“Poor you!” I laughed. “At least you have an interesting story to tell with your name though. My friend Snake literally got his because he snatched up a snake that was sitting beside his bike when he came out to hop on it.”
“That’s a cool story too, though,” Hold ‘Em told me.
“Nah, it was a garter snake.” We all laughed at that.
“Chief tells me you been in and around the club life a while. You didn’t get your own club name?”
I shook my head. “No, never did. Down there all the women are darlin’, sweetheart, or sugar. I don’t think any of the guys have it in them to learn any more names than they have to,” I offered on a chuckle. Hold ‘Em just glanced at my brother, giving him an odd look. “I know it’s the norm up here with your club so that seems weird, but truly they are all a little bit different.”
“True, the chapter up in South Dakota calls their club whores BRATs.” My brother offered up to take the heat off of me. I had been finding out little by little over the years that I’d been kept out of a lot of the club life that other old ladies experienced. I didn’t really pay much attention before, because I was so ensconced in trying to procreate that I didn’t see the writing on the wall. Belatedly, I wondered if the club whores had always been a problem in our relationship, and if my husband had just done a better job at keeping it a secret when he thought he had to. It didn’t matter now, because I wasn’t about to go backwards and wander down that road of questioning everything. It was what it was. And what it was at this point was over.
“Yeah, I heard that last year when we went to Sturgis,” Hold ‘Em admitted bringing me back to the conversation. “Forgot what that shit stood for though.”
“Bitches Relinquishing Ass and Tits,” my brother chuckled out. “Those guys are not right up there.”
“Probably because they have to give up riding for too much of the year when snow’s falling,” Hold ‘Em offered.
“Shit man, you’re probably right.”
“I think it’s really cool that you guys came here to banter about club life, but was there a point to this visit other than to tell me your phone is broken or something?” I asked while glaring daggers at my brother. “Bubba and I were about to go for a walk.” My brother sat back, shook his head, and I’m pretty sure he hissed out ‘damn’ but he did it low enough that I knew he did not want to get into any more trouble with me.
“I just thought you might like to meet more people especially the ones who will be around when I can’t be most of the time.”
“Nice to meet you, Hold ‘Em.” I stated without much enthusiasm.
“Damn,” my brother muttered for sure that time. “Don’t hold her attitude against her, man. She’s pissed at me.”
“I don’t blame her. I’d be pissed too if my brother moved me to a new town and ditched me days later with no warning and no communication for five days.” Hold ‘Em explained to my brother before turning his attention to me. “I didn’t know where you lived or how to get a hold of you without asking someone from Sierra High. I didn’t want to call any of them, because I didn’t want to bring any unnecessary drama down on you, but I did want to stop by and exchange numbers in case you ever need anything, could use someone to talk to or whatever.”
I offered him a genuine smile then. “Maybe you could teach my brother some manners?” I asked.
He laughed.
Chief scowled.
I just sat there watching them both watching me. Then we managed to exchange numbers before I told the boys they were welcome to hang out, but that I had a dog to walk. Chief protested saying he’d come with me, but I refused. “You’ve been gone a week. I’ve managed on my own in that time. I don’t need you holding my hand through my new situation now.”
“Poppy,” he lamented quietly.
“Nope.” I stated firmly. “It’s a good thing this happened, because it forced me to realize I’m going to be just fine. Seriously, I’m not even mad aside from being angry about you being an inconsiderate bastard and not even letting me know you weren’t dead in a ditch somewhere. I appreciate you stopping by now and introducing me to someone else, but I really need to take Bubba for a walk, and I honestly want to do that by myself. I’ll talk to you later, Chief.”
