Chapter Eighteen
Elizabeth straightened her shoulders and kept her head up as she let Kevin lead her into the clubhouse.
She’d heard stories about the wild things that happened in motorcycle clubs, but she hadn’t paid much attention, as she never anticipated visiting one much less setting up household in the middle of one.
How quickly her life had changed.
Stepping through the door, she blinked several times, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dimmer light.
Kevin stayed right beside her, as if waiting for her to say or do something.
When she could see, she looked around the room and couldn’t help the surprised double take at women wandering around in almost nothing.
There were a couple in bras and g-strings that looked like what they were, underwear.
But there were others, they wore the same items, but they were lace and sequins and looked more like costumes than anything else she could think of.
Her face heated. She tried to look casual about it, but knew she was wide eyed and must look like a nun in a nudist colony.
“Want anything to drink, sugar?” Kevin asked from beside her.
Elizabeth wasn’t sure she could get words past the lump in her throat. She shook her head and turned her attention to him. If she looked at Kevin, then she didn’t have to look at the nearly naked women parading around like they owned the place.
“Come on, I’ll show you where things are.
” Kevin led her into the room. He showed her the kitchen, restroom, common rooms and then something he called church, though it looked more like a big conference room with a big table and chairs all around it, but she didn’t say anything.
Finally, he led her into a room that looked like an office.
From some of the small touches, the books on the shelf behind the desk, the photos on the walls, Elizabeth suspected it was his.
“Here we are, sugar.” He glanced around, as if seeing it for the first time.
“If you’re going to spend much time here I’ll have to find a couch or somewhere comfortable for you to sit.
” He turned away and shouted down the hall they’d just come from.
“Take my chair for now.” He motioned to the rolling chair behind the desk.
It was big, padded leather and looked comfortable.
Elizabeth had just sat in the large desk chair when a huge man filled the door.
“You bellowed?” the huge man spoke in a voice so deep it sounded like it had been vibrating around in his chest for a long time.
“I did.” Kevin didn’t even look phased. “Elle, this is Bear. Bear, this is Elizabeth. She’s my new old lady.”
Bear didn’t say anything but looked at her with dark eyes that made her think that whatever he was thinking wasn’t pleasant, he nodded, then turned his attention back to Kevin.
“I need one of the recliners from the common room brought in here. Grab one of the others if you need help.”
Bear glared at Kevin for a moment with a look so dark, Elizabeth was glad he couldn’t set things on fire with his gaze, then he turned and left without another word.
“Where do you think we should put it? Where do you want to sit?”
Elizabeth looked around. She didn’t want to be in the way, but at the same time she didn’t want people, especially strangers, wandering between them.
“Can we put it in that corner?” she asked pointing to one corner behind the desk where there were windows high on the wall.
“Sure.”
She stood for a moment, not wanting to be in the way when the guys brought in the chair, that’s when she realized that while there were windows in the clubhouse, they were all up high.
“What’s with the windows?” she asked, turning to look at Kevin.
“What do you mean?”
“All the windows are up high, there’s nothing you could see out of without a stool, not even you.” He was several inches taller than she was, and they were all even over his head.
“Oh. That. Several reasons. The main one is that no one can look in and see who is here or where we are. It also means no one can spot us or shoot through them at us.”
She frowned and looked back to the glass. All she could see through the glass was sky, there were a few high clouds, and at the very bottom the tops of a few trees.
“You get people shooting at you often?”
“No, but since most of us were in the military at one time or another, we like to be prepared, even for things that probably won’t happen, but could.”
He moved closer, hooked an arm around her waist, and pulled her several steps to one side.
She looked around to see what was going on and found Bear coming through the door, a large recliner clutched in both hands as if it was a dining room chair.
Elizabeth blinked, not sure she wanted to know how much weight might make the big man strain.
“Where do you want it?” Bear asked.
“That corner,” Kevin said, pointing to where she had earlier.
“Anything else?” Bear asked once he’d set the chair down.
“That’s all. Thanks,” Kevin said.
As the giant of a man headed for the door, Elizabeth spoke up. “Thank you, Bear.”
He stopped and stared at her for a moment before he shook his head and left without another word.
“Anything else you need to be comfortable, sugar?” Kevin got her settled into the chair.
It was large and overstuffed, and she thought it looked too worn out, but as she sank into it, she knew why they kept it around.
