Page 15

Dravin

P eople talk about time like it’s some miracle worker.

I’ve taken the last few days to sort myself out. Logically, I know that Kael’s house is covered by enough cameras that nothing could sneak up on her. I chose to trust them and monitor them from my phone and laptop instead of going there in person.

I needed these past few days to cool down and get myself sorted. It hasn’t exactly worked.

From the second Kael walked into Patterson’s, surrounded by a group of other women, my dick has been so hard that it’s nothing short of a miracle it hasn’t actually torn its way out of my jeans.

I’ve sequestered myself on one side of the pool table, playing a game with Wizard, who has taken the rare opportunity to come out.

He promised to give it half an hour and just be glued to his phones instead of sitting in front of the screens back at the clubhouse.

Yes, phones. He has at least half a dozen in various pockets of his leather jacket and his jeans.

I don’t know much about him other than the obvious. He’s extremely overworked to the point of drowning in it, even though he can easily cover the work of five capable people. Hence, why the club needed someone like me.

I’m wiping the floor with Wizard here. It would be borderline pathetic for him to get beat by a man with one good eye who’s only half paying attention, but he’s checking multiple phones so often that it’s no wonder he can’t focus.

Plus, he told me he sucked at pool, and he wasn’t just being humble.

He takes a shot that just about scrapes half the green fuzz off the table, and sighs deeply. Before he can get out any of his phones, I sink the last of my balls and straighten. “Want to play again?”

He grimaces, but it turns into an easy grin. “Only if you take shots with your feet.”

“I could give it an honest try.”

He follows my line of sight, his face swiveling to the group across the busy lounge.

I’ve heard Lark doesn’t come out often, but she must have made a special effort to be here tonight.

Ella and Raiden are with the group but standing off to the side.

As usual, he’s wrapped around her tighter than a koala hugging a eucalyptus tree.

The club’s lawyer, Lynette, and her sister Willa stand side by side, Gunner’s old lady, Diletta—who goes by Hayley to the rest of the world—and Tarynn are on the other side.

They’ve been engrossed in deep conversation, some of them nursing drinks, talking and laughing, for the past thirty minutes.

It’s shocked me near senseless that Kael seems to fit right in with them.

I suppose in her previous life, this would have been her.

Gorgeous. Confident. Funny. Easy going. Semi-outgoing.

Happy .

“Why didn’t you tell me that your sister was so hot?

” Wizard asks, moving away at just the right time to pull pool balls out of the table’s pockets that he doesn’t eat my fist. Damn, I hope I wasn’t staring at her with my mouth hanging open.

That would have been all kinds of weird. Got to remember she’s my sister here.

“Does any brother like their sister referred to as such?” I grumble.

“Besides. You’ve seen her on the cameras multiple times.

” Great. Now I feel like heading straight to the club’s security room, yanking every single one of those feeds, and gouging out Wizard’s eyes before I use them to deep scrub the parts of his brain responsible for memory.

“Okay, artsy then.”

He has no idea what she was studying or that she paints.

The cameras are on the outside of the house, not the inside.

I’ve told the guys at the club far less about Kael than I have the women, and that was practically nothing.

They had to do the old fashioned prying, and still, I gave them just enough that they wouldn’t get immediately suspicious of us.

Secrets are all well and good but go too far and you run the risk of being seen as deceptive and people wonder what you’re hiding.

The trick is to fall into that middle ground where you act like the rest of the human race.

People are generally dishonest, at ease with lying, and have thick walls.

I say generally because I’ve found that not to be the case here.

Not the way it is in other places, I guess.

Maybe it’s a small town thing. Hart’s a city, but it’s not large.

“Does she sew her own clothing?”

I can see why Wizard would go there. Kael’s outfit gives the distinct impression of someone with a sense of fashion so bold that only high customization will satisfy.

I’m used to seeing her in workout gear or torn jeans and faded t-shirts, so the intentionally ripped jeans with black lace patches and the white shirt with the harness and buckles are doing something to me.

Especially the way the jeans are hugging her ass.

She left the house a few times this week, getting into cabs and returning with shopping bags.

In Orlando, I was glad that she never went out for anything other than work or to the gym.

