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Murphy shakes his head.
“Ready, babe?” Vapor asks, slipping an arm around his wife.
“Whenever you are.”
Rock’s warm, solid body, presses against my back. He slides his arms around me and kisses my cheek. “Where’s my milkshake?”
“Here.” I offer mine but he declines.
“Teasing you,” he murmurs, nuzzling my neck.
“I’ll take it, if you’re offering, Hope,” Sparky says, swiping it out of my hand before I have a chance to answer.
“Well, I… okay.” Too late now.
“I need to get the taste of that cheap tequila out of my mouth. Fucking nasty swill.” He claws at his throat and makes a number of disgusting sounds. “Gah! It’s still burning its way down my esophagus. How the hell is that legal and pot isn’t?” Sparky grumbles.
“You looked like you were having fun,” I say.
“The redhead wasn’t wearing any panties,” he explains.
“Alrighty, then,” I mumble, making everyone laugh.
He tips his head back and pours the shake down his throat, guzzling it down in one long shot.
“Ow, brain freeze,” he mumbles a few seconds later.
“Didn’t think you had any brains left to freeze,” Z jokes.
Sparky chucks the sort of empty cup at him and it lands on the sidewalk.
“That’s not environmentally friendly,” Z says.
One of the many cops patrolling the big biker rally casts a glance our way.
“For fuck’s sake,” Rock growls.
“Sparky.” I glare at him until he picks up the cup. The last thing we need is to be hassled by the cops again.
“So you already have a bunch of kids, I see,” Juliet whispers to me.
I burst out laughing. “Rock used to say that all the time, and I never quite understood what he meant.”
To my surprise, she gives me a big hug before leaving. As they turn to head back to their bike, I notice the Nomad rocker at the bottom of Vapor’s vest.
“Even if a nomad doesn’t belong to a particular charter, doesn’t he belong to a club?” I quietly ask Rock once we’re somewhat alone.
“Sometimes. Vapor’s a loner.” Rock hesitates as if he’s unsure of how much to share. “He picks up odd jobs for a lot of different MCs.”
Odd jobs. Somehow I doubt Rock means raking leaves or painting fences.
“Were you trying to entice him into going steady with the Lost Kings?”
He rumbles with laughter. “Something like that. He’d be an asset for sure. Wouldn’t need to prospect as long.”
“I like Juliet a lot. She’d fit in well.”
“Figured. Thank you for giving us a minute.”
I squeeze his arm. “I know how to read you.”
“Yes, you do.”
How do I ask this question? “She said she was related to Dex’s wife?”
Rock sighs and looks away. “I didn’t know that.”
Whether he means, he didn’t know Dex was married—which I kind of doubt—or that Juliet was related to her, isn’t clear, and he doesn’t elaborate.
PART TWO
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“It feels so good to be home!” Hope sings and twirls around the garage as soon as she hops off the bike. “My ass is killing me.”
Her words are mostly drowned out by the rumble of the other bikes pulling into the garage, but I catch her hand and yank her toward me. I bury my face against her neck. “Meet me in the hot tub and I’ll take care of your ass.”
She bats her lashes and smiles. “Yes, Mr. President.”
“You two didn’t get it on enough during the trip?” Ravage asks, walking over with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
“Rav, unload the van, and help Murphy unload the truck when Heidi gets here,” I order.
“What? Why?”
“Because you’re obviously bored and in need of something to do?” Hope turns her head to the side and snickers.
He grumbles, but gets to work.
Swan runs out of the clubhouse and into the garage. The girls scream and hug each other and talk excitedly about the trip.
“I hope you’re not all sick of each other. Stash and I put together a big welcome home dinner.”
“What time do you want us at the table?” Z asks. “Dex and I need to run down to Crystal Ball and check on things real quick.”
“Seven, does that work for everyone?”
“Sounds good. Thank you for doing that, Swan,” Hope says.
Between my bike shop and club business, I’m sure there’s a ton of things waiting my attention, but I’m not ready for this to be over with yet.
“You have that look,” Hope teases, slinging her arms around my neck.
“What look is that, baby doll?”
“Like you already have club business on your mind.”
She’s teasing me, but I detect a note of vulnerability in her words.
“You’re not sick of me yet?”
“Never,” she says in her soft, husky voice.
Fuck if that simple word doesn’t twist me up inside. Never have I loved being with anyone is much as I love being with her. Always feels good to have confirmation the feeling is mutual.
“No club business tonight, I promise. Still in vacation mode.”
“I’m just teasing, if you really have stuff you need to—”
I cut her off with a kiss.
“Break it up, horndogs,” Ravage shouts.
Behind Hope’s back, I flip him off and keep right on doing what we’re doing.
Before she can get caught up helping Swan out, Wrath drags Trinity to their house. “We’ll be back later,” Trinity calls out over her shoulder.
“Home sweet home!” Sparky yells. “You better not have killed my babies.” He throws a glare at Stash as he runs past him and into the clubhouse.
“And that’s the last we’ll see if Sparky for the next two years,” Z says.
“I don’t know about that,” Swan says. “Willow said she was coming over after the club closes.”
Stash holds out his hands palms up and pretends to weigh Sparky’s options. “Hot chick on one hand or his plants on the other? I don’t know. That’s a close one for Sparky.”
“Don’t pick on him.” Swan playfully slaps Stash’s arm and Dex cuts a glare her way from across the garage.
“Oh boy,” Hope mutters.
“Let’s go home and change.” I grasp her hand and lead us home.
The next morning, Rock’s alarm goes off way earlier than human decency should allow.
“Nooo,” I moan, reaching for him. “Stay.”
He leans back, brushing the hair off my face. “You make it impossible to leave when you’re all beautiful and sleepy.”
“Then stay.”
“Don’t you have to go to the
office yourself?”
Exhaustion still pulls at me. Or maybe it’s post-trip depression. I roll over and shove my head under my pillow. “I don’t wanna,” I mumble.
The bed shifts. I yelp as the sheet’s ripped off me and cool air hits my skin. “Don’t you dare,” I warn, but my voice is muffled by the pillow.
For Rock my warning is more of an invitation and his hand cracks against my ass a few seconds later. He keeps his hand there, rubbing and squeezing, then lightly swats the other cheek. “You stay there like that I’m gonna find other things for you today.”
I peek out from under the pillow. “Promise?”
“Thought you were supposed to meet the girls for morning yoga?”
“I guess,” I grumble, rolling out of bed.
“We can always practice right here.”
“Hmph.”
“My girl’s not a morning person is she?” he teases on my way to the bathroom.
“No.”
In the bathroom, I’m struck with wave of nausea that brings me to my knees. “Shit.”
What little I had in my stomach comes up. My nose stings and tears stream down my cheeks. I hate being sick.
“Rock?” I call out as I make my way over to the sink to brush my teeth.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t feel so good.”
He’s filling the doorway two seconds later. “Shit, babe you don’t look good. Come here.” He rests his hand against my forehead and cheeks, his mouth flattening into a grim line. “Come on, why don’t you go back to bed.”
He walks me to the bed and gently tucks me under the covers, then sits beside me. “What can I get you?”
“Water? Maybe some tea?”
“All right. I’ll be right back.”
I close my eyes and sort of drift back to sleep for what seems like only a few seconds before Rock’s waking me up with a cup of tea and small plate of toast.
“Think you caught a bug on the trip?” he asks.
“Maybe.” I sip at the tea and nibble on the toast for a few minutes with Rock watching over me, hands on his hips, concern wrinkling his forehead.
“I feel better now. Sorry.” I can’t ruin his whole day because I have a tummy ache.
