11. Wombat
Chapter Eleven
Wombat
Lemon was going to die. Whether it was a slow and painful one remained to be seen. “Like the lady said, please?” I made a face at her to urge her to leave.
Sure, I was setting myself up for further rejection, but by this point, I wanted closure more than whatever remained of my pride.
And yes, I should be worried about that, but maybe it was my wounded pride that needed to watch Honoria grovel a bit.
Considering she’d already apologized once, I figured she’d tack on a whole lot more, with a side dish of “It’s not you, it’s me. ”
Man, I had it scripted in my head.
I’d heard it often enough.
Lemon patted Molly before walking away.
“So, last night.” It was as good as any place to start. I dangled that bit out there, hoping Honoria would stay on script. I glanced at her expression to guess what would come next. Would it be a fortifying breath or blinking eyes?
Honoria surprised me with neither. “If your club is having trouble with their former one, perhaps Walt should file a restraining order.”
I deadpanned my reply. “I’m sure he’ll get right on that.” He’d do nothing of the sort.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t lie to me.”
Ah, shit. I forgot she was a damn smart person underneath all that conflicted denial. But I couldn’t resist. “Last night I fucked your brains out. Now today you act like I’m some idiot you’re defending in court.”
“Reckless endangerment? Resisting arrest?”
She fought dirty. Noted. I could get dirty.
“Two orgasms?”
Her nostrils flared. “I’ve had orgasms before.”
I’d bet not two in twenty minutes, but I suppose technically she wasn’t lying.
Maybe I should call her out on that? But if I did, that would be a shit move. Instead, I softened my approach. “I’m sorry about your ex and the bullshit.”
“You’re probably the only person who thinks that way.” Her quick glance away and the succession of blinks covered her watering eyes.
“Talk to me.”
Several starts and stops later, she finally blurted, “Photos.”
I leaned against the fence to hear her out. “Go on.”
Molly parked her fuzzy butt on Honor’s toes. “He sent the entire firm baby photos. He sent me the baby photos.”
She couldn’t have kids. That had to hurt. I tried to think of something comparable to get a bead on what to say.
Not having my whole family together hurt. But likely not as much as having a world without them in it. My pain wasn’t nearly as bad as Honor’s. “Take a load off.” I patted the fence next to me.
“I’ll stand.”
Honor was her own woman, that’s for sure. “If it were warmer, I’d suggest riding.”
“You’re on probation for reckless driving, remember?”
I smiled at her. She was being all cute by wrapping herself in that lawyer persona. It was armor. Huh.
My patch was mine. With it on, I felt invincible. Without it, I was just a scared kid with too big of a heart and too little brains to make sense of the crazy. “Someone like you should get everything they want.”
She glanced at me with a question on her face.
“I said what I said. You’ve got it together. A good job, you’re smart, pretty...” I trailed off because her expression turned down. “I mean that.”
“Why?”
“Why, why?”
She cast an exasperated gasp to the sky and paced in a little circle. “Why do you think a job, or someone’s intelligence, or their looks matter?”
“Because it does. Pretty privilege, you know? Add smarts and dedication to a career and bam, you leave people like me in the dust.”
“You seem to have developed a pretty high opinion of me.”
Her tone was casual, but there was something lurking under the surface. My Spidey senses screamed, caution. “I’m a rarity, remember?”
Her mouth opened to argue, but she shut it again as she realized I had tossed her words back at her. She finally said, “We can’t be together.”
Did I hear a question in that? And what if I did? Would it change anything? “My probation ends next week. What about then?”
Honoria had the gall to laugh. And once she started, she didn’t stop.
Way to hurt a guy’s pride.
She gasped for air. “Oh, I needed that. Thank you.”
“Glad to oblige.” I was sick of being the joke.
“I needed to laugh. Life’s been a little too... serious. I mean it, thank you.”
Trying it on for size, I echoed her words back at her. “We can’t be together?”
Her eyes locked on mine. “A biker and a lawyer. That’s cliche isn’t it?”
