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Chapter Three
I’d been trying my best to stay out of Kit’s way for three days, keeping myself busy with my music students and even picking up a few extra hours at the local high school where I work assisting the music teacher. With their summer production coming up, they welcomed my offer of help with open arms.
I’d just gotten home from the school as Kit called his men in for an impromptu Church. I didn’t have a chance to ask him if everything was okay, he’d simply kissed me on the cheek and told me we would talk when he was done.
I felt selfish.
I’d kept to myself these last few days, wallowing in my own pity and blocking everyone out. Kit was feeling this just like I was, but unlike him, I didn’t have the responsibility of running a club like he did. Yet, he still managed to fight through the pain I knew we were both struggling with and continued to support his men and organize everything.
Wake up, Harmony.
The pain was still raw, but I needed to be the Old Lady that Kit saw in me since the day we met. The one who had his back and supported him through the shit-storm. I wasn’t sure why he’d called the boys all in, but I knew it must have been important.
I made a decision, walking over to the bar and pulling out beers that I knew the boys would either want or need as always after they exited that room. I popped several caps and lined them up along the bar. A few minutes later, a chorus of footsteps came out the door and as predicted, headed straight for me.
“Thanks, Harm.” Tally nodded as he took one and threw it back. One by one they each came by and collected their drinks before dispersing throughout the room.
Kit was the last to come over, scrubbing at his hair with his hand. He dropped onto the stool opposite where I was standing but didn’t look up at me. I leant over the small bar, pressing my lips to his cheek. His hand reached up, wrapping around the back of my neck and holding me in place as he pressed his mouth to mine.
I relaxed into it. I would never get bored of kissing this man. Every single time our bodies touched it was like the first. Tingles spread through me and a familiar ache settled in my stomach.The need for him.He pulled back so there was barely enough room for us to breathe.
“You all right?” I whispered, tilting my head forward so my forehead touched his.
“Yeah,” he answered. “Just bullshit I didn’t need right now.”
Kit didn’t tell me every detail of what went on in the club. I didn’t ask him to either.
I’d learned that it was important for me, and everyone here, to trust him. He had our best interests at heart. He wanted to protect us, keep us safe and happy and together like a family. I knew that he would do anything within his power, for any one of his family, to keep them that way.
While the club still dabbled in illegal trades, a lot of their business was aboveboard. They were taking on new and lucrative ventures in order to protect what had been created here, but that didn’t mean we never had trouble.
Every single one of us had our demons, pasts that we thought we had left behind. Mine had come back to haunt me not so long ago, and it was the brothers who kept me from the hell I’d found myself mixed up in. They’d never judged me, just put themselves in harm’s way to find me and pull me back. There were no questions, no doubts. They did it because we were family, and I would do the same for any of them, in a heartbeat.
All this meant that we were never really free of drama. However, it was a part of the lifestyle, and if you couldn’t handle it, the best thing to do was to get out before you got in too deep.
“Come,” Kit said, nodding to the door that led to the barbecue area.
I swallowed tightly but moved around the bar. He took my hand in his, leading us outside. It was hot, but there was a cool breeze swirling and it felt divine against my skin. He wrapped his arms around me from behind as we looked out onto the expansive backyard behind the warehouse that the brothers had converted into their clubhouse.
“Mansel picked up a shipment from us this morning,” he started after a few minutes of silence. “He barely made it a few miles out of town before their tires were shot out and they spun out and hit a power pole.”
I gasped, swinging around and looking up at him. “Is Mansel all right?” I liked Mansel. He was a pure gentleman that enjoyed dealing on the dark side of the law. I didn’t ask what the shipment was, I didn’t really need to. With his line of work, I knew it wasn’t just car parts from Oz’s garage.
Kit nodded. “Him and the driver were knocked out on impact, and they’re in the hospital.”
“And the shipment?”
He clenched his jaw. “Gone.”
I knew he was angry, having no doubt that this meant money lost. And not only that, a possible war beginning.
“Mansel’s driver said he woke up in time to see two motorcycles and a large truck pulling away from them,” he told me through tight lips.
I narrowed my eyes. “He doesn’t think it was you does he?”
“Hell no.” He shook his head, his arms tightening around me. “This was a loss for both of us. It’s gonna hurt. But you and I both know there aren’t any bikers around here, and most definitely no clubs.”
I took this onboard—he was right. The bikers that did frequent Troy and the surrounding towns were old men with midlife crises. Any clubs who came through, more often than not, had the intelligence to forewarn the brothers to avoid the beginnings of a shit-storm.
