CHAPTER 8
SNAKE
My booted foot is propped up on the back wall of Bunz Out while my shoulders rest back against it as I wait. For Graycie to get off work. I would applaud my patience, but I’m barely hanging on.
She doesn’t know it yet, but I’m walking her home.
All because Dolly’s beauty of a classic needed an oil change. Did I dilly and dally a little to ensure I couldn’t get to said classic today? Just so I could be right where I am?
Yes.
I did.
But it’s not like I asked Stan to bring it in or anything. I’m just capitalizing on the opportunity presented to me. It’s all very above board.
I’ve been looking for an excuse to see her again other than going into the bakery. No one wants to be ambushed at work and if anyone knew, especially the two knuckle heads I call my best friends, they would be up my ass about being there. Like having an audience is helping anyone.
They need to back off.
I know what my Gracie needs. And she is mine.
Now I’m just waiting for her to get off work and there is nowhere else I would rather be. My heart starts racing when the back door swings open. I hear a huffing sound and then a bag of trash sails out the door.
When I pick it up and head toward the dumpster, Graycie’s head pops around the door. Her hazel eyes look like they’re glowing as they widen in recognition before sweeping down my body and then back up. Slowly on the climb too, by the way.
One side of my mouth tips up in a smirk which has her eyes heating in a way I doubt she’s even aware of.
“Hey, Angel,” I drawl after finishing tossing the trash in the dumpster and heading back to the door to hold it open for her.
“Hey?” She says it more like a question than a statement and it’s fucking adorable. My heart does a strange pitter-patter thing. I’ve never felt anything quite like it.
But I think it’s a good thing?
Yeah, I’m going with a good thing and not some heart palpitation I need to see someone about. With a smile I give a small bow.
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get to the oil change on Dolly’s car.
” I’m unsure how I feel about her driving around in a car owned by another man—even if it belonged to his mother before her death—but I push the thought aside for the moment.
It’s a problem for another day. “Which means your wheels are out of commission until tomorrow.”
“Oh,” she makes a face, “it’s no problem. I’ll walk. It’s not far and the weather is perfect.” She starts to head down the alley and looks over her shoulder once with a forced smile. “Thanks for letting me know about the S.S. Dolly.”
She’s not wrong, that thing is a boat. Just the thought of my Graycie driving it brings a smile to my face. Does she need phone books to sit on to see over the dashboard?
Graycie tries to walk away, but I catch up to her in only a few strides. It helps that I’ve got some height on her. But I don’t need her to be tall. There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s going to fit against me perfectly.
I shake off the thought as she looks up at me with surprise written all over her face. With a grin curling my lips, I wink at her. Graycie misses a step and stumbles a little, but I’m right there to make sure she doesn’t fall.
I’ll always be right there. My hands land on her arms and she sucks in a sharp breath. As she breathes out, she asks, “What are you doing, Snake?”
I take a step closer, my entire focus on the woman in front of me, the woman who is so damn close to being in my arms. Right where I want her to be. Right where she’s supposed to be.
“First of all, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you walk home alone, Angel,” the words pass my lips sounding like a demand and a plea. Either way, she visibly softens and I already know I won part of the battle.
“And?” Graycie arches an eyebrow at me, the challenge written all over her face.
I blink at her once, twice. “Huh?
The smile on her face is damn near blinding. “You said,” she puffs up her chest and drops her voice in a clear attempt to impersonate me, “first of all.” She switches back to her voice and huffs, “Which implies a second of all or a B, whatever floats your boat.”
“Right,” I nod and hope she can’t see the way the tops of my ears get warm while I clear my throat. “Second of all,” I give her a pointed look and wiggle my eyebrows which has her giggling softly, “to you, I’m Turner. Not Snake.”
Graycie stops walking for a moment and turns toward me fully. “You want me to call you Turner?”
“Yup.” It’s all I give her as I gently guide her forward with my hand on the small of her back.