“Not to mention, the age gap. That’s bound to cause problems for someone.”
“Or the wage gap... Men are sensitive about that sort of thing.”
“You’re smarter than I am, you should be making more money.”
“You’re more street-smart,” she fired back.
I struggled to find another jab to toss back. “In those heels, you’re taller than I am.”
“These heels come off.”
I made the mistake of glancing down. She didn’t fight fair with her pencil skirts and those sexy legs. “The skirt comes off, too.”
Honor nodded. “So does the underwear.”
What the fuck were we doing? With a cough to make sure my words came out clearly, I started again, “About last night...”
“I had fun. I shouldn’t have left.”
Sure, I heard those words, but I was having trouble absorbing them. She smelled good. Like perfume and soft skin. “I shouldn’t have let you go.”
“I’m glad you did. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had a chance to think.”
Was thinking good? It would be helpful right now because my brain was shorting out. My dick, however, well... it was hogging the blood supply I should be using elsewhere. “Did you figure out any solutions?”
“No. I dismissed all of them. Like the one where I just got in my car and drove. Gone. That’s not an option. I tried not to entertain one thing.” Her eyes slipped to mine for a second before they darted away.
I stepped closer because she shivered. I told myself I was only blocking the wind, not torturing myself with the seductive essence that clung to her. “Talk to me.”
“Can you keep a secret?”
“I’m good with secrets. Real good.” I licked my lips because my mouth remembered how damn delicious she tasted.
“I want you. I shouldn’t.”
She definitely shouldn’t. Just like I shouldn’t want her. “That’s a secret?” It struck me as funny for some reason. Lemon saw right through us. Others would too.
“Are you going to make fun of me for it?”
“Honor.” I caught her arm as she tried to step away. Without thinking about it, I pulled her closer until our bodies touched from breast to knee. “I’m not making fun.”
Her chest rose and fell as she trembled in place. “You don’t make this easy, do you?”
“It’s easy. Walk with me to my house. I’ll make you food again, we can talk...or do other things.” Please say yes.
“I really have to go.”
She didn’t budge.
“Are your lips lying?”
“If I stay...” her tone was hesitant, which meant I still had a chance.
“Three. Three orgasms.”
She groaned and slipped two steps away. Damn it.
Her feet stilled, and she turned to face me. “Three?”
“Guaranteed.”
She crossed her arms. “In twenty minutes?”
I flinched. I could not guarantee that, unless... “Do you count mine as one?” I reached for her, and she danced away, slipping out of my grip. Molly thought that was good fun and pranced around us both.
I may have helped her tie up her owner with the lead as I swapped the leash from one hand to the other behind Honoria’s back. Soon, she was in my arms again and plastered against me.
“Three. Over hours. I promise.”
“Damn you.”
That was not a yes. I sweetened the deal. “You can park your car behind the garage so Lemon doesn’t see it.”
Honoria studied me. “Hours, huh?”
I crossed my heart to seal the deal.
Her shoulders fell as she debated. “I have work in the morning.”
“Tomorrow night, then? Unless you’re covering bailing out the drunks on Saturday.”
“Since Jim is now officially on paternity leave, I am.”
That was a problem.
“Saturday night?” Sure, it would interfere with whatever Walt had planned, but I could beg off. Maybe.
“Let’s wait.”
No... I didn’t want to wait. “Honor, please, you’re killing me here.”
“When your probation ends next week, let’s celebrate as friends, not lawyer and client. We’ll see how it goes from there, okay?” She held up a finger which effectively stopped any celebration dance I was about to make. “And, you need to stay out of trouble for six more days. Got it?”
Easy peasy.
Or so I thought as I helped her get Molly buckled in and watched her drive away.
Then my phone rang.
“Yo, ’Bat. We got a problem.”
Why couldn’t Walt start a conversation with ‘hello?’ “What, where, and when?” Staying out of trouble was going to slip off the table too quickly. I could feel it.
“That chick of yours?”
My mind immediately went to Honor. “What about her?”
