CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“It feels so good to be home!” Hope sings and twirls around the garage as soon as she hops off the bike. “My ass is killing me.”
Her words are mostly drowned out by the rumble of the other bikes pulling into the garage, but I catch her hand and yank her toward me. I bury my face against her neck. “Meet me in the hot tub and I’ll take care of your ass.”
She bats her lashes and smiles. “Yes, Mr. President.”
“You two didn’t get it on enough during the trip?” Ravage asks, walking over with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
“Rav, unload the van, and help Murphy unload the truck when Heidi gets here,” I order.
“What? Why?”
“Because you’re obviously bored and in need of something to do?” Hope turns her head to the side and snickers.
He grumbles, but gets to work.
Swan runs out of the clubhouse and into the garage. The girls scream and hug each other and talk excitedly about the trip.
“I hope you’re not all sick of each other. Stash and I put together a big welcome home dinner.”
“What time do you want us at the table?” Z asks. “Dex and I need to run down to Crystal Ball and check on things real quick.”
“Seven, does that work for everyone?”
“Sounds good. Thank you for doing that, Swan,” Hope says.
Between my bike shop and club business, I’m sure there’s a ton of things waiting my attention, but I’m not ready for this to be over with yet.
“You have that look,” Hope teases, slinging her arms around my neck.
“What look is that, baby doll?”
“Like you already have club business on your mind.”
She’s teasing me, but I detect a note of vulnerability in her words.
“You’re not sick of me yet?”
“Never,” she says in her soft, husky voice.
Fuck if that simple word doesn’t twist me up inside. Never have I loved being with anyone is much as I love being with her. Always feels good to have confirmation the feeling is mutual.
“No club business tonight, I promise. Still in vacation mode.”
“I’m just teasing, if you really have stuff you need to—”
I cut her off with a kiss.
“Break it up, horndogs,” Ravage shouts.
Behind Hope’s back, I flip him off and keep right on doing what we’re doing.
Before she can get caught up helping Swan out, Wrath drags Trinity to their house. “We’ll be back later,” Trinity calls out over her shoulder.
“Home sweet home!” Sparky yells. “You better not have killed my babies.” He throws a glare at Stash as he runs past him and into the clubhouse.
“And that’s the last we’ll see if Sparky for the next two years,” Z says.
“I don’t know about that,” Swan says. “Willow said she was coming over after the club closes.”
Stash holds out his hands palms up and pretends to weigh Sparky’s options. “Hot chick on one hand or his plants on the other? I don’t know. That’s a close one for Sparky.”
“Don’t pick on him.” Swan playfully slaps Stash’s arm and Dex cuts a glare her way from across the garage.
“Oh boy,” Hope mutters.
“Let’s go home and change.” I grasp her hand and lead us home.
The next morning, Rock’s alarm goes off way earlier than human decency should allow.
“Nooo,” I moan, reaching for him. “Stay.”
He leans back, brushing the hair off my face. “You make it impossible to leave when you’re all beautiful and sleepy.”
“Then stay.”
“Don’t you have to go to the office yourself?”
Exhaustion still pulls at me. Or maybe it’s post-trip depression. I roll over and shove my head under my pillow. “I don’t wanna,” I mumble.
The bed shifts. I yelp as the sheet’s ripped off me and cool air hits my skin. “Don’t you dare,” I warn, but my voice is muffled by the pillow.
For Rock my warning is more of an invitation and his hand cracks against my ass a few seconds later. He keeps his hand there, rubbing and squeezing, then lightly swats the other cheek. “You stay there like that I’m gonna find other things for you today.”
I peek out from under the pillow. “Promise?”
“Thought you were supposed to meet the girls for morning yoga?”
“I guess,” I grumble, rolling out of bed.
“We can always practice right here.”
“Hmph.”
“My girl’s not a morning person is she?” he teases on my way to the bathroom.
“No.”
In the bathroom, I’m struck with wave of nausea that brings me to my knees. “Shit.”
What little I had in my stomach comes up. My nose stings and tears stream down my cheeks. I hate being sick.
“Rock?” I call out as I make my way over to the sink to brush my teeth.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t feel so good.”
He’s filling the doorway two seconds later. “Shit, babe you don’t look good. Come here.” He rests his hand against my forehead and cheeks, his mouth flattening into a grim line. “Come on, why don’t you go back to bed.”
He walks me to the bed and gently tucks me under the covers, then sits beside me. “What can I get you?”
“Water? Maybe some tea?”
“All right. I’ll be right back.”
I close my eyes and sort of drift back to sleep for what seems like only a few seconds before Rock’s waking me up with a cup of tea and small plate of toast.
