Chapter 12
Devyn
Letting out a tired sigh, I carried the trash bag to my door and opened it.
The little yelp I gave was pure reflex as I saw a man sitting in a metal chair in the hallway, facing my door.
He was leaning back on the rear two legs of the chair, shoving food from a plate into his mouth.
He froze, fork halfway to his lips when I opened the door.
I blinked at him, then took a careful step backward, into the safety of my apartment and shut the door.
Looking down at the bag in my hand, I debated on what to do.
It wasn’t like other people didn’t live in this apartment complex, but…
the way he was sitting in front of my door?
It was obvious he was there for me. What wasn’t obvious to me was why.
My eyes narrowed as something clicked in my brain. I opened the door back up and we stared at each other as I took stock of his leather motorcycle cut. Right there on the breast was The Saint’s Outlaws MC. That was Bolo’s club. He’d told me a little about it over the course of a couple dates.
“Sorry to startle you,” the man said, dropping the chair forward onto all fours again.
“You’re one of Bolo’s…brothers?”
“Name’s Relay,” he said.
My eyes narrowed as I studied him. “You look like him.”
Relay’s lips twitched in the barest smile. “Perceptive aren’t you? The dickhead also happens to be my actual brother.”
I bit the insides of my lips to keep from laughing. There was no denying it after that. I couldn’t imagine saying that about my sisters, but I could absolutely see brothers referring to each other that way. “And why are you sitting outside my door?”
“Ms. Martin made me up a plate.” He held up the food. “Damn good.”
“She’s a wonderful cook,” I agreed, not at all missing the fact that he hadn’t answered my question.
“Sweet old lady. Gave me this chair to wait in, too.”
“That’s because she’s going to try to grope your butt later.”
His dark eyebrows shot up. “That so?” He cocked his head in consideration. “Well, it’s the least I can do after she fed me.” He shrugged shoulders that weren’t nearly as massive as Bolo’s but were big in their own right.
Really, it wasn’t fair to compare other men to Bolo, because who was really that big in real life? The man was like a bear. Or Big Foot. “And why were you in this hallway for Ms. Martin to be able to feed?” It wasn’t a coincidence. That would be far too unlikely.
“Doing my brother a favor.”
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “You’re not exactly forthcoming-”
“Noticed that, did ya?” he asked with a smirk. “There’s a reason for it. Bolo will fill you in on why I’m here.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it again, because what was the point? He obviously wasn’t going to tell me why he was here.
“I’ll take that.”
Looking down to where he was pointing, I realized I was still holding my trash bag. “Oh. You don’t have-”
He had already stood up and put his plate on the chair. “I’ll do it,” he echoed. “Just make sure no one fucks with my food. And if my brother gets here before I get back, don’t let him eat it.” He gave me a hard look, waiting for something.
“O-okay,” I said in agreement.
He gave a short nod of his head, then took the bag from me and disappeared toward the elevator.
I shook my head in disbelief, but stayed at the doorway to watch over his plate of food.
My phone started buzzing incessantly in my pocket so I pulled it out.
I laughed when I saw all my sister’s names popping up in our group chat.
I’d sent the picture of Bolo and I—the one with his shirt off to shut them up about the old man comments—after the rafting trip.
They’d been talking about him over the last two days.
I rolled my eyes as Shay sent a GIF of Aquaman coming out of the water half-clothed in reference to Bolo.
He was their new obsession and my amusement grew wider with every comment they made.
Audrey was pretty much in love. I was going to need to make sure Bolo didn’t want to trade me in for the youngest model of my family.
Not that my sister would ever do that. But it never hurt to make sure Bolo wasn’t that kind of guy either.
No one wanted the type you spent twenty years with and he up and leaves you for the nineteen-year-old secretary.
Of course, that usually happened when the guy had money.
I had no clue if Bolo did or didn’t. Money wasn’t exactly something I cared much about.
You needed enough to survive. That was about it.
I watched as Relay stalked back toward me.
