Chapter Ten
Brynn
Two Years Later
The sound of Aaron’s footsteps through my apartment is oddly comforting. We’ve been dating for the last two years, and I fall a little more for him every day. I still can’t believe that I was able to find happiness after everything that happened with Bentley. I didn’t want to fall for Aaron, but it was hard not to.
He did everything right, and for once I felt loved in a way that I could be satisfied with. His touch still doesn’t send electrical currents through me, but I’m okay with that. He’s safe and secure, something that I need. I need someone who will always be by my side no matter what happens in this thing we call life.
“Babe,” he murmurs as he comes to a stop in the doorway of my bedroom. I look up and see a mischievous look on his face. I raise an eyebrow in question, and he continues to lean against the frame.
“Yes?” I finally ask when he doesn’t say anything else.
“So I’ve been thinking.” I nod my head, waiting for him to continue. He grins before starting toward me. He grabs my hand, and I stare at him in amusement. What is going on? Before I can ask him what has gotten into him, he kneels down in front of me.
My eyes widen as I stare at him, not hearing one word that is coming out of his mouth. He pulls something out of his pocket, and when he opens the box, my hand goes to my mouth. I haven't heard one word he’s said, and when he speaks again, I don’t know what I’m thinking when I nod my head yes.
The smile on his face widens, and he puts a ring on my finger. I mean, we’ve talked about marriage, but I am still in serious shock. Shit. Shit. Shit. What did he just say? He stands back up and pulls me in for a hug, and I just hold onto him tightly. I think I just agreed to be his wife and I’m not sure if that freaks me the fuck out or if I am truly happy.
He starts to go on about having an engagement party and stuff, but I half tune him out. My head is spinning in a million different directions, and I am not sure how I feel. Before I can even say anything to him about a party, he’s kissing me and telling me that he needs to get to work and that we can talk about everything tonight.
I just nod my head absently in agreement and decide on getting to work myself. With everything that I just agreed to, I need to get out of the house and do something that I don’t really have to think about. Hanging out at Wayward Cycles is just the place. I can do filing and other mindless work while I think this shit over.
As soon as I get to work, Anslie comes busting in the office with a huge grin on her face. Her eyes are sparkling with a secret, and I hate not knowing what she’s smiling about. Last time that happened, she told me that her brother was dating someone else that he met in Seattle and how excited she was that he was finally with a girl.
I, on the other hand, wanted to scratch the bitch’s eyes out even though I didn’t even know her. That was over a year and a half ago, and since I spilled that me and Bentley slept together right before he left, she doesn’t bring him up anymore.
It wasn’t my fault. She got me hammered one night and everything just kind of slipped out. I told her about my feelings for him and everything. It was a weak moment, but it kind of made our friendship tighter. We now talk pretty much every day and have dinner dates a couple times a month.
“So…” she says trying to look at my hand. I groan and hold it up for her to see. Her squeals fill the entire office, and I put my head down as everyone looks over at us from out in the shop. Brant comes in a few minutes later, and when he checks out the ring for himself, he lets out a whistle.
“Shit,” he mutters. “Your man has some money.” I roll my eyes and try like hell not to say something bitchy to him. I think the ring is way too much, and I’m still on the fence about all of this. Brant turns and walks away, muttering about how pissed off someone was going to be, but I ignore it. I don’t even want to add to my already crazy thoughts.
“So you said yes!” Anslie pulls me into a hug, and it’s hard not to get excited when I’m talking to just her. “I can’t believe he finally asked you!”
I pull away slightly and look at her. She is genuinely happy for me, and I love that about her. When I told her about Bentley, she seemed a little pissed at me for not telling her and then at him for leaving, but she said it made sense. I don’t know how, but I didn’t question it. I didn’t want to know that he left because of me.
“Yeah, I am still in shock,” I say holding my hand out to look at. The ring shines on my finger, and I can’t help the smile that follows. It really is beautiful and has to be worth more than my car.
“I am so happy for you guys. I can’t wait to help throw your bachelorette party! Ohh are you having an engagement party? I know the perfect place you can throw it!” Just as she starts in on ideas, the office phone rings.
When I answer it, she just continues on rattling on about places and dates as I say, “Wayward Cycles, how can I help you.”
“I need to talk to Dominic.” I scrunch my eyebrows together at the voice, and I swear it sounds like Bentley.
