“Will she eventually?” Farrah asked.
“Don’t know,” I said, lying through my teeth.
“Well, you better figure that shit out,” Farrah shot back. “Because my niece isn’t gonna sit on the sidelines for long, not when she’s spending most nights at your house, eating dinner and hanging out like a family with you and your kid.”
I looked at her in surprise.
“I hear everything, man,” she said, her eyes on mine. “And just saying, I know where to bury a body that no one will ever find.”
“Message received,” I muttered.
“Take this as it’s meant,” she said seriously. “I like you for Rose. You’re good for her, and I think you guys work. But don’t fuck her around. Because, full disclosure, I’d be the least of your worries if you do.”
“We’re dating and shit is good,” I replied, growing irritated with the whole conversation. “That’s where we’re at right now.”
Farrah nodded.
“Thanks again for keeping Kara today.” I walked down the steps calmly, even though I wanted to jog away from Farrah’s knowing gaze. As I got to my bike, she walked to the edge of the porch and crossed her arms over her chest.
“People look at Rose,” she called out, making me pause, “and they see what a badass she is. They remember that she never lets anything go, she gives as good as she gets, and she’s got no problem going toe-to-toe with a man twice her size. But that girl has a soft heart, soft as hell. They remember how she protected Lil when she couldn’t see—but they didn’t see her sleeping in Lil’s bed for months so she wouldn’t wake up afraid. They didn’t see how she cut up Lil’s food, or made sure every fucking day that Lil’s clothes matched for school and she didn’t have food in her teeth or anything else that would embarrass her.”
“I hear you,” I replied.
“Rose is a born caregiver. She thrives on taking care of the people she loves.” She paused. “Don’t you dare shit on that.”
I nodded and climbed on my bike. I heard what she was saying, but that didn’t change anything. Farrah hadn’t counted on someone to parent her kids, only to have them disappear. And yeah, Mia had been sick, and I knew it wasn’t her fault—but it still happened. Shit like that happened all the time. Rose was an even worse bet when it came right down to it, because she could just bail, and then where would that leave Kara? Grieving for another lost mom? Fuck that shit. I wasn’t going to put my kid through that ever again. Rose would find her place in our family. I was beginning to think that she’d be my partner in every other way, eventually. But she’d never be Kara’s mother.
* * *
“What the fuck happened?” Dragon yelled, throwing a wrench across the garage. He looked over Grease’s shoulder and met my eyes. “Mack!”
I strode toward him, dread pooling in my belly.
“—Ham was knocked out and Rocky’s laid up with a broken femur. His bike’s toast.”
“Where were Bro and Charles?” I asked, dreading the answer. The prospects were a couple of our best, but they were green as hell.
“They were there,” Grease said. “They’re fine. Shook up, but fine.”
“They took the entire motherfuckin’ truck,” Dragon spat, his hands fisted at his sides.
“Jesus.” I closed my eyes and forced myself not to lose my temper. Didn’t look good for the officers to lose their shit, and Dragon had already met our quota for the day throwing that wrench.
“Gotta ask Casper how much that’ll set us back, but it’s not good,” Grease said.
“I’m goin’ on the next one,” I replied. “Four men shoulda been plenty. Somethin’ ain’t right.”
“Rock says they ran him and Ham off the road—he didn’t see how they stopped the truck,” Grease said.
“And the prospects?”
“They said they kept goin’, but the fuckers got ahead of them and created some type of roadblock,” he answered.
“You trust them?” Dragon asked me.
“I did,” I shot back. “Don’t now.”
“We can’t be makin’ that type of mistake.”
“Won’t happen again,” I replied. “Shouldn’t have sent prospects in the first place, but I figured Ham and Rock would have a handle on it.”
“No more prospects drivin’ trucks,” Grease said firmly. “I get what you were doing, and I woulda done the same, but no more unpatched members on any run while we deal with this shit.”
“Understood.”
I went back to work, but had a hard time focusing, I was so fucking pissed. It looked like shit was about to get squirrely again, and I didn’t have the goddamn time for it. I wished we knew who this new player was, stealing shit instead of making their own contacts and doing their own business, but Casper and Poet hadn’t heard a word. Things were so quiet on the street it was eerie. After a while, I gave up trying to figure out what was wrong with the Nissan I was working on and walked outside to take a break and call my parents.
“Hello,” my mom sang happily when she answered. “How’s my favorite son?”
“Your only son is fine,” I replied. Even with all the shit going down, I couldn’t hold back a smile. “How’re you two?”
“We’re good. On the road.”
“You headed this way?” I asked, mentally crossing my fingers.
“At the moment, we’re headed to Montana,” she replied. “Should we be headed toward you?”
“Kara started her period yesterday,” I blurted, dropping my ass onto one of the picnic tables out front. “And she’s bein’ super fuckin’ weird about it.”
“Of course she is,” my mom said knowingly. “She doesn’t want her dad to know about it.”
“I’ve known about everythin’ else her entire life.”
“Sorry, son,” she said with a chuckle. “You don’t have the right parts to be in on that particular conversation.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “I’m beginning to realize that.”
“She’ll come around. I’ll call her tomorrow and see how she’s doing.”
