Chapter Twenty-One
“I can’t shake the feeling that something’s up with Elena.” Pax ran a hand through his hair. The uneasiness he’d been feeling the past couple of days reaching an all-time high. He’d had a gut feeling all week that Elena was struggling with something, and for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what the fuck it was. It was beginning to drive him crazy. “Has she said anything to either one of you?”
His friends shook their heads.
“First, you know we would have talked to you about it if she had,” Vinyl told him with a frown. “We were actually just about to bring it up because we noticed it too.”
“And?” He gestured for them to continue.
“Well,” Vinyl said, the chair creaking as he leaned forward, “we’re pretty sure it doesn’t have anything to do with Trisha.”
Pax nodded in agreement. They’d gotten ahold of Trisha not long after she’d sent the photos of their past shenanigan to set things straight. Elena hadn’t been there for the video call, but they’d recorded it for her to watch. Surprisingly, their conversation had started off with an apology. The woman they’d left Colorado to escape had done a complete one-eighty. Trisha explained that she’d gone off her meds—thinking she didn’t need them—and as a result, she ‘lost her shit’. It was only made worse by the amount of alcohol she drank when she partied. She didn’t remember sending those pics because she’d most likely blacked out, an occurrence that was happening more often than not. It was the wakeup call she’d needed to get her shit together. She was going into a treatment program, seeing her doctor regularly, and wasn’t going to cause any more problems. She’d seemed genuinely sorry, and he’d believed her. They all did.
“I almost wish it did,” Tanner said with a heavy sigh. “It’d be easier to deal with another woman than it would be…”
“What were you going to say?” Pax questioned.
“She’s ashamed of us,” Tanner answered stiffly. He shrugged his shoulder. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. Things were fine until folks started noticing she was with us—all of us. It’s obvious. She can’t handle the gossip.”
“What about you?” Pax looked to his other friend. “You think the same?”
Vinyl pinched the bridge of his nose with his grease-stained hand, leaving behind a smudge. “I don’t know, man. I want to say no, but she dropped my hand like a hot potato earlier when I was walking her to Medina’s.”
“Really?”
“She wasn’t subtle about it either,” Vinyl nodded; his expression grim. “One minute, everything was fine and then, literally outta nowhere, she couldn’t get away fast enough. It was almost like we weren’t even walking together anymore.”
“Did she say anything?” he asked, hoping for some sort of clue they could work with. It couldn’t be the Medinas that were causing her to act like this. Mamma J herself had given them a stamp of approval and everyone followed her lead.
“Nothing,” Vinyl answered with a shake of his head. “Then, when we got to the shop, she ditched me at the door without even looking back. She just said, ‘thanks’ and gave me a little wave. That was it.”
“Was Medina’s busy or something?” Tanner asked, his leg bouncing up and down as he fidgeted. “Maybe she needed to hurry.”
“I wouldn’t have even mentioned it if there’d been customers inside, but there wasn’t. The place was empty.”
“Ouch.” Pax winced, knowing that had to have hurt more than a little. Since last week, that short walk was the only time they were able to have some one-on-one time with their lady. They’d been drawing straws for the privilege.
“Yeahhhhh,” Vinyl breathed with a sad nod. “It fucking sucked.”
Pax gave him a slap on the back. The three of them may be big, burly, tattooed bikers but they were weak as hell when it came to their woman. Elena was their kryptonite. She had the power to break them if she ever thought to use it.
“Are we moving too fast for her?” Tanner tossed out as a possibility.
“Is he kidding?” Pax asked Vinyl, unsure if their buddy was fucking with him or not. Moving too fast was something they’d already handled. It was why the three of them were barely moving at a snail’s pace with Elena now. They hadn’t wanted to overwhelm her. “Any slower and we won’t be fucking moving at all.”
“Maybe we’re moving too slow,” Vinyl suggested, flipping the viewpoint. “Maybe she thinks we’re not interested.”
“She knows we’re interested.” Pax gave Vinyl a look. “There’s no way she could have missed my hard on this morning when she was hugging Tanner. The minute I moved in behind her, she snuggled that gorgeous ass right up to Mr. Happy.”
“She did,” Tanner affirmed with a nod and grinned. “She turned the prettiest shade of pink too.”
“Alright, so she knows we want her.” Vinyl drummed his fingers on the table, his brows furrowing in frustration.
Pax’s phone buzzed on the table, lighting up with a text from the woman in question.
Elena: Omw to garage. Be there soon.
The message made him frown. He looked at Vinyl.
“What?” his friend questioned.
“I thought we were supposed to pick her up at the shop tonight?” Pax slid his phone across the table. The only benefit of them having to work overtime this last week had been that they were just a few blocks from Medina’s in case Elena needed them. One of them was always available to make sure she didn’t have to walk the distance alone—especially with the picketers that had been plaguing them lately. “Elena’s on her way here. Now.”
“She’s walking?” Tanner asked, already moving towards the door.
“I hope not.” Vinyl was only a step behind. “It’s been getting dark before the streetlights come on lately.”
“I’ll take the truck while you two walk, text me if you see her before I do.” Pax dug his keys out of his pocket as the three of them hurried outside.
“Hold up,” Tanner said, grabbing his elbow before he could sprint to his pickup. “There she is.”
Elena was walking across the small backlot carrying two bags of food.
“What are you doing here?” Pax asked at the same time as Vinyl.
“We’re supposed to pick you up in half an hour,” his friend reminded her with a frown. Vinyl’s eyes dropped to the bags she was loaded down with. “What’s all that for? There’ll be more than enough food at the barbeque.”
“This is for the guys that are working late,” she replied, handing them over to Tanner. “I know they’re trying to catch up, but they still need to eat. Especially Tripp, he skipped lunch.”
“Tripp’s gay,” Pax blurted out before he could help himself. He knew her mentioning the other man wasn’t done to make him jealous, but it still managed to do it. He had a feeling he was going to be a possessive fucker—at least until they handled whatever seemed to be bothering her lately. Once they’d managed to lock her down, he’d calm down a little when it came to other men. Maybe.
“Tripp’s bi,” Vinyl shared, opening the door for Tanner to carry the food in.
“Really?” Elena grinned.
Or maybe not.
“Enough about Tripp,” Pax snapped, his hand going to her back to steer her in the opposite direction of the shop. “We’ll be waiting for you two in the truck.”
“Do you have a problem with Tripp?” she asked, turning to look up at him in concern.
“No,” he replied with a shake of his head. “Tripp’s a good guy.”
“Then what—?”
“Why didn’t you call us to pick you up?” he interrupted before she could finish. Pax helped her into the front seat of his lifted truck as he waited for her answer.
“Ummm.” Elena looked back towards the garage. “Since I had the food, I figured it would just make sense to walk it over.”
“We could have come back by to drop it off,” Pax argued, wondering at the flash of guilt he saw on her face before it disappeared. He was about to mention it when the back doors were opened.
“I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I smelled those tacos,” Vinyl groaned as he climbed in. “Now, food is all I can think about.”
“Same,” Tanner agreed, buckling his seat belt. “You ready for some barbeque, ‘Lena?”
“Yes.” There was no denying her genuine enthusiasm as she smiled. “It’s been forever since I’ve had good barbeque. I love the Medinas but if it’s not served with tortillas, they don’t eat it. I have to make a trip into KC every now and then to get my fix.”
“From now on, you’ll just have to come out to the compound.” Pax lifted their linked hands to drop a kiss on the back of hers. “We’re closer than the city.”