That did it. I bounced excitedly in my seat. “Did you know his younger brother is Kent Lewis of the Pittsburghhh Penguins?”
Chief laughed then, shoulders shaking, eyes twinkling, and head shaking back and forth at my excitement. “Yeah, Pop, met him last year when he came in for a visit.”
“What?” I shrieked.
“Pop,” my brother attempted to calm me with his tone.
“What? You mean to tell me you met Kent Lewis last year and you did not share that information? You didn’t invite me up to meet him? What kind of brother are you?” I didn’t give him a chance to answer. “Never mind, I know. You’re a horrible brother. Holy shit, Keith! Kent Lewis was here! You met him! You… you… you should have told me!”
My brother was full out laughing at this point. Daisy had emerged at some point and was standing at the end of our table looking just as amused. “I take it your Poppy here is a hockey fan?”
“The biggest,” my brother informed her.
“Oh lord!” She sighed out. “Does Smoke know that?” There was a glimmer of worry before she buried it and went back to focusing her attention on my brother’s answer.
“Oh yeah. Seems when Smoke went looking for me last night he found Poppy here, and the two of them bonded,” Chief explained with a waggle of his brows.
“Is that…” she was clearly struggling with whatever she wanted to say, and didn’t know if she could say in front of me.
My brother waved off whatever concern she was attempting to show. “Nothing to be concerned about, Daisy. Should have seen the two of them this morning. Like they’d known each other forever.” Daisy visibly relaxed then, and I wondered about why she was so affected by the fact that I was a hockey fan. Weird.
Once we left the restaurant and were headed home I asked, because I never was one to leave questioned unasked or unanswered if I could help it. “What was that about?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know with Daisy getting weird about me being a hockey fan?”
“Oh. Not really my story to tell, but I don’t think he’d mind, so…” my brother started. “Smoke had a girl for four or five years. It ended about six months back. He broke it off with her after Kent spilled the beans during an argument with Smoke that Julie had come on to him after he’d been drafted to the Penguins. She apparently thought she’d be able to trade up to the more successful, and famous, brother. Kent never told Smoke.”
“Why the hell not?” I asked pissed off for Smoke.
“Didn’t want to hurt his brother, I guess.” Chief shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe thought his brother was in so deep he wouldn’t believe him. Not real sure what motivates people to do the things they do, Pop. Anyway, every time Smoke wanted to go see him Kent would get sketchy and ask if he was bringing his girl. If he said no, his brother was all over the visit. If he said yeah, Kent would make excuses. Didn’t take a fuckin’ genius to put two and two together that little brother didn’t like the girlfriend. They fought about it the last time, because Julie was adamant that she go on the trip with Smoke to see his brother, because she didn’t want to be left behind. Kent finally lost his shit when they got there and he hadn’t realized she’d be tagging along.”
“Oh wow, that sucks.”
“Yeah, probably for the best that it happened when she was there though. She broke down and admitted Kent was telling the truth, but swore that she had caught feelings – true feelings – for Smoke by then, and that she didn’t want anyone else. Not even his famous, rich, much younger brother.”
I scoffed at that.
“Nah,” my brother cut off my noise. “She fuckin’ meant that shit. Watched that girl go from only somewhat interested in those early days to being completely gone for him. She caught feelings all right, but the uncomfortable, disloyal history she’d cultivated sealed her fate.” My brother shrugged. “Smoke cut her loose then and there, sent her packing back home with a plane ticket instead of on the back of his bike the way she’d arrived.”
“Oh, wow,” I muttered.
“Yeah, I imagine he felt a little of what you did when Walk fucked up so big. They weren’t together as long, or as legally committed, but they’d been living together for a few years, and working towards getting there. Don’t know if it was his brother’s sketchy behavior about her holding him back or what, but doesn’t matter. It’s been over for a good while and he hasn’t even thought about moving on with anyone since.”
I raised my brows in question then.
“He’s had his share of post break-up ass, Sis. He just isn’t dating anyone seriously.”
As disturbing as that was to hear, considering how much I enjoyed the previous night with him, I could totally understand wanting some no strings fun after going through that. I’d thought about it myself, and until last night, I’d decided against it. Then again, last night seemed like anything but no strings fun, especially considering Smoke’s little speech when we woke up.
Chapter 7
As it turned out, I had a few days to think over what my brother had said about Smoke. Those days of thinking were thanks to not hearing from Smoke or my brother during that time. As in, not hearing from them at all for three solid days now. I knew the life that came with the club sometimes meant being shut out and not knowing things, but this sucked far worse than anything I had endured over the last 10 years in the life, because I didn’t know anyone else in my new town, and didn’t have anyone’s phone numbers who were involved with the club. Sure, I’d met Daisy at breakfast my first full day here, but I didn’t know her well enough to go hunting her down to find out what was going on with my brother, or anyone else. I’d know when I knew. So, I threw myself into unpacking, getting some work done, and beefing up the advertising for my website.
I also took a trip to the local SPCA, because they had requested some work from me for an up and coming fundraiser they were having. When I got everything together for their invitations and signage I decided to take samples to them in person so that I could get a feel for how they really liked or disliked the ideas I had. Sandra Keeton, the woman who was my point of contact, was thrilled to death with what I brought her.
“Oh thank God you moved to town. These are gorgeous! Perfect! I can’t even tell you how darn excited I am about these!” Her praise left me blushing a bit since her exuberance wasn’t something I was used to. “You’ll have to come to the event,” she finally told me. Unfortunately, I had stopped paying attention, because something else caught my eye. A gorgeous midnight black dog with bright blue eyes and pointed ears that had been docked to make him look even more ferocious than he already did sat staring at me. His head was cocked just so as if he were attempting to determine if I should be his new person or not. I cocked my head too, taking him all in. His shoulders had to be at least thigh high on me standing on all fours. That meant he would definitely be nearly waist high with that big head of his. His muscular frame led me to believe he had to tip the scales well over 100 pounds, probably closer to 120. Sandra’s eyes followed mine, and she sighed.
“That’s Bubba,” she told me. “He had one owner from birth, but the poor man died last week. I’ve had quite a few people interested in him, but either he didn’t like them and let them know or I didn’t think they had the best of intentions for our boy.”
I nodded, and hadn’t even realized I’d been on the move until I got near him. “He’s gorgeous,” I stated as I knelt down on the opposite side of the cage from the dog. “Hey there, Bubba,” I cooed to him. He nuzzled his nose through the crack in the fencing and I reached through to rub my finger over his nose. He huffed out a doggy sigh and leaned the full weight of his body against the cage in an attempt to get closer.
“Seems like you two have decided on one another. Were you thinking about adopting?” Sandra asked.
“I had thought about getting a dog since I’m living on my own in a new place, you know a little added security, plus the company would be nice. I mostly work from hom
e, so I’ll be around a lot.” I informed Sandra of my sad, lonely-girl life. She clapped. Kid you not, she started clapping and then moaned out a happy sound that forced my eyes away from Bubba and onto her. “This makes me extremely happy, because Bubba needed someone who would give him plenty of love. He’s fully trained, walks on a leash well. Heck, I’m sure he’d walk off leash well, but maybe you shouldn’t attempt that until after you get to know one another better. He’ll definitely scare away any unwanted individuals around your house too,” she attempted to sell me on the dog, but I was already gone for him. “He’s a Cane Corso, which means he’s one of the bully breeds, but not many people realize that until they see him. How do you think your landlord would feel about him?”
I had my phone out in my hand already calling Todd Anderson, the man I was renting the house from. Todd was giving me the option to buy once my lease was up since Chief had informed him that I would probably be purchasing a home once our family’s house sold back home. It was the reason he was able to talk Todd into a six-month lease instead of a 12-month. “Hey Todd, it’s Poppy.” I listened as he asked if everything was okay with the house. “No, everything is just fine. I love the house, but I was wondering how you would feel about me getting a dog? He is fully trained, and I would just feel a whole lot better having him as a bit of security since…”
“Not a problem,” Todd cut me off to tell me.