“On top of that, I’m gonna have to start travelin’ a bit,” I said, staring at my boots. “And I hate to ask—”
“You need us to come home?”
“If you can. I’ll figure somethin’ else out if that fucks with your plans too much,” I said quickly.
“Honey, the whole point is that we don’t make plans,” she said easily. “Howie, Jacob’s asking if we can come help with Kara for a while.”
She was quiet for a second.
“Should take us about two days to get there,” she said when she came back on the phone. “Will that work?”
“That works just fine.” I let out a huge sigh of relief. “Thanks, Ma.”
“Of course,” she said easily. “I’ve been wanting to meet your girlfriend, anyway.”
“Shit,” I muttered, making her laugh.
“I’m not that bad.”
“Nah, you’re not bad at all,” I replied jokingly.
“It’ll be great. Make sure you clear out that space for the RV, so we have someplace to park.” She grew quiet for a minute. “Never mind,” she said with a sigh. “Your dad says we’re going to get a camp spot.”
“I don’t mind if you guys park it at the house.”
“You’ll be doin’ your own thing,” my dad yelled so I could hear him. “We’ll take Kara for a bit and give ya some time alone with your woman.”
I grinned.
“Apparently, we’d be cramping your style,” my mom said ruefully.
“Either way,” I replied. “Can’t wait to see ya.”
“Me, either. Love you.”
“Love you. Dad, too.”
“I’ll tell him. Bye, son.”
I dropped the phone to my side and felt like a huge weight lifted off my chest. I had a lot of help with Kara, the club family was awesome that way, but there was nothing like having my parents in town.
“Yo, you gonna work today or what?” Wil
l called from the garage. “In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re fuckin’ swamped.”
“I’m on my way,” I hollered. “Untwist your panties.”
“Fuck you,” he shot back. “Molly likes me commando.”
“No one wants to hear that,” I said as I reached the garage.
It was going to be a long ass day, working on that Nissan and figuring out what the hell had happened on the run I’d planned and, like a moron, had left others to execute.
I also I needed to figure out what the fuck I was going to do about Rose. She hadn’t texted or called since the day before—which wasn’t like her. She was pissed, for sure, and I was going to have to fix that on top of everything else.
For a second, I contemplated just letting it lie. She could be pissed all she wanted—if she wanted to be done, that was one less thing on my plate. But I dismissed that train of thought almost immediately. There was no way I was giving Rose up.
By the time I left the garage, I was tired, sweaty, and had a throbbing tension headache. Kara had called, asking to spend the night with Charlie, which wasn’t a surprise. I was actually thankful that my kid was trying to escape me, because I still hadn’t heard from Rose and I needed to fix that shit. Letting it fester would only make things worse.
I took my time in the shower, letting the cool water run over my tired shoulders and arms and while I figured out how to smooth things over with Rose. Twenty minutes later, I was walking into the shop where she’d bought my gift certificate. Thirty minutes after that, I was walking into the bar where Rose was slinging drinks.
I stepped aside as someone came in behind me, taking a minute to look at her before she noticed me. She was wearing a black t-shirt and her hair was piled on top of her head in a bun, and I grinned at the fact that she didn’t seem to give a shit that the man leaning toward her at the bar was definitely trying to pick her up. She laughed and rolled her eyes at whatever he said, then moved away, forgetting he even existed. Jesus, she was hot. Especially when she was in her element, chatting with people and pouring beers like it was her favorite thing in the world to do. I moved toward her.
When she noticed me at the bar, she raised one eyebrow and went back to what she was doing, which automatically made me want to catch her attention again. Instead, I waited.
“What can I get you?” she asked as she finally made her way toward me.
“You,” I replied, holding back a laugh when she scoffed.
“I can’t even tell you the number of times someone has said that to me,” she said. “Or some version of it.”
“But I actually have a shot,” I replied.
“Debatable,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Sorry I was a dick,” I said quietly. Better to get that out first. I didn’t like apologizing a whole lot, but I knew she deserved that first thing.
“Forgiven,” she said easily. “What are you doing here?”
“Brought you a present,” I said, setting the box in my hand on the bar top.
I knew the moment she realized what I’d done because her eyes widened.
“You didn’t,” she murmured.
“Open it.”
She pulled the box toward her and lifted the lid, her smile lighting up the damn room.
“These are gorgeous,” she said, pulling the black Harley boots out. “Holy shit.”
“Gonna need somethin’ better than the high tops you’ve been wearin’,” I said, grinning.
“How did you know my size?” she asked, running her fingers over the leather.
“I notice shit,” I replied.
“Wait,” she said, pausing to look at me. “Why do I need boots?”
“Wanna ride up to Seattle next week?” I asked, holding her gaze.
“Hell yes,” she said, her smile growing bigger. “But if you get one of those t-shirts that says if you can read this, the bitch fell off, I’ll nut punch you.”
A startled laugh fell out of my mouth. “I hadn’t even thought of that,” I said honestly.
“Tommy did that the first time Hawk went with him on a charity run,” she said ruefully. “I thought she was going to murder him in his sleep.”
