Chapter 23
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
Addy
After meeting with the police, Mongrel and I went into the kitchen to help Gretchen.
Honestly, I wish I had half her energy, and I consider myself a relatively energetic person.
Constance and Maria are currently helping by watching over the cakes she has baking and now, we’re in the dipping room where I’m learning the fine art of dipping cake pops and pretzel rods.
“Have you ever tried caramel dipped pretzels?” I ask as I carefully roll the pretzel rod in some melted almond bark that’s had purple oil-based food color added. “I saw some kid on TikTok do them and it looks really good. He puts a sea salt sprinkle on them when they’re done.”
“No, I haven’t,” Gretchen says. “Can you show me one of his videos?”
Once I’m done with the batch I’m working on, I take off the food service gloves I’m using, pull out my phone then scroll through the videos until I find what I’m looking for. “Here, look at this one,” I reply.
“Holy crap, those look good,” she murmurs. “What do you think, Mongrel?”
“I think maybe around Halloween? Like a play on caramel apples or something?” he replies. “Other than that, less is more, unless you want to start offering customized packages.”
“Yeah, after what happened last time, I think I need to pass,” Gretchen teases. “The cost was far too high.”
“What if you offered them on a pre-order basis? As in, they would have to pay for them up front, and you choose the pick-up location. Don’t the Kings own several businesses? That way, you’d have a club brother around,” I propose.
“That could work,” she muses. “Let me see what Doc thinks.”
We spend the rest of the day baking, cutting out and freezing cake pops, and dipping pretzel rods, once we get the strawberry shortcake shooters perfected.
They’re perfection, and after a lot of back and forth with Constance and Maria, Gretchen has settled on a price.
They’ll be sold at Constance and Maria’s booth, as will the dipped pretzel rods, leaving the cake pops to be sold out of the pop-up camper.
After dinner, I look at Mongrel and say, “As much as I’ve loved practically spending the whole weekend with you, I need to get home because I have work tomorrow.”
“Can I bring you lunch? I’ve got to drop off the monthly ledgers to all of the businesses, so I’ll be in town,” he questions.
“I only get thirty minutes,” I reply.
“Plenty of time, are you good with eating the lunch special from the diner?” he asks.
“I’d like that,” I admit.
“Let me walk you out to your car,” he murmurs, taking my hand in his.
All throughout the day, he’s managed to find times to touch or kiss me.
It’s never been over-the-top by any means, just enough to let me know he’s there.
I find I enjoy his attention. Hell, I had a complete meltdown on him, and he took it in stride.
Nobody else I’ve ever been involved with has ever done that for me.
Actually, they’ve always bailed the first time they saw my house and how spotless it was.
Honestly, even if I hadn’t had a shitty childhood, why wouldn’t I want to keep my place clean and organized?
Regardless, Mongrel is showing me that I matter and that means more than I can express.
We make it to my car, and I find myself cuddled in his arms. “I hate that you have to go home,” he whispers, his forehead against mine. “But I know you like to get everything organized for the next day.”
“I do,” I admit. “I feel like I focus better or something, and maybe it’s because of before, I don’t know, but it works for me.”
“That’s what’s important, sweetheart,” he replies.
When his lips touch mine, I forget where we’re at and lose myself to his embrace.
These past few days have been the longest we’ve been around each other, and while there was drama involved, I can’t believe how comfortable I am around him.
It’s as if we’ve known each other forever, instead of weeks.
I know I’m falling in love with him and I’m sure there are some who would think it’s too soon, but I’ve dated plenty of frogs out there, so to speak.
Mongrel is a prince. He may be a biker. His club may be morally gray in certain areas, which I don’t know for sure. He’s got his own insecurities, just like I do, and yet… he’s perfectly imperfect for me.
We kiss until we’re both breathless and my body is aching to know him on a more intimate level. Soon , my brain whispers.
“Drive safe, Addy. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” he whispers.
“Yeah. Thanks again for this weekend. I’ve had the best time ever, and I mean it,” I reply.
“I have too and I’m glad that everything is gonna get sorted with your bank accounts.”
“Well, she fucked around and found out, didn’t she?” I ask, giggling.
“She sure did, but if they hadn’t figured it out, the Kings would’ve handled it because nobody fucks with us, and that includes our ol’ ladies.”
“Is that what I am?” I question.
“It’s what I want you to be, Addy. But you need to know, it’s a lifetime commitment when you’re the ol’ lady to a biker. Eventually, of course, you’ll wear my rings and have my babies, but to start, I’d like you to be my ol’ lady. You in?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I reply.
His smile is radiant and I’m sure it matches mine. I know we’ve taken a huge step in our relationship, and the irony isn’t lost on me that while we’ve slept in the same bed wrapped around each other, we haven’t had sex.
