Chapter 17
Tiny
“ S omeone’s grouchy this morning,” Ghost says, knowing he’s probably the only one who could get away with saying something like that. He drops his big-ass frame down in the chair across from my desk.
“Fuck off,” I spit, not taking my eyes off my screen. The view of Kourtney sitting in her office is enlarged in front of me.
It’s been two days. She hasn’t answered her phone, and I am really fucking close to showing up on her doorstep. The only things that have stopped me are my common sense and my mother.
Even though she is staying at my house, I haven’t seen Evie since dinner that night, and truthfully, even though I love the fuck out of my aunt, I’m thankful I haven’t seen her. I’m afraid of what I’d do or say.
“Things have been quiet,” Ghost adds, tossing the baseball I keep on my desk up in the air over and over again. “A little birdie delivered some news.”
“What’s up?”
“Hawk was arrested last night.”
“No shit. You’ve been sitting there for the better part of half an hour, and now you say something? What for?”
“Beating the shit out of his ol’ lady. She’s in the hospital.” He smiles sinisterly.
“The fuck? And that’s a good thing?”
“It is when Beau finally did one thing right.”
“What’s that?”
“He must finally be tired of being strung along by the Aces. He hired Kourtney to help Sydney.”
“Hawk’s ol’ lady?”
“Yup.”
“How do you know this?”
“Beau.”
I turn a skeptical eye on him. “Didn’t know you talked to him.
“Little shit went to the garage crying some bullshit. Dad gave me a call, and I talked to him this morning. He’s still on my shit list. But I can’t help but feel for the kid. I mean, I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him, but to my understanding, he’s scared for his sister, and the only reason he was helping them out in the first place wasn’t because he wanted in. Apparently Hawk was threatening to hurt Syd and her kid if he didn’t.”
Rage builds in my veins. If there’s one thing I hate more than a woman beater, is a grown-ass man putting their hands on a kid. I shake my head and drop a heavy fist to the wooden desk.
“Yeah. Shit’s fucked, isn’t it?”
“I’d say. Do you know what happened? Why’d he beat the piss out of her?”
“Not a hundred percent certain yet, but rumor is, Buzz is in town.”
“Buzz is…?”
“The mother chapter president.”
“Shit,” I say, my brows damn near hitting my hairline.
“Got a meeting with him tomorrow,” Ghost says with a shit-eating grin.
“Be careful, brother. What do you need me to do?”
“Nothing at all. He’s coming to us.”
“No shit? Damn. If he’s coming to us, it must not be on alright terms.”
“Let’s hope so. I’m telling the rest of the guys at church tonight. I don’t want everyone there just in case they try to pull some shit. I’d feel better if we had eyes on the rest of them, though, just in case,” he says.
“I’ve had a couple of the guys watching the tapes around town, and they haven’t noticed anything out of place in a while. But we haven’t had our meeting today yet. I’m sure they’ll tell me all about the new guys in town,” I tell him, watching as Kourtney types away at her computer. A young girl walks into her office, and I recognize her as Emma, Kourtney’s assistant.
It pisses me off that I didn’t even know she arrived yet. If Kourtney was answering her phone, I would probably know that bit of information. Instead, like a fucking stalker, I’ve depended on seeing her at the office or at home through a stupid screen. On top of that, I was in the dark about Beau hiring her. I hate learning things about her through my president, no matter how small a detail.
“Is it possible to get into the cameras around their clubhouse? Just in case.”
I chuckle, mocking him. “Is there a way to get into the cameras, he asks.”
“Fuck off. Just do it,” he grins, flipping me off.
“Depends if Hawk’s girlfriend gridlocked them or not.” I tap on the phone in my office. A few rings later, Riley answers.
“Yo.”
“Hey, bud. I need you to get into all the cameras within five blocks of this address.” I spew off the address, and with a “got it” from Riley, I hang up and turn my attention back to my screen.
