Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Josephine
Last night went from being horrible with a date that was boring and knowing Scythe was close, to being amazing.
I didn’t think Jamie could have surprised me, but he did.
I haven’t seen my brother in so long. It feels good to set eyes on him.
With him always away on a mission with the Marines, I never see him.
It sucks, but we still find out ways to contact each other. Usually, it’s only through email, but that’s okay. We keep each other in the loop.
Still, I can’t believe he showed up at Keeper’s Pub.
He looks great with his hair somewhat longish on the top but shaved on the sides, close to what I would say a high and tight should look like.
I might be his sister, but I’m not blind, I know my brother is a hottie.
Just as my friends know he is. What makes him even more so are the tattoos running up both his arms and now he’s got a new addition to his neck.
I didn’t know that they allowed you to have tats showing in the military. I’ll have to ask him about it this morning.
Getting out of bed, I do my business and head straight for the coffee pot.
“You’re up early,” Jamie grunts the moment I step into the kitchen.
I yawn and mimic him as I pour my own cup of coffee.
Everyone knows I’m not someone you talk to until I get my first cup in me.
Lifting the steaming mug to my lips I take that first sip and sigh.
Heaven. I also look to where my brother is sitting at the table and go to join him.
I drink down more of the dark brew before I set the cup down and stare at my brother, waiting.
We talked last night, but I kept it light. Now in the light of morning, I want to know what he’s actually doing here. He doesn’t just show up unannounced, and he’s not one for ruining a date. Not that it was a bad thing. It gave me an excuse to ditch Porter.
Porter wasn’t too happy about it, but I did introduce my brother to him.
Jamie told him that he was stealing me away since he hadn’t seen me in a while, and I’d told him I’d call him later.
He didn’t seem too bothered after that and kissed me long and hard.
I wanted to rinse my mouth out, and I did when I got home.
“What are you dating that douche for?” Jamie asks before I can come up with my first question. “He’s not the typical guy you go for.”
“And what type would that be?”
I bring my feet up to rest on the seat in front of me and pick my mug up to take another sip while narrowing my eyes on my brother.
“Someone that doesn’t look like a complete dick and self-absorbed.”
I snort and grin at his remark. “You got that out of the very short time of meeting him?”
“Champ, it don’t take much to know that dude was a complete douche. It’s written all of him.” Jamie smirks and leans back in his chair. “Before you shared that I was your brother, he was sizing me up like he could take me on.”
Laughing I shake my head, envisioning the sight in my head. I could see it now, Porter throwing a wild haymaker and my brother going straight for his jaw.
“I’m being serious, Jos.” But he chuckles.
“I know you are but it’s still funny.” I giggle and lean back. “How about you tell me what you’re doing here? I thought you were on a mission or something.”
“Was but now I’m here.” He shrugs. “Guess you can say I missed my little sister.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“It’s true.”
“Maybe so, but you’re up to something. It’s not like you to interrupt me on a date.”
“And it’s not like you to date fuckwads.”
“What does it matter?” I sigh, not wanting to get into an argument with him, especially something like this.
“Champ, I’m your brother—”
“Like I need you to remind me,” I mutter, interrupting him.
“And I know you. Last thing I knew you were spending a lot of time with your friends at the clubhouse of the Satan’s Keepers MC. Your emails were filled with shit you’d been doing with them.”
I swallow and shake my head because he doesn’t know everything. Just that the girls had gotten with members and were not all either pregnant or had a kid already.
“I just need to be doing my thing is all.”
“I call bullshit. What’s going on?”
I figure he won’t let up until I give him something, so I give him a short version of what’s been going on and leave all talk about Scythe out of it.
I tell him about Juniper, what she did, and then the stuff that went down with Everleigh’s family.
The entire time he keeps himself quiet while listening intently.
Not once does he show any emotion about what I tell him.
He just absorbs every little detail and drinks his coffee.
Finished, I drink the last of mine and get up to go make another cup. Still, he doesn’t say anything and watches me until I’m seated again across from him.
“So let me get this straight. You’ve been around all this shit, helping your friends deal, and now you’re not even talking to them.”
“I talk to them. I’ve seen them, but not at the clubhouse.”
“Why not there?”
“I just don’t want to be there.” I shrug not wanting to discuss this.
The last thing I want to be doing is crying to my brother about the man I all but fell in love with and how he doesn’t want me. I don’t want to tell him know I’m trying to move on and was using Porter to do just that.
Thankfully, my cell phone rings before he can ask any more questions. Popping up out of my seat like my ass were on fire, I snatch it up and answer without looking at the screen.
“Hello.”
“Why didn’t you tell us Jamie was coming to town?” Isabelle demands on a huff.
“I didn’t know until last night.” I snort.
Isabelle loves my brother, but not like she does Hellhound.
No, it’s more like a friend and sibling type connection.
Shit, Jamie’s had the big brother feel with all of my friends, well except for Juniper who he didn’t really care for.
That should have been a sign then and there, but none of us knew she was batshit crazy.
“Do you know how long he’s in town for?”
“I don’t, but I’ll find out.”
“Good, we’re going to have a cookout at the clubhouse tomorrow and you’re bringing him. Everyone wants to meet him.”
I swallow and groan. “Everyone? As in, who is everyone?”
“You know Ivy, Sutton, Everleigh, me,” she answers. “Oh, and Stella wants to meet him. Of course, because we all want to see him, the guys are demanding to meet him if he’s going to get anywhere near any of us.”
“Great,” I mutter, “can’t wait. What time?”
The last thing I want to do is go to the clubhouse for a cookout. Means I’ll end up seeing Scythe.
Isabelle gives me a time, and I hang up. I drop the phone on the counter and look at my brother. “So, it looks like we’re gonna be going to the clubhouse tomorrow for a cookout.”
“Sounds good to me,” he remarks and holds his mug up in assault. “It’ll be fun. Today we’ll spend it at the gun range and how about we go four-wheeling?”
At the mention of both, I perk up and smile brightly. “That sounds awesome!”
I love going to the shooting range. Jamie and my dad taught me how to shoot and respect guns.
However, Jamie taught me how to break down, clean, and so much more.
I can shoot a sniper rifle with the best of them.
Jamie claims I could do it for a living, but I prefer working in the salon I took over for our parents, well, for my mom.
Even better, going to the mud park will give me one more chance to get some time in before heading four hours south for an event. I’m supposed to leave soon, and no one knows why or where I’m going. Or that I’m competing.
I’m not ready for anyone to know I have the dirt bike and that I’m good at it.
The very thought of anyone finding out makes me edgy, and I don’t want to lose my nerve.
I’ve been in two other events and won with no one knowing.
If they did, I’d choke up, and I can’t have that.
Today, I’ll work with just the four-wheeler It’s not that I want to do it for a living, but it’s a hobby, and I enjoy it more than anyone knows.
If I didn’t focus on the event and what I’ll be doing at it, I’d end up wallowing in self-pity, which I can’t allow.