Chapter 11

Parents these days can’t control their kids in public. All my dad had to do was look at me, and I got my shit together.

-Sean’s words of wisdom

Sean

Two hours later, I found myself walking back to my pop’s house, wondering if I was stupid or just crazy.

I was, obviously, looking forward to having my heart broken, that much was for certain.

I still couldn’t figure out what the hell I was doing.

My intention to leave her here and never speak to her again hadn’t worked as well as I’d planned.

In fact, the moment I heard laughter coming from my father’s open windows from the bed in my RV, I realized that maybe I hadn’t reached my peak limit of suffering today.

Which was why I found myself walking into my dad’s place and coming to a sudden halt.

There were a lot of people there.

My dad, Aaron and his wife. Tommy Tom and Tally. Verity and Truth.

I could also vaguely hear Fender off somewhere in the back of the house talking on the phone to, who I assumed, was his baby mama.

The icing on the cake, however, was finding Jessie James with his arm running along the back of the couch, only inches from touching Naomi.

What, it wasn’t enough that he had to steal one woman, now he had to take the other as well?

Fucking perfect.

“Hey, boy. You want a burger?”

I looked over at my pop after tearing my eyes away from Naomi, who was laughing at something Jessie had said.

“Nah,” I said, clearing my throat when it didn’t sound as strong as it seemed. “I just came to tell you I’m going to be gone for a few hours.” I let my eyes trail back to the woman who was now staring at me, smile wiped from her face. “I have a few errands I need to run.”

I was lying.

I didn’t have any errands.

But I wasn’t going to be responsible for what I did to Jessie if I stayed, which meant I had to go.

“Yo,” Ghost said as he came up beside me. “You that busy?”

Ghost actually talking to me was new, at least lately.

He was different over these last couple of months.

Since the men in our tight knit group had started getting married and finding life partners, Ghost had become even more and more distant.

It’d started off gradually, and now, thinking back, I didn’t remember when he’d disappeared almost completely.

But seeing him here at my father’s place was the first time in, at least, three weeks.

He hadn’t even ridden with us to the smokehouse.

I couldn’t remember the last time Ghost had missed a group ride.

Sure, he’d shown up eventually, but it’d only been after we’d arrived.

“No. Just a few errands that can wait. Why?” I asked.

His jaw worked. “I need a spot.”

I worried my lip with my teeth.

“You working?”

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

I wasn’t actually sure what Ghost did.

At first, I’d thought he was a law enforcement officer. But he was a little too free at handing out punishments, and any time a LEO walked in the door, Ghost walked out the back.

He helped them, yes, but he didn’t actually work with them.

He did his own private work, and it was rarely ever that I saw him doing his job…at least I didn’t think I did, anyway.

Though, I had never been to his house. He worked from home the majority of the time, and since he never allowed anyone to come to his place, none of us could ever confirm what it was he did.

So, him actually saying he was working instead of beating around the subject was enough to set off some red flags.

“Well, let’s go,” I said. “See you later, Dad.”

My father frowned at me, at Ghost, and then in the direction I assumed Naomi was still sitting.

“We riding?” I asked as I walked out the back door. “Or do you want to take my truck.”

If Ghost smiled, he would’ve done it right then.

“Ride.”

“What’s up?” I asked as I walked toward my bike. “Something wrong?”

“Thought you needed an excuse to get out of there. And I need an excuse not to fuck something up that’s been in the works for four years now. I need to go, I just need to make sure that I don’t let the crazy out when I get there.”

I looked at my friend, then nodded once.

“I’m there if you need me.”

He took a deep breath then released it. “I need you.”

For Ghost to say something like that, I knew he really did need me.

I looked back one last time at Naomi standing in the doorway of my father’s house, and knew that there was always one constant in my life…and that was my club. These men had always been there for me, even the jackwad, Jessie James, a time or two.

Without another thought, I turned my back on Naomi, and walked down the driveway to my bike.

***

“You need to give her a break, Son,” my father said. “She was scared, in a town where she didn’t know anyone, and honestly, she doesn’t even owe you an explanation. She owes you less than nothing. You gave her an orgasm, that was it.”

I refrained from saying ‘and how do you know that?’ But just barely.

