Chapter Twenty-Six
Harley
“ A lright, that’s everything. Guys, we will have church in a few hours. Remember that we were very careful with everything we did over the weekend and there isn’t a way to trace what happened at the warehouse back to us, but still be cautious. No going out alone,” Gabe orders as he finishes off the meeting.
After Oakley left, we went over what will happen next, which is basically going back to what we were doing: waiting, training, researching, and watching people.
“Hey, let’s go,” Ryker says to me, Grayson, and Cade.
We head upstairs and into his room, where we all sit on the bed. Well, they sit and I flop down in the middle of the mattress on my stomach and bury my face in the comforter.
“I feel like we need a break from everything and to spend some time together. Is there anything anyone wants to do?” Ryker asks.
I groan, “Can we just do nothing? Cade and I watched movies half the night the other day, and it was nice to just be . I feel like I’m always running on high alert. I also don’t want to leave or go anywhere.” My voice comes out muffled through the blanket, but it’s clear enough that they hear me.
“I’m good with that. Taking over for Nerds is so much more work than I thought, and I’m still new to all the things he does, so some things take me twice as long to get done,” Grayson grumbles.
“Do you think Rage’s comment about us slowly doing more club-related things before we even become prospects has to do with the Nerds situation?” Cade asks, tilting his head in thought.
Ryker rolls me over so I am on my back, staring up at him. Pushing my messy hair out of my face, he says, “Probably, and with everything going on now, it seems kind of silly for us not to be getting involved in normal club things.”
“But it makes sense because he is trying to stick to how the club should be run. Our situation is just unique. I think that’s why he keeps us out of church meetings because not even prospects can go to church,” Gray explains with a shrug.
Thinking about how soon prospecting is coming up, I ask, “Are you guys ready to be prospects? Like, you will have to be working almost all day, every day for an entire year, right?”
Ryker scoffs, “Yeah, we will be their bitch for a year. So looking forward to that.”
“You’ll love every second of it because this is what we’ve always wanted, and you’ll get to start at the shop then too,” Cade tells him with a smirk.
“Shop?” I ask, looking up at Ryker.
“Yeah. Axe has a bike shop on Main Street, Custom Sons. They do a lot of body work but also do work on the bikes, too. I want to build bikes. I love messing with them, and I really have to focus on what I’m doing so it keeps my mind from wandering off or getting me into trouble.
“As a prospect, you get to tell them what you’re interested in long-term, and they basically give you some kind of internship for the year around prospect work to see if you’ll be a good fit,” Ryker explains.
“That’s amazing. What does Parker do?” I wonder.
Grayson’s lips curl down. “I think he’s interested in working at the club. He does most of the bar work here when he can. After all the chaos with the other prospects, he has been stuck doing so much more as the only one left now. That’s why we don’t see him as often. But his year is almost up, I think.”
“And you’ll work with Nerds to be another tech guy,” I say to Grayson before turning to Ryker. “And you’ll go work with Axe at the shop. What about you?” I ask Cade.
“I could go work with Noah as enforcer or go to his club, Dirty Sinner, and do security. But I’ve been thinking about asking about working under Stone since he is our sergeant at arms.”
“Really?” Ryker asks, surprise clear in his tone. “When have you thought about this?”
Cade shrugs. “I just knew I didn’t want to do what Noah does. And Stone does a lot of security work behind the scenes and keeps the peace when we do have events and whatnot. I would prefer to be doing that.”
“Even though you have other things you would like to do as well,” I tack on, almost regretting it when Cade looks uncomfortable because he knows Ryker will ask, but then I remember that we are a team. The four of us together have to be all in. This relationship is more than just me with each of them. Their bond has to continue to get stronger.
Ryker’s eyes jump from me to Cade. “What is she talking about?” he says slowly.
Cade frowns down at me and doesn’t answer Ryker, so I get up onto my knees and lean forward until my hands are resting on his thighs and I can lean in closer to his face.
Meeting his beautiful blue, fiery eyes with mine, I say, “I love you. I love you so much. I love you enough that I am okay with you possibly being upset with me even if I would prefer you weren’t,” I chuckle nervously. “They love you, too. Let them prove that right now. Does it make it any easier if I say I’ll kick their asses if they upset you?” I raise a brow at him.
Cade lets out a throaty laugh and pulls me against him so he can whisper in my ear, “I love you so much. When I’m with you, I’m forced to feel on a much deeper level than I’ve ever felt before, and it’s absolutely terrifying, but I will suffer every day for the rest of my life if it means I get to have you.”
“Okay,” Ryker draws out, blowing out a huff. “This is a sweet moment and all, but what the fuck is going on?”
Meeting Cade’s eyes again, I give him a reassuring smile and pull away, blinking back the tears that are threatening to fall after what he just said.
“I’ll be right back,” Cade mumbles and walks out of Ryker’s room only to return a moment later with a leatherbound notebook in his hand. He tosses it on the center of the bed and grunts, “Look.”
Ryker snatches it up and flips it open to the first page. Then he flips to the next, and the next, and keeps going.
His eyes grow wide, but he doesn’t say anything. Grayson must get tired of waiting because he stands up and walks to the head of the bed where Ryker is, glancing over his shoulder.
