“You heard the man, Tay. We all like you well enough, but there are rules and you swore to follow them,” Grunt added.
“I didn’t realize I was stepping over some new boundary. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t play the innocent or you’ll end up gone before you have a chance to fuck up again. We just got rid of one manipulative bitch, you’re not about to replace her,” Grunt warned. “You were told he has a woman, now shut your trap and move the fuck on.” Grunt turned her in the opposite direction and gave her a little push of encouragement. As she took the first step away from James and Grunt, our eyes met and that time I could see when her lips turned down in a deeper frown before she shuffled off to hide somewhere down the hallway that led to some of the rooms the single men used.
Crutch was closest to the men, so he was the one who got up and pointed me out to James. As soon as his eyes found me from across the room, he moved in my direction with a smile on his handsome face. It lit him up as if someone had a light on him the whole way. I wondered if that was how he looked all those times he sought me out at the fire pit when we were younger. He wasalways so quiet when he approached me that I never really had the option to watch his face back then. I probably wouldn’t have known what to look for either.
“Hey, I wanted to text you but couldn’t take my phone with me today.”
Understanding dawned. He was off doing something they couldn’t take a chance on being traced back to them. I wondered if they were getting rid of a body - specifically Simone’s - but I pushed that thought from my mind. She probably deserved to be killed for everything she had done, but that didn’t mean I needed to know the details.
“It’s okay. I helped out a little with the prep work for tonight. It was good to feel useful again.” I glanced around with accusations written in my eyes. “Until I got here and no one would let me lift a finger.”
James laughed. “Good on them. I told them if you got here before I did to make sure you were comfortable and not working your ass off. I figured your friends let you help with some of it before you got here and that’s all you should have done. Baby steps, Cass. Don’t want to see you backslide because you’re doing too much, too soon.”
Guilt swamped me because I didn’t even have the energy to properly make out with James the night before. I guess he had a point. I’d rather reserve my energy and efforts for the good stuff.
“I want you to do something for me,” I said.
“Anything,” he returned.
“Take me for a ride later. I want to enjoy being on the back of your Harley from here to home.”
“You saying you didn’t enjoy the ride with me from Phoenix?” he teased.
“You know I didn’t, but I love you anyway.” James went stock still and I had to think about what I’d just said. My eyes got bigand I was about to tell him it slipped out in a general way I’d say to my friends, but he didn’t let me retract those three words.
“No take backs, Cass,” he murmured against my lips before he kissed me stupid in front of his entire club and all my friends.
By the timeour ride was over later that night, I knew I’d want to go again. It felt nice to hold on tight to James and feel the wind pass us by as we flew down the highway toward the ranch.
When James angled us toward my house, I shook my head and pointed toward the fire pit off in the distance. “Are you sure you’re up for more tonight?” he asked.
“Promise, I’m doing well. I want to sit under the stars with you for a few minutes. When we got settled, James bent to light the fire, but I stopped him.
“It will dim their shine.”
“It’s too chilly out here without it, Cass.”
“We won’t be long.” I smiled as he came back to sit with me in his lap again. I leaned my head back on his shoulder and stared up at the night sky. “The day I left for the Army, I had to walk from the house to the highway to meet the recruiter and it was not even five in the morning.”
“What the fuck? You could have been attacked by coyotes or something.”
“I wasn’t, but the stars looked an awful lot like they do tonight. The sky was so clear and it felt like I could see every damn inch of the universe. I bet that was why the stars were so important to people before we managed to dim their shine with all our light pollution.”
“Here, cover her up.” I turned to see Tim with his arm outstretched and offering a blanket to his grandson. “Virginia sent me out with it. She wanted to come see you, but didn’t want to interrupt you two.”
“I see you didn’t have a problem doing that,” James said to his grandpa, but there was a hint of amusement in his voice, so I knew he wasn’t mad at the old man.
“Damn right, I didn’t. Told Virginia that our grandson needed to learn to share, especially when it comes to our girl.” My heart might have exploded from all the love I felt if James hadn’t given me a little squeeze to pull me back together.
“You had her to yourselves for eight years when I didn’t,” he said and I could feel the sadness behind his statement.
“That was your own damn fault, boy, so it doesn’t count.” Tim winked at me and then leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Mighty happy to see you back and looking ready to take on the world again.”
“Thank you, Tim. I missed you guys while I was away.”
“We would have come to see you, but apparently everyone was worried there might be a safety issue.”