Yet.
With that thought in mind, I let him open my door and slide inside. He steps back, closes the door then watches as I start my car, back up so I can turn around, then head toward the gates.
Time to return to reality.
It doesn’t take long to get everything together for work tomorrow, so I find myself taking a quick shower before I indulge in a long soak, using one of the bath bombs that Mongrel got me the other day.
As I sip my wine, the lilac scent surrounds me and reminds me of all the kindness he’s shown me since I first met him.
I definitely need to see when Betty is free; she’s the most important person in my life and he’s now part of it too, so they need to meet.
By the time the water has cooled, I’m relaxed enough that I know I’ll fall asleep without any issues.
While I’m interested to see what the other therapists think about what Janice did to us, at the end of the day, all of our money that was stolen is being returned.
I’m just glad that she didn’t do it when that huge-ass lump sum from the bonus hit my account, as well as my fellow therapists, because that was a lot of money for me.
Not that it’s okay because it was just my normal paycheck, because it’s not.
I just would’ve freaked out more is all, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many zeros at one time.
“Alright, Addy girl, time to hit the hay,” I murmur after drying off, cleaning the tub, and brushing my teeth.
Before I slip into bed, I go through my house one more time and check to make sure the windows and doors are locked, the alarm is set, and the light over the stove is on.
It’s another quirk, but I hate getting up in a completely dark house.
That probably stems from all the times our power was cut off, who knows?
Satisfied that I’m safe and secure, I head back into my room, put my phone on the charger and double check that my alarm is set, then I send Mongrel a text.
Me: Just wanted to tell you good night and sweet dreams.
Mongrel: They will be because I’ll be dreaming of you. Good night, Addy. See you tomorrow.
Sighing, I curl onto my side and turn on a podcast. Sometimes I fall asleep with the television on, other times, I listen to podcasts.
I guess some would call it my white noise, although I’ve tried the machines and didn’t like them.
Before I know it, I’ve fallen to sleep, wishing a set of strong, muscular arms were wrapped around me.
Morning comes far too soon and I’m a bit discombobulated.
Every one of my dreams last night were spicy in nature, so I’m feeling a bit feisty, to say the least. I’m not a virgin, but I’ve always been selective about the few partners I’ve had, but none of them has evoked the feelings in me that Mongrel does.
“Guess that means he’s my soulmate,” I tell my reflection as I put on some makeup.
Since he’s bringing me lunch, I’ll eat the fajita leftovers for dinner once I stop at the store and grab a bag of mixed greens and a tomato to make a fajita salad.
My stomach growls as I head out the door and I laugh.
“Nuh uh, it’s a pumpkin and cream cheese filled muffin day, along with a refresher,” I mutter as I reach my car. “Oh, and a Diet Coke, of course.”
I don’t mind cooking dinner every day, but I don’t always have a lot of time in the morning. Some of my appointments are at seven, although thankfully, not today since I was off yesterday. Still, I typically go through a drive-thru and pick up something light to eat, as well as my caffeine.
Once I get to the clinic, I grab my tote bag, which thankfully has two spaces for the drinks I got, as well as my water tumbler and head inside, to see absolute chaos. “What’s going on?” I ask Kara.
“Girl, I know you know what Janice pulled,” she says.
When I nod, she adds, “Well, apparently, she’s been siphoning money from the company for months , so now they’ve got a forensic accountant going through everything she’s done.
Mrs. Rockmartin told us that it’s possible all of us have more back pay coming our way! ”
“Holy shit, is she ever gonna get out of jail once she goes in?” I ask. “Because what she did was unbelievable. How did she think she was gonna get away with it?”
“Who knows? She’s apparently lawyered up, but the clinic’s attorneys are demanding answers so they know how far back they should go,” Kara replies.
“I’d say they should start when she began working here and move forward,” I state. “Because we all know that Beatrice was on top of things before she retired.”
“I suspect that’s what Mrs. Rockmartin plans to do,” she tells me.
“Well, let me get ready for my patients.”
“Yeah, gotta do the same. Wanna do lunch?”
“Can’t today, my old man is bringing me lunch,” I reply.
“Oh, that hunky biker?”
“Yep. I’ll fill you in when I get a chance.”
“This is a perfect portion size,” I tell Mongrel as we sit in the breakroom eating lunch. “Thank you for feeding me. Again,” I tease.
He laughs then says, “I have to go on a run for the club, so I’ll be gone the rest of the week. Just found out this morning.”
“I’ll miss you,” I tell him. “I had such a good time this weekend.”
“I did too,” he admits. “But while I’ll be tied up during the day, I can call you at night and you’re always welcome to text me. I may not answer right away, but it’ll let me know you’re thinking about me.”