Chapter 2 #3
“I can do it,” I said, nodding. It would take me a while, but the price was right, and I’d never minded yard work.
Blackberry bushes had completely taken over the back fence, and there was something large, yellow, and plastic that was half buried in the overgrown grass.
Large branches from an old cedar tree littered the yard, and the cement patio had some kind of moss in places that was an inch thick.
The front yard was marginally better, but it wasn’t exactly appealing. It was going to take a while.
“You get it cleaned up, and I’ll owe you,” Tommy replied. “Don’t care what you do with it, as long as it looks good. Yeah?”
“Sure.”
“Guess that’s it, then,” he said, tossing me the keys. “Welcome to your new place.”
“Thanks, Tommy,” I called as he walked away.
“Don’t mention it.” He waved over his shoulder.
As soon as he was gone, I went to find my brother. He was still in the kitchen, and his head popped out from behind a door.
“Walk-in pantry,” he said seriously.
“Christ, brother,” I muttered, leaning against the massive island in the middle of the kitchen. “Does Kara carry your balls around in her purse?”
“Man,” he said, carefully closing the pantry again. “You got no idea how much clutter two kids and a wife can make. You’ll be glad for the storage space.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“How many kids does the woman have? Just the one?”
“No clue. They mentioned that she’d had a kid with Mike Granger—”
“Bet she regretted that,” he scoffed.
“But they also mentioned kids, plural. So she’s got more than one.”
“Hopefully, she doesn’t have five or something. You’ve only got four bedrooms.”
“Don’t fuckin’ remind me.”
“So here’s what I’m thinkin’,” Draco said, leaning over the counter across from me. “Tomorrow mornin’, I’ll head to your storage unit, grab your shit, and shut down the account so you can stop payin’. I’ll grab some of the boys and get you moved in.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“No problem.” He brushed me off. “Dyl can tell us where everything goes, and I’ll let him unload the boxes and shit.”
I was already tired thinking about getting up at three and spending the day on a bus, only to spend the night driving all the way back home. I couldn’t deny that having our shit moved in already would be a massive help when I got back.
“Owe you one,” I conceded.
“Fuck that,” Draco said, shaking his head. “I figure the club’s sendin’ you down there, I’ll just make the prospects do the heavy lifting. Club business and all that.”
I parked my bike in the garage and locked up as we left.
That night was like every other night since I’d been back.
I ate dinner with Draco’s wife and little girls, spent some time playing with them in the backyard, and watched as the family disappeared upstairs for bath and bedtime rituals.
I didn’t think that Draco and Kara were going to sleep at the same time as their ten- and seven-year-olds, but they usually didn’t come back downstairs after the girls were in bed.
I would’ve felt bad about chasing them out of their living room every night so I could crash on the couch, but when I’d mentioned it to Draco, he’d smiled huge.
He definitely didn’t mind that they were in bed so early.
Dylan’s check-in happened around eleven, and he let me know that he was going to sleep for a few hours before he hit the road again.
I was disappointed because I’d hoped that he would get there before I had to leave, but glad he’d had the maturity to realize that he needed rest before he kept going.
The fact that he didn’t seem fired up to give me the third degree about the mysterious woman helped with the disappointment that I wouldn’t see him.
I lay on the couch for a long time, unsure if I’d be able to sleep, but when my alarm went off a couple of hours later, I woke up to Kara puttering around quietly in the kitchen.
“What are you doin’ up?” I asked, shuffling into the room after I’d cleaned up my blanket and pillow.
“I figured I’d get you set up for the bus,” she replied quietly. She pointed to things on the counter. “Coffee with cream. Turkey and pepperoni sandwich, chips, fruit, a couple of granola bars, and a bottle of water.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said thankfully, reaching out to squeeze her around the shoulders.
“It’s going to be a long day.” She shrugged. “And I’m not sure what the fuck is going on, but I’m guessing it’s going to be a stressful one.”
“Kara—”
“I know, I know,” she said, cutting me off with a wave. “Ask no questions and hear no lies.”
“Dyl stopped to sleep last night,” I replied, changing the subject. “But he’s supposed to let me know when he gets on the road again. I’ll tell him to call you so you know when to expect him.”
