Chapter Five
HARMONY
“Sorry, baby. You heard the woman.”
Baby?
That was the second time he’d called me that, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
Okay, that was a lie. I knew exactly how I felt about it. I liked it way more than I should have.
Why did hearing him call me baby make my stomach flip? And why was I so damn attracted to him in the first place?
The man was gorgeous, that’s why.
Tall, built, with those incredible green eyes and all those tattoos peeking out from under his t-shirt. He was sex on legs, and my traitorous body knew it.
But I’d sworn off men. They were nothing but trouble.
I’d grown up bounced around from one foster home to another, and it never failed—the foster dads would look at me in ways that grown men had no business looking at a little girl.
Then there was my marriage to Reggie, who’d turned out to be a viper in disguise. After everything I’d been through, I had absolutely no desire to get close to anyone else with a penis.
“You okay?”
Blinking, I found Odin watching me, his brows pulled together in concern as his eyes searched my face.
“Yeah.” I forced a smile, hoping like hell he wouldn’t push. “I’m fine.”
It was obvious from the look on his face that he didn’t believe me for a second, but thank god, he didn’t call me on it.
“Alright everyone,” Caroline called out, clapping her hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s eat before everything gets cold.”
Before I could protest again, I felt Odin’s hand settle on the small of my back, guiding me toward a long wooden table that looked like it could seat at least twenty people.
The smell of barbecue and all those amazing sides Caroline had been making in the kitchen had my mouth watering despite how nervous I felt.
I tried really hard not to think about how warm Odin’s palm felt through the thin fabric of my sundress, or how my skin seemed to tingle where he touched me.
“Here,” he said when we reached the table, pulling out the chair next to his.
“Thank you,” I murmured, sliding into the seat he’d pulled out for me.
It was such a simple thing, pulling out someone’s chair, but I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done it for me. Reggie sure as hell never had. Not even back when we were dating, and he was pretending to be Prince Charming.
As I got settled, I glanced around the table and realized there had to be at least fifteen bikers scattered around; all of them big and intimidating.
But as they started passing dishes around and talking amongst themselves, I realized they weren’t scary at all. They were just a big family sitting down to dinner together.
“This is Jekyll,” Odin said, nodding toward the massive man sitting across from me. “And that’s Dash, my VP.”
I gave them both a small wave, feeling awkward as hell. “Nice to meet you.”
Reid piped up from Odin’s other side, a grin on his face. “That bread you brought is freaking amazing, by the way. Way better than anything we get from the store.”
“Oh… thanks,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat up.
Caroline beamed at me from across the table. “A woman who can bake is a real treasure, honey.”
Before I could think of something to say back, someone passed me a plate of barbecue that smelled like heaven.
My stomach let out a loud, obnoxious growl, and I pressed a hand against it, mortified.
“When’s the last time you ate?” Odin asked quietly.
“This morning,” I admitted.
His jaw tightened just a little bit. “That’s not enough, baby.”
I opened my mouth to tell him I was a big girl and knew when I needed to eat when the front door exploded inward with a loud crash.
“Nobody move! Hands where I can see them!”
All the blood in my body turned to ice.
Reggie stormed in with three of his deputies right behind him, and all of them had their weapons drawn and pointed at the table.
The entire room erupted into chaos as every biker at the table jumped to their feet at once, chairs scraping loudly against the floor.
Then Reggie’s eyes landed on me, and I watched his face turn murderous.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he snarled, his voice dripping with rage.
Odin’s eyes swung between me and my ex before he barked back, “You’re trespassing. Get the fuck out of here.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Reggie shouted, taking a step forward with his gun still raised and pointed at us.
The biker with the black-rimmed glasses—I was pretty sure his name was Dollar—held up both of his hands in front of him. “You got a warrant, Sheriff? Because last time I checked, barging onto private property without one is pretty damn illegal.”
Reggie’s nostrils flared, and I could see a vein pulsing in his temple. “Where the hell are Moody and Pike?”
I glanced around the table.
Now that he’d mentioned it, I hadn’t seen any of the assholes who used to hassle me whenever I went into the diner to drop off eggs. Not that I was about to say that out loud right now.
Odin’s expression didn’t change even a little bit. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit!” Reggie took another step forward, his face going even redder. “They disappeared the exact same day you assholes rolled into town. You think I’m stupid?”
Odin snorted. “I’m not answering that.”
Reggie’s face went from bright red to almost purple, and I could see the hand holding his gun starting to shake.
Reid must have noticed it too because he stood up from the table beside his dad. “Dad—“
Everything happened so damn fast after that.
Reggie swung his gun toward Reid, and I didn’t even think about what I was doing. My body just moved on its own as I positioned myself in front of the boy, my heart pounding so hard in my chest I thought it might actually burst right out.
“Are you crazy?!” I shouted at my ex-husband. “He’s just a kid!”
“Get out of the way, you stupid cunt,” Reggie growled.
My hands curled into fists. He knew how much I hated it when he called me that. “No!” I growled back.