Kourtney looks incredible today in an all-black skirt suit. Her gold heels make her tan legs look a mile long, and I’d be lying if the first sight of her this morning didn’t give me a stiffy.
“What the hell are you looking at so intensely over there?” Ghost asks, interrupting my obsessive stare and effectively changing the subject from club business.
“Nothing.” I quickly minimize the app. I wouldn’t put it past Ghost to jump across my desk to see what’s on my screen.
“What the fuck has you so distracted? You haven’t looked me in the face once since I got here.”
I grumble under my breath. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit, I might not be as smart as you, but I’m not stupid. Woman trouble?” he smirks. I want to punch it off his face.
“Could it have something to do with a new lawyer in town?”
I flip him off this time. “Fuck off, Ghost.”
He sits forward in his chair and steeples his fingers together, resting his chin against them. “Seriously, what’s going on, brother? This isn’t like you.”
Exhaling, I crack my neck to the side. I’ve held in the frustration for two days now, and aside from my mom trying to get me to talk, I’ve been going crazy in my head.
“Mom and Aunt Evie are in town, and Kourt came over for dinner to meet them. Evie accused Kourtney of being one of the women at the office that was sleeping with her husband. Kourtney took off without saying a word, and I haven’t heard from her since.”
His eyebrows furrow as he takes in my words. “She just took off?”
I nod.
“You think she slept with him?”
“I don’t want to think it. But her taking off and not saying a damn word and now not answering my fucking phone calls seems pretty damn suspicious.”
He nods. “I’d say that’s guilty behavior. What’s Mama Dukes saying?”
“She knows how I feel about Kourtney and is trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, which is sending Evie into a tailspin. She’s been locked in my guest room since dinner. We all know how Uncle Matt has always been a douche, but Evie loves him, so she’s hurt and believes the girl that told her. Who fucking knows, man.” I shake my head. “Women.”
“This is why I don’t date, brother.”
It’s my turn to laugh. “Oh yeah? Says the bald man who has been seen spending a lot of time at a certain hair salon.”
Ghost shrugs, smirking. “You caught me. Still not dating anyone, though.”
“Whatever, man.”
“Maybe you should go by her house? Corner her, get her to explain herself.”
“It’s looking like that’s what I’ll have to do. She hasn’t answered her phone.”
“How many times have you called her?”
I wince.
“Shit, that bad, huh?”
I nod with a chuckle. “Fucking pathetic.”
“Just go to her house, man,” he says, pushing up from his chair and putting my baseball back. “Quit moping around, go talk to her, and come by the clubhouse this weekend. You haven’t been by all week, and I feel like a party.”
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, fucker,” I shout at his retreating form.
And that’s how, three hours later, I find myself on Kourtney’s porch, knocking on the front door.
I checked her cameras, so I know she’s home.
A grin pulls at my lips when I hear faint meowing on the other side of the door. “Meatball, hush it,” Kourtney’s muffled voice says.
Hearing the locks click open, I brace myself to see her. When she pulls the door open, and I catch sight of her, I’m thankful I’m not standing on the steps because my ass would probably be on the floor. Even though I knew what she was already wearing from the cameras, seeing her in person takes my breath away.
Her hair is in a messy bun on the top of her head, and a pair of thick, black-framed glasses sit on her face. And an oversized t-shirt covers whatever shorts she may be wearing. A soft smile hits her lips, and I wait for her to let me in.
Momentarily confused when she doesn’t, I settle on acceptance when she takes a step outside instead and sits down on the steps.
Following behind her, I drop down next to her, leaning my back against the rail post and face her.
She looks thoughtfully off in the distance, studying the hell out of her front yard.
“I guess you came for an explanation, right?” Her voice is small, and I hate it. I don't want her to be unsure around me. I want the confident vixen I met a few weeks ago.
She interrupts me before I can answer her. “I never had sex with him.”
