by Mallory Funk
I touch my lips for the millionth time since Tyson had kissed me.
After he kissed me, he told me to cancel my date and that he would be picking me up instead.
Nothing can stop the smile that has spread over my face.
I never thought that agreeing to a date with Crash would lead to this. I didn’t think Tyson felt for me the way I felt for him.
I pick up my phone and find Crash’s number.
I don’t want to hurt him but I can’t go out with him now, especially not after what I shared with Tyson.
No one has made me feel like this after one kiss.
I take a deep breath and wait as the phone rings.
“Camilla,” Crash says and there is a hesitation in his voice, like he knows why I would be calling.
“Hey, uh, Crash. I need to talk to you about tonight.” I say.
He lets out a big sigh. “I had a feeling this would come after Torch heard about the date. He wasn’t happy.”
I shake my head. Not happy is an understatement.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“It’s okay. I kind of expected it. There are no hard feelings, okay?” he says.
I nod my head even though he can’t see me.
“I know, but I am still sorry. I shouldn’t have said ‘yes’ knowing how I felt about him. I feel terrible,” I tell him.
“Don’t worry about it. This was probably the push that he needed. We would have been great together, but I wouldn’t have wanted a part of you when he claimed the rest of you a long time ago. I just refused to see it,” he says.
“A-are we okay?” I ask.
I hear him take a deep breath. “Yeah darling. We are still friends, right?” he asks.
“Of course. We will always be friends,” I tell him.
“Then there is nothing for you to worry about. Just be happy,” he says.
“Listen, I’m going to go. You do what you need to do to be happy,” he says before he hangs up. I don’t have a chance to say anything else.
I stare at my phone for a few minutes.
I don’t regret breaking the date, and I’m not mad that he already knew that was why I was calling, but I still hate to have to hurt him. It wouldn’t have been fair to lead him on though.
I get up and look at the empty space on the bed that was saved for the “yes” pile. We had gone through everything that I own already and decided that none of it would work for a date since it was all leggings and long-sleeved shirts. When Ella asked me if there was a reason that they were all long-sleeved since I had the same shirt just in different colours, I had told her that it was because of the scars.
I expected to see a look of pity on her face, since that’s what usually happens when I mention the scars, but she just smiled in understanding and said that she will have something for me ready for tonight.
If I was riding on Crash’s bike, I would want to be wearing something other than leggings and look at least slightly stylish.
Now I guess she is dressing me for a date with her brother, Tyson, and she doesn’t even know it yet.
My mind travels back to Tyson, the kiss we shared, the way that his lips felt against mine, and the warm, safe feeling of his arms wrapped around me.
I’m not sure where he went, but I decide to head downstairs and finally get some breakfast.
It may be way past breakfast now, but really there isn’t any time limit when someone can eat bacon and eggs.
This time in the kitchen Stitch, Ink, and Kid are all laughing over coffee. They all stop and look at me with friendly smiles when I come into the room.
“There she is!” Stitch says with a grin.
I roll my eyes playfully at him. “Are you hungry, Stitch?” I ask.
He nods his head. “Damn rights. I’ve been up for twenty minutes. You know that no one lets me use the stove.”
I chuckle because he’s serious.
He tried to make himself breakfast one morning when I first came here. It was four in the morning and I couldn’t sleep. I was surprised that anyone else was awake, but he said that no one lets him use the stove, so he waited until everyone was asleep to give “this cooking thing a shot,” but, judging by the burnt eggs in the pan and the bacon that was so crispy you could chip a tooth on it, I would have to agree with everyone else.
I was glad that Stitch had the same love for bacon and eggs that I do because he and I could eat them together whenever we wanted. It was kind of “our thing” and I wouldn’t change that for the world.
“Let me get the bacon started,” I say.
“Sounds great, darling,” Stitch says.
I end up making Ink and Kid breakfast too. I had spent so much time getting to know everyone that I feel completely at home here.
I hope that it works out between me and Tyson, but it’s obviously too soon to be thinking about things like that. We just had our first kiss; it’s not like we are moving in together.
By the time we are done eating, I see some women walk in. I already know that they are club whores, and it’s not that I have anything against them. If they want to sleep with all the brothers they can then have at it. Well, at least the ones that aren’t taken, because I’m sure that if one of them hit on Damien, Ella would definitely teach her a lesson.
The club whores don’t like me; I don’t know if it’s because I’m new and get along with all the brothers, but it’s not like I’m sleeping with them so I can’t see what their problem is.
Tyson had only just kissed me hours ago, and it’s not like anyone else knows that because I haven’t said anything and Tyson doesn’t seem like the gossiping type.
One looks me in the eye and places her arm on Stitch like she is staking a claim.
I just raise an eyebrow at her. I have no idea why she is trying to stake a claim on Stitch.
“Stitch, baby, you feel like having some fun?” she says in what I think is supposed to be a seductive purr, but her voice raised an octave and sounds terrible.
