Chapter 18
Kourtney
T he last time I was here, I paid little attention to anything other than the picnic tables and Ghost’s office. Tiny leads me from the parking lot through a crowd of people sitting around a firepit into the spacious room.
On one side is a large bar behind which two younger guys stand, serving people drinks. On the other are a few pool tables with tall tables and barstools surrounding them. In the middle is a makeshift stage as well as random couches with large tv screens scattered throughout. I’ve never been to another one before, but as far as a motorcycle clubhouse goes, I’d figure they were dirtier. It’s clear that this place is well taken care of and probably professionally cleaned.
Tiny leads me to the bar first, pushing me up against the ledge and caging me in by his arms. He calls for one of the kids to grab him two beers.
“Beer okay, babe?”
I smile up at him. “Perfect.”
The kid is wearing a similar cut to Tiny’s, although he doesn’t have nearly as many patches as Tiny’s. And his looks a lot newer, whereas Tiny’s is obviously well-worn. I read the young guy's name on his chest, Jett.
Funnily, Jett has jet-black hair and the longest eyelashes surrounding the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen, making it look like he’s wearing mascara and eyeliner.
“Kourtney, right?” he asks with a smirk.
“Watch it, Jett. This is my ol’ lady.”
Jett’s eyes widen, and he stumbles over an apology. I eye the interaction curiously as Jett moves over to another guy to serve him a beer.
“What was that about?” I ask Tiny as he leads me over to the couches where some of the guys sit with a few women surrounding them.
One of the couples I recognize immediately is Brenna and Flame. She smiles excitedly and waves. “Hi, Kourtney! I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Neither did I til about fifteen minutes ago.” A small laugh slips out of me. I take the empty seat next to her. Tiny leans on the arm of the couch next to me, taking a pull from his beer.
Watching his Adam's apple bob as he swallows the mouthful, my own throat forces a swallow at the pooling of drool in my mouth. I blush when I catch eyes with the woman across from me, who eyes me knowingly with a smirk.
“Kourtney, right?” the woman leans forward and reaches her hand out.
I wipe my cold, wet hand on my jeans and return her handshake. “Yes, you are?”
Ghost rounds the couches and drops right next to the woman, nodding at me and tapping the neck of his bottle against Tiny’s.
“I’m Brit,” she says sort of shyly, her own blush hitting her cheeks as Ghost’s arm stretches out on the back of the couch behind her.
“Who do you belong to?” I ask with a grin, assuming she’s here with someone or maybe even Ghost.
Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head. “Oh, no. I don’t belong to anyone here. Just a friend.”
By the blush on her face and the small tick in Ghost’s jaw at that proclamation, I would bet money that something is going on between the two, but I just nod my head with a small smile and take her word for it.
Tiny leans over and presses a kiss against my head. “We’re gonna have a meeting here in a little bit, but until then– wanna play a game of pool?”
Rolling my eyes, I chuckle. “Sure, but just so you know, I absolutely suck.”
“Me too! We can suck together,” Brit offers, hopping off the couch so fast I fear she’ll give herself whiplash.
Brenna, Flame, Ghost, and Tiny all follow behind us as both Brit and I grab cues off the wall.
I lean over and whisper in Brit’s ear, “I’m actually pretty good. Want to beat their asses?”
Brit smiles darkly. “I wasn’t kidding, I actually do suck. But I’m all for you holding us up. Let’s beat some ass.”
Tiny and Ghost make up our opponents, and after a quick coin toss, Ghost shoots first, effectively breaking up the balls across the table.
I shoot next, lining up my shot, I call it. “Yellow, middle left.”
Sinking the ball, I turn a smirk on Tiny’s baffled face.
Having to pass by him to get my next shot, I pat him on the chest and press a kiss to his cheek. “Didn’t your mama ever teach you not to trust a lawyer.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
The few times I’ve been around Ghost, I’ve never seen the man smile. But right now? The man has the biggest shit-eating grin on his face as he laughs at his friend's obvious bewilderment. I don’t know why he never smiles, because the man is damn good-looking. He should definitely smile more.
Unfortunately, Brit wasn’t lying. She really does suck at pool. We end up losing, but not for lack of trying, and Brit gets one lucky shot in. I slap my hand against hers in a high-five. “Good game.”
“Yeah, right! You carried that whole thing.”
“Hey, don’t be so down on yourself. You sank one.”
“Yeah, by accident!” she laughs.
I return her laugh and turn to the guys. “Good try, honey. Maybe next time,” Tiny says before slamming a kiss on my lips. “Hang out with the girls for a bit? We have church.”
“I’ll be fine, big guy.” Patting his stomach, I reach up for another kiss before he and the rest of the guys head toward the back hall.
“Let’s go chill on the couches. They could be in there awhile,” Brenna says.
I follow behind her and Brit, stopping by the bar for another drink before taking my seat next to Brenna again.
