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Chapter Thirteen
I stood watching as she danced around the kitchen, rattling off over and over again the ingredients she would need to make dinner. She bounced from the pantry to the fridge and then back again when she didn’t grab everything she needed.
“How much coffee have you had today?” I smirked.
She looked over her shoulder at me, the brightest smile across her face. It warmed me. She’d come so far over the past couple months, her love of life and excitement for the future was contagious. Sugar brushed past me, planting a quick kiss on my cheek as she grabbed the salt from across the counter.
“I may have had a few cups…” She chuckled. “I’m just excited. As soon as I’ve put dinner on, I’m going to get started on some new designs. Then I have to meet with the man downtown about the lease of the store before I pick up Harlyn from school.”
“And I fit into this plan, where now?” I asked, rolling my eyes. It had been her that had asked me to come over this morning, but it seemed like that had slipped her mind.
She stopped and looked over at me with a mocking pout. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I not giving you enough attention?”
I stalked toward her, and her eyes lit up with excitement as I placed my hands on either side of the counter, boxing her in. I dipped my head, pressing my forehead against hers. “I’ve barely seen you the past few days, I’m trying to make an effort here.”
I was falling for this woman, I could feel it in my gut.
I wanted to be around her, I wanted to feel her energy, talk to her about my day, watch movies with her and Harlyn. I didn’t care what it fucking was, as long as it involved her. But the past week or more, she seemed to have taken on more and more shit, and considering the fact that we were already having to take our time where we could sneak it in, I was starting to wonder whether the feelings were shared.
Her hands snaked up my chest and settled around my neck and her fingers linked. “Okay, I’m sorry. Your effort is noted, and from now on I’ll try more to spend that time with you when we have it.”
She tiptoed up and pressed her lips to mine. The electricity flowed through both of us, the way her body softened and drew closer told me she felt it too.
“Well, now’s as good a time as any. Will you just sit down for a second,” I groaned, grabbing Sugar round the waist and dragging her with me to the couch.
Her laughter filled the air, and I couldn’t help but smile at that one sound I would never get tired of hearing. The last few weeks Sugar had transformed into this bright, bold woman. She was energetic and full of life, and it was amazing to see her blossoming and taking hold of her future. But I had no idea where I sat in it.
It was beginning to eat at me seeing this woman grow, but having to sit back in the shadows and not be there next to her where her man should stand. Not that we’d talked about that aspect of our relationship, or whether this even was a relationship. We hadn’t discussed formalities or details, deciding to just go with it and see where it took us.
But it was coming to a point where I didn’t want to just go with the flow anymore.
I was sick of the bullshit excuses I had to come up with when I turned down one of the club girls, and I was fucking done with lying to my president and one of my best friends. Op had given me more support than I could imagine. The club had been there for me and given me a home and a family when I was locked up inside with no one to have my back. They all had my back, and now I was shitting all over that trust and loyalty that I’d fought so hard to show them and prove to them. It was rotting away at my soul and fuck, I couldn’t take much more of it.
I didn’t care if Optimus beat the shit out of me, which he would most likely do. I just wanted to stop hiding.
“But I need to finish dinner and draw up some more designs,” she protested as I sat her across my lap, refusing to let her up. “I’ve got so much to do.”
Sugar had shown her designs to the landlord of the building downtown a few days ago, and he’d been more than impressed with her organization and enthusiasm. Needless to say, she got the lease and it wouldn’t be long before she was opening her dream shop. I was proud of her, and Harlyn was more than excited to see her mom doing so well, even though I could tell Harlyn herself was looking and acting worse for wear.
Wrapping my arms around her squirming body, I pulled her against me and pressed my lips to her neck. She melted, her body sinking against me and her eyes fluttering closed.
“Damn woman, you’re doing too much,” I complained as I pressed soft kisses along her jawbone. “You’re up all hours of the damn night, you’re barely eating, and I don’t know what you’re running on. But if you aren’t careful, you’re gonna burn out.”
She looked me in the eyes for a brief second, and my heart sank. It was only a flash, but I swore in that single moment that there was complete and utter grief and fear swirling within in her. They say that the eyes are the looking-glass to the soul, and what I saw, it wasn’t pretty. She blinked, and like that, it was gone.
Sugar chuckled softly and wiggled her hips. “I could do a lot more if you’d stop distracting me so much.”
I snorted. “Well, I’m sorry that I find it difficult to not touch you when you’re around. It’s becoming extremely hard.”
“Mmm… I can feel just how hard it’s becoming,” she answered, grinding her hips down.
“I think it’s time we talked to Optimus,” I told her straight out, knowing that if I didn’t do this now, we were going to get wound up in ourselves again.
Her body stilled, and she instantly pushed away. I let her go with a heavy sigh and followed her as she stood to her feet.
“No. That’s a bad idea.”
“Look, he’s gonna be pissed, there’s no way around it. But fuck! I’m sick of sneaking around and hiding out. I want to be able to spend time with you and with Harlyn without worrying about my brothers catching us.” I’d thought about it a lot over the past few days. Seeing Op and Chelsea happy and dedicated to each other, I wanted that shit.