Caroline slowly stood up from where she’d been sitting, her hands raised up in front of her like she was trying to calm down a wild animal. “Please,” she said softly. “Everyone just needs to calm down. There’s no need for anyone to—”
One of Reggie’s deputies curled his lip as he grabbed Caroline by the arm and slammed her up against the wall.
“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Odin roared, lunging for the deputy who’d grabbed his mother
But it didn’t matter. Reggie saw it coming and swung out his arm, cracking Odin across the face with the butt of his gun, sending him crashing down to the floor.
“Dad!” Reid shouted, his voice cracking.
Every single biker in the room moved at once, surging forward.
Reggie and his deputies moved fast, swinging their guns around, stopping everyone in their tracks.
“Nobody fucking move,” Reggie snarled, spit flying from his mouth.
Reid tried to go around me to get to his dad, but I grabbed onto his arm and held on tight, shaking my head at him.
My ex-husband had no problem smacking me around when he got angry. I didn’t doubt for even a second that he’d hurt a kid if he felt like it.
“This is police brutality!” Dollar shouted, his face turning bright red. “I’m calling the fucking Governor! You can’t just—”
“I can do whatever the hell I want in my town,” Reggie cut him off, his voice cold.
But I could see it in his eyes as he glanced around at all the angry bikers staring him down—the doubt creeping in.
He glanced over at his deputies. “Let’s go,” he said, starting to back toward the door. “But we’ll be back. With a warrant.”
“Good luck with that,” Dollar called after him.
The second the door slammed shut behind them, I let go of Reid’s arm and rushed over to where Odin was pushing himself up off the floor.
“Oh God,” I gasped when I got a good look at him.
There was a deep gash through his eyebrow, and blood was streaming down the side of his face.
Caroline appeared beside me, pressing a stack of napkins into my hands. “Here, honey.”
I pressed one of the napkins against his eyebrow, trying to stop the bleeding, but my hands were shaking so bad I could barely hold it steady. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
Odin pushed the napkin away from his face and climbed to his feet, swaying a little bit once he was standing.
“You need to sit down,” I told him, grabbing onto his arm to steady him.
“I’m fine,” he rumbled, shaking me off.
Concerned and a little afraid, I followed him down a hallway and into what I was pretty sure was his bedroom, then into the bathroom attached to it. He pulled open a cabinet under the sink and grabbed a first aid kit.
“Give me that,” I said, taking the kit from his hands before he could argue. “Sit down.”
“I’m fine,” he grunted again.
“You’re not,” I snapped, holding my ground.
Seeing that I wasn’t backing down, he sighed and dropped down onto the closed toilet seat.
He wasn’t fine. He was bleeding all over the place.
“Anyone ever tell you you’re stubborn?”
I snorted. “I could say the same thing to you.”
“Fair enough.”
Without really thinking about what I was doing, I stepped between his legs and tilted his head back so I could get a better look at the cut on his eyebrow.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered again as I carefully started cleaning the blood away from the wound. “He’s—he shouldn’t have—”
“Not your fault, baby.”
Maybe it wasn’t technically my fault, but I still felt responsible for some reason.
Biting down on my bottom lip, I focused on dabbing at the blood, trying really hard not to think about the fact that Odin’s hands had settled on the back of my bare thighs.
“Harmony.” His voice sounded hoarse.
“Yeah?” I tilted my head.
Staring up at me with heat in his eyes, his hands slid up a little bit higher on my thighs, his thumbs brushing against my skin in a way that sent shivers up my spine as he pulled me closer to him.
“You protected my boy.”
I nodded, mesmerized by the way his eyes turned to molten lava.
“You protected my boy,” He said again.
I had. There was no way I could let Reggie hurt Reid.
“This is a bad idea,” I whispered, even as I let him pull me closer without putting up any kind of fight.
“Yeah,” His voice dropped to a growl, causing the space between my legs to tingle.
With his eyes locked on mine, he wrapped one of his strong hands around the back of my neck and pulled my head down until my lips were hovering just above his.
My heart pounded in my chest.
“I’m gonna kiss you,” he said low, his breath fanning over my lips.
“Okay.”
Then his lips were on mine, and his tongue pushed into my mouth, making my toes curl in my boots.
His tongue swirled and danced against mine, and my god could he kiss. Never in all my twenty-five years had anyone kissed me like he was.
And it wasn’t just an ordinary kiss between two people who were attracted to each other. No, it was so much more—it was a soul shifting, change-your-life-forever kind of kiss.
When a whimper escaped up my throat, he stood, pulling me even closer against his body.
The new angle had him towering over me, but that didn’t stop him. Oh, no it didn’t.
One strong arm snaked around my back and lifted me off my feet.
Yanking my lips from his, I gasped for breath, muttering, “Jesus that was hot,” before slamming my mouth back to his.
With our lips locked together, he carried me out of the bathroom and into his bedroom.
“Tell me to stop,” he growled against my lips.
My eyes searched his, looking for a reason to tell him to stop, but I couldn’t do it.
I wanted this.
I wanted him.
Even if it was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas.