I let Josie sleep against me as long as I possibly could. But when my phone vibrated, I knew it was time to get back. The alarm going off was for Josie’s pain medication, and if we didn’t get it in her, she’d be in too much pain to help her friends.
So, I woke her up with soft kisses against her forehead and we gathered up our things.
The ride back to my place was as silent as the ride to the beach, but this time it was a comfortable silence. With our leftover food seated in one of my bike storage compartments, she clung to me as we rode back to my place. It was about a thirty-minute ride before we pulled into my driveway, and when Josie slid off the back of my bike, she grunted in pain.
I helped her waddle into the room she occupied before I gave her a dose and a half of her pain medication.
“Will you stay with me?” she asked softly.
I grinned. “Let me go get our food in the fridge and I’ll be back.”
I raced downstairs and quickly unloaded the bike. I tossed her melted milkshake in the trash can before tossing everything else into the fridge, then I stepped outside to knock the rest of the sand off my jacket. I ran upstairs as quickly as I could and cleaned myself up a bit. I slid on some thin, comfortable gray sweatpants and decided to stay shirtless, then I crept back into her room.
Where the sounds of Josie sleeping greeted me as I slid back into bed.
“Mmmm, hi,” she murmured.
I held my arms out for her as she backed against me, as if we had been doing this for years. “Hey there.”
She sighed. “Thanks for coming back.”
I kissed the shell of her ear. “I’ll always come back. That’s what I’m best at.”
And a few minutes later, she slipped back off to sleep.
For the first time in my life, I got to enjoy what it felt like to sleep with a woman next to me in bed. Sure, I’d had plenty of women over for fun romps in the bed, or the shower, or the ocean, or right there on the beach. But after we got ourselves cleaned up—and I fed them, of course—they were right back out the door. Women simply didn’t stay with me. It was a line I had drawn for myself so I didn’t become a Cole or a Finn.
But Josie was different.
She brought a light back into my life that I didn’t understand to have been missing. When she smiled, it was like she was showing me all of the beautiful things I had forgotten that existed in this life. Losing my sister sucked the joy out of my world. Burying her literally killed my mother, since she decided to swallow lead a few months later instead of staying alive for her son. And after burying my mother, too, I swore off women. I swore off bringing their vulnerability in my life for fear of losing them and blaming myself even more for the shit I already felt responsible for in my life.
But Josie was simply different.
“You’re perfect,” I whispered.
I wasn’t sure when I drifted off to sleep, but when I woke up, she was still there. At some point in time during the night, she had turned over and tossed her leg between my own. Her arm lazily draped around my waist as her ear rested against my heartbeat, and for the first time since I was a teenager, I woke up with a smile on my face.
I like that she’s here.
I stroked my fingers through her hair until she groaned against me. She shifted and stretched, and I listened as her joints cracked and she moaned with relief. The sounds alone stiffened my already hardened cock further, and when she turned those beautiful eyes up toward me, I couldn’t contain myself.
I quickly flipped her over and captured her lips as her hands fell against my chest.
Josie giggled. “Well, good morning to you, too.”
I kissed down her neck. “I’m ready for breakfast. What about you?”
She sighed at my kisses against her chest. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”
I nipped at her breasts. “What were you thinking for food?”
She gasped as my hand cupped her pussy. “I-I-I—uh—eggs?”
I pushed her shirt up with my free hand. “All right. Anything with those eggs?”
She shivered as I exposed her breasts to the cool air of my home. “Um… toast?”
I slid between her legs as I perched on my knees. “Eggs and toast. Anything on that toast?”
I bent forward before she could answer me and I kissed just below her belly button. She bucked against me, her body coming alive even as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. My cock leaked with a need for her. A small wet spot bloomed against my pants as I stared at her body, ripe and ready for the taking.
Until my phone vibrated against the fucking bedside table.
“Archer?” she asked.
I groaned. “I hear it.”
She shifted herself a bit and reached for my phone. “It’s Cole. Isn’t that the guy who patched me up?”
I abandoned my quest and laid down beside her, picking up my phone. “Yeah. There’s probably something happening with the guys this morning.”