A few of the other women I recognize from the last time I was here and from my visit to The Castle are littered around the place.
Maria steps over my outstretched legs and drops down on the other side of Brenna, smiling widely at me. “Ms. Council,” she greets.
I roll my eyes with a smile. “You can call me Kourtney, ya know.”
“Kourtney, did you meet Maggie?” Maria motions to the other older woman who sits down next to Brit.
“I did not,” I admit, smiling at the woman. I reach over the coffee table and shake her hand. “Kourtney.”
“Maggie. I belong to Horse. You may or may not have met him. He’s the one in the wheelchair currently.”
“No, I haven’t had the pleasure. That day was also a blur, so forgive me if I don’t remember everyone quite yet.”
Maria waves me off. “You have time. There are a shit ton of us and only one of you.”
“Hey baby girl,” Maggie says to a young girl who throws herself over the back of the couch and practically lands in her lap. The girl is gorgeous. Not a stitch of makeup covers her face, but her hair is what catches my eye. It’s clearly dyed a metallic silver. It looks amazing on her, and I’m instantly jealous of how well she pulls it off. I wish I could pull off straight silver hair.
“This is my demon child, Claudia.”
Claudia scoffs, acting offended. “I am an angel child, and you know it. Bull is the demon child.”
“Hey ladies!” another absolutely breathtaking woman says as she rounds the couch next. Her honey-blonde hair is wrapped up in a silk wrap. My eyes widen when I notice she has a tiny baby pressed to her chest in an intricate wrap.
“Oh gosh!” I gasp. “Is that a baby?”
The woman smiles and moves the wrap to the side so I can see the beautiful baby's face. “This is Poppy, and I’m Winnie. You are?”
I blush. “I’m Kourtney.”
“Oh, Tiny’s ol’ lady?” she asks, sitting next to Claudia and Maggie. When she sits fully, she pulls the tiny baby out of the wrap, and Claudia wiggles her long-nailed, grabby hands at her.
“Give me my niece.”
Winnie rolls her eyes with a smile and hands her the baby, where Maggie and Claudia both gush over the beautiful little girl.
“What does that mean, by the way?” I ask specifically Winnie, since she’s the one who said it, but Maria answers.
“What’s what, sweetheart?”
“Ol’ lady. Tiny called me that the other day, but he didn’t really explain other than that it means ‘I’m his.’”
Six collective gasps and twelve blinking eyes turn on me. The sudden attention has my cheeks heating and my heart rate speeding up.
“Tiny called you his ol’ lady?” Brenna says incredulously.
“Yeah?”
Maria clears her throat and sits forward, squeezing Brenna’s hand in hers. “I know you’re brand new in our world, and just like I had to teach Brenna here,” she pats her hand again. “Ol’ lady is quite literally the highest title you can hold as a woman in the club.”
“Okay?” Confusion mars my tone and, I’m sure, my face.
“It means that to Tiny, you mean the absolute world to him. He holds you above any and everything else in his world. Even this club. Some clubs don’t work that way. But ours does. Tiny would lay down his life for yours. Your life means the most to him. He won’t ever let anyone disrespect you or hurt you, man or woman. You are his and he is yours.”
A large lump forms in my throat as I take in her words. The overwhelming emotion quite literally chokes me speechless. She smiles softly towards me as all the other women watch my internal panic. “I’m assuming by your reaction, he hasn’t quite explained it to you, has he?”
I shake my head and clear the log in my throat. “N-no. Just made our relationship official and called me his ol’ lady, and then said that means I’m his and only his.”
“Is that what you want?” Maria asks softly.
“To be his?”
Maria nods, and the rest of them are practically on the edges of their seats, waiting for me to answer. I close my eyes and release a breath while nodding. “To be honest, more than anything I’ve wanted in a very long time.”
Maria and Maggie both smile sweetly. “Good,” they both say at the same time.
Brenna must be able to tell I’m a little uncomfortable with all of the attention on me, so she changes the subject by asking Winnie how she’s feeling.
I mouth ‘thank you’ to her, and she answers with a wink.
Brit leans over and says quietly, “I think you guys are really sweet together.”
Smiling softly, I thank her. I use that opportunity to observe the women around me. These women are Tiny’s ‘family.’ Yes, his mom and aunt that I met are his blood family, but based off of things he’s said in passing, and what I know about MCs, these people are his family. Through thick and thin, these are his people.
Does that mean that the farther our relationship goes, these become my people, too?
Sure, I have Reggie and Owen, Emma and my parents, but that’s pretty much it. After listening to them talk for over half an hour, I could definitely see these women becoming my tribe.
Based on what Maria said, Tiny thinks I’m his world? That I mean more to him than his own life? Does that mean he loves me? Surely not. We haven’t even been together that long. We just met a few weeks ago! Counting on my fingers, it’s been a total of five weeks since I came to the club for the first time. We didn’t even have contact with one another a couple of those weeks.