There wasn’t any other way to describe the way he moved, except maybe prowled.
He moved in a graceful way that spoke of an underlying danger.
Studying him, I couldn’t help but marvel at the differences and similarities between him and Bolo.
Relay’s eyes were so dark they almost looked black, while Bolo had bright blue.
Relay’s hair was a bit darker than Bolo’s, too.
But the biggest difference was just Bolo’s size.
I wondered what his parents looked like. Who had he gotten his size from?
Sasquatch. His mother had an affair with Sasquatch.
“Um…would you like to wait inside?” I asked.
Relay looked uncomfortable at the invitation. “Ms. Martin won’t know where to find me.”
“I can get her plate back to her.”
“Right, but how will she refill it if she can’t find me?” He scooped another forkful of food into his mouth and chewed.
So they both have insatiable appetites.
Not concerned about being alone with his brother’s girl, only that he might miss a chance at more food. Must be a family trait. And, oh God, did I just refer to myself as Bolo’s girl?
Relay sighed. “Yeah, I’ll come in. Guess I’m obligated.”
“How so?” I asked with a small laugh.
“You’re going to be my sister-in-law soon.”
I froze, the door not quite closed behind him as I stared. “What?”
He turned his head, studying my shocked face. “I mean…having my niece or nephew,” he amended. He scratched his head with his free hand.
“You said-”
“Nope. I didn’t.”
I didn’t get the chance to argue because his cell rang and he looked almost relieved to answer it.
He set his plate on my coffee table. “Yeah?” He sighed.
“I’m here asshole. She came out and saw me and invited me in.
Yeah, Drifter and Strike are down in the parking lot.
” He paused, eyes straying over to me. “Yeah. Good. Bro. I said she’s good. ”
My eyebrows raised. Clearly he was speaking with Bolo, and about me.
I crossed to my small recliner and sat down, blatantly listening in.
I hadn’t heard from Bolo since this morning.
He was a busy man, but this had been the first time since he walked into my fire station that he hadn’t texted me throughout the day.
It wasn’t like it had been all that long ago but, at the same time, it sort of felt like it had.
I’d missed talking to him today. I frowned as that realization sank in.
“Yeah. Ruck said she’s good. Merc and Code are over there.
Probably also getting a home cooked meal because you know Mom noticed them the minute they showed up.
” Relay sat down, using his shoulder to hold the phone and picked the plate back up again.
He started shoving more of the food into his mouth.
It had to be cold by now. “You take care of it?” He nodded. “Good. How long? Yeah. Later.”
He let the phone drop from his shoulder, not caring that it landed on the floor. I wondered what kind of case he used because I needed something super durable in my line of work and it seemed like his phone probably took a lot of abuse and was still functioning.
“Bolo will be here in about ten minutes.”
“Is everything okay?”
He looked up at me and arched a brow. “Yeah.”
Narrowing my eyes, I folded my arms over my chest. “Then why are you here?” I bit back the grin as irritation crossed his features.
It was sort of fun poking at him. He obviously wasn’t going to tell me anything, but in this weird way he almost already felt like a brother to me.
And it was a requirement for sisters to annoy their brothers.
Not that I was ready for anything completely permanent with Bolo.
Well…except the child we were having together. There was that, of course.
Relay grunted when he realized I was half messing with him. Though I was curious, too. “My parents are going to love you.”
“Really?” I asked. “I hope so.”
He looked around my place. “You cook?”
“Not really. I mean, a little, but not very well.”
He seemed disappointed. “You microwave?”
“You can’t still be hungry…”
His brows shot up. “Have you had a meal with my brother, yet? You’re going to be perpetually be out of food.”
He wasn’t wrong there. The man was like a garbage disposal with legs. Seemed like that ran in the family.
“I have some leftovers from Saturday,” I told him. “Camila made food for our river trip and Bolo left it here.”
He perked up at that, then thought about it. “No. It’s fine. I’ll grab something on the way to the clubhouse.”