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion,” I observed, staring up at my old man.

I picked up the bottle of water I’d filled from the fridge, and turned, not bothering to wait for the man’s rebuttal. I knew he had one.

I also knew that he liked Naomi.

Hell, I did, too. Which was the problem.

She’d fucking left me in my bed, gone to work, and then had disappeared. Without a single word.

I didn’t know if she was hurt. Didn’t know if she was okay. Didn’t know if I should be assembling a posse to start looking for her. I didn’t know a goddamned thing.

I’d gone by her house to find it empty. Then had called in to work to see if they’d heard anything from her before she left, only to be informed that I’d have a new partner for a few weeks while Naomi took care of some personal issues.

I had no clue if those personal issues had anything to do with me since the woman hadn’t even bothered to answer her goddamned phone.

I’d spent the next few days in a state of constant worry until yesterday evening when a nurse from the hospital called to inform me that my ‘friend Naomi’ was there and that she’d asked me to pick her up tomorrow when she was discharged.

I’d jumped at the chance, but after days of stewing in anger and worry, I wasn’t in a good place.

So by the time I’d gotten to the hospital to pick her up the next afternoon, I was one seriously pissed off man who wanted to hurt her with my words instead of telling her I’d missed her like crazy.

Apparently, we hadn’t shared what I’d thought we’d shared, and it’d all been in my imagination, just like always.

Which led me to now, two days later, taking Naomi to the fucking walking trail again so she could share two hours with her new friend instead of talking to me.

“Ready?” I barked, startling Naomi who was just coming out of her room.

She bit her lip, then nodded once.

“Yes.”

She said that so quietly that I crossed my arms across my chest to keep myself from reaching for her.

“Then get in the truck.”

At least she was well enough now to get in by herself.

If I had to put my hands on her, I wasn’t going to be responsible for what I did.

For what I wanted to do.

Apparently, being mad at the woman didn’t take away from the fact that I wanted her.

No, life was a cruel bitch like that.

***

Naomi

“The man, though he hasn’t professed his love, really cares about you. I could tell that the day he picked you up from the hospital.”

I bit my lip and looked away from the greasy guy who’d finally managed to pass us, letting my eyes take in the grass that was lining the trail that we were currently walking at a crawl-like pace on.

I’d been seeing that same greasy guy everywhere I went over the last few days.

“I don’t know about that,” I said to Brady. “He doesn’t act like he likes me all that much.”

“That’s because you upset him. He doesn’t know how to deal with the fact that his girl would have major surgery without telling him. Instead of taking his feelings into consideration, you dismissed them in an attempt to protect yourself from potentially being disappointed. You left him the day before in a good place, and the next day you totally disregarded anything he might have been feeling. How do you expect him to react?”

That was so true.

I would react much the same way, and I only had myself to blame.

I frowned down at my feet.

“When my Molly and I married, she never kept a single thing from me. Until the day she found out she had cancer.”

That dropped between us like a two-ton elephant, and I had no clue what to say.

“She took that from me. Those hours that I would’ve sat by her side, she stole, thinking she was saving me from heartache.” He sounded lost. “Had I known that she was getting treatment, I would’ve been at her side, holding her hand. By not telling me, she robbed me of that and that time we could have spent together. I would’ve done anything for her, but now she’s gone, and I don’t know who I am anymore.”

Tears started to trickle down my cheeks.

“I’m furious. I want to yell and scream and curse. But I can’t.” He looked down at me. “You wanna know why?”

I knew why.

Because she was gone.

“I see you have your answer.”

I did.

“Why are you crying?”

I looked up to find Sean standing there, waiting for me.

He’d dropped me off at the trail, just like he’d done the day before, and he ran in the opposite direction while we walked the short route.

Then he waited patiently for me to return before he drove me back to his dad’s house and then left for the rest of the day.

He didn’t always leave the premises. Most of the time he went over to his father’s shop and worked on his project motorcycle either with his father or by himself.

I, on the other hand, was unsure of my welcome so I stayed where I was, bored to tears.

The one and only time I ventured out there to where he was, he’d totally ignored me.

I felt like I wasn’t wanted, so I’d gone inside without saying a single word to him in ten whole minutes.

