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She was an early riser, though, and was usually one of the first people up in the mornings. Normally she would make breakfast for everyone, clean the house, then spend a little time playing outside with Toby and Lexa. I was glad that she liked playing with Felicity’s dog and my little niece, but she didn’t need to be cleaning and cooking for every-fucking-body. She’d told me that she considered it the least she could do since she was living here without paying her way.
Since I considered her mine, she didn’t have to pay for shit. I’d take care of all of that for her. It was my job to take care of her and give her anything she needed. If she wanted something all she had to do was say so and I would make it happen. I had the money to take care of her comfortably for the rest of her life.
Groaning, I rolled over in bed and then stood. Even though I’d gotten enough sleep last night I still felt exhausted. I needed a pot of thick black coffee and some food, but first I needed to get the smell of the bar off me. Entering the bathroom I reached into the shower and turned the water on to scalding before taking care of business. When I was done I washed my hands and reached for my toothbrush while the bathroom started to fill with steam.
I was scrubbing my mouth when I caught the sight of something pink on my face. Muttering a curse, I scrubbed my hand across the smear of lipstick on my jaw. The bar had been full of females last night, all of them drunk off their asses to the point that Colt and I had had to call one of the sheep to shuttle them all home. As I was pushing one into the back of Bubble’s van she’d wrapped her arms around my neck and started kissing any part of my face she could reach. Stupid gash. The sheep all knew that I was off limits. I didn’t like having sloppy seconds, something they all knew. But since Gracie had come into my life I’d been uninterested in even my usual fuck buddies.
Fuck, had Gracie seen that? Did she think that I’d been hooking up? Groaning, I finished brushing my teeth and rushed through my shower before grabbing the first pair of jeans out of my closet and tossing on a shirt in my rush to get downstairs to talk to Gracie.
In the living room I found Lexa watching TV while using Toby as a body pillow. The bullmastiff was bigger than she was and outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds, but he was a big softy for the little girl. He followed her around like he was her shadow, watching over her like she was his own little angel to protect.
“Hi, Uncle Hawk.”
I gave her a small smile, all I could muster when my heart was racing a hundred miles a minute wondering if Gracie was pissed at me or not. Fuck, I had it bad. I’d never cared if I made a female mad before in my life. Not even Raven or Felicity. Now I was sweating bullets because my female’s feelings might be hurt. “Hi, sweetheart.”
Toby lifted his head to glare at me and then lay back down when Lexa kissed his nose. Shaking my head, I walked through the house and into the kitchen. Raven was sitting at the table with several accounting books spread around her. She was frowning down at the one right in front of her as she tapped on the table with her pencil.
“Something wrong?” I asked as I moved to the coffee pot and poured myself a huge mug.
“Just trying to read Uncle Chaz’s handwriting.” She pursed her lips and lifted her head. “You would think that I would be able to translate his scribbles by now, but all I end up with is a raging headache and this urge to punch that old man in the throat.”
I snorted as I dropped down into a chair across from her. If she was in the mood to punch someone in the throat I didn’t want to put myself too close to her. I loved my sister, but I’d been one of the fuckers to teach her to fight. I knew the damage she could cause and I didn’t want to bleed anytime soon.
“Gracie out with Willa?” She wasn’t in the house. Don’t ask me how I knew, because I couldn’t explain it, but I just couldn’t feel her.
It was Raven’s turn to snort. “Do you really think now that Spider has a ring on Willa’s finger that he will let her out of the apartment long enough to go anywhere with anyone? I’ll be lucky if he has enough brain cells left after fucking her brains out all week to remember the party I’m throwing for her tomorrow night.”
My back stiffened. I didn’t care about the stupid birthday party that Raven was throwing for Willa or that Spider had put his ring on the other female’s finger. All I wanted to know was where my female was. “If she’s not out with Willa then where the fuck is she?” I demanded.
“She’s at work,” Raven informed me, meeting my gaze head-on.
I jumped to my feet so fast that my chair nearly toppled over. I was already reaching for my keys. “What’s she need a job for?” I practically shouted. “She needs to focus on school, not working herself to death.”
“School doesn’t start for several more weeks,” Raven reminded me calmly. “And I’m pretty sure that she’s not the type of girl to just sit around and let people pay her way. She wants the independence that having her own money brings.”
“Where did you get her a job?” I knew that she had to be the one to do it. If it had been one of my brothers, biological or club, they knew they would risk my rage. My sister was the only one with big enough balls to do something she knew would piss me off that much.
Raven shrugged and turned her attention back to the books in front of her. “Aggie hired her. She’s working the lunch shift.”
“Fuck!” I didn’t mean to shout, but it came out much louder than expected. Aggie’s wasn’t safe enough for Gracie. The traffic that moved through that place was monstrous. She would have to deal with all kinds of assholes, perverts, and other nasty creeps that I would kill with my bare hands if they dared to touch her.
What if that motherfucker Kevin Samson showed up and tried to hurt her? Rage filled me at just the thought.
“You should probably relax before you scare Lexa,” she said, her tone still calm, but there was no mistaking the bite underneath it. “Gracie will be the least of your worries if you scare her. I’ll stab you in the throat and watch you bleed out.”
I didn’t know if her threat was real or not, but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. My bike was parked in front of the Chevelle I was letting Gracie drive, blocking me in tight. I didn’t waste time trying to get it out, just climbed into the old cage and burned rubber as I took off.
The parking lot was packed when I got to Aggie’s. I had to park across the road with a few other vehicles and a dozen or so tractor-trailers. As soon as I had the cage in park I was out and jogging across the street to the restaurant.
It was only then that I realized that I’d left my cut at home. Fuck, Gracie had me all kinds of twisted up today. She had to have seen the lipstick and that was why she wanted this job. I could feel it in my bones. She was going to try and leave me.
That thought alone made me want to rip something apart.
There were people standing by the entrance, waiting for tables to open up. Normally it was a “seat yourself” kind of place, but there were times of the day when there wasn’t anywhere to sit, so they had to wait. I pushed past the three men standing in front of the hostess stand.
“Yo man, we were here first,” one of them called after me. I shot him the finger and a hard glare over my shoulder before turning to look for Gracie. The idiot had to be an out-of-towner or he wouldn’t have dared question me.
“Well hello there, stranger,” a soft, sweet voice said from just behind me.
