heads for the stairs. I follow, not hating the view of her ass right in my face as she goes. Once upstairs, she locks the door up and we go to the living room.
We settle on something called The Menu. Neither of us have heard of it, but it looks kinda interesting. Before starting it, though, Cora decides she wants to make us popcorn.
“I should have grabbed beer or something. You like beer?” she asks .
“Yeah, I like beer. What man doesn’t?” I chuckle. “I’ll bring it next time. But what do you like?”
“Not sure I know anymore.” She pulls a pack of popcorn from the cabinet and rips open the plastic around it.
“There are the classic mixed drinks, of course, if you want me to bring vodka or something. But they have all these new seltzers now. Supposed to taste like soda, if you like soda.”
She shrugs, putting the bag into the microwave, closing the door, and pressing the button.
“I don’t hate it.”
“Then that’s what I’ll bring.” I walk to her, putting my hands on the countertop to cage her in. I can’t seem to keep my hands to myself tonight, and she doesn’t seem to mind. Which only makes it worse for me. I like seeing how far she’ll let me go. If I have the space to play, I’m gonna play.
She leans back, looking up at me. So I kiss her. When I pull away, meaning for it to be a quick, chaste kiss, her hand is around my neck, pulling me to her again.
I groan into her mouth when she deepens the kiss, firmly stroking her tongue against mine. There’s just something about kissing that I’ve always fucking loved, and she makes it ten times better. Not sure how that’s possible, but it is. My pants start getting tight around my crotch and I don’t even feel bad about it. If she’s pulling me in to kiss, and she wants to kiss me like this, she has to know what that’s gonna do to me, right? I’m not trying to fuck the girl, but damn, she’s definitely going to know I want to .
I move my hands from the counter to her hips and up her sides, then back down. I slowly make my way to her ass, waiting to see if she’ll stop me, and when she doesn’t, I lift her up and set her on the counter, making it much easier to touch and kiss her.
She’s warm between her legs, the heat traveling through my jeans straight to my cock, making me harder. I bet she’s tight as fuck. Bet no one’s made her come in a long fucking time. I want to do that. I want her to come all over my face and my cock. Maybe too fast for her, but I really want it. No, I fucking need it.
The microwave beeps, telling us the popcorn is done, and I expect her to stop, but she doesn’t. And that is so fucking hot.
I move from her lips to her neck, kissing and licking her skin. Cora wraps her legs around me, digging her heels in and moaning softly.
Her hands go to my back, pulling me into her, crushing my dick which feels good. I groan, nipping at her skin. She whimpers the most beautiful sounds. I want more of them. The microwave beeps again, reminding us there’s still food inside.
“You gonna get that?” I ask between kissing my way back to her mouth, hoping and praying the answer is no.
She mutters something that sounds like a no, her hands in my hair now, tugging.
I don’t think we should be doing this right here in her kitchen where her dad can walk out and see. If this were a different situation, I wouldn’t fucking care, but I don’t want to set him off and her get upset about upsetting him. He isn’t a typical dad. This isn’t a typical situation. I have nothing against it, I just have to be thoughtful about what I do. I don’t want to make her life harder in any way. I want to take some of the load she’s carrying—make it lighter for her.
“Cora, baby,” I say, pulling away, but her hands are still tugging me close. “Maybe we should… you know. I don’t wanna wake up your dad.”
Her hands loosen on me and I pull back, both of us breathing hard. Her eyes are wild with need.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
I run my hands down her cheeks and lean in to kiss her again. This time leaving it as soft and chaste.
“Don’t be. Trust me, there is nothing to be sorry for.”
I smile and she smiles in return, her gaze going to the hall that leads to the bedrooms.
She sighs, closing her eyes.
“Ya know, if you can manage it, you could come to my house sometime,” I offer. “Not that I don’t mind coming here. I don’t. But if you want a break, you can have one. My house is safe, and it’s yours whenever you need it.”
I grip her hips and help her to her feet. Her eyes stay on mine.
“I’d like that very much.”
She gets the popcorn from the microwave and dumps it into a bowl. I’m already imagining her in my bed, on my couch, in my shower… I’d take her all over. Never had a girl in my house be fore. Not since I was young and sneaking girls in any way, but that was all stupid stuff. Doesn’t count.
We make our way into the living room to sit on the couch, keeping the bowl on her lap. She presses play on the remote and grabs a handful of popcorn. I remember she asked me to tell her about myself and I haven’t done that yet, which is kind of an asshole thing. She doesn’t know anything about me and wants to.
“What do you want to know about me?” I ask, reaching for some popcorn. It’s not my favorite. Hate that it gets stuck in my teeth and shit, but it’s a snack and I like snacks.
She keeps her gaze on the television, but says, “I don’t know. Your life. What you do outside of the club. Your family.”
“You met my brother, the ball of sunshine he is. We’re ten and a half months apart, me being older. Both our parents died. Pops a while ago, and Ma when I was eleven.”
