Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Delaney
Getting off of Tank’s bike, I take off the helmet. I can’t help but smile when I look at it. It’s plain black because he wasn’t sure what I would want, but it’s mine.
I don’t miss that he is always wearing his helmet now too. Since the day I ordered him to.
“That jacket looks so fucking good on you. Are you sure we can’t just head back to your place and fuck with you wearing nothing but that as you ride me?” he rasps.
“Tank,” I hiss, looking around to make sure no one heard him.
“You like my mouth.” He smirks.
I roll my eyes but smile. He’s not wrong. Besides, I can’t be too mad when I had similar thoughts when he gave it to me before we left.
My own leather jacket and helmet.
It might not be much to most people, but to us it is. It’s a sign that things are progressing between the two of us.
The only thing missing is the property of patch I find myself wanting.
He takes the helmet from me, and I begin undoing the braid I put in as we walk toward the restaurant, nerves filling me.
Today is the first for many things, it appears. First helmet, first jacket, and first double date.
I don’t know how Sloane convinced us that this would be a good idea, but I’m equally parts nervous and excited.
“Remember, Sloane’s already half obsessed with you,” Tank murmurs.
“Not as obsessed with me as you are.” I wink, trying to lighten the mood.
Tank tips his head back and laughs as his hand meets my lower back. “Not wrong, sweetheart. Not wrong.”
We head into the restaurant and bypass the hostess when we spot Gunner and Sloane sitting by the big window that overlooks the water. Gunner must feel our eyes on him because he turns toward us and nods before signaling to Sloane that we have arrived.
“Sorry we’re late,” I say as I take the seat closest to the window and across from Sloane.
“You’re on time,” Gunner says.
“This one just likes to be early to scope the place out,” Sloane says.
“Never a bad thing to be safe,” I say.
“You just had to sit me so my back is to the front door,” Tank mutters as he sits down, sliding his chair closer to mine.
“You have clear line of sight to the back exit if you look over my left shoulder,” Gunner tells him.
Sloane looks at me and rolls her eyes. “Men.”
I can’t help but giggle. “So paranoid.”
“I’ll show you paranoid,” Tank teases, squeezing my leg under the table.
“Behave,” I quip.
The server comes up then and takes our drink and appetizer orders before walking away.
“So how was the shop this week? Work on anything fun?” I ask.
Sloane shakes her head. “Nothing came through the bay that was cool, so it was pretty boring, but I did find a marketplace ad for a car that I’m trying to convince this one to go check out.”
She points her thumb toward her man.
“Keep pointing that thing at me and I’ll bite it. Second, we already have one project car that we need to finish before we find another,” Gunner says.
“But we’re almost done,” Sloane adds.
“What car is it?” Tank asks.
“It’s a Porsche 959. Twin turbo, topped out at 197 miles per hour,” Sloane sighs with a dreamy look on her face.
Tank whistles, so I look between the three of them.
“One, why would you ever need to go that fast? Second, I take it that it’s a special car?”
“Yes,” all three of them say in unison.
“As for your first question, there is no need to go that fast, but why not?” Sloane shrugs.
“Which is exactly why I don’t want to restore it with you. You would go that fast just for shits and giggles,” Gunner says.
I can’t help but stare at the man in disbelief.
“What? Do I have something on my face?” he asks, running his hand over his beard.
I shake my head. “No, I just don’t think I’ve ever heard you say so many words at once.”
Tank and Sloane break out in laughter, laughing so hard tears fall down their cheeks.
Gunner grunts. “Now you’ve gone and done it.”
“Sorry?” I shrug, not really feeling sorry.
The server comes back and drops off our drinks and appetizers. She takes our dinner order and rushes off once again.
“I love how we all ordered burgers,” Sloane says as she reaches for a chip.
“I honestly never even looked at the menu, and I’ve never been here, so I figured, why not?” I say as I take a chip, running it through the spinach artichoke dip.
When I take a bite, I can’t help but sigh. I love a good spinach artichoke dip, and I’ll be the first to tell you some places do it better than others.
“Do you want some?” I ask Tank.
He shakes his head as he pops a cheese-covered pretzel bite into his mouth.
“I’m not a fan of spinach,” he says.
I stare at him in shock. “How did I not know that?”
He shrugs and grabs another pretzel bite. “It’s never come up.”
“I’ve been with Gunner for almost two years now, and I swear I’m still learning shit about him,” Sloane says, jumping in.
Gunner grunts. “Just found out she will only eat green apples and never red unless it’s Fuji.”
“I prefer the tartness and crispness of green, but sometimes a girl needs a little sweet, which is where Fuji comes in,” Sloane says, defending herself.
“Hey, no judgment. We all know what we like and don’t like. For example, I love red wine but don’t care for white,” I say.
Sloane winces. “Yeah, I’ll let you drink all the wine you want. I’m more of a beer girl.”
Tank chuckles, making her glare.
“What’s so funny?” Sloane asks.
“Just remembered that when we met you, you weren’t even legal to drink yet.” Tank smirks.
She raises her hand and gives him the middle finger, making him laugh harder.
I look over at Gunner and joke, “We can’t take them anywhere, can we?”
Tank
“We can’t take them anywhere, can we?” she asks with humor in her voice.
Gunner shakes his head with fake disappointment. “We really should leave them at home until they are house-trained.”
