Chapter Twenty
After three days in the shop, Camila finally felt like she wasn’t totally failing.
“You seem to be settling in,” Wrench said as he walked her back to the clubhouse after the shop closed on her third day.
Camila nodded. “I think so. I feel like I’m catching on. Or at least it seemed like I had to go bother you to ask fewer dumb questions today.”
“You’re not asking the same questions over and over and I don’t have to hold your hand and walk you through things more than once.
You’re doing great. I’ve had girls in who had to ask how long an oil change took a half dozen times a day.
” Wrench shook his head. “They didn’t last long.
But you’re already doing better than they did.
It’s a lot to learn, but you’re doing great. ”
She watched him in the artificial lights at the edge of the compound, but didn’t argue.
She hadn’t believed him before, but now it seemed he’d been right.
She was fitting in. Turning back to the clubhouse, she tried to ignore the fluttering in her belly at the thought of what would happen in a couple hours.
She might not know everything Papá was into, but she knew she’d be hearing about it tonight.
Adrian had offered to tell her all of it first, to give her time to absorb it, so she wouldn’t be finding out in front of a room full of people, but she’d opted to wait.
She didn’t want to hear it more than once.
And if these people were going to be her family, then they deserved to see the truth.
And that included seeing how finding out what Papá was into affected her.
She wanted to go to the room she shared with Adrian.
She wanted to hide and let them do their thing, then ask about the results when it was all done, but she had spent enough of her life cowering and hiding.
She would meet this head on. She would know what she was getting into and it would be a choice.
No more blindly doing what she was told in hopes of not upsetting whoever was doing the telling.
She would be responsible for her own choices, for her own decisions.
With her resolve set, she followed Wrench into the clubhouse.
Spotting Adrian at a table to one side, she headed in his direction.
There was still a couple of hours until the big meeting, or at least that was how she thought about it, and she was going to enjoy them, at least until they decided she couldn’t stay.
Despite Adrian’s reassurances that they wouldn’t make her leave, Camila couldn’t be so sure. She couldn’t figure out why anyone would vote to let her stay, especially once they found out the danger she would bring their way.
“There you are. I was wondering if I was going to have to come get you or if that old man was going to try and hold you hostage all night long.” Adrian hooked an arm around her hips and tugged her against him. He buried his face against her belly and—was he sniffing her?
She frowned down at him as he pulled away.
“What?”
“Sniffing me?”
“You smell good, carino.” He turned back to where he was talking to Mayhem, his arm still around her.
She listened to them for a moment then her mind drifted.
She thought about her day and how much easier it had been than the first two.
And she was looking forward to tomorrow too, which was something she couldn’t have said before.
Camila stood there for a few minutes, content to just be near him for a few minutes.
It wasn’t until she started twisting as she looked around that he seemed to notice. “Something wrong?”
“No, there just seems to be a lot of people around.”
“There are. They’ll be trickling in for the next couple of hours. Bulldog called everyone in for tonight.”
The butterflies in her belly seemed to turn into pterodactyls in an instant. “Tonight?”
Adrian nodded.
She looked around them again, noticing how many faces she didn’t recognize and how many people wouldn’t have the interest in letting her stay because they’d at least met her.
“When’s the last time you ate anything?”
Camila looked at Adrian and blinked. It took a moment for his words to sink in.
“At lunch. Winter brought in burritos for everyone.” What did that matter?
she thought. This would be her last evening here.
And she didn’t have any idea where she’d go from here.
Would they send her to another chapter of the Sons?
Or she’d just heard Mayhem talking about visiting another club, an ally club.
Maybe she could get a ride with him. Maybe they would be more likely to let her stay.
No. She shook her head even as the idea occurred to her.
She might like it here, but she had no idea what another club would be like and while she liked sex with Adrian, she didn’t want to be club ass, not here or with any other club, and how could she know what a stranger club might do, even if they had to use force?
Pressure around her waist reminded her she was standing in the common room, with Adrian’s arm around her.
“Come on back,” Adrian’s voice was patient.
She didn’t know how long she’d been lost in her thoughts—not long she was sure or he wouldn’t be so calm.
She blinked several times. “There you are.” He eased his chair back and patted his leg.
“Have a seat. We’ll get you something to eat and see how things are from there.
” He guided her to sit on his lap even as he raised his other arm and waved for one of the prospects.
Camila sat where Adrain steered her, not caring that it was on his lap and not in a chair of her own.
She’d seen Winter and Miranda sitting with their men several times, and since this whole thing tonight was to see if she would get to stay with Adrian, she didn’t care what anyone thought of her sitting with him, enjoying what could very well be her last few hours with him.
“Drink this, carino,” Adrian handed her something. She didn’t even look at the glass, or what was in it, but assumed it was the soda she normally drank and tipped it back.
Fire streaked down her throat and hit her belly like it had been bombed. Camila coughed and reached blindly for the table to set down the cup.
“Are you all right?” Adrian asked, one arm coming around her even as the other took the cup and set it aside.
Camila nodded but continued to cough for a moment longer.
“What was that?” she croaked when she finally had enough air to speak.
“Whiskey. I didn’t expect you to chug it. I just thought a shot or two would calm your nerves. You’re all but vibrating, carino. Are you sure you’re all right?”
She nodded as one more coughing fit hit her then she was able to speak again.
“Can I get a soda or something?” She turned and pushed the glass that still held about a half inch of the liquid fire away from her on the table so she wouldn’t accidentally drink any more of it.
Frank appeared a moment later with a glass of soda and another of water, she sipped carefully at first, even knowing it was stupid, but her mouth didn’t trust her eyes and she wanted to make sure it was what she expected.
After a while, someone put a plate in front of her and Adrian told her to eat.
She wasn’t hungry, the pterodactyls in her belly seemed to have taken her appetite, but she tried to eat anyway and ended up pushing it around more than consuming it.
Eventually she gave up and tossed what was left.
When she returned to Adrian, she sat beside him rather than in his lap.
As it grew later, and closer to when all of her father’s sins would come to light, her chest felt tight and her toes tingled.
She wished this could all be over. No matter which way it went, the knowing had to be better than the waiting.