I can see him rolling his eyes at her. “Not right now, Georgina. Can’t you see I’m talking with my brothers?” he says and moves her arm off of him.
She huffs a little, but when Bullet walks into the room she has a determined glint in her eye.
I look behind him into the hallway and see Krista and Pyro talking to Damien and Ella.
“What about you, big boy, you up for some fun?” she says trailing her hand up his chest.
Fuck, she has to be new. It’s not often that Bullet comes to the club since he’s usually working or with Pyro and Krista, but I don’t remember when Georgina first came here.
He steps back from her, but she takes another step closer to him.
She looks like she thinks he’s playing a game, but I know that’s not what he’s doing.
“Uhh Georgina?” I say trying to warn her because the moment I say her name, Krista turns her head and narrows her eyes at her.
Oh fuck, this isn’t going to be good.
“What the fuck do you want? You think he would rather have you than this?” she asks me, gesturing to her body.
“First off, get your slutty hands off of my man and secondly, he would be lucky to have someone like Camilla,” Krista says, her voice deceptively calm.
Georgina turns around at the sound of Krista’s voice.
She locks eyes with Pyro and smiles.
“Bitch, don’t even think about it,” Krista says.
“You can’t claim two men,” Georgina says.
“According to my tattoo, I already have. I suggest you get the fuck out of here before I break your fingers for you daring to touch him,” Krista says.
I quietly speak to Kid.
“It’s like live entertainment. You can’t look away,” I say, and he chuckles with a nod of his head.
“You never mess with a biker babe’s man,” he says.
Georgina looks around the room, but she’s not going to get help from anyone else.
One of the other club wh
ores speaks up.
“Georgina, let’s go. I told you that brothers who had an Old Lady were off limits,” Tilly says trying to sound reasonable.
She starts to talk, but Stitch stops her.
“It’s better to cut your losses now. Get the fuck out. No one wants to deal with you right now,” he says. She nods her head and quickly leaves with Tilly at the tone of his voice.
I let out a laugh. “Wow, that was awesome,” I say, and everyone bursts out in laughter at my words.
“Did she think that I wasn’t good enough for Bullet?” I ask with a wink in his direction and he just smirks at me.
“Well she’s wrong,” Krista says not bothered by the fact.
She knows that she can trust me though. I don’t want her men. There is only one man that I want.
It still doesn’t stop me from joking around though.
“He wouldn’t be able to handle me anyway,” I say with a smirk in his direction.
He lets out a loud laugh at my words.
“Damn rights. Torch is going to have stay on top of his game with you, isn’t he?” Bullet says, and I can’t help but blush.
They don’t know that we are going on a date, so I don’t know why he said that.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I say nonchalantly.
“Wait a minute, what was that blush for?” Krista looks at me with narrowed eyes.
“I can’t help it. I blush easily,” I say.
She shakes her head. “No, girl, you don’t. This is the first time that I have ever seen you blush.”
I just shrug and hope that she drops it, but this is Krista and of course she doesn’t.
“Did something happen?” she asks in a loud whisper. I have no idea why she’s whispering because she’s across the room and everyone can hear her.
Everyone is looking at me now. “Well, we are going on a date tonight.”
I hear her gasp. “Holy shit, really? Fuck yes!” she says loudly.
I see Ink hand Kid a bill and they both shrug at my narrowed eyes.
“What was that about?” I ask.
They both look at me sheepishly.
“Well, I bet Ink that Torch would finally ask you out, and he bet that it would be Crash,” Kid says.
“Well, it looks like you both lost because they both did,” I say, and their faces drop. Kid hands the money to Stitch who is grinning wide. He must have bet that both of them would.
“Wow, I don’t know what to say to that,” I tell them with a laugh.
Krista pulls me out of the room and asks me a bunch of questions about Crash and Torch and I tell her everything that happened.
She gets excited when I tell her about the kiss that Tyson and I shared and, before I know it, I need to get ready for our date.
When that thought comes, Ella comes rushing in the room with Olivia and Sophie behind her.
“Okay, I brought everything we need and reinforcements. Though word on the street is that the date is now with my brother and not Crash. But that’s okay, I still think all of this will work.”
I spend the next couple hours with women who have become my friends getting ready for a date with a man who could become my everything.
I really fucking hope so.
There is no other man that I want than Tyson Knight.
Chapter Eighteen
Tyson “Torch”
I pace my house for the hundredth time since I left Camilla after that kiss.
That kiss rocked me to my fucking core.
Suddenly everything felt right; everything made sense.
Feelings that I kept hidden made their way out, and I wanted to own her body and soul.
I didn’t want to risk moving too fast because I don’t want to mess this up, so I left before I got too carried away.
I hear a motorcycle pull up to my place and, just as I suspected, I see Crash.
He gets off his bike and stomps up my steps banging on my door.
I open it and come face to face with my brother.