Her eyes meet mine, and the sincerity I find in them has me believing her instantly. It’s not that I think she did sleep with him. I’ve just had a hard time calling my aunt a liar.
“What happened?” I ask tentatively.
Kourtney scoffs, turning back to the yard and shaking her head. “I worked my ass off at that company. I mean worked my ass off . I worked damn near hundred-hour weeks. Every week. Took on every single case they put on my desk. That promotion should have been mine.”
I wait patiently as she works through whatever memories flip through her mind. Worrying her fingers together, her eyes get lost in them, and I wait patiently to hear her voice, even if it’s something I’m not going to want to hear.
“I dated Ben for about a year when I was in law school. His brother, Matt, was a partner at this firm, and Ben convinced me that he could get me a job there, even though I really wanted to do defense like my dad. At the time, it sounded like a good idea. Anyways. I truly did like my job. I was good at it. Even when Ben and I broke up, Matt still treated me with respect. Or so I thought. A few months ago, an opening came up for partner, and all that time, Matt truly made me believe that it was mine. I worked even more hours, took on even more cases. Toward the end, Matt would make little remarks about how he could persuade the other partners to pick me. But I needed to ‘ show him’ why I deserved it.” She uses finger quotes, and even from my angle, I can see her roll her eyes.
“The first time he hinted at it, I was going to quit. I didn’t need that shit. So, I typed up a resignation letter. But then he laid off the comments, so I never sent it. When he started making them a few weeks after that, though, I told him no. Straight up ‘No.’ A week later, at a Monday morning meeting, the head of the firm announced a promotion; they gave it to a new-grad. Over me.”
She shakes her head. Reaching forward, I swipe the tear away from her cheek, then take her shaking hand in mine, offering what little support I can.
“I didn’t think after that. It’s like I was on auto-pilot. I went directly to my office and sent the resignation letter, and I left. The next morning, apparently, Matt told Stan and the other partner that I offered myself to him for the promotion.”
“The fuck?”
“They told me I wouldn’t be able to practice law in the Phoenix area ever again. So I cussed them out and left.”
I chuckle, wiping her face again. “You seem to be good at storming out, huh?”
She laughs humorlessly. “You could say that. Anyway, that’s what brought me here. I swear I didn’t sleep with him, and I certainly didn’t break up anyone's marriage. But she’s your aunt, so I can understand why you believe her and not me.”
“Woah. Who said I believed her? Besides, I’ve never liked her husband. He’s been a dick since day one.”
“Well, he did cheat on her with women from the office, but it sure as hell wasn’t me.”
“I believe you.”
She turns her red-rimmed eyes on me. “You do?”
I pull her by the neck closer to me and press a kiss to her forehead. “Yeah, honey. I do.”
Closing her eyes, she leans her head down on my chest. I try to comfort her by running my hands along her back. “Why’d you run out? You didn’t answer your phone. I was worried sick.”
“I saw the look on your face. Whether you say you didn’t believe her or not, your face said you did. I didn’t want to see that hate on your face pointed at me. So I ran. Then I was scared of what you were going to say.”
Hearing that she could be scared of me pisses me off. Not pissed at her, but pissed that she could ever be scared of me.
“I never want to make you scared.”
“I won’t lie. I just panicked. I was going to call you eventually,” she smiles softly. “I just needed to get all the facts and figure out a way to get you to believe me.”
Smacking her hand to her face, she winces. I rub the spot and eye her curiously. “Your mom. She probably hates me now, huh?”
“Not exactly.”
She sits up and looks cautiously at me. “No?”
Shaking my head, I answer. “No. She’s been pushing me to talk to you since you left. She hated Matt, too. She only put up with him for my aunt’s sake. Evie really loved him. Who knows what kind of bullshit he always spewed her way, but he had her truly in a chokehold. Either way, my mom was on your side since Evie admitted she didn’t have proof, just the word of one of Matt’s chicks.”
