I follow Smokey back out of the room and see Bandit with his head thrown back in laughter, is it weird that his Adams apple has my mouth salivating? I may be in more trouble than I first anticipated. I swear these two men are Greek gods, I would love to have the opportunity to sit down and draw their portraits. Art is my release, it’s how I lose myself and my troubles leave my mind. It’s what I actually would like to do for a living, but being an artist is hard to make a living off of, people want beautiful things hanging on their walls, but the artist always seems to starve until that one perfect piece gets you noticed.
It’s a dream that I hope to one day make reality, but until then I’ll take whatever jobs come my way. I don’t plan on starving to death, and I’m sure Duckie would like to have some food as well. He may only be my fur baby, but he’s all I’ve got and I don’t plan on not taking care of him to the best of my abilities. Even if that means living out of my car again. Which I hope doesn’t have to happen, ever again. These past few months were enough to make me realize that I like my creature comforts, such as a working bathroom and shower. Oh, and food on a regular basis. Somehow, I think these two men are going to ensure that I have everything I need and then some. Now to make sure my heart is protected because I think they’d be lethal to its well-being.
Chapter Three
Smokey
Finally! Everyone leaves and I’m ready to jump for joy. I love my brothers and their families, but sometimes they’re a little too much and I’m afraid they overwhelmed Hannah. “So, the room that Nan took you to, will it work?” I ask Hannah, who is sitting on the couch, her legs curled underneath her.
“Um, yeah, I guess. I mean, I didn’t really look around. I was too busy being dressed by Nan.”
Her words have me laughing because Nan tends to be a force to be reckoned with and apparently, something about Hannah has called her protective nature into play. “She…she dressed you?” I ask, my chuckles ramping up to full laughter at the mental picture I now have of Hannah and Nan.
She shoots me a dirty look and I grin at her, unrepentant in my response. That shit’s funny as hell, for fuck’s sake! “What?” I manage to get out between my bouts of laughter.
“I know how men think, I know you’re thinking something dirty went on, but I promise you other than some touches here and there it was all innocent.” Oh hell, I’ve got her fuming mad now.
“I didn’t think anything raunchy was going on, swear,” I say, holding my hands out in front of me, as if I’m surrendering to her, which I will be. Soon, if I have my way.
“Now what are you thinking? You made a face,” she asks, staring me down.
“What face, I didn’t make a face,” I tell her.
“Yes you did, it looked like this.” And let me tell you, the face she shows me, let’s me know there’s no way in hell I made that.
“Honey, I don’t know if I could make that face even if I tried,” I say, holding back the laughter.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You had a look that was a cross between constipation and someone who’s pissed off,” I reply.
“I did not!” she gasps, and shouts, at the same time. I need to find out how she does that, because I could use it to my advantage with the women of RGMC.
“Stop teasing her,” Bandit says, as he enters the room. I think, though, he’s gonna like it when we rile her up because she’s very expressive and if that translates to responsive, we’re gonna be in for a wonderful, wild life.
“I’m not teasing her, we’re having a conversation,” I tell him, with as straight of a face as I can manage, because this woman makes me fucking happy, all I seem to want to do is smile while she’s in the same vicinity as I am. Fuck, I may as well hand the man card over to Hatch because of all the shit I pushed his way when DJ came into his life. I know, instinctively, that life hasn’t been easy for her, and believe that the three of us have more in common than we think.
“I think I’m ready for bed,” she says. Standing up and looking at us, what for I have no clue, but deciding to play along I get up and grab her hand and begin to lead her down the hallway.
“Wha…what are you doing?” she gasps out.
“Heading to bed, doll,” I tell her.
“You are not going to bed with me!” she says, with panic in her eyes. Okay, maybe I took this too far too quick.
“I was just being your escort to your door, doll,” I say as soothingly and calmly as I can.
“Oh, okay,” she says. As we make it to her door, she reaches up on the tip of her toes and kisses me on the jaw. “Well, thank you,” she says shyly.
“No need for thanks,” Bandit says from behind me. She goes around me and kisses him on his jaw as well.