“Can I ask who is calling?”
“Just get me Dominic.” I tell him to hold for a second and walk out into the shop where the guys are currently working.
“Dominic, phone call,” I call out before walking back into the office to where Anslie is still planning things. She’s got a piece of paper and a pen, jotting down notes, and I can’t help but laugh. Sometimes I don’t know about this girl. She is crazy, and I love her for it.
“So you have to have your party at Wayward Tavern. I’m sure I can get my dad to let us use the bar and all the alcohol without it costing you an outrageous amount of money!” I swear maybe she should plan events or something in her free time, not that she has much of it with the twins and Brax. I mean, Brax is now a toddler, so he’s now that much closer to going to pre-k or whatever it is.
“Maybe you can just plan this all for me? I mean, Aaron and I were going to talk about it tonight, so I can bring up the idea and then I won’t have to stress about it all.” She stops scribbling things on the paper, and her eyes light up like a damn Christmas tree.
“That would be so much fun! Yeah, just talk to Aaron and let me know tonight! I can throw one hell of a party!” She writes a few more things down before Dominic comes into the room with a frown on his face.
“You talk to Ben lately?” he asks his sister. I freeze at the mention of Bentley. Every time someone mentions him, her eyes meet mine, and she tries to read my expression, but I’ve been guarding them more when his name is mentioned. I don’t want anyone to think I am in love with him or anything.
“Yeah, the other day I talked to him. He wanted to wish the twins a happy birthday.” I keep my expression neutral as they continue to talk about him in front of me.
“Did he seem strange to you or no?”
She shrugs. “He seemed like the same cocky asshole he’s always been. I mean, he told me about the chick that he kicked to the curb and all that for getting clingy, but that’s it. He doesn’t really tell me what’s going on unless I torture it out of him. Why?”
Dominic doesn’t say anything, he just shakes his head and walks out of the office toward the clubhouse. Anslie huffs out and mutters something about her brothers being assholes before she grabs her bag and kisses me on the cheek.
“Don’t forget to talk to Aaron. I’ll be glad to help you plan everything!” She grins again before making her way out of the office.
As soon as I am surrounded by silence, I sink down into my chair and close my eyes. The last hour has been a damn whirlwind and I am so glad to have a chance to breathe finally. I sit like this for what seems like forever. The quiet is peaceful and relaxing after the morning I’ve had.
It doesn’t take me long to get to work filing and organizing all the customer files and paperwork that I have been neglecting for the past few months. I have a complete system that I started last year when customers would come back looking for specific parts or accessories for their bikes and instead of asking the guys a million different things, I created job folders on every project Wayward Cycles has taken on for as long as we had a paper trail.
Don’t get me wrong, it is a shit ton more work, but it keeps me preoccupied when I didn’t want to think about anything but filing or entering numbers into a database. The mind-numbing tasks helped me realized that I deserved to be happy. I needed to get over my feelings for Bentley no matter how crazy they were. It helped me decide to fully commit to Aaron and let myself be happy with him and not compare him to that damn biker.
When I can’t take any more papers and my feet hurt from standing for so long, I decide to take my lunch break. Walking out of the office with my purse on my arm and my keys in hand, I lock the door and turn to the parking lot just in time to see a few bikes pull into the parking lot.
I’ve never seen them before, and just as I’m about to walk out, Dominic steps out in front of me and blocks me with his body.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he growls. His voice is deadly, and in the few years I’ve been here, I’ve never heard him talk to anyone like that. Booted footsteps sound behind me, and it doesn’t take long before the rest of the guys from the garage are standing shoulder to shoulder with Dominic.
“Heard you had something of mine.” The voice isn’t one I recognize, so I don’t move from my spot. I know that the Wayward Saints aren’t angels, but I also know that’s it’s been awhile since they’ve had any problems here in Vegas.
“We don’t have shit. I suggest you get the fuck off my property and never come back.” This comes from a voice behind me. I didn’t even know Cason was here today. He typically doesn’t come out here much. He’s been slowly handing over the reigns of the Saints to Dominic and spends most of his time with his wife and their little girl Gina.
“Watch it old man. Your time is coming.” I try to look around Dominic’s body, but he doesn’t let me see the men in front of them.
“I’d like to see you try,” Cason chuckles. He walks around his son Robbie, and I can feel the tension fall over us. It’s so thick you could probably cut it with a knife.