“I can bring you a pet deposit...”
“Not necessary,” he again cut me off to say. “If it makes you more comfortable, get a dog. If there’s a mess later, we’ll deal with it then. I trust you. More importantly, I trust Chief. Do what you need to do. Hopefully, you end up buying the place anyway so just treat it like its yours in the interim.”
“Thanks, Todd.”
“Sure thing.” There was a pause and then he asked, “just out of curiosity, what kind of dog is?”
“A Cane Corso,” I told him.
“Damn girl, you do not fuck around when you say you want a dog for security, huh?”
I laughed at that. “No, I suppose I don’t.” After that we said our goodbyes, and I set about filling out the paperwork to adopt Bubba and bring him home with me. As we were about to leave Sandra quickly came running over to me waving a piece of paper. “I almost forgot these,” she stated as she passed me the paper she’d been waving about to catch my attention. I glanced down and started reading out loud.
“Sitzen,” I started reading and Bubba, who had been standing next to me, parked his butt on the floor. I glanced at him them back to the paper. “Platz,” I said, and Bubba laid down on the floor at my feet. I cocked my head sideways then glanced back up at Sandra. “Is this German?” I asked.
“Yeah, apparently the dog was trained with German commands and possibly already trained as security, so I’m going to stop you from reading the rest out loud. Familiarize yourself with them all though, because from what we’ve seen if he respects you, Bubba will follow those commands to the letter.”
“Wow,” I stated as I glanced back down at Bubba. “How has no one adopted him yet?”
Sandra grinned and shrugged her shoulders. “That’s mostly my fault. I was waiting for the right person to come along for Bubba,” she told me.
“Well, I’m so freaking happy I was the right person. I promise, he will only get the best treatment from me.”
“Oh, I know he will. Besides, Bubba chose you.” As if he wanted to let me know Sandra was right he bumped my leg with his nose. I glanced down at the paper in my hand and looked for the correct word to use.
“Foos!” I stated and Bubba jumped into action coming up from his position lying on the floor to stand directly beside my leg. Cool. Bubba and I were going to be best friends. “Come on Bubba, we have to stop by the pet store and nab you some new stuff, then get you to our new home.
Bubba and I had been home, getting to know one another for two days making me realize how extremely lucky I had been to adopt this beautiful boy. He stayed near me wherever I went. He did not attempt to get up on the furniture, which made me wonder if that was one of his previous owner’s rules. I figured I would stick with that, and didn’t encourage him to do it since he was so large he’d probably take up the entire bed, couch, or whatever he attempted to get on anyway.
During those two days that Bubba and I were getting to know one another I still hadn’t heard from my brother or Smoke. I wasn’t ready to forgive my brother for keeping me worried; he was going to get an earful from me whenever he deemed me important enough to show his face again. While I stood there at my kitchen sink hand washing the dishes while eschewing my dishwasher in order to keep my hands and mind busy with the menial task, I started talking to Bubba so that I wouldn’t continue thinking of Smoke and the fact that we’d shared a pretty spectacular night only to have him not contact me again. Sadly, I was a little more upset by that fact than I was by the fact that my ex-husband hadn’t bothered to check to see if I made it to my new home okay.
Sure, I told him I was going and there was no changing my mind, but I thought for sure if he still had any hope he would have at least pretended to care. Snake had texted a few times to check on me. He seemed to be the only person from my old life who remembered I existed, because outside of him and the few clients I kept no one from Sierra High contacted me at all. “Once I’m finished here we’ll go take a walk, Bubba. I know you must be tired of being cooped up.” Bubba’s ears perked up, and for a brief moment I thought maybe he’d speak back. Instead, he shifted so he was by my side, but looking back toward the front door. He moved from siting there to standing and alert, something I hadn’t noticed him do in the past two days.