“Duckie!” she calls out, “time for bed, let’s go, boy.”
Jester and Duckie walk up the hall together, they both give us a look letting us know they won’t be separated tonight, or any night for that matter.
“Um…” I stammer, “I have Jester’s bed in my room, looks like I’ll be moving it to yours,” I say, scratching the back of my neck.
“Looks like it,” she replies, giving the duo a look I can’t quite decipher.
“We’ll show you the rest of the house tomorrow,” Bandit tells her, “we know it’s been a long and eventful day. Um, do you need any Tylenol or anything?”
“No, I’m good, I think. Wait, what do I do if he wants to go outside in the middle of the night?” This seems like a duh moment, but I’ll hold my tongue. I have a feeling she wouldn’t like my sarcasm right about now.
“Let him out of your room, there’s a doggie door and he knows where it is, he’ll come back in on his own,” I say instead.
“Maybe I should leave my door cracked because I’m sure Duckie will want his litter box too,” she murmurs, almost to herself.
“That might work best. I promise, Hannah, you’re safe here. With us. Jester is obviously taken with you and as big of a goof as he is, I swear he has a protective streak a mile wide.”
“This big horse? He seems to be more of a lover than a fighter,” she replies, looking at Jester skeptically.
“Don’t let his size fool you,” Bandit tells her. “Now, is there anything you’ll need for the morning? Each of our bedrooms has a bathroom and it should be stocked with the basics because we had the women help.” Yeah, I remember their help. For fuck’s sake, those women matched towels to the covers we had on the bed. Oh, and they bought matching sheets too.
“I should be good, thank you both,” she replies. “Good night.”
“Night, doll,” I tell her, barely restraining myself from pulling her into my arms.
“Sleep well, khaleesi,” Bandit says, earning him a grin. I smack his shoulder when she turns away and he gives me the ‘what the fuck did I do?’ look.
Bandit
After Hannah’s light turns off, Smokey and I go back into the living room. We sit down, both of us wanting to talk, we need to have a plan of attack where it comes to winning Hannah over.
“Thinking we need some beer and a shot or two of Jack for this one,” he says before getting back up and grabbing us a few cold ones. Yeah, he’s right about that one. Never have I ever had this instantaneous attraction to someone before. No, not talking about lust, but the need to know everything from what color nail polish she prefers to how she likes her coffee. Or even if she drinks coffee, for that matter. Lost in thought, I react when Smokey hands me the beer, twisting off the cap and taking a long pull.
“We’re fucked,” he says, keeping his voice down so we don’t wake her up. Granted, she’s in the guest room at the far end of the hall, but still, I know today was rough on her and she needs to sleep.
“Ya think?” I respond, taking another pull from my beer. “She’s everything we’ve always said we wanted, man, and… fuck…now we have to figure out how to make her ours.”
“I have a feeling she’s going to be a tough nut to crack though, do you see the w
ay she reacts whenever someone tries to get personal with her? I think there’s something she’s running from, and we need to make sure whatever it is stays far away from her, I want nothing touching her that can harm her emotionally or physically.”
“Yeah, we need to look into her family. Thinking that’s where it’s coming from,” I mutter. Good thing I got her name from where she gave Chief her report today. One of the nice things that many don’t know is I have one of those memories that catalogs everything. Almost instantaneous recall, which means when I hit my room, I’ll start a search on one Miss Hannah Nicole Nelson and see what turns up.
“Thinking you’re on the right track with the family thing. Nan pulled me aside earlier and shared with me that Hannah confided in her that she doesn’t have the best family life. Something really bad happened with them, and it has her running, we need to make sure she sticks here and doesn’t run once she has enough money to split,” Smokey informs me.
“Well, we may need the women for that one. Get her in good with them and she’ll never wanna leave.”
“Even if she shares with them though, you know they’ll never tell us. The women have a bond and trust like we do with the brothers.”
“Then we need to work on wooing her, Smoke,” I tell him.
“Yeah, like we know how the fuck to do that, you jackass,” he replies.
