Chapter Ten
“Read ‘em and weep, boys,” Sinn said triumphantly, placing his cards down. Four of a kind. A round of groans rose as he pulled the chips to his impressive collection.
“I always hate it when he plays,” Snow grumbled.
He laughed. “Don’t hate the player, hate the fact you suck at poker.”
The grumblings continued as the game went on. He was racking up a substantial amount when the subject inevitably turned to the night of contention.
“We should go fuck up the Bone Breakers for dealing us dirty,” Cas remarked. He got many nods of agreement. “In fact, we should obliterate them. Then we can take over Laramie and have this whole stretch of Wyoming under the Sons’ control.”
Sinn studied each man as they all added their two cents. Every man at the table thought Cas’s plan made sense. It put into perspective the mindset that anyone could’ve been behind the theft.
“So, all of you are in favor of that?” Sinn asked.
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Jade replied.
“We can crush those assholes until they’re obliterated from the face of the Earth,” Cas said, smiling. Apparently, he was the voice of them all. “Saint can make someone president. Warden, or hell, me.”
The men raised their beer and their cheers.
“You should tell Saint this,” Jade piped up.
“Yeah,” Sinn said, nodding as if he agreed with them. “I’ll definitely let him know what all of you came up with.”
“Where is he, by the way?” Snow asked. “Haven’t seen him around lately.”
“Personal things he’d been pushing off doing. Decided he needed to deal with all of it.”
Sinn shot another speculative glance at Cas. Something wasn’t adding up.
****
Saint grabbed a cigarette and stuck it between his lips, then walked down the hallway and peeked his head into the spare bedroom.
No Kira. He knocked on the bathroom door and opened it when she didn’t respond, just in case.
No Kira. She wasn’t in the laundry room or the family room.
He started to worry he and Sinn had been gone too long, when he saw her toes on the deck’s lounger.
Sliding the door open, he stepped onto the deck and sat in a chair next to her.
They both stared at the beautiful scenery, which was the reason he and Sinn bought the house.
A huge barbeque island took up a lot of real estate.
Pavers led to the outdoor grilling station.
Rustic, but with all the modern amenities.
Stainless steel grills. Enough seating for the entire club.
A pizza station in the corner. Above, cedar beams kept the hot sun at bay.
About twenty-feet away was a circular firepit with comfortable chairs around it.
All of it was designed with the idea of hosting holiday parties for the club.
Many didn’t have families to go home to, so he and Sinn always invited them, and truthfully, they were some of the best times of his life.
Kira didn’t talk to him, and he was fine with that. For a while they sat enjoying the cool breeze while the sun kissed their skin. It was rare he was able to sit back, relax, and do nothing.
“You probably think I’m crazy,” she suddenly said. He turned his head, staying silent so she’d continue talking. “I know I would be thinking that if I were you.”
“Aren’t we all a little crazy?”
She looked over and their gazes locked. A ghost of a smile played on her lips. “Maybe.”
Her brown locks gleamed in the sunlight, revealing hidden depths of red and gold. The gentle wind made the strands dance to its quiet melody.
“When I saw my apartment complex on fire, when I realized I’d just lost everything, it was the icing on the cake,” she explained. “I don’t have a bank, so all my money from the past two years just went up in a puff of smoke.”
Holy fuck. “Oh, shit.”
“Precisely.” She closed her eyes for a moment. He wanted to tell her it was going to be okay, but he had no right to promise something so placating. “Starting over once more is going to be a bitch. I ... just lost my head for a moment. So, you don’t have to babysit me.”
“I think that’s the classic way to get me to leave you alone and then I’ll find you in my bathtub with your wrists slit wide open.”
“What if I said I’d use Sinn’s bathtub?”
“I still think that’s a deal breaker.”
She turned back to stare at his small slice of paradise. “Why is there an unlit cigarette between your lips?”
Saint took it away and looked at the small, white stick. “Because I can’t smoke it. Doctor’s orders.”
“Doesn’t having it there give you temptation?”
His brother had asked the same question. “The opposite. It’s a challenge to see if I can resist it.”
“Hm,” she hummed. “I like your backyard.”
He blinked on the swift change of topic. “Yeah? Me too. Sinn and I wanted space for the club to come and hang out. We always cook up a feast for almost all the holidays. Christmas and New Years are a little too cold so we celebrate that at the club.”
“You’re lucky to have so many people in your family,” she murmured.
“You don’t have family?”
“No. Not anymore. Not for a long time. Well, except for Joe. He’s like my big brother. Or favorite uncle.”
“Teaching you to box.”
“Actually, teaching me self-defense through boxing,” she corrected.
“I can teach you practical ways to defend yourself, if you’d like. Boxing is not going to do fuck-all if a man attacks. Like that dude from last night. He had his arms around you before you could blink.”
She touched her scraped cheek. “Yeah, I did panic in that moment. Two years of training and I froze like an ice cube.”
He stood up, tossed the cigarette onto the chair he just sat in, then held out a hand. “Well, come on. I’ll teach you some ways to bring down a man.”
She stared at it for a long moment, then tentatively placed her hand in his. He could feel the slight tremor and wondered if she was scared, aroused, or both.
“You have pretty eyes,” he murmured.
“They’re just brown.”
“They’re cinnamon with flecks of gold.”
Unable to resist, he ran a finger over the scrapes on her face. The asshole had smashed her head against the unyielding brick wall. Saint really wished he’d caught the guy, because he wanted to mangle the fucker.
He led her down the deck steps until they were on grass.
He let go of her hand and turned so they faced each other.
“Some people call what I’m about to show you down and dirty, but there’s no dirty about it if you’re defending your life.
Now, I’m sure you know the best way to immediately take out a man is through his balls.
One good knee, or a kick, or even grabbing his junk and then twisting with all your strength will have him blubbering for his mommy. ”
She smiled at that, and he realized he wanted to make her smile more often.
“There are other ways, of course,” he continued.
“Pulling hair. Gouging eyes. Biting. One of my favorites is if you’re knocked down, grab some dirt or rocks or anything and then throw it into the asshole’s eyes.
But the most important way to defend yourself is to run like hell.
So, incapacitate him and then get the hell out of there. ”
He practiced with her for a while, pointing out different scenarios and what she could do to save herself.
He liked she was focused and dedicated to learning, because he sensed something horrible happened in her past that made her think she needed to fight.
This wasn’t just a woman who wanted to learn a few moves.
She didn’t flirt with him, or rub herself up against him in an effort to get his attention.
When the sun started its decline, they headed inside to prepare dinner.
Spaghetti with meatballs, his favorite. He made it every time it was his turn to cook.
They maneuvered around one another as if they’d been doing it for years.
Why did it taste better with her sitting with him? Why was he so comfortable around her?
After dinner they then cleaned the kitchen and headed into the living room. Kira walked over to the bookshelves.
“Most of those are Sinn’s,” he said. “His self-help and betterment books.”
“Nothing wrong with trying to make yourself better.”
“I didn’t mean for that to sound snarky.”
“Do you think I could borrow a couple?”
“Yeah, of course. I know Sinn won’t mind.”
She pulled out a few and continued going down the spines, then pulled out a puzzle he’d forgotten they had. “That was a Christmas gift from one of the guys.”
She bit her lip as she stared at the cover. Puppies frolicking together. “Can I put it together?”
“Uh, sure.” He looked around and spotted the table. “We can work on it there.”
“We?”
He tilted his head. “Yeah. We. Is that okay?”
She had a feeling his words had a double meaning.
“Right now, for the puzzle, yes,” she replied. “We’ll see how far we get later.”
He nodded, and she knew he understood her own double meaning.