She nuzzled against me. “We can still cuddle for a bit though, right?”
I wanted to agree, but when I opened Cole’s text, I rolled my eyes. “Nope. I gotta get to the clubhouse.”
“Why, though? What’s going on?”
I grunted as I sat up in bed. “Chops is calling church. That means all of us have to show up so he can give us a rundown of… whatever the hell he wants to talk about.”
“Can I come with you?”
I whipped around and tried my best to stay calm. “Not until I know what the meeting is about. Cole didn’t say anything about bringing you, so it’s probably not something pertaining to the task at hand.”
She propped herself up on her elbow. “Will you come get me if I’m needed there, though?”
I pointed at her playfully. “Only if you promise to stay put and take your pain medication promptly at nine.”
She held up three fingers. “Scout’s Honor.”
I smirked. “Good.”
After rushing around to get myself clothed and placing Josie’s pain medication on her bedside table, I made my way for my bike. With my sand-laced jacket tossed around my shoulders and my helmet slid onto my head, I rip-roared toward the clubhouse. I was starving and had a serious need for food but Chops rarely called church meetings first thing in the morning.
Which meant shit was about to go down.
However, when I parked my bike and walked into the clubhouse, I certainly didn’t expect what I found.
“There he is!” Chops exclaimed as his words slurred. “Tell Porter here it’s okay for his work wife to shut the fuck up so he can have a drink with me.”
Porter rolled his eyes. “For the last time, I’m sober, Chops. I don’t drink in the mornings.”
Chops slapped his arm. “Because Brooks fucks you up the ass with it, right?”
I looked over at Brooks and saw him gnawing on the inside of his cheek like it was a pack of fucking chewing gum. I smelled the booze on Chop’s breath from across the room and I wondered why the hell he had called a church meeting in the middle of his beer binge. The man stumbled around, and I grimaced as he tried to hug and buddy up to each and every one of us.
But when he got to me, I took a step back.
Chops scoffed. “What’s got your dick in a knot?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “There are reason you pulled me away from my patient and called us here? Because if not, she needs her pain meds and could really use someone to—I don’t know—help her walk.”
Chops waved his hand in the air. “Bah, you got all the time in the world. Not like this crew’s going anywhere anyway.”
Brooks blinked. “The hell does that mean?”
Chops pointed at him before he stumbled on his feet. “No cussing at your ‘President,’ asshole.”
I leaned toward Cole. “He been like this all morning?”
Cole nodded. “Ever since I got here, and that was an hour ago.”
“Jesus,” I hissed.
Then, Cole threw his hands into the air. “Someone wanna tell me why those Black Flag dudes are making all the money moves and we’re sitting on our thumbs like a bunch of fags!?”
Brooks winced. “Can we do away with the slurs?”
Chops got into his face and grinned. “What? Can’t handle a little penis in the butthole?”
Porter rolled his eyes. “Spit it out or let us go.”
Chops slowly looked over at him and glared. “What? You think you got the balls to do what I do?”
I shook my head. “He’s right. Get to the chase or let us get back to my families.”
Chops barked with laughter. “Like half you asshats got families. Sheee-it.”
Finn stepped to the forefront. “If you’re so upset that we aren’t like the Black Flags, then maybe you should go join them instead of dealing with us.”
I pointed at Finn. “He’s got a point. If you like what they’re doing so much, go pledge them. Because you know we don’t roll like them. Never have, and never will.”
Chops tipped up the rest of his beer before crumbling the can in his hand. “That really how you think this works, newbie?”
He turned his anger on Finn and it pissed me off. “You think I can just jump ship and leave you assholes to ruin everything I’m trying to build here?”
I shrugged. “All you’re building right now is a tolerance to alcohol, as far as I’m concerned.”
Chops turned in my direction. “Oh, you got jokes?”
I shrugged. “No. Just hard truths.”
He lunged at me and got in my face. “Then, let me tell you a little truth of my own. If the jagoffs we hate so much start outdoing us around here, they’re gonna be the top dogs by sheer businesses they own. You got that? They’ll own this entire place, and you’ll just be sitting ducks they pick off for practice.”