“Duh…google? Ever heard of it? We’ll google the shit out of it and of course, we’ll watch the brothers and see what they do for their women. Easy peasy.”
“Is your answer to everything google, you nimrod?” Smokey jokes with me. We’ve been taking shots, so I know we’re getting tipsy.
“Pretty much, yeah. I mean, you wanna know how to cook a turkey? Google will tell you. The best positions for sex? Again, google. Trust me, we’ve got this one in the bag.”
“Well, at least you didn’t say Pinterest, that recipe Paisley tried out at the clubhouse had me gagging, I’ve never wanted to hide my food as quickly as I did that day. It made me wish Jester was there, so I could’ve given him my plate to clean up,” Smokey says, and I visibly see him shiver at the memory. Not one of the best meals we’ve ever had, that’s for damn sure.
“I’m thinking not even Jester would’ve eaten that shit,” I tell him in response. “Okay, so we know she’s gonna wanna work and you’ve got that sorted out. Not keen on her working so much, though.” I say, getting us back on the topic at hand.
“Yeah, me either, but you can tell by the fact she was living in her fucking car that she’s rather independent,” he replies. The thought of my khaleesi being desperate enough to seek sanctuary in her car pisses me the hell off. “The car that’s being held together by duct tape and God knows what else?” Smokey asks. I cringe at the thought that she likely slept with one eye open most nights and hope like hell she feels safe enough here that she’ll sleep.
“Ya, thinking we need to find a way to get rid of that piece of shit,” I say to him. “Didn’t DJ or Cara keep their smaller cars? Maybe we can talk her into buying one of those, at least for right now. I’m pretty certain she won’t let us go all…what did she call us again? Oh yeah…alphaholes. I’m pretty sure she won’t let us go all alphahole on her and buy her something brand new. At least not yet.”
“I’ll put the idea into Hatchet’s head and have him bring it up to DJ.”
“Make him think it’s his idea…nice,” I fist bump him. “Maybe if it goes like that, she’ll be more likely to accept it, don’tcha think?”
“I believe that to be a truthful thought, brother.”
Shit, we’ve been sitting here drinking and based on his last statement, I think we’ve gone past tipsy into drunk. “Ya drunk?”
“Gettin there, thinkin maybes we shoulds calls it a night.”
“Getting there…huh?” I ask, he’s fucking shit-faced. “Time for bed, bro,” I say helping him on his feet, “always were the lightweight.” I get a love tap to my shoulder, he meant it to be a punch, but I would’ve felt more from a fly.
Hannah
Laying in the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, I can hear the low murmur of voices coming down the hall, followed by a few not-so-quiet bumps into the wall. Hmm, looks like I missed a party, and also someone can’t hold his alcohol. I grin because who am I kidding, I drink two wine coolers and I’m out like a light. I can hear them talking but not the words. Sighing, I snuggle back under the covers, a feeling like I’ve never had before coming over me and lulling me into a deep, dreamless sleep. I’m safe.
The next morning comes quickly and I wake feeling nice and warm. I snuggle down, enjoying the fact that I slept laying down instead of in a seated position. An arm comes over my stomach and I immediately freak the hell out. “What!” I scream out and jump up out of the bed, or should I say I attempt to jump out of the bed, except then I realize someone is in front of me as well as behind me. “The fuck!”
“Shhh…baby, trying to sleep,” I hear mumbled. I’m going to go to prison for murder! I wonder if they’ll let me take Duckie, though. That thought gives me pause. The gall of these two, who do they think they are?
“Don’t you have your own rooms?” I ask, untangling myself from the twenty arms and legs that I feel pinned down by. “I mean, you said this was the guest room…that usually means there are other bedrooms.”
“Yeah, we do,” the other voice mumbles. “But, doll, you were having a nightmare and neither of us could wake you up. You only settled back down when we each crawled into bed with you.”
Well fuck. I hate my nightmares, I really do. They suck me down and under and leave me feeling…hell, I don’t even know the word, but I feel awful. Scared, desolate, alone. “Well,” I say, “let’s not make a habit out of this, okay?”