“You sure? I could-”
“I’m not taking food away from a pregnant woman,” he told me, voice firm. “In fact…you…hungry or something?”
I blinked at that. I’d eaten a small amount of food already. “No. I’ve eaten.”
He looked relieved. “Okay.”
We stared at each other. Okay so maybe he wasn’t exactly like a brother yet. We didn’t have enough familiarity to be comfortable in silence. We both breathed a sigh of relief when the knock on the door interrupted our awkwardness.
I started to get up, but sat back down when he held out a hand.
“I got it.”
My mouth fell open when he pulled a gun out of the waistband of his jeans and went over to the door. He looked through the peep hole. “Password.”
“Fuck off.”
I watched the scene, perplexed and slightly concerned that Relay had just whipped a gun out like that. What is going on? I wasn’t about to ask him again. That was like banging my head into a brick wall.
Relay opened the door and I saw two more men standing behind Bolo. “You two assholes didn’t want to wait up here with me, but you come up with him?”
“Have you met you?” one of the men asked.
Bolo and the other guy chuckled at that.
Relay looked over his shoulder and met my stare, then faced his brother again. “You take care of that thing fully? Anything I should watch for?”
“It’s done,” Bolo said, his eyes going to me and heating as he watched me. “Done for now.”
“For now. Great.”
“Don’t worry, Relay,” the second man at the door said in a cheerful tone. “We’re going home with you to watch over you tonight.”
“The fuck you are,” Relay growled.
“Ruck’s orders.”
Relay huffed out an annoyed breath. “I don’t need fucking guards. What the fuck?” He pulled out his phone. “If you’re staying, you can wait out in the backyard.”
“The backyard?” one asked.
“All night?” the other questioned, looking appalled.
“It’s more than you deserve. I- Prez,” Relay barked, brushing past his brothers as whoever he’d called picked up.
“Hi, I’m Drifter,” man one said, stepping forward and offering his hand. “Sorry you got stuck with Relay. Hopefully he didn’t clean out your pantry.”
Standing, I shook his hand. “Oh…it’s okay. He was…”
“A dick?” The second guy suggested. “I’m Strike.”
I shook his hand with a laugh. “I was going to say fine. He was fine.”
“He must like you then,” Bolo said with a grin.
Blinking at that, I asked, “Does he not normally like people?”
They all shared looks of amusement. “Not exactly,” Drifter said.
“We should go before he hotwires the cage and leaves us behind,” Strike said. “Nice to have met you.”
“Nice to meet you both,” I called out because they were already walking away.
Bolo shut the door and we stood there in silence for a full five heartbeats.
“That was…different,” I told him.
He grinned. “That’s one way to put it. Well, now you’ve met one of my brothers and two more of my MC brothers.”
“They seem nice.”
He arched a brow.
“Even Relay,” I said before he could ask.
“There’s a first. Glad he behaved.” His eyes zeroed in on the empty plate still sitting on my coffee table.
“The neighbor lady fed him.”
“He’s like a gremlin. You can’t feed him.”
“That’s just after midnight,” I pointed out.
“It’s anytime for him.”
Shaking my head, I watched as he walked up and pulled me into his arms. “What’s going on, Bolo?”
“Just give me a minute,” he muttered, holding me close.
Closing my eyes, I enjoyed the way it felt to be held by him.
His strong arms wrapped around me made me feel safe and cherished.
I shoved back the automatic urge to pull away once I realized he was making me feel things.
That was part of what Soph had been talking about.
Why did I react to emotion with automatic denial?
Especially when the man I was interested in was initiating it?
If I didn’t want a relationship it would make sense. But I did. I wanted it badly. I was just…
Scared.
My parents, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, and even some cousins were all wonderful examples of love and steady relationships in my life, but I was always so scared that if I gave someone my heart that they’d stomp all over it.
Made no sense. But a small piece of me was whispering that I could trust Bolo. Maybe I just wanted it to be true.
So, I stood there and hugged him back, just holding on and enjoying the comfort we were giving one another. Maybe this could work…if I let it.