I leaned toward him until our noses almost touched. “Then go. Join up. With them.”
For the faintest second, I could’ve sworn I saw fear rush behind Chops’ eyes. But it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and I honestly wasn’t sure of what happened. All I knew was that, for some reason, my words had tripped him up.
But he covered it well with the laugh he spat in my face. “Like I’d ever go to our enemy and grovel to be part of them. Are you fucking nuts?”
I smirked. “When I’m drunk. Which is why I don’t drink any longer.”
Cole slid in between us and pushed Chops back a bit. “What was the point of calling church, dude? I got a doctor’s appointment I need to be at, and the last thing I’m going to do is field a drunk President when I need to be getting my shoulder looked at.”
Brooks yelled over everyone’s head. “I want an update once you’re out of that office!”
Cole held a thumbs up, but never took his eyes off Chops. And it was then that Chops dropped the bomb on us.
“We need to figure out something else to do to take on the Black Flags. To rival them somehow. They can’t get a hold on Santa Cruz, otherwise they push us out.”
I looked around at all the guys and saw how confused they were. And I got it. I understood. For someone attempting to backstab us, that was the last thing we expected him to say.
“Fine,” Tanner said as he cleared his throat, “we’ll come up with something once you sleep this alcohol off.”
Brooks nodded. “Can’t make group decisions while under the influence. It’s our second group rule.”
Chops stumbled into a chair. “Well, it’s a bullshit rule.”
Porter picked up a blanket and tossed it onto his lap. “Sleep, Chops. You need it.”
We all stood around as Chops hunkered down onto the couch, and after we were sure he was asleep, we all stepped outside. We made our way toward our bikes that had congregated at the far end of the parking lot. And when we knew we were out of earshot of that asshole, I scoffed.
“Can you fucking believe him?” I asked.
Brooks shook his head. “We need a plan, and fast. Something tells me he’s already latched onto the fact that we know.”
I pointed at him. “I’m in agreement. Something about this entire thing is off.”
Finn chuckled. “I could’ve sworn there for a second he almost looked scared.”
I blinked. “Wait, you saw that, too?”
He nodded. “When he walked up to me, something kind of washed over his face. It was weird, man. Never seen it before in my life.”
Porter looked at me. “You saw it, too?”
I nodded. “Damn right, I did.”
Tanner raked his hand through his hair. “Something’s happened, and I’m just grateful I’m not the only person thinking it.”
Cole shook his head. “Trust me, you aren’t.”
Brooks looked at me. “Is Josie ready for this?”
My eyes met his. “Yes, she is.”
Porter sighed. “You still worried about her going in there alone?”
I nodded. “Always. But she’s adamant on doing this, and I think that she can pull this off. If we keep serious tabs on her, that is.”
Tanner raised his hand. “Finn and I can watch over her. Maybe interchange ourselves or some shit and be clients in the club or something.”
Relief flooded my veins. “They might recognize you in there, but if we put you in good-enough disguises—”
Cole chuckled. “Already a step ahead of you. Tanner, how do you feel about being the geeky kid again?”
Tanner grinned. “I’ve been trying to find a reason to bust out the thick-framed glasses again.”
Brooks smiled. “I still can’t recognize you with those crazy fucking things on. You still got those tie-dyed frames?”
Tanner barked with laughter. “Maybe I’ll wear those with a camp t-shirt or some shit. Act like some bobble-headed counselor that’s ‘exploring the world.’”
I covered my mouth. “That’s hysterical. We need to do that just, like, regularly. When we’re not trying to save the asses of the people in this town.”
Cole cleared his throat and nodded. “But yeah. We’ll get some nice disguises together so they fly under the radar. That way, they can keep tabs on Josie from the inside. That sound good enough?”
I nodded. “It’s as good as it’s going to get, so let’s get this shit rolling.”
And as we continued to hash out plans with Chops snoring on the couch inside, I knew one thing was for certain.
If anyone put an unwanted hand on Josie, I’d make sure they paid for it.
With their life.
