The music coming from the speakers of Brawlers was damn near deafening, and he was crammed into a booth, blocked from escape by King on one side, and Bull on the other. Two hours ago, Gregory, Twitch, Lucky, and Elijah had arrived at his house, their men not far behind. Harper and him were in the middle of moving her stuff in, then he was physically dragged to King’s truck and tossed in back.

He had looked forward to a night of just them. The last few evenings they’d gone through Harper’s stuff, decided what could be donated and what she wanted to keep. To say he was surprised by how little she had would be an understatement. It had only taken them two trips to move all the belongings she wanted to keep out to the farm.

He should be at home helping her get settled into her new room. They’d been fighting when everyone showed up. He wanted her to stay in his room, but she was determined to move into one of the guestrooms. It was just a room, but he wanted her to keep sleeping in his room—his bed. He loved her there, but she’d had other plans, and he respected that.

“You can stay away from your woman for one night, let Harper have some time alone,” King’s tone was disgusted.

“We were moving her in. I should be—”

“No, you shouldn’t, leave her alone and don’t even let me catch you texting her.”

King was fussing at him like he was a kid, but never even looked away from a grungy looking biker in the corner across the room. He loved King, called the man one of his best friends but the guy had shit taste in bed partners. If King would just admit he had a thing for his former brother-in-law, then King’s life would be so much easier.

“Man, don’t even think about it,” Bull warned King.

“I wasn’t thinking anything.”

“Where’s Mal tonight,” Gideon asked.

It was a surefire way to get King's attention. The man's favorite topic was his 3-year-old son, Mal. The kid was a mini-version of King.

“Lincoln took him to see his parents for the week.”

“Didn't want to go?”

King shrugged his massive shoulders and finally took his attention away from the mistake in the corner.

“The ex-in-laws aren't exactly my biggest fans.”

“They can't still blame you because you and Melanie split up. It’s not like the two of you were broken up about it. They still got a problem with Lincoln being gay?”

“It's one of those don't ask, don't tell situations.”

“That's fucking rough.”

“It is what it is, man.”

He knew it was more than that. The breakup between King and Melanie was amicable, she was off finishing college. King was raising Mal. He wondered how Lincoln didn't know King had a thing for him. Yes, the situation with dating the ex-brother-in-law would be weird, but they made a cute little family.

There was a feeling in his gut that King played the game of player out of necessity. King picked the worst guys to hook up with, and the man didn't see the same one twice. Lincoln was a science teacher and football coach at the high school. When Lincoln wasn't working, he spent all his time with King and Mal.

“What about you, man, things going good with Harper?”

“Shit, I don't know.”

Joker stepped up to the table with a chair and spun it, then straddled it. The look in his eyes wasn’t friendly. His so-called friend had made himself scarce since the night Pelter had let him go. Harper was anxious to give the man his gift.

“Don’t make me have to hide a body, Ghost. I might like you but I love Harper, I’ll take you out without a second fucking thought.”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Joker.”

“Just saying,” Joker said with a shrug.

“Joker, lay off, think about it, Ghost is like the perfect man for Harper. He’s all sweet and gentlemanly without all those rough edges. He’s a nice—”

His groan cut Bull off, and they all laughed.

“Ain’t nothing wrong with being the nice guy.”

“Nice guy is like the kiss of death.”

“Not when it comes to Harper. Also, I’m sure you got some freak tendencies. You just ain’t sharing that shit with the class,” King stated.

He didn’t even attempt to answer. He called these guys his friends and family, but they liked talking about sex way too much for his comfort. It wasn’t that he didn’t love sex, he did when he was having it. Yet since his break up with Joe, he didn’t have any urge to try even the dating thing again much less the sex. That changed when he met Harper, though.

He wanted to date her. And it was quick as hell, he didn’t quite know how to process it. He knew what he wanted. The promise he made to himself and Harper was more important than the chance of sex. He had given Harper her first kiss, and from what he understood sex hadn’t been much better for her. Screwing up his chance with Harper wasn’t an option for him. He wanted her to have the dates and the cuddling, all the kisses she wanted, and if she was ever ready, maybe more.

It wasn’t the time yet. First, he had to get her used to him. Make sure she was safe and happy. At that moment, they were friends, he loved that, and when it was time, he’d see how she felt about turning friends into lovers.

The conversation thankfully flowed to safer topics, and he relaxed sipping at his beer. His friends had already drunk their three to his one, how the hell was he supposed to get home? He looked around until he spotted Hunter behind the bar. Hunter signed that he had him covered.

Tank, one of the owners of Brawlers, didn’t speak and most of them knew sign language to communicate. He wasn’t great, his signing ability was intermediate at best, but he could get by. He nodded his thanks and went back to sipping his drink. He knew getting a ride from Hunter meant he’d be there to last call. It was what it was, nothing he could do about it now, and he wasn’t having Harper come out and get him.

“Have you done the date yet?” King asked.

“Fuck, man, he moved her in,” Joker spoke up. “He skipped a bunch of shit.”

“Yes.” He ignored Joker. “We went to Vincent's.”

He tried to get her to go out more, but she seemed content to stay home when she wasn’t working. She was back to sitting with Crave’s mom and Nightingale’s during the week. He understood he was worrying too much, yet he couldn’t help it while Bill was still lurking out there. Pelter didn’t know who was hiding Bill and they were doing a damn good job of it, no sightings at all since the incident at the bookstore.

“Come on, drink your beer and stop zoning out on us.”

“I just wished they’d find Bill so Harper could do what she wanted again without looking over her shoulder.”

“They’ll find him. Powers is too small to stay holed up long.”

“True. I’m just impatient to get it over with.”

“Want to get rid of her—”

“Joker, don’t fucking finish that. She’s staying right where she is.”

He got it, Joker was hyper-protective of Harper, and as much as he understood that it was still hard to take. One of his best friends didn’t see him good enough. Yes, he was insecure, he would admit it to anyone. The six-pack of his dreams was hidden under the roundness of his stomach. It wasn’t bad, he kept in shape working the farm, and maybe it had a little jiggle to it, but it didn’t bother him. His friends like to call him cuddly, and he guessed he was. Harper liked it, and that’s all that mattered. But platonic cuddling wasn’t all he wanted. She didn’t shy away from his kisses, so that had to be a good thing. She snuggled up to him on the couch.

“Joker, quit fucking being an asshole to Ghost, man, you should be happy a nice guy took an interest in Harper. I caught her smiling to herself the other day. That’s some good shit right there. She ain’t as uninterested as you think.”

He smiled his thanks to Bull. All the hard edges and asshole nature, Bull was a great guy. He treated Gregory like gold. His cousin didn’t want for a thing.

“I’m taking it slow. When she’s ready, it’s her decision.”

“What if she says she ain’t interested,” Joker asked with a hard glare.

“Then I’ll live with it.”

It was a half-truth, and everyone knew it. To him, they seemed like a couple, they did everything partners would do, except for the physical stuff. That was fine with him. And if they were never anything other than housemates, as long as Harper was happy that’s all that mattered to him. She was special and important, and he would do everything within his power to make sure she believed it, even if that meant letting her go to find someone else. It was what it was, Harper was more important than his hormones.

He just hoped when the time came she didn’t rip his heart out when she left. Even Joe hadn’t succeeded in doing that, but he felt something for Harper he’d only briefly felt for his ex—love.