“Sounds good,” she said, pulling on a hoodie that Draco had left over the back of a kitchen chair the night before. “It’ll be awesome to have him here. We missed you guys when you were gone. The girls were so excited he was coming today. It took them an hour to fall asleep last night.”
“Can’t thank you enough for lettin’ me stay here.”
“Oh, shut up.” She rolled her eyes. “Of course you can stay here. You could move your asses in if you wanted, and you know it.”
“Think we’d be a little crowded,” I mused.
“I can deal with a crowd, especially if it were you and Dylan,” she said, refilling her coffee cup. “But Draco said he’s going to move you in today. The house down the street?”
“Yeah, Tommy’s place.”
“Perfect,” she said with a small smile. “I’ll head to the grocery store and get you some supplies today.”
“You don’t—”
“I know I don’t have to,” she cut me off. “But I know you, and I know Draco. Details are not your strong suit. You’ll end up screaming for Dylan to run down to our house and grab some toilet paper that you forgot to make sure you had before you sat down.”
“Sounds like a scenario you’ve experienced,” I mumbled, grinning.
“You think?”
I laughed. “Well, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled. “I’ll let you get ready, and I’ll go wake up your brother. He sounded like Mia begging me for five more minutes when the alarm went off.”
“My niece wakes up like an angel,” I argued as she left the kitchen. I could hear her laughing as she climbed the stairs.
I was ready to go when Draco came downstairs, and without a word, we headed out to Kara’s SUV.
There wasn’t much left to say. After he dropped me off at the bus station, the day passed in a fog.
I stayed awake long enough to check in with Dylan until he made it to Eugene and then tried to get some sleep, but instead, I spent most of the ride wondering what Theodora was like and how hard it would be to pull off a bogus relationship with her.
Things must’ve been pretty fucking bad for her down south if she’d agreed to such a thing, and honestly, that made the whole situation a little easier to swallow.
I didn’t like the idea of a woman being so desperate to escape that she’d willingly hitch her star to a man she’d never met.
The next few months were going to be a huge pain in the ass, and it was frustrating that I’d been the one chosen to fake a relationship with the woman, but I figured I’d better suck it the fuck up.
Theodora was the one who was moving her kids to a place she didn’t know with a man she’d never met before.
The situation was pretty low risk for me, but she was taking a huge gamble.
Markers were a big deal. If the club handed one out, it was because the person or organization had done them a solid that deserved payback in whatever form that took.
To renege on one was unheard of. But while it was important to do my best to make sure that we got her free and clear like her father asked us to, it was even more important for Theodora. It was her life.
No matter how I felt about the situation, I’d been given the responsibility of keeping their little family safe until things got to a point where they no longer had to worry about Granger. If that meant that I had to play a role, that’s what I’d do, and I’d do it well.
By the time I climbed off the bus in Sacramento, I was sweaty, exhausted, and grateful as hell that the ride was over.
I stopped in the bathroom to take a piss and check my pits to make sure I didn’t stink and then moved through the small station and out into the sunlight.
After a quick scan of the parking lot, I found her.
She was turned to me, looking out the window of an older Ford truck, the bed filled with boxes and a large toolbox.
The photo I’d seen didn’t do her justice. The woman was far more beautiful in person.
I walked toward the truck like I had all the time in the world, but the entire time, my mind was racing.
I’d seen at least three men that I figured could either be staring at her because she was so beautiful or because it was their job to watch her.
Without more time, there was no way for me to know which was which, and we needed to get on the road and out of town.
She rolled the window down as I approached the truck, and I glanced in the back seat to see two kids. One of them was watching me, but the other was engrossed in something on his lap.
“Theodora?” I asked, even though I knew.
“Curtis?” she replied, taking a deep breath.
I glanced in the back seat again, and with the reminder of the kids who were counting on me to get this right, I grinned huge. Reaching in through the window, I wrapped my hand around the side of Theodora’s delicate neck and tugged her toward me.
“Grease sent me,” I murmured against her mouth.
Then I kissed her like I hadn’t seen her in months. Like I couldn’t hold back. Like I couldn’t get enough.
The lines between reality and fiction were blurred in an instant.