“She’s going to bury us unless you get your ass moving and play nice.”
“What?” Honor could bury us, probably but...
“Did you get dropped on your head? Your flaky girlfriend showed up at the strip club wanting a job. She’s twenty, you fucking idiot. You know Indy doesn’t take them that young. He hates the extra hoops he’s got to go through to make sure she ain’t drinking.”
It took me more than a few seconds to realize he was bitching about Winter. “Where is she?” Oh, right. The strip club. Man, I was off my game.
“Indy kicked her out, but she’s in the parking lot talking bullshit. Digger’s there.”
Oh fuck. Digger didn’t have the patience for that kind of trouble. “I’m on my way.” Thank goodness Honoria hadn’t stayed.
I reached the strip club and grimaced at the crowd that had gathered.
There were patrons, a bouncer, my brothers, and even a cop.
Digger’s face was beet red, and Zee’s wasn’t much better.
Of course, with all his tattoos, it was hard to tell.
I pulled on my vest over my hoodie as soon as I got out of the truck.
Winter’s eyes fell on me and lit up.
In any other era, or in a different situation, that might have been all I needed to slip off the cliff’s edge of insanity and let her glom on. But there was no contest. I’d wait for Honor to come willingly to my bed. Winter couldn’t match that.
I swaggered over and recognized the cop. He’d been one of the guys who’d seen me ride up to Nickel’s house on a really bad day. I greeted him by name. “Yo, Joe, how’s it hanging?”
His eyes narrowed.
I guess Officer Joe didn’t like being called out like that. I switched tactics. “Did you arrest the accomplices in that home invasion from October?” As in, do your damn job, dickhead. “Destruction of property, auto theft, and attempted murder have got to be keeping you busy, right?”
“If they aren’t dead already, I’ll arrest them. You wouldn’t know where their bodies are, would you?”
“Hopefully standing on all ten toes and breathing so they face justice. But bringing them to face justice isn’t my job is it?” I put extra smarm in it so he’d drop the topic.
Instead, he latched on worse than a dog tick. He stuck a thumb at Digger, which was a mistake. “Your boy here knows one of their victims. Do you think you can talk him into a statement for me?”
I knew just the lawyer who’d eviscerate him if he tried that. “Well, I’d love to arrange that but the club’s lawyer is on paternity leave.”
Digger’s eyes shot to mine. I shouldn’t know that tidbit, and likely he didn’t know it yet either, which was why he looked so alarmed.
“They got other lawyers.”
The grin that spread across my face grew exponentially. “Like that tall brunette with the long legs and high heels?”
Something evil washed over his face. It was jarring enough to stand out from his usual contempt. “Let’s talk about the noise complaint here.”
He changed the subject. Interesting. That meant he’d rather deal with something as trivial as a complaint than pursue an attempted murder if it meant he’d have to talk to Honoria. Chalk one up for my sexy little badass.
Wait a minute... she wasn’t mine. I logged that somewhere between bird rehabilitation practices and the right balance needed to pop a wheelie on a Street Glide.
Of course, it slid over to the mental filing cabinets labeled “sex” as all things feminine usually did.
But I multitasked well and asked the cop, “Who’s making noise? ”
He jabbed his pointer-finger at Winter. “Your girlfriend.”
I needed to expedite this, not argue semantics. “What the fuck are you doing here, Winter?”
“I came to see you.”
No she didn’t. She came to cause trouble. Moreover, her antics were getting old. “Any charges?”
Joe shook his head.
“Good,” I switched attention to Winter. “Did you drive here?”
She shook her head. “I got dropped off by a friend.”
Damn, she was too stupid to live. “Get in the truck.”
While I ignored the shimmy she put into her ass as she got in my ride, I studied Zee and Digger. “We good? She didn’t cause any destruction did she?”
Digger waited until Joe’s attention was on something else. Then he lowered his volume. “We can’t have her chasing you all over the fucking place and bringing the cops around.”
No shit.
“I’ll take care of it.”
Looking back, it was the wrong thing to say in front of witnesses.