Chapter 8 #2
Forced to come here to pay off a debt for my brother?
Was she okay with this?
I leaned toward her, and my words left me on a cautious whisper. “Does your husband always boss you around?”
Maybe she’d confide in me what was really going on here.
Confusion bunched up her brow. “My husband?”
Okay, not married.
“Silas. Your boyfriend or husband or…whatever you call him.”
That confusion took a quick turn when she cackled with amusement, snorting and laughing and spluttering all over the place. “Oh, God. Eww. Gross.”
She wretched like she was going to vomit before more giggles followed. It made Kai giggle, too.
What the hell?
“You think I’m with Silas?”
I held onto the edge of the counter, trying to keep my footing.
I peeked over at the small window in the door, and I could barely see where Silas was bent over a car, facing away.
Only I would be so reprehensible as to notice how his coveralls fit snug on that dangerous body.
I looked back at her, my tongue stroking nervously over my dried lips. “You aren’t?”
More giggles. “No. God, no. Silas is my brother.”
“My brover.” Kai smacked himself in the chest with his toy motorcycle.
And I was just then realizing that her eyes were pretty much the exact same shade as Silas’s. Hazel. Predominantly sage green and rimmed in brown.
Humiliation rushed in.
God, that’s what assumptions got you, didn’t they?
“Oh,” I wheezed. Flustered and totally embarrassed.
Then I was thinking what a bastard Silas really was, not having the decency to correct me when I’d pressed him on it earlier.
I bet the sadist loved feeding on people’s discomfort.
Elena let go of a laugh, though she was watching me with a sly look in her eye. “Why do you look so relieved?”
“Um, because that man is far too old for you.”
And a raging asshole, but I bet she already knew that.
Conspiratorially, she leaned forward. “And as far as the word on the street goes, and by that, I mean in the clubhouse, crazy hot and really good in the sack.”
There was a full razzing to her words.
It was my turn to curl up my nose and say, “Eww and gross and never in my life.”
Old wounds suddenly groaned from within.
Never in my life.
She didn’t seem to notice my sudden discomfort.
I was an old pro at burying it.
She laughed outright. “Probably for the best. He’s not the snuggling type.”
Yeah. Me, neither.
She let a puff of air filter from her nose as her gaze wandered to the window on the door. Her demeanor shifted a fraction. “Not many of them are. These guys blaze through women like it’s their job.”
Sincerity filled her expression when she looked back. “But under it all, they’re good guys, Brinley. I want you to know that. I want you to know you’re safe here.”
Something deep and resonating flooded from her voice.
Still, I had to suppress an incredulous laugh.
Safe?
Safe was the last thing I felt.
“I go mowercycle?” Kai pointed a little finger toward the shop, angling himself that way like it would get him there faster.
My chest tightened as questions pummeled me again. “And Kai? He’s… yours?”
I was almost knocked off my feet by the swell of protectiveness that suddenly poured from her. A torrent of it. She held the baby a little closer as she pressed a kiss to the side of his head, breathing him in.
Something passed through her features that I couldn’t read. “He’s my heart, but not my son.”
Silas’s son, then.
I heaved a breath, wary of the limbo of questions that whirled through my mind.
“Well, I’d better get Kai out there before he stages a revolt. Motorcycles are serious business for him.” Elena laughed a light sound as she bounced the small child.
She started to back away, and I could see her contemplating before she rushed, “There’s a party at the clubhouse tonight. Well, there’s usually always a party at the clubhouse, but tonight, there’s a special one. It’s Trevan’s birthday, so I get to go.”
Excitement lit up her expression. “You should come.”
“I think your brother might have something to say about that.”
Her voice turned playful. “He doesn’t get to make all the rules, remember?”
She paused at the door, looking back at me, softness in her gaze. “I’m really glad you’re here, Brinley.”
She said it like I’d found my way home and this wasn’t some sort of cruel and unjust penalty I was paying.
A penalty I didn’t even understand.
A bit of the anger flared, but I somehow managed to smile without it being a grimace.
Because I meant what I originally said.
It was impossible not to like her.
“Thank you for that.”
She gave me a deep nod before she tossed open the door. The sound of tools and voices poured in like a wave from beyond, before the din returned to a dull drone when the door drifted closed behind her.
Maybe Silas had hit the nail on the head.
Maybe I really was looking for trouble.
Because I couldn’t do anything but edge out from behind the counter.
Couldn’t do anything but peer like a creeper through the window, hooked on the action as he rose from where he’d been leaned over a car’s engine and strode toward Elena and Kai.
Kai waved both hands, whipping that motorcycle around with a thrill.
Silas took him.
Swung him up in the air, his affect easy, but his body still rippling with menace and intimidation as he moved to where a bunch of motorcycles were situated in the far bay.
He swung onto one, taking Kai with him and settling the child so he was straddling the seat.
Kai’s little arms stretched out to grip onto the middle portion of the handlebars since they weren’t even close to being long enough to make it to the grips.
My chest squeezed. Squeezed in a way that I couldn’t fathom.
I couldn’t stop staring. Watching as joy filled Kai’s cherub face, and I thought it was sheer protection that took over Silas’s as he dipped down and pressed a tender kiss to the little boy’s head.
A surge of unequivocal loyalty ruptured out.
Beneath it was violence. The clear evidence of what would happen if anyone tried to hurt the child.
I tremored in the magnitude of it, nearly blown back when Silas lifted his penetrating gaze and laid it on me.
Green, roiling flames.
Harshness slashed into the savage angles of his face.
He kept staring at me. His nostrils flared, and I swore there was some kind of hidden message in it.
The muted sound of Elena’s laughter broke the bubble, and I stumbled back because I refused to be the fool who got lost in the trap.