“Oh, it’ll eventually be a very enjoyable habit,” Smokey says, popping one eye open to look at me.
“So, which one of you was it that was stumbling down the hallway last night? I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.
“That would be Smokey,” Bandit says, “he always was unable to hold his alcohol.”
“Fuck off,” Smokey says, attempting to pull me into his embrace. Something I’ll not let happen.
“I think I need to get up, take a shower and make sure the animals have food and water,” I say, as I crawl between the two down to the end of the bed.
“Nice ass, doll.” I turn over and squint my eyes at him, then I throw him the bird over my shoulder causing him to laugh. Yeah, these two are gonna be lethal to my well-being, not to mention my heart, if I can’t keep the damn wall upright. Those fucking arms wrapped around me had me feeling safe and secure for the first time in forever.
“Need some help washing your back?” Bandit asks me. “Maybe washing your hair? It’s awfully long, we need to make sure you get all the conditioner rinsed out,” he continues, winking at me and I think my panties just got wet from that action.
“Think I’m good, Bandit,” I reply, going to the bags that I didn’t put up yet and rooting through them for clothes. I grab my panties and bra from my bag because, well, I wanna wash whatever they bought me first, but I’m okay with regular clothes being worn straight from the store.
“Don’t forget, you hit your head yesterday, sure you don’t need one of us in there in case you get dizzy or something? That shower can get awfully slippery,” Smokey calls out at my retreating back. I pause in my steps, not sure how on earth I’m going to ever survive these two.
“Nope, still good,” I reply, not daring to look over my shoulder. I can feel their eyes on me, tracking my every move, and hope like hell they can’t tell that my damn nipples have hardened under my sleep shirt. Knowing them though, even for this short bit of time, I bet nothing escapes their attention. It’s as if they harbor some sort of x-ray vision into my soul, and my body. I quicken my steps and rush into the bathroom before they come up with some reason that I’ll actually give into and allow them to join me in the shower. When I close the door and look around, I
’m stunned. I mean, I used the bathroom last night but wasn’t really paying attention to the details, y’know? Everything is color-coordinated and I grin, knowing instinctively that the two laying in my bed were not responsible for that feat.
When I see girly shampoo and conditioner on the counter, my eyes tear up because it’s the good stuff. I’ve been getting by using generic shit and my poor hair has paid the price, as has my skin. Seeing lotion there as well, I let out a tiny squeal, excited that I’ll smell good again. “You okay, doll?” a voice calls out. Yeah, I know it’s Smokey because he’s decided that’s what he’s gonna call me.
“I’m fine!” I call out, “I’ll be out shortly.”
“We’re going to start breakfast, do you have any likes or dislikes? Do you take coffee in the mornings, or do you want juice instead?”
“Diet anything for my caffeine rush, I like pancakes, crisp bacon, and scrambled eggs. Oh and buttered toast,” I reply, quickly stripping down and starting the shower. Holy hell, there’s a towel warmer in here too! I may never leave.
Smokey
That’s a tall order for such a little person, I can’t help but think as I walk into the kitchen. I repeat the order to Bandit who raises his eyebrows at me and I shrug my shoulders. If that’s what she wants, that’s what she’ll get…every single thing she requested.
“I need to run out and get her some Diet drinks,” I tell Bandit, “be back shortly.” I grab my keys and run out the door. I want to get back before she’s out of the bathroom if possible. I fire up my bike, throw on my helmet and head out to the closest convenience store. Granted, I’ll pay out the ass for them, but we can always go shop later, because I suspect she needs more than what the girls brought over. And if she insists, I’ll keep a ‘record’ of what she owes, even though I don’t plan to take a dime of her money. The ‘record’ of money owed may magically disappear, I can use the excuse that I’m not a very organized person, she’ll believe it after she gets to be around me for a while. Hopefully, mine and Bandit’s bachelor ways don’t scare her away.
Smokey & Bandit: Rebel Guardians MC Page 4