CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Brand
We spent the next day in bed. I let Blade and Sketch hold down the shop and prayed that they wouldn’t burn the place down.
Right here, with Cami in my arms, was the only place I wanted to be. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hit pause on life for too long, but for just one day, I wanted to focus on nothing but us.
And by focus, I meant learn every inch of her.
That was what I did, too, for hours, until we both were so spent we couldn’t even move.
“What happened here?” she asked, her voice soft as her fingers danced along my skin.
“I, uh, had an accident with my bike,” I answered not wanting to elaborate on said accident. The skin on the outside of my shoulder and across the top of my back was lightly scarred. It was more noticeable the more time I spent in the sun, the scar tissue not taking on any of the tan that the rest of my skin did.
“Bad?” she asked, her sad eyes looking into mine.
“I mean, it could have been worse. I was more pissed off that my bike got fucked up.”
“Oh? The one you have now? It looks fine to me.”
I let out a little chuckle.
“No. My baby’s tucked away in the garage out front of the compound. I’ve been trying to get her good as new, but I haven’t had a whole lot of time lately.”
Then, without her even having to ask, I started in on how much that bike meant to me and why.
“It had always been me and my dad since before I can remember. My mom took off before I was three, having a toddler was too much for her to handle. But it didn’t matter, because my dad was so awesome.”
Growing up, we weren’t rich by any means, but that didn’t mean that my childhood sucked in any way. My dad loved me and never let me forget it, not even for a second. He was great. He often had to travel for work and he would take me along with him when he could. When I was in school, I stayed with my grandparents while he was on location. I knew his job could be dangerous, some of the things the cars and such would have to do while he was in them were insane, but he always made me feel like he would come home to me. Not always as whole as he’d left though. There were times he’d come back sporting a cast or a few new burns, but he always made it home.
We spent weekends in my grandpop’s garage, working on whatever new project they’d found. It was awesome.
Then grandpop passed away. I was almost seventeen. Dad decided right then it was a good time for him to retire, and so he stopped being a stuntman and became a full-time mechanic and business owner, taking over grandpop’s garage. I’d work there afternoons after school, then full-time once I graduated.
“He sounds great,” she said, looking at me with intense eyes.
“He was,” I said as I blew out a harsh breath and rubbed my chest.
“Was?”
“Yeah.” I took in a deep breath before I continued. “When I was twenty, he came to me one night after we’d shut down the shop. He pulled off the tarp that had been covering something in the corner. I had noticed the tarp right when I got to work and had been curious, but I’d also been so busy I hadn’t had a chance to ask him about it. There sat a nineteen sixty-eight BMW R50 and a nineteen eighty Triumph Bonneville T140E.”
I smiled thinking about that night. The first time I laid eyes on my baby.
“So, I take it by the sappy look on your face that one of those bikes is the one that got messed up,” she said.
“Yep. I’m getting there,” I said with a laugh. “He told me that this was our new project and that when they were done, we were taking them on a cross-country tour of the states. We spent the next year trying to get those things into shape and planning our trip. We talked about all the stupid things that we had to stop and see. The world’s largest corncob. The Roadkill Cook-off in West Virginia. Yes, that is a real thing.”
“Oh, God. Please tell me you are joking. Wow.”
“Yes, but we never made it there. See, the whole time we were spending every free second fixing up those bikes, he was dying.” I tried to bite back the sadness that still to this day clenched my heart tightly. But it was no use, I felt the tears moisten my eyes and I didn’t wipe them away as a few escaped and trickled down the side of my face. “He didn’t even tell me. There I was, spending time with him, taking it for granted and not even realizing that they were the final moments I’d get to have.”
Her arm pulled me tighter into her body as her legs further tangled with mine. Just the simple thing like feeling her head against my chest made everything alright. No, it didn’t bring back my dad. And it didn’t change the past. But it made me feel like the future might not be so bad. Fuck that. With her, the future wouldn’t be anything short of amazing. I knew that for a fact.