“Okay, fine, Poppy. I get it, and I’m sorry. You’re right I could have called, at the very least when we were heading out. I just didn’t think about it, because I’m not used to having to think about it.” Well, now that he put it like that I guess I kind of understood. He was right. He’d been living here for six years without checking in with me about his every movement. When I’d lived in Georgia and he was here we talked a couple times a month on the phone, tops. He never told me about his travels or what he did for the club unless it was just to pass on a funny anecdote to make me laugh. So, I nodded to my brother and finished tying my tennis shoes. I was looking supremely unattractive in my sweats, but hell, who did I have to impress? I had absolutely no one to impress, that’s who. Bubba certainly didn’t care what I wore so long as he got his walk in, and was able to strut his terrible, horrible, fiercely beautiful self all over the neighborhood letting everyone know I was not a person to be trifled with or else he’d be taking a bite out of them. Bubba was my hero!
~*~
I saw the bike sitting in my driveway as Bubba and I approached my house, and I knew immediately it was not my brother’s since his had a bluish tint to the black and chrome look the guys at the club favored. “I wonder who that is?” I asked Bubba. I also wondered, briefly, why there was a bike outside of my house when there didn’t seem to be anyone attached to it. Then I watched as a man came from around the side of the house with a cell phone to his ear. “What do you mean she’s walking the dog? She doesn’t have a fuckin’ dog.” I recognized the voice before he came fully into view and I recognized the man too. Smoke was at my house, and he was clearly speaking to someone on the phone about me. I could only assume it was my brother. I sighed loudly and glanced down at Bubba.
“Here we go again, boy,” I huffed out as I moved closer to the house ignoring the man who was hanging up the phone and approaching me cautiously while eyeing my dog.
“Poppy?” Smoke questioned.
“Yeah?” I asked as I took to the task of unlocking my door without so much as a glance in Smoke’s direction.
“Poppy?” He asked again in a more demanding tone. This put Bubba on edge and he bowed up beside me, going on alert, which halted Smoke’s approach.
“What do you want Smoke?” I asked, still not bothering to look his way.
“I came to see you,” he stated plainly as if that said everything. I turned slowly towards him then.
“Why?” I asked as flatly as I could get the word out.
He appeared taken aback by my question. “What do you mean why? I thought I made it clear that we were going to be friends and then something more when you were ready.”
I laughed at that. He stared stone-faced at my response. “Oh, I’m sorry,” I started in on him then. “I know I’ve forgotten a lot about what it was like to have friends as I’m just now realizing most of mine back home were of the fair-weather variety, but I’m pretty sure that when you agree to be friends with someone you don’t walk out on breakfast with them promising to call, and not speak to them for five days expecting to show up to their house afterwards to a warm reception.”
He glared in my general direction then. “Chief knew what was going down, hell he had to come assist,” Smoke barked out.
I laughed again. “Yeah, and I just got done chewing my brother’s ass for not getting a hold of me to let me know whether he was dead, alive, or otherwise engaged for the past five days too.”
It was then I watched as Smoke’s shoulders slumped, his hand raked down his thicker than it had been five days ago beard, and he shook his head. “You have got to be shitting me,” he hissed out. Then I continued to watch as he pulled his phone back out, waited a second, and started talking. “You mean to tell me, knowin
g that my phone was toast and I couldn’t do it, you didn’t bother to tell your sister what was going down?”
He stopped and listened for a minute. Then he blew up. “She hadn’t even been here 48 hours and you forgot? Are you fucking shittin’ me? Now she’s pissed at me too, and I wasn’t the asshole who had a way of getting a hold of her.” He listened again. “You did what, now?” Anger seemed to be rolling off him in waves at whatever my brother was telling him. “You tell that fucker he needs to stay the hell away.” I could actually hear my brother’s laughter through the phone before he apparently hung up. Smoke glared at his phone, pocketed it, and started moving toward me before he was halted in his tracks by the growling dog at my side.
“You might want to calm yourself before you approach me,” I warned him.
“Shit,” he hissed out. “Sorry,” he huffed then. “Can I come in and explain some things to you?” He glanced at me then tacked on, “Please.” I just nodded my head as I swung the door open.
