Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Don’t worry,” I told her as she quickly yanked up her pants and started rushing around, shoving blankets into the bag Nave mentioned. “No one was outside tonight.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. We were under orders to stay in.”
The relief was instantaneous.
“You’re sure?”
“Positive,” I told her, taking the bag. “You come down after me,” I said, hooking the bag on my forearm and then starting down.
She took a second, pulling herself together before following me down.
By the time we made it into the common room, leaving the evidence of our little glass room date down in the basement under one of the beds, Nave and the twins had mostly cleaned up the craft stations I’d set all up, and brought in some extra chairs from the garage.
“Did something happen?” I asked, gathering some of the finished crafts.
“Nothing serious, from what I could tell. Fallon’s just got some new orders and shit. You finish that list yet?”
I’d gotten as much done as I thought I ever would. I gave Nave a nod.
“Come on, honey. Let’s get you settled,” I said, leading her back to my bedroom.
Her eyes were already starting to look heavy. I had a feeling that by the time church was over, she would be out cold.
I was going to have to wait to get alone with her again and finish what we started.
But that was alright.
She’d be worth the wait.
“These are for you, obviously,” I told her, handing her the bookmarks. “And you weren’t the only one who made a bracelet,” I told her, producing the one from my pocket that I’d made for her. Admittedly, it wasn’t as impressive as the one she’d made for me, but the soft pastel colors made me think of her.
“I love it,” she said, those eyes looking glassy again.
That had been happening a lot. It seemed like she was so accustomed to being alone that she was overwhelmed by any small show of friendship. Or more. And what I was feeling for her definitely had to be classified as or more.
Maybe this was one of those situations where I should have been a better man, should have recognized that I didn’t exactly have a track record of being a relationship kind of guy. Bonnie was definitely not a hook-up kind of girl.
But I dunno.
There was just something about this girl…
“I’ll come back when it’s over. But I’m gonna have to ask that you don’t leave the room until I come back.”
“Okay. I’m all set here,” she said, not quite making eye contact, shifting her feet, slipping back into her usual uncertainty.
Luckily, I had a fun new way of dealing with that.
I snagged her chin with my fingers, tipped it up, then pressed my lips to hers.
It was just a quick peck. Because with the way she melted, I didn’t trust myself to have my hands on her for longer than a second or two. Or I might decide to skip the church meeting as a whole.
“See you in a bit,” I said. Then I walked out of there before I changed my mind.
By the time I made my way out, the clubhouse was practically bursting. A mix of the current club members and the retired ones were scattered all around.
“Mood’s dark in here,” I said, moving in beside Callow.
“Been a bit since we had to do a lockdown like this. Everyone is… antsy.”
That was putting it lightly.
Once the meeting started, it was full of complaints from the brothers who had legitimate businesses they needed to run. A few of the older members spoke on behalf of their daughters, who had a lot to say about the lockdown too.
“I’m just saying, no offense, but this seem to be about Sully,” Seth said. “I don’t understand why my business has to be closed.”
I wasn’t offended.
I had to admit that I’d kind of been enjoying the lockdown myself. But it wasn’t that way for the others. They had lives. Families. Places to be.
As much as I wanted to just spend my days endlessly with Bonnie, showing her the fun side of life and relationships, I knew I had to split my time. I had to figure out who was so bent on fucking with me.
That started with giving my list to Fallon once the meeting was over.
“Good. It’s something. Everyone’s getting pissy already,” he said, looking around the club. “Don’t remember all this bitching during the many lockdowns when my old man was running shit.”
“Because you were a kid,” Reign said, walking up behind his son. “Trust me, you get enough of men who like to party, and you force them to stay in the house and be celibate, shit gets ugly fast. Just wait until the tensions get high enough for them all to start taking swings at each other.”
“‘Cause I don’t get enough of that with the kids at home,” Fallon said with a head shake.