She nods. “I spoke to Emma that night, and she told me everything. He was sleeping with two interns and an assistant to one of the other partners. The assistant got pregnant, and one of the interns was pissed, so she told Evie. Somehow, my name got snuck in among his laundry list of mistresses. Rumor was I got fired for sleeping with him.”
“That’s some shit, babe. I can’t say I’m not happy that you left that place. Cause it led you here.” I smile down at her, and a fist clutches my chest when she turns her wet eyes up to mine and smiles back.
I press a soft kiss to her lips and squeeze her to me. “Trust me, my mom doesn't hate you. And I promise, whenever Evie learns the truth, she won’t hate you either. She’s going to feel like the biggest asshole. I promise, no matter how you feel about her based on how she acted at dinner, Evie is normally very sweet.”
She winces. “It may take me a while to get the image of her venom out of my head.”
“I know, babe.”
“I can’t say I blame her, though. By what Emma says, Evie was convinced that I was one of them.”
I squeeze her again. I get it, but at the same time, I’m finding it hard to forgive the way Evie treated her without even knowing the truth. But if Kourtney is able to forgive her, then I guess I can, too.
Kourtney sits up, patting my stomach. “Do you want to come in?”
“Actually, I was hoping you’d maybe wanna go to the clubhouse with me.”
“The clubhouse?”
“Yeah, where you met us that day when Ringer was locked up.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know where you’re talking about. I just haven’t been there since.”
“Well, do you wanna go? With me?”
“For what?” she asks tentatively.
“To hang out and chill. Drink some beer, shoot some pool.”
She thinks about it for a minute, looking down at her clothes.
“I’ll wait while you change.”
In her rush to stand up, I catch a glimpse of the bottom of her asscheek peeking out from beneath her tiny shorts. I reach up, palming her juicy ass, and groan.
She swats my hand away with a smile and rushes inside. Following behind her, I greet Meatball at the door and carry him into her room, where she’s already in her closet, flipping through clothes.
“What do I wear?”
Meatball makes himself comfy right in my lap, and I rub the top of his head while he purrs loudly. “Whatever you want, nothing fancy.”
“Jeans it is,” she says as she comes out of the closet, securing her jeans at her waist, pulling on a blue tank top, and putting on a coat. “How’s this?”
“Perfect,” I say, putting Meatball to my side and opening my arms, gesturing for her to come to me.
She stops right in front of me in between my spread legs. Reaching around so my hands are caressing the backs of her thighs, I pull her the rest of the way forward until her hands steady herself on my shoulders.
Licking my lips, I use one hand to guide her by the neck down to me. I press my lips to hers and groan in satisfaction when she returns the kiss. Her fingernails scrape their way up my neck. I moan into her mouth at the feel of them running through my hair.
Lifting her up and pulling her on top of me, she lands with her thighs on either side of mine.
I kiss along her neck, leading up to press my lips to her ear. “I want to eat you.” I nip at the spot right below her ear, causing her to moan. “Delicious.”
She lets her head drop back on her shoulders, groaning. “We’re never going to make it there if you keep this up.”
I chuckle against her skin and tap her ass. “Let’s go then. Time for more later?”
“Absolutely,” she smirks. Hopping off my lap, she grabs her bag off her dresser, reaching for me with an outstretched hand to follow her.
I’d follow this damn woman anywhere, and watching her walk in front of me in her tight-as-fuck jeans has my cock harder than steel. I told Ghost I’d come by the clubhouse, and after showing face, I will absolutely be bringing Kourtney back home and showing her just how hard she makes me.
The entire ride to the clubhouse has her clutching her body to mine. Feeling her shiver behind me almost makes me wish we would’ve just driven her car, but I’d be lying if I didn’t love the way she clings to me in the cool weather, seeking my warmth.
By the time I pull up to the clubhouse, I’m wishing she lived further so we could’ve had a longer ride with her delicious body wrapped around me.