Chapter Six
Raff
“Good morning to you too,” I said as a giant tongue licked the side of my face.
“I’d like to say my mornings typically involve less tongue, but that would be a lie.
Though their breath rarely smells like fish.
The fuck did you eat this morning, Mack?
” I asked the block-headed Rottie who stood next to the couch.
I’d been kicked out of my bedroom by Hail, who’d decided to occupy it with four new female friends of his.
Never mind that there were empty rooms. He claimed mine had the better vibes or some shit.
Considering I rarely got a chance to use the room myself and wasn’t feeling up to company, I didn’t really care. So long as he washed the sheets.
I’d taken myself down to the empty common room with my laptop to do some digging on this fake Drake fuck. Guess I passed out at some point.
“Oh, no, that’s not—” I objected as the giant dog hauled himself up onto the couch. Which meant onto me.
“Mack, down,” Dylan, his mom, said, snapping as she passed me. The dog sighed but followed orders. “Where’s your usual pile of women-blankets to keep you warm?” she asked as I sat up.
“Keeping Hail warm, I think.”
I glanced over at the window, seeing the bright morning sun streaming in. Cat was perched on his tree, soaking up some rays.
“You’re up early.”
“The dogs were antsy for a walk. And someone needed to let the chickens out. Coffee?” she asked, waving to the pot.
“God, yeah.”
It wasn’t a late night partying for me. Once Hail, Saint, and Syn went to their rooms with their respective companions for the night, I maybe researched for an hour before crashing. But there’d been a fair amount of drinking before that.
“Alright, so I have to ask,” Dylan said as she leaned back against the counter, cradling a mug in her hands.
“Ask away,” I said as I poured a mug for myself.
“Why did you let Hail have all the women? I’ve never known you to go to bed alone.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I go to bed alone all the time.”
“On the road, maybe. Never here.”
She wasn’t wrong.
It’d been nearly a week since I broke into Lula’s room.
It’d been five days since I broke into her car and put covers on her seats while she was sleeping, making the car a lot less distinctive if someone came around the back of the motel.
Three days since I took my little beater of a car in to get serviced and detailed, then outfitted with some comfort items I never thought to want for myself, but I wanted for her.
Because whether it was healthy or not, I had my heart set on a little road trip in our future.
Did Lula ever show signs of returning my interest in her? Nope. Never. But that didn’t mean I didn’t still enjoy the pleasure of her company.
And, I dunno, the promise of her company made the idea of taking anyone else to bed a hell of a lot less interesting.
“Every man needs a break sometimes.”
“From sex? Dude, maybe you need to see a doctor.”
“If I do that, he’d lecture me about this,” I said as I dumped an ungodly amount of sugar in my coffee. “Tell me I’m gonna end up with one of those fancy things you got on your arm.”
“Sugar doesn’t directly cause diabetes,” Dylan reminded me with a shrug. “But, seriously, you alright? Know the guys all care, but I figure no one else has been asking the question.”
“I’m fine. Thinking about and planning my next trip.”
“How are you not sick of that? It’s been years.”
“Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes, no.”
“Why no?”
“If it doesn’t seem like I’m missing too much here. Things have been quiet. Figure if I go in the near future, I get to get there and get back before anything new shakes things up around here.”
“Not bad logic. But you’ll be trading nice, dry heat for humid heat at the worst part of summer. Who wants that?”
“The car has air conditioning.”
“And some people just tolerate the heat better, I guess. I mean I was drenched in sweat walking those dogs. Lula barely even glistened.”
“Lula’s taking a walk?” I asked, my day immediately looking up.
“Yeah, she was just making a loop from town heading toward Millionaire’s Row when I saw her.”
“Is that so?” I asked, reaching for one of the glass iced coffee cups some of the girls kept in the cabinets and filling it with ice.
“Oh, leave the poor woman alone,” Dylan said with an eye roll.
“What could you be taking about?” I asked as I poured the coffee, then some plant-based milk and one sugar, since we didn’t have the substitute she liked.
“I’m just a health-conscious young man in search of some good, wholesome exercise.
If I happen to run into another person—or a goddess on earth—then, hey, that’s just fate. ”
“You’re lucky you’re cute and charming,” Dylan said as I put the lid on the coffee and stuck the straw in. “Otherwise, this would be kind of pathetic,” she warned as I made my way to the door, sticking my feet in my shoes as I went.
“I won’t take that into consideration,” I called to her.
“I didn’t expect you to.”
Even early in the morning, the heat was relentless. But, luckily, the sky was full of clouds the sun kept hiding behind as I rushed toward the apartments in town, knowing that had to be where she was heading after Millionaire’s Row.
Just as I predicted, there she was, paused at one of the park benches near the playground to tie her shoe.
“Well, well, well, fancy running into you here,” I called as I walked up beside her.
Her head angled over, taking me in.
“Right. Total happenstance. Just disregard the sweat in your hairline and brow like you ran all the way here after Dylan told you she saw me.”
She straightened as she said it.