I knew this would happen the second that Camilla talked to him.
“Brother,” he growls as he steps in and paces back and forth.
“Just say what you need to say,” I tell him.
“You just couldn’t stand the thought of someone else having her, could you?” he says.
I shake my head. “No one should fucking have her but me. She’s been mine for a long time. I was just waiting for her to be ready.”
“I just came to tell you that if you fuck it up, I’m not going to step back. I’m going to take my shot,” he says, and I nod my head because I had expected him to say that.
“I get you, brother, but there is no way that I’m going to fuck it up.”
He stares at me with narrowed eyes for a few minutes and finally grunts something that I can’t hear before stomping off.
“She and I are best friends, so don’t think that you will get rid of me that easily,” he says leaving my house.
I can’t help but let out a sigh into the empty house. I know that he’s right. They have gotten close, so I knew that would happen. As long as he didn’t hold any hard feelings for me claiming Camilla then we were good.
My eyes drift to the box once again. Soon it will be time to open it.
I just have a feeling that this might break me.
Tomorrow, after my date and my head is clear, I will finally open the last thing Stacey ever gave me.
My minds drifts to Stacey and I don’t feel as much pain as I did last year.
I can think about some of the memories we shared with a smile.
I know that Stacey would have loved Camilla. There was rarely a person Stacey didn’t like or take under her wing.
That was the kind of woman she was.
I have to remember that just because I am moving on doesn’t mean that I will forget her or that what we shared was meaningless.
Stacey will always hold a place in my heart.
My thoughts drift back to Camilla with a smile. Fuck that woman just gets to me.
I think about the dinner that we have tonight and what I want to do. I don’t want to do something that is common and just take her to a restaurant.
I would also like to stay away from prying eyes. This is a night that I want only us to have together.
Since I don’t know how to cook, I will have to think of something else. No, I’m not afraid to admit it when I don’t know something.
I end up calling my mom when the idea what to do comes to mind.
“Hey son, how’s it going?” she says in a soft voice.
“Well I wanted to take Camilla out to dinner tonight, but I wanted to do something different. Since I can’t cook, I thought about taking her out to the cliffs and having a picnic,” I tell her. There is no point in dragging it out.
“Hold on a second, darling,” she says.
The phone goes muffled. I hear her scream my father’s name and then I hear her tell him with excitement that I’m taking Camilla on a date.
Five minutes have passed before she comes back on the phone.
“Okay I’m back,” she says, and I can definitely hear the smile in her voice.
“You know I heard you, right?” I say with a laugh.
“Oh hush you. I’ll get a picnic together for you because I know that you were just planning on getting a couple sandwiches and chips, but Camilla needs something fancier than that,” she says.
I can’t help but shake my head. “You don’t know that I was going to do that,” I say although really that was exactly what I was planning to do.
“Tyson,” she says in a tone that I shouldn’t bullshit her.
Damn, my mother knows me best.
“What time are you picking her up?”
“Around six. I’ve just got to do a few things first,” I tell her.
“Are you going to finally shave that god awful beard of yours?” she asks, sounding way too excited at the idea.
“Woman, I have a beard,” I h
ear my dad say in the background.
“Now, you know that I love your beard, but it just doesn’t suit our son. It might work on Aiden though,” she says getting off track.
“I’ve got to go now, mom. I’ll be by around five-thirty,” I tell her.
“Alright but if you come here with a beard, I’m going to have your father hold you down and shave it myself. Then you will have to explain to Camilla why you were late,” she says.
I chuckle as I say “bye” and hang up the phone.
I make my way to the bathroom to have a shower and, yes, I was going to shave my beard before she suggested it.
My beard grew out after Stacey died and I didn’t care what I looked like, but I want Camilla to finally see the real me.
I look at myself in the mirror and I look like the same broken man I was last year. The thing is though that I am not that man anymore. I’m still broken, but I am slowly putting myself back together.
I get to work on trimming my beard and then shaving it off.
The process is long, and I’m glad that I started early so that I’m not in a rush.
After, I look at myself in the mirror and admire the smooth skin. I’m pretty glad that I don’t go out in the sun a lot, or that summer had really just started, because I would have had a wicked tan line.
I look like the person I used to be.
Now I hope that Camilla fucking likes it. What if she liked my beard?
Fuck.
There is no turning back now.
I hop in the shower and finish getting ready for my date.
Shit.
I hope that everything works out.
Camilla
My nerves are definitely getting the better of me today. I can’t stop my hands from shaking. What if he spends time with me and decides that he doesn’t really like me?
What if I can’t make small talk because I am so nervous and he finds me boring?
I put on the boots over the jeans that Ella had brought over.
There was also a selection of long-sleeved shirts I had to try on for the women to see what colour looked best. They didn’t bat an eye at the reason I wanted to wear it.
I’m sure that Ella and Krista remember my scars from when we were held together, but the room was so dark that I’m sure they never got a good look at them.