Chapter 18
Makenna
I slowly inched Ana’s door closed and breathed a sigh of relief. She was so upset when I hadn’t invited Brewer to dinner, and the rest of the evening had been a colossal fight with her. I knew she was upset at not seeing him again, especially after knowing he was home. But I wasn’t going to be inviting that man into my house until I knew exactly who he was and exactly what the hell was going on.
And as I started down the stairs, I heard a knock at the door.
I paused, watching as the shadow shifted through the curtains of my front door. I knew who it was. At least, my gut did. Only one person would be knocking on my door at this time of the night, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Part of me was excited at the prospect of being with Brewer again-- being in his presence and soaking up his warmth. But part of me was nervous. The flash of that gun and that emblem on the back of his vest had me worried.
Was I safe around a man like that?
The knock happened again and I knew if I let it go on any longer, Ana would wake up. So, I made my way down the rest of the stairs and opened the door. The second his body came into view my heart took off. Fluttering a thousand miles a second as an involuntary smile crossed my cheeks. I had missed him. Three days since I’d practically thrown myself at him and my soul was a flight with happiness.
But that voice in the back of my head kept me grounded.
“Hey there,” I said as I leaned against the door.
“Makenna.”
My toes curled at the sound of my name dropping from his lips.
“Could we talk?” he asked.
“On the back patio, sure. I just got Ana to fall off to sleep. It’s been a rough evening,” I said.
“Something happen at school?”
“More or less. Come on. We’ll walk around the side and go through the fence.”
I was serious when I said that man wasn’t coming into my home. I shut the door behind me, but he only stepped back once to give me any room. And the body heat radiating off him left me breathless. I looked up into his beautiful brown eyes and saw them darken. I knew that look, and it shot electricity down my spine. I shut my front door behind me and cleared my throat, then stepped to the side and led him around my house. I reached through the fence and unlocked it, then ushered him back so we could sit on the chairs I used on my patio.
“Are you thirsty?” I asked.
“If you’re going to get something, then I’ll take something. Sure,” Brewer said.
“I’ll be right back.”
I felt his eyes on me as I slid the porch door open. I walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a couple of beers as I listened out for Ana. Part of me wanted her to wake up so I had a reason to shoo Brewer back off to his house, but part of me wanted her to stay sleeping so I could ask him questions. I needed to know who he was and what the hell he was doing with a gun tucked behind his back. People who carried guns they were allowed to have didn’t carry them like that.
“Here you go,” I said as I sat down next to him.
“Thanks,” Brewer said.
“So, what have you been up to the past few days?”
“Just running behind work.”
“What do you do for work?” I asked.
My eyes fluttered over to him as I took a sip of my beer.
“Things here and there,” he said. “Some mechanical work. Some security detail. Some detective work.”
“So, you’re just an all-around kind of guy, aren’t you?” I asked.
His eyes panned over to me and the gaze he smacked me with rattled my bones.
“What have you been up to?” he asked.
“Just work. One of my employees had an accident on the job today, so that’s opened up an entire can of worms I’ll have to battle for the next couple of months.”
“They all right?”
“Just a dislocated wrist. A few days off work on medical leave and some pain medication will help, but it’s that worker’s compensation battle that will be a nightmare.”
“Company’s don’t like paying out for people they hurt. Pretty disgusting, if you ask me.”
“You think so?” I asked.
“You don’t?” Brewer asked.
I tipped my beer up to my lips and studied him closely. It didn’t look like he was lying, but he also wasn’t talking like a man who had a gun shoved down his pants. Was he putting on some sort of an act?
“Finding what you need?”
His voice ripped me from my trance as I finished off the rest of my beer.
“That depends,” I said.
“On what?”
“Whether or not you’re telling the truth.”
“About the worker’s compensation?” he asked. “I’m a man who takes care of his own. His family. The idea that a company wants to take on employees but not take care of them doesn’t fit with my code.”
“Your code,” I said.
“Yep. You know, those internal rules people live by?”
“What else makes up your code?” I asked.
He set his beer down onto the table behind us before turning his body towards mine.
“I protect what I care about. I take care of my family. I’m loyal to every end, no matter the cost. Once I get tangled up into something, I finish it.”
His eyes raked down my body and a warmth trickled through my veins.
“That it?” I asked.
“I also have a code when it comes to women,” he said.
“Do tell. I think I’d be interested to know that one.”
He scooted his chair closer to me and I debated on moving back. But I couldn’t.
I honestly didn’t want to.
“Women should be treated with respect. Never hit. Never cussed at. Never hurt. Women should always get what they want before a man takes what he wants, and a woman should never be put in a position to choose between him and those she loves around her.”