“Holy—moly,” Grayson stutters, his mouth gaping open. “You did these?” he asks, glancing up at Cade who didn’t sit back down, but is just leaning against the wall.
He gives a single curt nod, biting his lip.
“Cade, these are… wow. How long have you been doing this?”
Meeting Cade’s eyes, I hold out my hand and wait for him to walk over to me and take it. Once he does, he sits back on the edge of the bed and begins telling them what he told me.
“God, I would love to go get myself arrested so I can be in there with your fucking father and gut him piece by piece,” Ryker spits.
Cade raises a brow at him before the largest smile I have ever seen comes over his face and then he laughs. And he laughs really fucking hard. “I could see you actually getting yourself arrested and your mugshot would be you smiling like a fucking fool because you knew what was going to happen next.”
Grayson and Ryker are both stunned by Cade’s loud laughter and comment. I feel a grin stretch across my face, and my heart feels fuller than it ever has watching them get over their shock and begin going back and forth about Ryker going to jail.
We put on a random movie and just lay in the bed and talk for a while.
“We need to do more school shit soon,” I whine as we get in bed for the night.
“You’re almost done. This is your last semester, and I will help you whenever I can. You’ve got this,” Grayson reassures me.
“You only sound that upbeat and positive about it because you’re already done,” I point out.
Ryker laughs and wraps his arms around me, whispering in my ear, “I’ll reward you with orgasms if you're a good girl this semester.”
“Done. Deal. Want to start now?” I ask eagerly.
The guys laugh at me, not realizing I am only partially joking. “We haven’t gotten to go on a ride all together yet since I got my bike,” I say randomly.
“No, we haven’t,” Ryker remarks, sitting up. “We should, though. Maybe tomorrow after we get school stuff done, I’ll talk to Axe about what project bikes he has that I can have to fix up for Grayson and I. Cade has his, but we still don’t own our own, and it would be nice if we did.”
“That’s a good idea. But don’t think I’ll be helping you with them,” Grayson says, raising a brow at Ryker.
I lean towards Grayson and whisper, “We can sit back and watch him work. That would be a hot sight.”
Grayson’s cheeks turn red but he doesn’t disagree, so I wink at him.
“How long do you think it’ll take you to get bikes working for you guys?” I ask.
Ryker pauses, thinking it over. “It just depends on what Axe has that I can use. He loves to repurpose parts, so I’ll just have to talk to him,” he says.
“If it’ll take a while, we can just borrow from others so we can at least get one ride in together soon,” Cade adds on.
“Sounds perfect,” I say around a yawn, curling up under the blanket.
“Yes, you are,” someone whispers as my eyes grow heavy.
The next morning, Cade, Ryker, and I stay upstairs in my room and work on schoolwork since Gabe’s house is not usable right now with Nerds staying there. Grayson left a few hours ago to head down to the tech room and get his own stuff sorted out.
“I’m done,” Ryker announces, slamming his textbook shut and laying back flat on the floor.
“We’ve been up here for almost five hours. I got a lot done, so I think we can stop for the day,” I say, stretching my arms.
“Yeah, I’m ahead so I’m good,” Cade adds.
“Perfect. Food?” Ryker asks, sitting up.
Chuckling, I get up with the guys and we head downstairs to the kitchen. After finding some leftovers to heat up, Ryker goes and gets Grayson to eat with us and we all sit at the island to eat.
“I think Axe is here and just out in the shop we have in the garage, so I am going to go out there after we’re done and talk to him about the bikes,” Ryker tells us.
“That sounds good.” I grin at him just as Lincoln walks into the kitchen dressed like he was out on his bike and carrying his helmet. “Hey. Where were you?” I ask.
He flashes me a beaming smile, walking over to lean against the counter by me. “Can you keep a secret? All of you? It’s a big one.”
Glancing at the guys, I shrug, and we all say yes.
He peers back through the doorway he came from and then says, “Okay, so Atlas and I were just out checking out some properties and pieces of land.” His smile gets impossibly wider. “We are looking into buying over here, but we want to get Brielle’s dream home. Since that’s hard to find, we’re thinking about getting land and having it built.”
“Are you serious?” I almost squeal.
“Yes, yes. But hush.” He laughs. “We aren’t going to tell her about it. We still have—let’s just say steps to take with her before offering her the house of her dreams. So, keep it quiet. Right now, it’s just looking at options, but we did find a realtor to help us. Atlas was finishing up with her when I left.”
“That’s so fucking amazing,” I tell him as I get up to hug him.
“Sugar works a lot of construction and has plenty of connections. He’s who coordinates all the houses we will put on the property here. Maybe you could chat with him,” Grayson suggests.
“Yeah?” Linc’s eyes light up as he looks at Grayson.
He nods. “Yeah. I can also help with finding anything, or I don’t know, just if you need any tech help.” He shrugs nervously.
“Thank you. That would be amazing,” Linc says with a grin.
Tears gather in the corners of my eyes, but I blink them away as I watch Grayson openly accept him and offer some kind of relationship to him in his own way. Protecting and opening his heart up to Lincoln all at once.