And, fuck, she looked good.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I loved all her fancy work shit. Made me think of some badass CEO with a plush corner office who would let me fuck her over her desk between meetings.
But dressed-down Lula was something else entirely. It softened her a bit. Looked less like a uniform or shield she used to keep people at a distance.
Her walking outfit was a gym shorts and tank top set in a rosy pink. It was tight, hugging every soft curve of her body.
The top must have had those built-in cups because there was some serious bounce going on that said she didn’t have a full bra on. And there was a slight glisten between her breasts.
I lost my train of thought for a moment.
“What were we saying?”
“Are you asking me or my breasts?”
“I mean… whoever wants to talk to me. But maybe I should get a little closer to hear…” I leaned my head down toward her chest, getting a playful slap from her. Stepping back, I held out the iced coffee that was already sweating in my hand. “I brought you coffee.”
“Oh, that’s sweet. But I can’t have that much milk.”
“It’s oat, I think. Or maybe almond. I dunno. It’s not cow, that’s all I do know. Know you prefer soy, but we didn’t have that.”
“Oh.” Her brows drew together.
“And one sugar because we didn’t have your sweetener.”
“How did you know that?”
“Sweet baby, I’ve been watching you make coffee for years.”
“I don’t get called sweet very often,” she admitted.
“That’s only because no one sees what I do.”
Something flickered across her eyes, but it was gone too quickly for me to place.
“Come on. You know you want it,” I said, wiggling the coffee at her, making the ice cubes clink.
She snatched it out of my hand and took a quick, greedy sip. Then let out a moan that would haunt me for the rest of my life.
“This might be even better than the stuff Cillian gets.”
“Aren’t you glad I chased you down?”
“I’ve had worse company,” she said, eyes twinkling as she started to walk again. “You broke into my car.”
“I did.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t gotta thank me. I had them laying around.”
“You had seat covers that perfectly fit my car laying around?”
“Fine. That’s a lie.”
A little laugh escaped her at that.
“Have you made any progress on fake Drake?”
That got a deep sigh out of her.
“Okay. So. I do think I was right to be in that area.”
“It doesn’t seem like the kind of place a fake developer would be, though.”
“Not where I was staying, no. I was off by a few towns. There’s a lot of building going on in and around the Golden Glades—what?” she asked when I stopped walking.
“You sure it was around Golden Glades?”
“Yeah. That name kinda sticks in your mind. Why?”
“We have a sister chapter in Golden Glades.”
“Explain that like I’m someone who isn’t up on their motorcycle club lingo.”
“So there is a mother chapter. That is where the club originates. Our mother chapter is in Navesink Bank, New Jersey. And then there are sister chapters from there. One is in Golden Glades, one is here, and one is in Texas.”
“Okay. Got it. So, you’ve been to Golden Glades?”
“Each time I leave here, I inevitably end up in Golden Glades, yeah.”
“All the way to Florida? Every time?”
“Once in a blue moon, I just hit up some places in the South and come back home. But most of the time these days, yeah, Florida is my final destination.”
“But… that drive took me like four days each way. And that was driving ten hours a day. With very few stops.”
“Yeah, now you know why I’m gone for weeks.”
“How do you do that?”
“I’m used to it. Been doing it for years.”
“Yeah, but didn’t you used to have your brother with you?”
“Always. Until he found Vienna.” Literally. In a shed. Chained to the floor.
“Was that bittersweet for you? I mean, I know you love your brother and want him to be happy. But you knew it was the end of your road trip buddy.”
“At first, I had more company. Coach or Colter or one of the other guys would take the trip with me. But most of the guys have ladies now. And pets and lives that they don’t want to part with. I get that.”
“What about those new guys?”
“Saint and Hail are on parole.”
“Hail is on parole? The one staying at the motel? Pretty sure his P.O. wouldn’t approve of some of his activities.”
“The guys always find their ways around those kinds of things. But doesn’t that leave the other one? Saint’s brother?”
“Syn. Yeah. But Saint was involved in some shady shit before he went to prison. Which lead to Syn living in a storage unit to stay safe while his brother was inside. So I think they both just prefer to stay together and with the club where they are safer.”
“You need a new travel buddy.”
“I’m open to applications. In fact, you’re hired.”
“I’m not sure he’s even there.”
“Tell you what. If you give me permission to reach out to a friend in Miami—not a fellow biker, just a local hacker—I might be able to get more information.”
“He won’t tell anyone?”
“Nope.” He was paid for his discretion. But she didn’t need to know about the money.
“Okay then. I can send you the information I have. And if your friend finds anything, maybe we can take a trip. Maybe.”
Oh, my friend was going to find something, all right. Because I wanted more than anything to road trip with this woman.
Then spoil the shit out of her along the way.
Great hotels. Good food. The best coffee I could find. Spa packages.
She was going to want to road trip with me for the rest of her life.
I walked with Lula until we were near the club, where she handed me her empty coffee cup, gave me her number, then went on her way.
I rushed inside to get in touch with Arty. And made it very clear his ass needed to find fake Drake for me ASAP.