Sloane and I share a look and burst out laughing.
I fucking love everything about this. Delaney is getting to know my people on a deeper level. Weaving her life with mine. Not only that, but Gunner is comfortable enough to joke with her, which is a miracle in itself.
It’s awesome and something I never thought was in the cards for me.
“If you think we are bad, don’t spend any time with Jagger,” Sloane quips.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he randomly showed up. I swear the guy has a tracker planted on your ass,” Gunner says, looking at me.
“We share locations with each other.” I shrug.
Everyone turns to look at me.
“Are you serious?” Sloane asks.
“Is that a joke? I can’t tell,” Delaney says.
I shake my head. “Not a joke.”
“And why do you two share each other’s locations?” Gunner asks.
I rub the back of my neck, wincing. “Because right after he joined, I might have gotten lost. I couldn’t figure out where I was, and the maps app on my phone wasn’t working. It was just a white fucking screen. He helped me out.”
Gunner barks out a laugh while the girls begin to cackle. Meanwhile, I can’t help but smile as they laugh at my expense.
“That’s…out of everything you could have said, I wasn’t expecting that,” Delaney gasps.
“Me neither,” Sloane chokes out.
“Why him?” Gunner asks.
“Because he’s from the area, and he was a prospect at the time. He wasn’t going to rat me out when he wanted in.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Delaney says.
She places her hand on my thigh and squeezes it. When she goes to pull away, I place my hand on top of hers. She looks at me and smiles.
“Okay, can we talk about something else? Anything else?” I sigh, acting put out.
Delaney looks over at Sloane. “I think I heard you have a brother?”
Sloane lights up. “Yeah, Lee. He’s a shithead, but he’s mine.”
As the girls talk, I look over at Gunner and find him already looking at me.
“What?” I ask quietly.
“She’s good for you,” he murmurs.
“She is.”
“Happy for you, brother.”
I nod when words evade me.
His approval means a lot to me. Not just because he’s my vice president, but because we’ve been friends for a long fucking time. Most of us that left Boston came up together. Prospected around the same time frame and went through the bullshit that Smoke’s dad was known for.
When Ghost took over, we knew we didn’t want to stay. Ghost is a good dude but not the person we wanted to follow. He’s too much like his old man, whereas Smoke was hungry for the job. He’s the one we gravitated to and put our trust in.
So far, it’s worked out well for us. If we hadn’t followed Smoke, we wouldn’t have ended up in this damn beach town. We wouldn’t have found the women who complete us in ways we will never willingly admit out loud. We wouldn’t be exactly where we should be.
Delaney squeezes my leg, pulling me into the present.
“What?” I ask, looking down at her.
“The server placed your food in front of you, and you never thanked her,” she quietly scolds.
I wince and turn toward the server. “Thank you.”
Her lips twitch, but she keeps her thoughts to herself. “You’re welcome. If you guys need anything, just holler.”
“Damn Delaney, you’re making him all polite and shit,” Sloane teases.
“He was already polite. I just have to sometimes give him a little nudge.” Delaney winks, then changes the subject. “Okay, so I met Smoke, Kelly, Mac, Jane, Jagger, and Bear. Jagger and Bear were the only two who were single, so who do you think will settle down next?”
Gunner winces. “I rather have my nuts waxed than talk about the love lives of my brothers.”
“I’m sure we could have it arranged,” Sloane quips.
“Don’t you dare, Trouble,” he grumbles, making her smile.
“But come on, Daddy, you’re the one who brought it up.”
“I really want to know why you call him ‘Daddy,’ but I’m kind of afraid to ask,” Delaney says as she takes a bite of a fry.
“Because he’s got strong daddy energy and it pisses him off,” Sloane tells her.
I scoff. “Please, the man loves it when you say it.”
“No, I don’t,” he denies.
“Lies,” Sloane, Delaney, and I say in unison.
“Stop picking on me,” he mutters, taking a bite of his burger.
“Anyway,” Sloane drawls. “I think it will be Jagger if he can convince a woman to give him the time of day.”
I keep my mouth shut, knowing full well there’s a woman my friend has his eye on. The only issue is she’s not currently available. Not because she’s with someone, but because she isn’t local and he has no desire to leave.
“Why not Bear?” Delaney asks.
“Don’t get me wrong, Bear is awesome, but he’s not exactly looking, I don’t think. Like the man doesn’t go out unless he’s forced to. So she’s literally going to have to fall into his lap,” Sloane tells her.
Delaney looks at me. “What do you think?”
“She’s onto something. Bear also refuses to fuck a woman in bed. He fucks them against walls. He has some issues. I don’t think it will be him, but time will tell. I mean, who knows? Maybe it will be one of the other guys. Crow meets a lot of women based on his job.”
Gunner grunts in agreement.
“Oh, did I tell you the other night that I have a little girl in my class named Sloane?” Delaney asks, changing the subject.
We all sit back and listen to her talk about her student who personality wise, sounds like a younger Sloane.
“That’s fucking terrifying,” Gunner says when the check comes.
Before I can grab it, he takes care of it, then we all head out. We part ways when we get to my bike.
“Bye,” Sloane calls out again as they walk away.
“I like them,” Delaney sighs.
“I’m glad.”
I want to tell her that I like her and that I like that she gets along with my people.
We go at her pace, I remind myself for the millionth time.
I just have to be patient for a little longer.