She doesn’t shy away from the contact, and I have to stop myself from fist bumping into the air. Feeling her warmth and her presence under my hand makes it feel real.
Like I could really get my woman, have my family, and build a forever I hadn’t imagined before. Because I figured the right woman for me wasn’t out there, not one who could have a place in the club, who would be loyal down to the core of who they are, and give me dreams of a soft place to land.
“O-o-okay?” She glances at me in her periphery, like she’s half-way expecting me to disappear.
“Did you have fun the other day at the clubhouse?”
“You know what?” She sounds surprised, “I did. I didn’t expect to have fun. I expected to spend the entire time scared out of my mind, but I felt almost, kind of, safe.”
That has my back going straight while my voice drops down to a threatening tone, “Did someone make you uncomfortable? Unsafe? If that’s the case, Angel,” I demand while trying not to growl, “you have to tell me.”
Her hand lands on my wrist and her making contact first, of her reaching for me, has my cock going to half-way there to fully fucking on board far too fast. Shit makes me dizzy for a second.
But there’s no way I’m fainting in front of my woman. Not when I’m finally getting to spend some time with her.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she assures me. “No one made me feel threatened or anything.”
I study her profile for a long moment, but finally nod and grunt, “Good.”
The thought of her being made to feel unsafe at the clubhouse, by my brothers, had my vision taking on a hazy red hue. But it’s clearing. Just being near her has that effect on me. Only her.
“Do you enjoy baking or is it just a job to you?” I can’t help but ask the question that I’ve been really fucking curious about since I met her.
There’s something about her, something more, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. She wasn’t a baker in her past life; I have no doubt about it. I would bet my bike on it, and I don’t fuck around with my bike.
“What do you mean?” She tries to deflect with a scoff, “Of course it’s a job.
But I do enjoy it. It helps that Lara is a great boss and is really trying to build something real here.
She wants it to be a place where people look forward to going in and getting a treat.
She loves this community, even though she’s new. Just like me.”
“And do you love the community too?” There’s a tease in my voice and from the way her cheeks pink with a cute blush, she knows I’m really asking about how she feels about me.
“I think there are some very attractive qualities when it comes to this community,” her voice is light and sweet, like she’s enjoying the repartee as much as me.
“Yes, but it’s always nice when we get new additions. They bring a fresh outlook and make the community even richer. We’re quite lucky when people decide to join us here.”
Graycie giggles softly and smiles up at me. Her expression is open without the wariness I’ve seen there before. Fuck me, she’s beautiful.
“I’m sure having new blood is always a plus,” she teases with an overly dramatic roll of her eyes.
My laugh is a low rumble that almost has my woman tripping over her feet again. “Careful, Graycie-girl,” I murmur.
When she glances at me, her eyes are glazed over with lust, and I file it away for later. The need to kiss her is clawing at me, begging me to pull her into my arms and press my lips against hers. But she’s not ready. Not yet.
I need to show her the man that I am, the man I’ll always be for her because it’s what she needs. The shield. The lover. The carrier of her secrets.
But I need to earn her trust for that to work.
And she’s not there yet.
She shouldn’t be either. I can’t blame anyone for guarding their heart.
Fuck, I’m scared as hell about opening myself up to the woman who has already wrecked me in the best of ways, but I know it’s the only way to show her how sincere I am. She deserves nothing less. I’ll do whatever I need to do in order to get my woman to fall for me.
I don’t want to imagine a life where I don’t wake up every day with her in my arms. Fuck, no. Not happening.
“Is there anything you miss about wherever you were before?” Her head snaps around to look at me so fast that I can’t help but wince.
It couldn’t have felt good. I hold my hands up in surrender and keep my voice soft, “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, but you clearly came from somewhere, it’s kind of part of being somewhere new. ”
Her shoulders relax slightly, but she’s still tense. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” She keeps glancing over at me, but I don’t push her.
I never want her to give me more than she’s willing to give. I have a million questions if she doesn’t want to answer this one.
“No.”
That’s it. Simple. To the point.
Honest.