Does time matter if you know? If the feelings you get when you’re with that person consume you to the point of suffocation if you don’t act on it, is it love?
The two days we spent apart with not one bit of communication just about killed me. I left work early because I couldn’t handle simply sitting at my desk without picturing him bending me over it. I couldn’t focus. I had to leave.
“Boo.” I jump at least six inches in the air at Tiny’s presence behind me.
“Shit.” I slap my hand against my chest and roll my eyes at his deep chuckle behind me. I turn and playfully slap his chest, clearly not hurting him, but he feigns pain as he clutches his chest.
“You wound me,” he jokes with a wink. Rounding the couch, he pulls me up by the hand, drops to the couch, and pulls me down on top of him.
The rest of the guys surround us with smiles and light eyes. Their meeting must have gone well because there’s not one sour face in the bunch.
“Alright, guys. I’ve got my woman and my boys at home, so I’ll see everyone at the barbecue,” a long-haired man, who I think I’ve met before, says as he salutes the group before taking off.
A buff man with a military cut steals the baby right from Claudia’s arms and turns his body away from her as she tries to take her back. “Hey! You get her all the time!” Claudia pouts.
“Yeah. And?” he says.
“Logan, quit it and give your sister the baby back.”
Ahh. This must be Bull.
“I haven’t seen her since Tuesday, so she’s mine tonight,” Bull says, sticking his tongue out at his sister.
I lean back against Tiny. “I’m confused. Why hasn’t he seen his daughter since Tuesday?”
Tiny chuckles, winding his arm around my waist and securing my body to his. “Poppy isn’t Bull’s.”
“Oh.” I quirk my head to the side, studying the way Bull looks at the baby in his arms. He’s most definitely looking at her like she’s his. “I guess I just figured she was since Claudia called Poppy her niece.”
Tiny nods and lowers his voice so only I can hear him. “Bull’s not even a little quiet about his infatuation with Winnie. He’s in love with her, but for all we know, she doesn’t acknowledge it. But that doesn’t stop him.”
“Stop him from what?”
“He’s very protective of them,” he nods towards Winnie and Poppy. “He practically lives with her, he’s always at her house, and he sleeps on her damn couch nearly every night. She owns a floral shop in town, and since she had the baby, he’s gone to work with her every day. He had to take his dad to a specialist a few hours away for an appointment, so he’s been gone til today. I’m sure when they got home, he forced her to come here with him.”
“I was wondering why they were here so late and not at home sleeping,” I giggle. “It’s kind of cute.”
“It would be cuter if she returned his feelings.” Tiny shrugs. “He wants her to be his ol’ lady so bad.”
“Speaking of, you didn’t tell me what that means,” I say, taking the opportunity he so nicely laid out for me.
Tiny chuckles, squeezing my hip. “By your tone, I’d assume you already know.”
I nod towards Maria. “Maria told me.”
“Oh, hell. What’d she say?”
“Pretty much what you said.” I turn slightly so I can see his face better.
He bites his lip and takes a pull from his beer. Leaning forward, I lick up the small drop left behind on his lip. He groans against my lips. “Being my ol’ lady means that you are everything to me, so the club views you as untouchable. If I’m not there, every person in this club will protect you as if they were me. No one touches you, no one hurts you, and no one disrespects you. For all intents and purposes, it’s like you’re my wife without being married. You’re family.”
My eyes widen at that, and I take my own drink just for something to do with my hands. “Oh.”
Tiny chuckles again, forcing my gaze back to his with his knuckle. “Does that bother you?”
“Don’t you think it’s a little bit fast?” His smile drops, and I fear I’ve said the wrong thing, but he assures me with a gentle smile.
“No. I’ve never done the whole relationship thing before, so I’m going off of pure instinct and feelings here, but I don’t think it’s fast at all. I think when you know, you know.”
I have no words for him. None at all. Because I feel the same way. I was just scared that he didn’t, that maybe he was just rushing this all because of good sex. I’ve heard good sex can totally make people think they feel things. I answer him with another kiss. It’s deeper this time, and his tongue meets mine as he deliciously swallows my whimpers.
Kissing a path towards my ear, he bites the lobe, causing my eyes to roll to the back of my head. “Let's go back to your house. Maybe we can finish what we started earlier? Let me take my time this time?”
“Take me home, ol’ man.”
The smile Tiny shines could melt the ice off of a glacier. Pressing another kiss to my cheek and without even straining a muscle, he picks us both up off the couch and throws me over his shoulder, rushing out his goodbyes. He storms his way through the clubhouse and practically throws me on the back of his bike.
We pull away from the clubhouse with the roar of his engine covering my manic laughter, and I’ve never felt more free in my life.
But there’s a small voice in the back of my head telling me that this won’t last. All of this can be ripped away just as fast as it started.