“Mr. Thorton was telling me about his marriage and his wife,” I finally settled on. “It was sad.”

His eyes took in my face, the tears still coursing down my cheeks, and then turned his attention to my walking companion.

“You need a ride home today?”

That question was directed at Mr. Thorton, not me. I wouldn’t have a choice where I went.

I’d tried to leave.

Twice, in fact.

Both times I did, I found myself stopped before I could even get out of the driveway. Both times, Sean had dragged me back, even the second time when I’d waited until he was asleep with the lights off to try.

Though, I realized now, it was a mistake to ever think that Sean didn’t have eyes in the back of his head, because he did.

It was obvious, even to me, that he had to have some eyes somewhere. Cameras, or a movement alarm.

Hell, I didn’t know how I knew. I just did, and I didn’t try to escape anymore. Not after being on the receiving end of his blank stare that told me without words that the next time I tried that, he’d spank my ass—fucked up bowels or not.

“No, son,” Mr. Brady said. “But I’d love for you to put Butterfinger in my car. It hurts me to lift her sometimes.”

I looked down at Butterfinger.

She was an overweight Rottweiler who clearly needed to go on a diet…yesterday.

“Sure,” Sean said with so little enthusiasm I nearly laughed. “Can you unlock your truck?”

Mr. Thorton drove a small, thirty-year-old Nissan truck that clearly had been well taken care of. What hadn’t been taken care of, though, were the tires.

Tires that even I knew that he needed. A woman who had no clue when it came to anything car-related.

Hell, the only time I knew something was wrong with my car was when the beeping or warning lights started to appear.

Mr. Thorton handed Butterfinger’s leash over to Sean.

The moment Sean had the leash, Butterfinger dropped to her haunches and glared up at Sean.

“I don’t understand what I did,” he sighed. “I’ve never had a dog not like me.”

I wanted to say something along the lines of, ‘Maybe she’s reading that you hate me right now’ but chose not to open the can of worms.

It wouldn’t be good to deal with this now, in public with the whole freakin’ morning rush of men and women watching us hash this shit out.

I really, really tried not to laugh at what happened next.

But I couldn’t help it.

The moment that Butterfinger allowed herself to be hauled across the slick concrete, half of her body in Sean’s large arms and the other half stubbornly dragging behind her, I just couldn’t help it.

Sean glared at me to silence my laughter, but I could only turn and watch out of the corner of my eye while I said my goodbyes to Mr. Thorton.

“You really shouldn’t laugh, dear,” he informed me. “And I shouldn’t, either. He found my dog for me. I think that’s why she hates him, though.”

I agreed.

Two days earlier, Sean had disappeared for nearly the entire day, and only later that night would I get a thank you call from Mr. Thorton for having my boyfriend look for his dog.

A dog which happened to be staying at one of his neighbor’s houses being fed dutifully by three kids in their parents’ backyard, the parents none the wiser.

“You think it’s because she’s not getting fed his Twinkies and Little Debbies for dinner anymore that she dislikes Sean so immensely?” I asked for confirmation.

He nodded, smiling when Sean finally got to the truck and lifted the hundred and fifteen-pound dog into the passenger seat.

I walked forward and gave Mr. Thorton a hug.

“Be careful going home. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Mr. Thorton smiled. “Yeah, but I usually don’t walk on Fridays. If I walk tomorrow, I will not be walking on Saturday, okay?”

I pursed my lips, then gave the old man a kiss on the cheek.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “But I’ll still be here, even if you aren’t.”

I had to hide the smile that threatened my lips when Mr. Thorton turned on his patented glare.

“That, young lady, better not be a guilt trip.”

I shrugged, then wiped my eyes with my sleeves.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

He rolled his eyes and walked slowly to his truck.

I followed suit, but went one car past Mr. Thorton’s to Sean’s big blue behemoth.

I did manage to get in myself this time, though, so I was getting better. Even if it wasn’t coming as fast as I would like.

“You ready?”

I turned to study the man who’d waited until I was all the way in before getting in himself.

“Yeah,” I said softly, wishing I would get more than two words from him at a time. “Ready.”

He started the truck up, and he drove home.

Without, I might add, saying a damn word.