“Think you caught a bug on the trip?” he asks.
“Maybe.” I sip at the tea and nibble on the toast for a few minutes with Rock watching over me, hands on his hips, concern wrinkling his forehead.
“I feel better now. Sorry.” I can’t ruin his whole day because I have a tummy ache.
“What are you sorry for?”
“I know you have a lot to do today.”
“Yeah, and making sure my wife’s okay is at the top of the list.”
I reach out and take his hand. “I think this helped.” I gesture to the half-eaten toast. “I feel a little better.”
“All right.” He seems reluctant to leave my side. “Well, finish that and see how you feel.”
“Go ahead. Get ready. I’ll be fine.” I’m starting to feel better and a little foolish for being so dramatic.
With my stomach more settled, I lean back and close my eyes for a few minutes.
“Hope?” Rock’s hushed voice pulls me from sleep. “I’m heading out. I’m gonna ask Heidi to check on you in a little bit.”
My eyes blink open. “What? No. That’s okay.”
He leans down and presses a kiss to my forehead. “Text me when you get up or if you need me to bring anything home, okay?”
“I will,” I promise.
He kisses the back of my hand. “Gonna miss having you with me today.”
“Two weeks together and you’re not sick of me?”
“No.” His lips twitch. “You’re that rare unicorn person I never get tired of being around.”
I snort-laugh and get out of bed to hug him. “Same for me, you know.”
“There she is!” Trinity greets me at the clubhouse about an hour later. “For a minute I was worried maybe Rock tied you to the bed, but I saw him and Murphy ride off and know Rock would never leave you tied up and helpless.”
“Har, har. Very funny.” I give her a little push and she laughs.
Swan smiles, but doesn’t add to the conversation.
“So how was it while we were away?” I ask to take the attention off me.
“Quieter than I expected. I think Rock told the guys no parties while you all were away. I promised Z I’d help manage the girls at Crystal Ball, so that took up a lot of my time.” She rolls her eyes.
“Well, thank you for keeping an eye on everything here. We really missed you. Next time you have to come with us.”
Trinity’s eyes narrow as if that was the wrong thing to say, but I’m not sure why. Surely Swan could’ve ridden with one of the guys. She’s not an ol’ lady, but she’s an important part of the club and I know for a fact other charters brought plenty of non–old ladies along.
Swan shrugs. “We’ll see. How’d Carter do?”
“Good I think. I didn’t see a lot of him, honestly. He said he got a lot of sketching and painting done, so he was happy.”
“I’m pretty sure Teller gave him a few lectures about keeping his mouth shut,” Trinity adds.
“Well.” Swan turns toward the Champagne Room and waves over her shoulder for us to follow. “I bet you’re both stiff and out of practice, so let’s get going.”
Trinity skips ahead to catch up. How she’s so bright-eyed this morning I don’t understand.
“Aren’t you still exhausted from the trip?” I ask her.
“The trip, no,” Swan answers for Trinity. “Wrath celebrating being home from the trip, probably.”
Trinity laughs, but doesn’t disagree.
“Oh wow.” I gasp as we enter the Champagne Room. “You were busy while we were away.”
Swan grins and points to the shelves of yoga mats, blocks, and straps that weren’t there before we left. “Shh, I got Stash to put those together for me by telling him I was going to start having the dancers come up for yoga classes.”
Trinity groans. “Guess we better lock the door.”
She does indeed jog over and lock the door before we begin.
“I’ll go easy on you at first,” Swan promises.
“Liar,” I mutter under my breath.
“We kept up on it for the first few days—” Trinity starts.
“One day, Trin. One day we remembered to do it.”
“Okay, one day.”
“Less talking, more moving,” Swan snaps. For a quiet girl, she’s quite bossy during class.
For the next hour we move and flow. My movements resemble a lumbering sloth more than a graceful cat. By the end of our session, I’m more exhausted than energized.
“You all right, Hope?” Trinity asks, tossing me a small towel.
“I don’t know. I woke up feeling crappy. Wondering if I caught something on the trip.”
“Maybe.” Her expression softens from teasing to concerned friend. “Are you going back to work today?”
“I was planning to. I’ve already missed a lot.”
“If you need something, let me know.”
“I will.”
I thank Swan and hug both of them before heading back to the house to change.
Heidi and Murphy are already gone for the day, so I have the house to myself. A nap is almost too tempting and I barely avoid crawling back under the covers while I slip on a loose pantsuit and heels. Definitely feels weird after wearing nothing but denim and leather for the last two weeks.
I can’t say I like it.