“After that, I spent a couple of years fixing up the Triumph and saving money. A couple of nights a week, I worked at a tattoo shop that was owned by one of my friends’ brother. When I was ready, I sold my dad’s house, turned the shop over to my best friend at the time with the confidence that he wouldn’t run it into the ground, then took that trip my dad and I had mapped out. Well, that was the plan. I only got a few states away before…”
Shit! I didn’t think about this before I started to tell it. This part I was going to have to go about as gingerly as possible. I was sure Cami didn’t want to know about my past…entanglements…but there was no way to tell this without it.
“What?” she asked, eyes lit up like she had to know the rest.
“Well, I don’t know if you want to hear this part.”
“Just tell me,” she said teasingly. “Does it have to do with a strip club or something. No, wait…a prostitute? Oh please don’t tell me it was a prostitute.” A little giggle slipped past her lips.
If that was what she was thinking then what I had to say wasn’t going to be bad in comparison.
“No, there was no strip club or prostitute. But the woman I took back to my motel did take all of my money. Like all of it. I was shit out of luck when I woke up in the morning.”
Then I waited. Because I couldn’t imagine that was a lovely image I’d put in her head.
“She took your money?!”
And there she went again, surprising me in the most fantastic way possible.
“Yep,” I said as I popped the p. “First, and only one-night stand and it only proved to me that I knew better. I was in a weird place and maybe a bit desperate for some kind of connection. That is the best explanation I can come up with. Oh, and I might have been a bit drunk. I tend to do some crazy things when I’m three sheets to the wind.”
I let out a short laugh thinking about some of those things.
“Anyway,” I went on not elaborating about anything else I happened to be thinking. “My plan was to drive until I ran out of gas, try to find a job, and figure it out then. Only, I didn’t make it that far. My bike broke down in this small ass town called Moon Hill, and that was where I found the Steel Paragons. They took me in and I felt like I’d found my place. That was also where I met Chris.”
Her chin rested on my chest as she smiled at me.
All out of words, I pulled her up and kissed the hell out of her.
I liked sharing my past with her. It wasn’t like it was some big secret full of heartache and sadness at every turn, but it was still what had shaped me into the man I was. Most days I rather liked that man. And by the way Cami looked at me all the time, I think she liked that man too.
“I need to feed you,” I said right after her stomach let out a loud grumble. “So far I’m failing at this boyfriend thing,” I joked.
At the magic “B” word, she did a sharp inhale. I chuckled at how cute she was. She pinched my side and her face scrunched up in the most adorable way.
“Um, and what if I don’t want a boyfriend? I mean, you didn’t even ask me,” she said and because she had a huge smile on her face, I knew she was playing with me.
I leaned up on my arm and stared down at her, my eyes soft as I looked into hers.
“Camille Elizabeth Benson, will you go steady with me?” I asked, and yes I remembered her full name from when I’d looked at her license when I ended up hiring her. Then I flashed her my biggest smile, showing those dimples that always seemed to catch her attention every time they made their presence known.
“You and those…fucking dimples. Every time. You could ask me to do anything and as long as you gave me those, I would be powerless to say no.”
Her finger came up and she poked one. Strange as it was, I had been waiting a long time for her to do that because I could see it every time I smiled, that was what she was envisioning doing in her head. And it wasn’t just her. Apparently, the dimples did it for just about every girl I’d run into. I wasn’t all for using them to my advantage usually, but now that I knew they were her weakness, you could bet your sweet ass that she’d be seeing them all the damn time.
“Alright, we need to get up and showered. Then you need to tell me what you want to eat. Do you think your sister is home or can we streak-it to the bathroom?”
She giggled and slapped my chest.
“I don’t know. It’s up to you if you want to chance it or not.”
“Eh, fuck it. Come on.” I jumped off the bed then scooped her up into my arms. Then took off out of the room and down the hall as fast as I could.
Turned out her sister wasn’t there. Which was good because I was sure the tiles that lined the entire bathroom only magnified the moans and screams coming out of Cami as I pinned her up against the wall and took her yet again.