“Foos,” I gave the command and Bubba turned to follow me inside. I moved directly to the chair on the opposite side of the living room from the door, sat down, and started untying my shoes as I murmured, “Platz” to Bubba. He immediately laid down at my feet, but his eyes stayed trained to Smoke.
Smoke smiled at my dog as he came in, shut the door, and took a seat on the couch across from me. He clapped his hands together and then pulled them apart and whipped his phone back out of his pocket. “I need your number again,” he stated quickly.
“Lost it so soon?” I asked with a raised brow.
“Some asshole nearly ran me off the road shortly after I left you guys at breakfast. Granger, my brother-n-law, picked me up, but then he informed me my babysitting services were no longer necessary. Something he should have confirmed before he picked me up, or I would have stayed with you that morning. That’s where it all started going downhill, because as he was taking me back to your place to grab my bike I got a call from my buddy, Shep. He needed me to come do him a favor, so I snagged my bike, and headed over to his place, but on the way he called again, I went to pull my phone out of my pocket since I was rolling up to a red light, and the damn thing fell and took irreparable damage when a car almost clipped me.
I just got a replacement this morning, because we’ve been handling Shep’s situation this whole time. His mom and sister were attacked. They live four hours away now, moved there with her new husband only to find out he has some gambling debts, and a few goons were sent to collect. They thought to do it using Shep’s mom and sister.”
“Oh my God! Are they all right?” I asked, quickly forgetting any earlier anger and disappointment I had felt towards Smoke over not receiving a phone call all week. I’d actually been more disappointed in not having heard from him than my own brother.
“They’re fine, a little banged up, but otherwise good. They’re both staying with Shep for the time being. Took us a little longer to handle things than expected since we helped pack them up and get their shit in storage until Tammy can figure her shit out. She left a good job here to follow that asshole, and I’m not so certain she’ll be able to get it back.”
“That sucks,” I told him.
“Yeah, but as much as it sucks, it’s not my problem any longer. That’s for them to figure out as a family. What is my problem is the fact that you were angry with me. I’m truly sorry, Poppy. I thought your brother was in communication with you while we were out there handling things. If I’d known…” he started, then hesitated. “Doesn’t matter. I should have taken a moment to get my shit together, grab a new phone, and get your number from Chief.”
I waved him off. “It’s whatever. Sounds like you had your hands full, especially with two women who were most likely at least a little bit traumatized.” A warm look slid into Smoke’s eyes as I said that, and he stood to come to me, but stopped when he saw Bubba’s head perk ok. “It’s okay, Bubba,” I told the dog, and just as quickly – as if he understood – his head went back down to rest on his paws by my feet. Smoke moved in closer and came to me. He took my face in between his hands and ran his thumbs over my jawline.
“I missed you. Crazy to think that I knew you less than a day, but I missed you more this week than I knew what to do with.” Butterflies ran amuck through my belly at his words. “When did you get the dog? More importantly where did you find a beast that behaves that well?”
“I did some work for Sandra at the SPCA, and he was there watching me when I took the samples to her. She said his previous owner had him for protection, and that he died. Apparently more than a few people inquired about him, but she had put them all off. Anyway, she says Bubba chose me, whatever that means, so I brought him home, and he’s been keeping me company the past couple days.”
“Gotta say, I’m real fuckin’ happy to know that he’s been here with you. I was worried with you just moving to town and all the boys you knew being gone on that run,” he informed me. “Of course, I thought your brother was in touch that whole time,” he sighed. It was then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of tickets. I watched as his face lit up. “We’ll have to see if your brother can watch Bubba though, because I have tickets for us to go see the Penguins kick some Predator ass in two days.”
I stared at the tickets.
I hadn’t been to a major NHL hockey game since the one my dad had taken me to as a kid. That made the tickets in Smoke’s hand the holy grail of oh my god moments for me.
“What?” I finally asked, stupefied.
“We’re going to see my brother play, honey.”