She nods carefully as she listens, grabbing more popcorn, and turning to face me, the movie forgotten. I like that she doesn’t jump down my throat to apologize for the loss of my parents. Don’t know what it is, but it annoys the fuck outta me when people go right to pity when someone dies. I get it’s a sad thing, but I have my own life too.
“I live alone in our old house. Snapper—well, Kolton, my brother, but don’t tell him I told you that.” I wink and she huffs out a small laugh. “He moved out right after Dad died. Got his own place. We get along well enough, but we’re not close by any means. Outside of the stuff I do for the club, I don’t do much. Don’t really have time either. Fishing on Sundays when I can, but lately seems I haven’t had time for anything.”
“You have time for me,” she says, smiling up at me.
I put my arm around her, kissing her head.
“I will always make time for you.”
“You’re unbelievably sweet,” she says.
“Can’t help it when it comes to you.”
She chews on the corner of her lip before asking, “How old are you?”
“How old do you think I am?”
“Are you going to be upset if I’m wrong?”
“Depends…” I say carefully, but laugh so she knows I’m kidding.
She keeps chewing on her lip, her gaze darting all over my face.
“I’m going to say… thirty-four.”
My brows shoot up. “Well, damn. I’ll take it.”
“Oh no, I’m wrong? I was so sure I was right!”
“You’re wrong, sweetheart, but not by much. I’m thirty-six.”
“Do you know how old I am?”
“No, and I ain’t foolish enough to guess, so you either tell me or I’ll never know.”
She throws her head back and laughs, the sound like music.
“I’ll be nice,” she promises. “I’m twenty-five.”
“Yeah, I would’ve guessed about that.”
We fall into silence as we watch the movie, which has my attention now that I’m really watching it. I think I know what’s going to happen, but then I don’t. Cora stays cuddled to my side the whole time, and the popcorn bowl is empty outside of a few kernels once the movie is done.
I don’t want to leave, though that’s probably what I should do because it’s late and she’s got work tomorrow. I consider asking her to watch another movie, but I bet she’s exhausted. Bet she doesn’t get enough sleep to begin with. I can’t be the reason she gets even less.
“Thanks for having me,” I say as I get up.
“Thanks for everything you did tonight.”
“It was nothing.”
“It was definitely not nothing.” She walks to the door, pulling it open. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow for the washing machine?”
I step outside but turn to face her, holding open the screen door with my shoulder. “You will definitely see me tomorrow for the washing machine… and maybe more.”
She smiles wide, leaning against the door frame.. “I’d like that.”
My cell rings, and I pull it from my pocket. “Sorry, club shit,” I say when I see it’s Coyote. “Give me one second.” I step away, letting the screen door close carefully and keep my voice down.
“You gotta get to the club right now. We’ve got a problem.”
“Be there in ten.” I end the call, moving back to Cora, who is looking at me a little oddly. Don’t really know how to explain it, but it isn’t how she was looking at me a few moments ago.
“Gotta get to the club.” I pull the screen door open.
“This time of night?” she asks, raising a brow. Can’t tell if it’s cause she’s worried or… I don’t know, jealous? Nah, that’s just wi shful thinking. Why would she be jealous? She didn’t ask me to stay. If she had, I’d tell her I’ll come back here as soon as I can.
“Always on call.” I put my hand on her hip, not able to get enough of touching her, then kiss her, long and deep. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Nine o’clock.”
“See you tomorrow.”
I feel her eyes on me all the way to my bike. I wave, and so does she. When she closes the door, I strap on my helmet, start up my bike, and get to the club. I’m the last one to show. There’s a bunch of prints on the meeting table, and I glance at them as I sit down.
“Iron Runners struck again. This time they hit the fucking school,” Coyote spits out.
All of us are in agreement that you don’t fuck with kids, especially where they go to learn. They need that shit. Without it, what do they have in life? Fucking nothing. The Iron assholes are well aware of how seriously we take that shit, so they did this on purpose. They’re trying to make a point.
They think we’re weak right now and are using that to their advantage. They’re right to some extent. We definitely aren’t our strongest, but that doesn’t make us weak. Though we aren’t functioning properly as a unit, we will fuck some shit up on our own. We can pull our shit together when we need to, and now is the time.
“Fucking pricks,” Grizz mutters, leaning back in his chair.
“We’re going to hit up their place tomorrow,” Coyote explains. “Show them we aren’t playing anymore. They wanna come on our turf and fuck our shit up? We’re gonna do the same to them. I ain’t playing their games anymore. They’re going to learn the hard way that the Merciless Few aren’t people to fuck with.” He slams his hand on the table. “We ride heavy tomorrow. Seven o’clock, not a minute fucking later.”
The room erupts into sounds of agreement, cheers, stomping feet and hand-slapping the table. And I join right in because fuck those Iron pricks if they think we’re going to lie down and take their bullshit.