I couldn’t keep my hands off of her, but it didn’t seem like she minded one single bit. I wasn’t going to lie, she felt amazing and even though my dick was a little sore, I didn’t want to stop. I could only imagine how her pussy was feeling, but she didn’t so much as breathe a word of protest as I pushed my way inside her and gave it to her quick and hard.
I didn’t want this day to end, but I knew that there was nothing I could do about it.
The next morning, I woke up tangled in Cami. As I lifted my head and looked at the bedside clock, I sighed knowing it was time. I had a shop to open and before that, I needed to run by the clubhouse and check in with Iron. I’d sent him a text letting him know where I was and I was sure if he needed me he would have called. But with everything that had happened, I still wanted to touch base.
“Beautiful,” I said softly as I lightly shook her dead-to-the-world body. Yeah, I’d worn her out, and I was smiling about it. “Cami, time to get up.”
“No,” she mumbled.
“Yes, trust me, you want to take a ride with me. I mean I have something to show you, but mostly, I’m dying to get you on the back of my bike.”
That was all true. In fact, there were times I’d daydreamed about it. I had hoped that she would have let me take her somewhere last night and I’d get the chance then, but no such luck. She opted to order in rather than leave the little bubble of happiness that surrounded us. Not that I could blame her, I felt the same way, too.
“What?!” Her head snapped up and she was suddenly wide awake. “You…you want me to go somewhere on your motorcycle?”
“Yes.” I chuckled as I tucked her wild hair behind her ear.
“Okay,” she said and I could see the mix of excitement and apprehension in her eyes. “I need to shower though.”
“Fine, you go shower. I’ll wait.” I knew if I joined her we’d never leave.
“Will you make me a cup of coffee? Pods are in the drawer under the coffee maker. There’s almond milk in the fridge. Please.” She dragged out the last word and fluttered her lashes at me.
“You got it, babe. I’ll get dressed and meet you in the kitchen when you’re done.”
As I stood there, waiting for the last few sputters to drip into the mug, I thought about how normal this all seemed. Even given the circumstances of what surrounded us and the fact that we had both been through some hell the last week.
Thirty minutes later, I was riding on the way to the compound, Cami glued to my back trying her best to relax. I went slower than I normally would in hopes of getting her to actually enjoy the ride. I didn’t think it would happen, but when we were a few yards from the garage, I felt her loosen the tiniest bit.
“Is that my car?” she squealed as I came to a stop outside of the open bay door.
I barely got my kickstand down before she was awkwardly hopping off and stumbling over to her car.
“If you’re Cami, then it sure is,” Ky said walking out with a huge smile.
“Oh, hi,” Cami said as she came to a dead stop at the sound of Ky’s voice. “Yes. Yes, that is me. Hi, I’m Cami.”
She stuck out her hand and it was the cutest thing. She sounded like she was on one of those game shows on TV and she’d just won the big prize. As I thought that I heard an announcer-like voice in my head going on about winning a new car.
“Nice to meet you, Cami. I’m Ky.” He shook her hand briefly then stepped back so she could see her beauty.
“What? How…why…ah!” she sputtered clearly in shock. “How did you get this?”
“Bought it from your brother. Ky saw it up for sale and went to look at it, brought it back here for you.”
“For me? I’ll pay you back. Omigod. Thank you.”
“Hey,” I said pulling her into my arms as the tears streamed down her cheeks. “Shhh. It’s alright, beautiful. I got you.”
“This is just.” She sucked in a shaky breath and buried her face in my chest. “Thank you, guys. This really means a lot to me. I’ve never…”
I understood what she was saying even though she didn’t finish. I’d gotten enough of an idea of how shitty her family—Laurel aside—had been to her. I vowed to change things for her. Not with her family, because I was pretty sure that was a lost cause, but I had no doubt that my brothers would love her like she should have been loved her entire life. Hell, I already knew Sketch did. And I didn’t doubt that Blade cared for her dearly too.
She’d have my love every single day, and there wouldn’t be a second that would pass where she wouldn’t know it. That was my silent promise to her and I wouldn’t fail to keep it.