She didn’t think she’d been in anything so comfortable, aside from Kevin’s bed, in a long, long time.
“Not right now.” She hesitated for a moment, then looked up at him. “Would you mind if I brought a few things in to keep here? A charger for my phone, maybe a blanket? I would be sure it wasn’t pink, so I don’t make your office too girly.”
“Sugar, you can bring in anything you want. I’ll keep this corner for you, whenever you want to join me. I may use the chair when you’re not in here, but you can set this up to be your space and do whatever you like with it.”
Elizabeth caught his hand as he turned to go to his desk and tugged him closer. She kept tugging until he bent down over her.
“Thank you.” She stretched up to kiss him. He cupped the back of her head in one hand and deepened the kiss until she forgot where they were and that someone could walk in on them any time.
The clearing of a throat somewhere nearby brought her back to her senses. She broke the kiss, looking down at her lap.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
“Never be sorry for what we feel for each other, sugar.” Kevin squeezed her hand then released her as he turned back to the door.
“Oh, good,” Kevin said as he moved to his chair and sat. “I was hoping to see you.”
A large man with hair that hung in a shaggy mess past his shoulder stood in the doorway.
“I wanted to check in and see if we’d found out anything new.
Also, this was delivered for you.” The newcomer started to step into the room, then hesitated as if he was afraid he was interrupting something, but must have decided the thin box in his hand needed to be delivered.
“I need to check in with Cypher, but there were a few things I wanted to talk to you about. First, this is Elizabeth. She’s my old lady.” He took the box and held it without opening it.
The newcomer’s brows lifted so high they almost disappeared into his hair.
“Elle, this is Wrath. He’s my VP.”
“VP?” she asked.
“Vice president.”
Elizabeth nodded and turned back to Wrath. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m not completely sure what old lady means, but if it means we’re together and plan to stay that way, then yes, that’s the plan.”
Wrath blinked several times. He opened his mouth, glanced at Kevin, and closed it again. She didn’t know if he wanted to say something cutting and Kevin being there stopped him or what, but she wasn’t going to back down.
“This is for you,” Kevin turned and held the box out to her.
She frowned, but took the box. What had he gotten her? She glanced at Wrath, then to Kevin. Kevin nodded at the box. She set the box on her lap and lifted the top. She frowned as she peeled back the tissue paper, revealing a leather vest of some kind. Why would he get her this?
“Take it out and look at it,” Kevin said.
Elizabeth glanced up at him then did as he instructed. It wasn’t until she turned it around so she could see the back that she saw what he was talking about.
On the back was the same logo as on the vests Kevin and all the others wore but instead of saying Savage Warriors on the top it said Property Of, and instead of Alabama on the bottom it said Hex.
Hex was what everyone called Kevin. She’d tried it, but it didn’t feel right.
Since he didn’t seem to mind, she’d kept calling him Kevin.
She frowned at him, not sure what it meant.
“That means you’re mine, sugar. You wear that and everyone will know who you belong to and that if they mess with you, they mess with all of the Savage Warriors.”
She looked at the vest again, then hugged it to her chest as she looked up at him.
“Thank you.” She didn’t know when she would wear it, but she loved that he’d gotten it for her.
“I’ll explain it to you better later, but any time you leave the compound, especially without me with you, you need to be wearing it.
Not that we need to worry about that yet.
” He leaned down and kissed her nose before going to back to his desk and opening a drawer.
He pulled something out and held it out in her direction.
“Here, use this if you need it, until you bring in one of your own.”
She couldn’t help but smile as she took the phone charger from him.
“Thank you.” She looked around and spotted an outlet not far away, but it wasn’t close enough for her to reach now. She’d plug it in when she got up next.
“I came in to see what was going on. Let’s step in and see if Cypher has anything new.” Kevin turned to Elizabeth. “Will you be okay in here without me? We’ll be across the hall if you need anything. You can text me or just knock if you need anything.”
“I’m fine.” She waved one hand at him, shooing him out of the room. “Go do what you need to do. I’m going to do a little shopping.” She folded her feet under her and picked up her phone. “I’ll get the address here before I order anything, but I’m not ready for that yet. Go do your thing.”
She pulled up her favorite home goods store and started looking for a throw blanket to keep on this chair. Maybe a small table to store a few things.