She even had her groceries delivered. I know it shouldn’t be a relief that she’s making small efforts here. But I can’t let my guard down.

“Yeah,” I mumble, letting Wizard rack the balls. “Sometimes.”

“I like her makeup. It’s cool.”

And I’d like to spit Wizard right on this pool cue and anyone else who dares look in Kael’s direction with lustful thoughts.

That’s approximately half the men in this place—the ones who don’t already have old ladies, and a few of the women too.

And yeah, my thoughts aren’t exactly those of a choirboy.

I have to turn and grind my dick into the edge of the pool table to try and tame it into behaving.

Especially because my mind goes straight to the two leather clad blondes across the place sitting at a booth with a few of the young prospects who weren’t on guard duty at the clubhouse.

They’re both watching Kael with far more interest.

I’ve rarely had time for fantasies about women and even less time has been spent on sex.

I’ve acquainted my dick with my own fist often enough, and that’s been the way it’s been.

Sex isn’t often on the table for a man like me.

I got used to that early on and now I’m conditioned to it.

I never saw myself as the marrying type, so dating just never made sense.

Even if I’d wanted to, during my teen years, there was no way I ever would have brought someone around the trailer, and later, it just wasn’t possible.

The few brief encounters I’ve had since I went back to civilian life were so vastly unsatisfying that it wasn’t worth it.

if I can’t date someone, I don’t feel right about fucking around.

Some people would laugh at the concept of it meaning something past a few minutes of pleasure, but I guess I’m wired different.

Kael would probably sass me saying that I sure as fuck am and mean that in the worst possible way. That doesn’t stop me from imagining her smart mouth open and panting while both those blonds suck her tits and lick her sweet pussy.

What the actual fuck? I don’t have the kind of brain that goes to fucking places like this. I’m always too busy planning out escape routes and finding exits. I grind my teeth so hard that my jaw nearly locks up. This isn’t helping anything.

“Fuck.” Wizard glances up from his phone and jams it into his pocket. “The cameras just went out at one of the warehouses. I’m gonna take a few prospects and ride over there.”

“I can go.” Technically, it’s my job.

He waves me off, “Nah. I need some fresh air anyway. I don’t get out as often as I want to for rides. At least it’s a good excuse when shit like this happens. It’s loud in here.”

The jukebox is playing in the corner, and the din of conversation pretty much drowns it out. He’s right. Far, far too loud. I get what he means about fresh air.

Dealing with security and computer shit is far less stressful than hunting people down for a living. It’s a nice change of pace. One I don’t mind at all. It just so happens that to be good at one, I had to be good at the other. In the digital era, it’s hard not to leave a footprint.

“If you’re sure?”

“I’m sure. We’re gonna have to get you a bike soon. Most guys hate having to rely on a cage. Want me to take you to Seattle this weekend and we can look around?”

I hesitate, trying not to look immediately over at Kael. Of course I fail and of course Wizard calls me on it. “Your sister could come, if you’re worried about leaving her here. I get that you’re close and I understand why now.”

I should never have insisted that Kael get acquainted with the old ladies.

The day after they went by her house, I heard all about how we had a brother who died and we had to leave and start over because we just couldn’t deal with it.

They were calling her Calliope. Again. Not Amy, like her damn ID says.

Little mistakes can prove fatal, we should have got our story straight.

I don’t like it. I haven’t talked to her yet, but I will.

“Yeah.” I rub the back of my neck, ridged scars meeting my fingers.

Normally, I don’t notice, but tonight they feel tight.

These ones aren’t from shrapnel, at least not the metal kind.

Jumping through a window can be just as wicked.

“I’m on it. I’ve been messaging this guy that has a big boneyard of old bikes.

I’m trying to get something lined up to go out there one day and see if there’s anything I can salvage. ”

Wizard rolls his eyes. “You should talk to Atlas. He loves a mechanical challenge,” He laughs.

“If that’s what you want, we’ll get it put together as a club.

Those are always fun projects. I’m into computers, but most of the guys here are gearheads and real mechanics.

You’ll have the place fucking buzzing and itching to bring something like that back to life. ”