“I give you permission to murder me if I ever act like your brother Tommy,” I replied.
“Deal.” She leaned across the counter and crooked her finger at me so I’d lean in and kiss her.
“You smell good,” I said against her lips as her fingers slid down the side of my throat.
Rose laughed. “I haven’t even showered today,” she said, pulling away. She pointed to her hair, like that was supposed to mean something.
“Still smell good,” I said with a shrug. “You wanna shower at my place tonight? We could make it a group activity.”
“A group?” she teased. “How many people you plan on inviting over?”
I took the joke as it was meant and chuckled, but it still made my stomach lurch. There was no way in hell I’d ever share Rose, with a man or a woman.
“Just me and you, baby,” I replied.
“I get off at midnight.”
“Probably again at 12:30,” I said, making her grin. “We’ll see how it goes from there.”
“Sweet talker.”
“Always.”
Chapter 9
Rose
“Stop fussin’,” Mack ordered as I fidgeted with my hair. “You look fine.”
It was nine o’clock at night, and we were expecting Mack’s parents to pull up at any moment. Things had gone back to normal after Mack had apologized, and if I was honest with myself, I knew that I’d been testing him. Sure, I’d been pissed when he’d snapped at me on the phone, but it hadn’t really been that big a deal—not if I looked at it logically. But we all have baggage, and part of mine was a history of relationships with men that treated me like crap. I was determined not to let myself fall into the familiar habit of letting things go just to keep the peace, so I’d stood my ground and given him the silent treatment until he’d said he was sorry. It wasn’t my finest moment, but oh, well. His apology had given me the reassurance I’d needed.
Of course, a new pair of hotshit boots hadn’t hurt, either.
But now, Kara was bouncing around the house with excitement and Mack was looking out the screen door every five minutes, and I was freaking out. The three of us had a good thing going, we’d formed a little unit that worked. Now, we were adding two more people to the mix. People Mack adored. People who could change everything if they didn’t like me.
I had never been so nervous to meet someone’s parents in my life.
“They’re here!” Kara squealed suddenly, bolting out of the house.
“Showtime,” Mack said to me, smiling as he grabbed my hand and tugged me out the door.
By the time we reached the front steps, Mack’s parents had parked and were climbing out of a mid-size RV, stretching their arms above their heads and grinning from ear to ear.
“Nana!” Kara yelled, heading for Mack’s mom first.
“Holy cow,” his mom replied as Kara flung herself into the older woman’s arms. “You’ve grown at least a foot since we saw you in April!”
“Two inches,” Kara said proudly.
“You’re going to be as tall as me soon,” Mack’s mom said indulgently.
I didn’t think that would be happening, ever. If I guessed right, Mack’s mom was nearly six feet tall. Slender and angular, with cheekbones that looked like they could cut glass, she may have been the most striking woman I’d ever seen. She also kind of looked like someone who gave great hugs.
“I thought men went for women who reminded them of their mothers,” I said under my breath, making Mack chuckle.
“What about me?” Mack’s dad called to Kara, swinging her up in his arms with a laugh.
Where Mack’s mom was all angles, Mack’s dad was not. He was big and barrel chested, and even though he was in his sixties, he didn’t look like he’d lost a bit of muscle. The man was built like a tank,
and now I knew exactly what Mack would look like in thirty years.
“We’re here!” Mack’s mom called, striding toward us. “I swear, the last few hours are always the longest when you’re headed home.”
“Hey, Ma,” Mack said, meeting her at the bottom of the steps for a hug.
“You look good,” she said, kissing his cheek.
He took a step back and gestured to me. “This is Rose.”
“Hi, Rose,” she said, reaching out to shake my hand. “I’m Louise.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you,” I said, as she used her opposite hand to pat the top of our shaking ones.
“I’ll save your kisses for when you know me better,” she said with a smile.
“Thank Christ,” Mack mumbled.
“Hey,” I said, elbowing him in the side as Louise let go of my hand. “I like kisses.”
“I’ll give you all the kisses you need,” he shot back, making my face go red as his mom laughed merrily.
“Lou,” Mack’s dad called as he came toward us with Kara hanging on his back like a monkey. “Have you seen Kara? I can’t find her anywhere.”
“Grandpa,” Kara said with a sigh. “That stopped being funny when I was five.”
“Did you hear something?” his dad joked as he reached us. “You must be Rose. I’m Howie.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand.
“Lou try to kiss you yet?” he asked, his eyes twinkling. “She’s a kisser.”
“Not yet,” I replied. “But the night is young.”
“You’re gonna scare her off,” Mack said, moving forward to give his dad a hug as Kara dropped from his back. “Good to see you, Dad.”
“Likewise,” Howie said gruffly, patting Mack’s shoulder.
We followed Mack’s parents back into the house, and I felt the tension in my shoulders fade away. I wasn’t sure if Howie and Louise would like me, but I already knew I liked them.
* * *
“Give me that sound I like,” Mack murmured against my ear as his fingers found my clit. His hips slapped against my ass as he thrust, and I pressed my cheek against the bed, my hands fisted in the sheet. “Come on, baby. No one can hear you.”
Craving Rose (The Aces' Sons) Page 13