“What’s up, boy?” I heard a low rumble coming from Bubba just before a knock on my front door startled the crap out of me. Bubba huffed out a low woof, but otherwise refused to give up his space by my side as I moved to the door. I did not have a peephole. That was something that needed to be remedied. In my old house I had plenty of windows near the door that negated the necessity for one, but this door had no windows on either side of it.
“Who is it?” I asked as I got close enough that someone could hear me through the door.
“Poppy?” A male voice asked.
“Who is out there?” I asked again since I didn’t recognize the person.
“Poppy I’m with the Aces High MC, your brother sent me to check on you since he’s been out of communication for a bit.”
“I don’t know you,” I stated plainly. The handle of my locked door twisted a bit, and Bubba was done being patient. He let loose a series of loud, vicious sounding barking that would have scared the pee right out of me if I’d been the person on the wrong side of that door.
“Jesus Christ!” The man shouted, sounding as though he stumbled back as well. “Fucking hell,” I heard shouted. Then I heard laughter too. The laughter was very familiar.
“Pop, open up. It’s me,” Chief called out. I glanced at Bubba then.
“Bubba, foos!” Immediately Bubba was by my side as I moved out of the way of the door so that I could open it. “Sitzen,” I told Bubba, but I also took hold of his collar just in case.
As soon as the door swung open my brother went to step in and stopped upon seeing my new best friend. “Holy fuck, Sis. What the hell is that beast, and where did he come from?”
I smirked at my brother considering the joke he tried to play on me was now on him. “This is Bubba. He’s my new buddy,” I explained as I reached down and rubbed across Bubba’s midnight fur. Normally when I did this Bubba would nose into my leg, but this time he stood stoic and on guard. “Good boy,” I told him.
“Seriously, Poppy, I left for a week, and come back to you having a hell hound in your house. What gives? You have trouble?” He asked,
“Nope. I did some work for a charity thing at the SPCA, and when I was dropping off the mock-ups Bubba was there watching me. It was fate, and I brought him home to hang out with me since I’m in a new town where I know a
bout five people, have numbers for two of them, and none of them have gotten in touch in five days,” I chastised.
“Shit,” Chief called out. “We had some club business to deal with out of town.”
“Uh-huh and your phone doesn’t work when you leave town?” I asked as I planted a hand on my hip. Bubba actually broke his pose then to glance at me, trying to ascertain what this new gesture meant, no doubt.
“Shit,” my brother hissed out again.
“Hey man, is it safe to come up there?” The disembodied voice that I’d heard through the door called out again.
“Yeah man, just maybe approach slowly.”
I still had hold of Bubba’s collar and the minute he felt me twitch on it a bit he went back on guard, bowing up his shoulders and cocking his head at the man who slowly moved through the door. He was a cutie too.
“Poppy, this is Hold ‘Em. Brought him by to introduce you in case I’m ever gone like that again. It doesn’t happen often, but just in case.”
“Hi,” I offered to the man who was staring at my dog like he was going to attack at any moment.
“Good job, by the way, not opening the door.” My brother was saying to me as I checked out the man he’d called Hold ‘Em.
“I’m not a moron, Chief. Of course I’m going to check before opening a door. Besides, I had my Bubba with me.”
“How long you had him here?”
“Two days,” I responded.
“Gotta tell ya, I’m feeling a fuck of a lot better about the time I had to leave you alone now,” my brother admitted.
“Yeah, I was feeling better about it once I had Bubba too. He’s great. Plus, I always wanted a dog, and Walk wouldn’t let me…” I started to say making my brother angry. The dog responded to his body language and his guard went up once more, an audible grumble growling from him.
“Bubba, foos!” I commanded as I moved to go sit on the couch. Bubba followed right beside me, but that darn dog stayed aware of the two men in my house the entire time. When we got to the couch and I took my seat I commanded Bubba with “Platz,” and down he went right at my feet while watching the boys.
Redemption Duet (Aces High MC - Cedar Falls Book 0) Page 8