I nod once and then grin over at her. “Favorite ice cream flavor?”
The small smile she gives me feels like an arrow to the heart. I want to collect all of her and keep her as my own. Can I? Would she let me get away with it?
“Mint chocolate chip,” she tells me and licks her lips.
“Good choice, Angel,” I praise her and nod my head.
She glances at me but just shakes her head like I’m the only being silly this time. “How about you?”
We walk for a few minutes as if I’m thinking about the question. Really, I’m giving her a moment of quiet, of easy and simple, between us.
“Superman.”
“You’re kidding,” she gasps and reaches for my arm again. “Superman? The red, blue, and yellow one?”
“That’s the one,” I tell her, loving the way her eyes are alight with amusement as she looks up at me. “Why,” I sound affronted, “what did you think I was going to say? Don’t tell me you’re stereotyping bikers now?”
Graycie doesn’t take the bait and all she does is roll her eyes. “I wasn’t going to speculate, but the very last flavor I would have ever imagined was Superman. And it’s not because you’re a biker,” she tells me while her eyes trail down my body before coming back up to meet my gaze.
“Mm-hm,” the sound is filled with disbelief as it comes out of my chest, but instead of further defending herself, she just casually shrugs a single shoulder while her hazel eyes twinkle with mirth.
“Lightning round?” When she grins and nods, I start, “Hot or cold?”
“Hot tea, cold coffee,” she fires back. There’s a short pause before she asks, “Car or plane?”
“Bike,” I deadpan.
She looks up at me, and time slows down before we both start laughing. With every step closer to her place, which Stan originally converted for himself because it gave his mom independence while being close if she needed him, I’m dreading the moment we get there.
I don’t want our time to end.
“Will you go out with me? On a date?”
“A date?” She echoes the words and when I look at her, she’s gone pale.
I grab her elbow hard enough to let her know I’m not going to let her fall, but soft enough that she knows she can get free.
I’ve seen her little tells. The way she’ll flinch if someone gets too loud.
The hitch in her breathing when someone gets too close too fast. The way she looks around before she says anything, even the smallest answer to a simple question.
It’s not a mystery to me that someone abused her. Until she wants to tell me more, I’m letting her set the pace.
Even though it might kill me.
And my cock is about to fucking mutiny.
“Yeah,” I breathe out, “a date. But no pressure or anything. Have you ever been on the back of a bike?”
I search the expression on her face as we stop in front of Stan’s house. The lights are off because he’s still at Dolly’s Place. He loves the diner which his mom spent years lovingly creating and building.
He says he runs it now to honor his mom, but I think it’s just as much for himself as her memory. Not like he would ever admit it.
“No,” she chuckles the word as if the question is ridiculous, “I’ve never been on the back of a bike.”
“Can I show you? I promise,” I step closer to her, feeling the heat of her and wishing I could reach out and grip the curve of her hip to ground myself, “to keep you safe.”
“I know you will, Turner,” she whispers the words, but I can see the uncertainty written on her face.
I’m bracing for impact, for her telling me she’s not ready and can’t go with me. I wouldn’t blame her; I’ve been telling myself to take this slowly and now look at me. No, I wouldn’t blame her at all.
“Okay,” she whispers.
For a moment, everything freezes around us. There is only us.
And the way the light hits her hazel eyes.
And the way the breeze is blowing the tendrils of her dark hair around her face with a gentleness that makes me jealous.
I can’t help but crack a grin and confirm, “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” her voice is stronger this time and it does something funny to my heart.
Trying to keep it cool right now is nearly impossible. Fucking hell.
“I’m looking forward to it,” she offers the words like the gift they are.
“Me too,” I whisper.
When I lean forward and press a gentle kiss to her forehead her eyes drift closed like she can’t fight against the feeling of contentment wrapping around her. It’s a start.
I’m going to make sure my Graycie knows she has a family at her back, the love of a biker who will do anything for her, and a future that can look however she wants it to look. I just need a little bit of time.
And maybe some luck.