“Oh my God,” I whisper-hissed. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, honey, I am. You’ll have to see how your pup responds to Chief. If they can get along well enough you can leave him since we’ll be gone overnight. If not, I’ll grab us a hotel with a pet friendly room, and we’ll just have to make it clear that no one is allowed to enter the room. Think of it as my apology for being gone a week right after we started something.”
“You didn’t owe me an apology or anything, but um, I’m not turning it down either, because it’s the Penguins!” I almost shouted at him by the end of my statement.
“Good to know honey.” His smile nearly blew me away, and I think even Bubba could tell because he made a snuffling noise at my feet as if to say, “Women!”
Chapter 8
Two days later I found myself sitting just behind the glass as Kent Lewis was smacked right into it. Before he peeled himself off he grinned big at his brother, and then tore off after the asshole that had slammed him there. The gloves came off and a fight ensued ending with both players in the sin bin for a bad boy hockey player time out.
“I can’t believe that just happened,” I yelled enthusiastically to Smoke as we retook our seats after standing to yell at the refs. Clearly, any retaliation should have been overlooked. Jeez.
“I think Kent just wanted to get a better look at who I had sitting over here,” Smoke mumbled. I glanced at him, saw that he was serious and did a double take.
“You’re not serious,” I stated. He just looked at me. “Oh my God, you are serious!” I glanced over to see Kent waving to us from his place in hockey jail and I huffed out a laugh.
“Honey, my brother would not let someone stuff his face into the glass that easily for any other reason than he was curious who was on the other side of it,” Smoke explained.
“Unbelievable!” I shouted as I tossed my hands in the air and then started gesturing wildly to the ice where his brother should be playing. “Now they’re a man down!” I moaned. “What was he thinking? He could have waited to appease his curiosity after the game. Holy, holy hellfire.”
Smoke was full on laughing at my tirade, but he didn’t realize I was serious. Kent Lewis just earned an ass chewing from me, and I was going to seriously see to it. Who cares that he’d probably earned one from his coach as well. Mine would be far better. “Maybe I should have a talk with the coach about his behavior,”
I mumbled. This too earned more laughter from Smoke. Suddenly, I forgot all about his brother’s ice troubles, because Smoke throwing his head back in unbridled laughter was the most glorious thing I’d ever seen. His throat worked as his head tipped back, and his eyes were glittering with mirth. The wide smile that graced his bearded face damn near stopped my heart, and before I knew it I had reached my hand up to touch his cheek as he brought his head back down and his features shifted from lighthearted fun to a look so heated I felt it all the way down to my soul, and other places south of my waistline.
Smoke’s hand came up to capture mine and hold it against his face as he spoke. “You keep looking at me like that, honey, and we won’t be sticking around for you to see the end of the game let alone have the opportunity to chew my brother’s ass for his stint in the bin.”
“Um, okay,” I murmured dazedly. He leaned in then and captured my lips with his. I did not even think to stop him and so when cheers went up close to us it caught us both by surprise. It would seem that we had been featured on the kiss cam since we were both decked out in Penguins gear – my idea – to support Kent. “Oh my Gosh!” My face started turning red with a blush so bright the camera was bound to notice, because that kiss had been hot, and probably not meant for PG audiences. Smoke chuckled beside me as he tossed an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him. I hid my face in his neck and almost wished I could stay there, because he smelled so good. The leather smell from his jacket clung to him along with a fresh, almost minty scent that drove me wild.
I glanced up from his neck after a minute to find him smiling down at me with such a soft look on his face that I was struck stupid for a moment. “Thank you,” I whispered, so close my breath probably tickled his chin as I did.
“Honey,” he said and stopped there. His hand came up to cup my jaw then he kissed me lightly before sitting back and refocusing on the game. I turned my focus too, just in time to see his brother was watching us from his place on the bench. I hadn’t even realized his shift was up until then. I smiled, not certain Kent could see it, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t sure what any of this meant for me right now, so I certainly didn’t need him trying to figure us out either.
Redemption Weather Page 9