My eyes briefly fell to his lips before I whipped them back up to his gaze.
“Women are to be treasured, never torn. Women are to be worshiped, never beaten down.”
“What about children?” I asked breathlessly.
His face inched closer to mine and I could feel his breath pulsing against my lips.
“Protected, no matter the cost to the man involved.”
I let out the breath I was holding and my forehead fell against his. But when his lips went to encompass mine, I turned my cheek into his touch. I couldn’t. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t. His open-mouthed kiss paused him in his tracks, and he puckered his lips against my skin before pulling away.
“Who are you?” I asked.
I turned my face to look at him and found that strength deep within the pit of my gut.
“I saw your gun today when you rode up.”
His face hardened as he sat back in his chair.
“I saw the leather vest with the emblem. And I saw the gun tucked behind your back. Your garage door doesn’t move as quickly as you think it does, so I want to know what you’re involved in.”
“That’s why we didn’t cross through your kitchen,” Brewer said.
“Who are you?” I asked. “And what is it you’re wrapped up in? I think after what’s happened between the two of us and how attached my daughter has gotten to you that I deserve to know.”
“Attached?” he asked.
“We fought all night about how I wouldn’t invite you over for dinner once you got home.”
He sat back into his chair and finally turned his gaze away from mine. He sat there, staring off over the fence of my backyard as I kept my eyes trained on him. I wouldn’t accept lies. If he was trying to concoct one, I’d kick him out and he’d never come back over. I needed the truth. I deserved the truth from him.
“Don’t you dare lie to me,” I said. “Don’t you dare become that man.”
His gaze slowly panned over to mine as I sat there, keeping my station no matter how fearful his brooding gaze made me.
“I’m in a motorcycle club,” he said.
“Like… just some old dudes that ride around for fun?” I asked.
“No,” he said plainly. “The kind that gets very territorial of Redding. I’m a one percenter.”
My heart stopped in my chest.
“You’re in a gang?” I asked.
“We don’t use that term. It denotes a certain set of violent rules we try not to live by.”
“You try?” I asked.
I scooted myself against my chair, trying to put distance between us.
“Are you dangerous, Brewer?”
His eyes held mine. Cold, like the air whipping around our bodies.
“I’m not,” he said. “But some of the things I get involved with are.”
I stood up from my seat, backing away from him as I threaded my fingers through my hair.
“Who are you?” I asked. “What is your name?”
“Logan,” he said. “But everyone just calls me-”
“Brewer,” I said breathlessly.
“Makenna.”
“What?”
I turned around towards him and watched him stand from his chair. He slowly took a step towards me and I backed up. I met him, step for step, until my back pressed into the facade of my house. He kept coming towards me, his eyes never wavering, until his body was pressed against mine. Flush between his rock-hard chest and the cold vinyl of a house I wasn’t sure if I could keep on renting.
But the way his hand cupped my cheek. The way his thumb stroked my skin. They weren’t the actions of a hardened criminal. They weren’t the actions of a dangerous man.
“Are me and my daughter in danger because of you?” I asked with a whisper.
I opened my eyes and caught his gaze, watching his stare dance along my face.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But if you are, I swear to you that you’re safe with me. You and Ana. No matter what, the two of you will always be protected by me.”
“How in the hell am I supposed to believe that?”
“Because of my code.”
“You’re a gang member, Brewer.”
“In a group full of men who protect what they care about.”
His words slapped me across my cheeks.
Did he just say ‘care’? Did Brewer care about me?
“If it comes down to it, my life is sacrificial for yours and Ana’s. And if for some reason the two of you get tangled up into something because of me, there is nothing I won’t do to make sure the two of you are untouched and safe.”
His thumb ran across my bottom lip and I puckered to kiss his skin. I didn’t know what it was, but something in the way he spoke told me he was telling the truth. Something in the way he looked at me told me he was being honest. And having his body pressed against mine again was a dream come true. Something that had inhabited my dreams ever since that first night we spent together.
“Are you scared of me?” he asked.
I drew in a deep breath as I turned the question around in my mind. That really was the only thing, wasn’t it? Whether or not Brewer was a man to be feared or trusted. But I knew the kind of man I feared. I ran from that kind of man and it brought me all the way to Redding. And though Brewer seemed to be telling the truth-- which meant he was tangled up in things that were dangerous-- Brewer himself was kind. Gentle, when it counted. Faithful to a fault and ready to jump at a moment’s notice if something was wrong.
Was I scared of Brewer?
And if I wasn’t, what did that say about me?