Page 16 of Live Love Steal (Destroyers MC: Skilletsville PA #2)

That got his attention. He shook his head, slowly. “ We’ll … raincheck? My place when this is all done?”

“ Or my place? We won’t get interrupted there.”

A grin twisted at the corners of his mouth. “ I like the way you think.”

“ Before you go in there, can you make sure I’ve got everything out of my hair? And check my back, please?”

He swaggered over to where I’d wrapped up in the towel and puddled water on the floor. He pulled me in close and inhaled against the top of my head, then repeated it a couple of times in other places. Then turned me around and scanned the skin I exposed. “ I think you’re good.”

I pulled him close, feeling the hard ridge of his dick through the layers of his pants and my towel. “ I can be very good.”

His mouth formed into a tight oval. “ Can you be bad, too?”

“ Absolutely .”

He groaned as he stepped away. “ I’m going to run interference with Bear . You got five minutes to get dressed.”

I finished in two. Smoke had delivered a pair of soft yoga pants and an oversized pullover. Both were black, and the shirt must have been something for the club’s inventory because it had “ Official Destroyers MC Property ” lettered across it.

I guess that meant me. I’d graduated from simple acquaintance to being owned by the club.

And , considering the day I’d had, being owned by the Destroyers was the least worrisome part of it.

Sketch kissed me before disappearing behind the door at the end of the hall.

It was the only room up here that had an actual door. Go figure .

Bear sauntered over to one of the couches and sat down with a groan.

I plopped down next to him. “ Long day?”

He stared at me for a moment. “ You were just bawling your eyes out.”

“ And that’s done. Is Sketch in trouble?”

“ With us? Hell no.”

That implied he was in trouble elsewhere. “ Do you think the cops will…?”

His side-eye wasn’t reassuring. “ Where was he all night?”

How should I answer that? “ With me?”

“ Say it like you mean it. Where was he all night?”

“ With me.”

Bear nodded. “ And , what were you doing?”

“ Finding a part for my car.” That was a given, because that was the same story we’d told the cops.

“ Buzzt . You were having sex.”

I cleared my throat. “ No , we weren’t. I don’t know if you know this part or not, but we got pulled over about an hour …

two hours ago on the way to Harrisburg .

Which means we couldn’t have been having sex the entire time.

But once we got the part, we came back here and had sex in the shower. Does that work?”

His fist hit the arm of the couch. “ Sketch got pulled over?”

I nodded. “ And let go with a warning.”

His forehead crinkled. “ Why didn’t the cops ar—” He snapped his mouth shut, obviously in crisis mode.

“ Because when Sketch fixed my steering column, he didn’t put my plates back on my car. You know, the one Whoosh took for the drop?”

Bear could swear creatively. And profusely.

Once he was settled, I added, “ During the stop, I gave the cop my registration paperwork and my insurance card. I got it back, but it is probably in the system.”

His beard moved as he chewed on his words. “ And Sketch ?”

“ Driver’s license.”

That earned a grimace.

“ A warning, huh?”

I nodded.

“ Okay . Where did you go for the part?”

“ I have no clue. Some shop, I guess?”

For a moment, Bear was lost in thought. “ Southeast side, across the river.”

“ That’s a little close to where we were.”

“ All the better. We don’t have to scrub the traffic cameras.” He stood up and walked to the entrance of the stairs and called someone. I overheard part of his conversation. “ Hey , Grease , I’m calling in a marker.” There was a pause. Bear turned to me, “ What part did he need?”

“ Steering column cowl for a Kia .” I rattled off the specs for my car and added, “ And new key lock cylinder. But that would be traceable, so I guess not that.”

Bear grunted. “ Did you catch all that?”

What was I doing? I was covering up a murder, that’s what I was doing. Talk about a fall from grace. In less than two minutes, Bear had a full alibi set up for both of us.

Then he knocked on the door to be admitted to the room where Sketch was.

I wished I could be in there, not out here. With both Bear and Sketch holed up in discussion, my hands started to tremble again. I startled when Smoke came up the stairs.

“ Are you okay?”

Everyone kept asking me that. “ I’m fine. Thanks for the clothes.”

“ They’re Lily’s , thank her.”

Who was Lily ? I opted for a quick nod.

Smoke sat down at the top of the stairs. He was showing me that I was guarded. Which was kind of sweet. Especially since I knew him from the bar earlier. “ Were you still here?”

“ Naw . Went home.”

Crap . I’d made his day harder. “ I’m sorry.”

His grunted, “ Don’t be,” wasn’t enough. These men were all having their days interrupted and screwed up because of a whole series of events that could have been avoided if I just would have paid that damn ticket.

“ I complicated your day.”

“ Yup .” He was one of those kinds of bikers who didn’t talk much.

“ I am sorry.”

He glanced at me through the corner of his eye. “ You and Sketch ?”

Seemed like everyone had an interest in our… was it even a relationship? Almost twelve hours ago, we hadn’t even met. “ We met today.”

His attention quickly shifted from the stairs to me. “ No shit?” He scanned me with a once-over and back. Then he shut his mouth and slowly fixed his attention on the stairs again.

“ Say it.” Whatever he was thinking was really loud. And judgmental.

“ I knew Poppy all of one week before we jumped into the sack. They almost stripped me of my patch for that.”

“ Who’s Poppy ?”

“ My ol’ lady.”

Oh . Which made me even more confused because I recalled the clothing request from Sketch . “ Who’s Lily ?”

“ Her sister. She lives with us until she starts college.”

That was helpful. And really sweet. “ She doesn’t live at home?”

“ Hell no.” He shifted to stare at me again. “ Are you planning on sticking around?”

I didn’t know the answer to that question. If he’d have asked me two hours ago, that would have been an absolute “no way.” But a lot had changed since then. And even more confusing was that I didn’t know where Sketch and I stood with each other.

Except he’d agreed to come back to my place. “ We’re playing it by ear.”

“ We ?”

Could I speak for Sketch ? And what if we weren’t a we ? What if it were only sex? Would he dump me tomorrow? Would he even remember my name in a week?

Would I have put myself out there for a man who just wanted to use me? The emotional calm I’d found after crying my guts out in the shower disappeared. I worried the tattoo on my wrist. He’d called me Iron Girl . I could survive this. I could. Maybe ?

The words on my shirt mocked me. I ran a hand down them, fingering their slick plasticity compared to the soft material of the shirt.

Smoke dropped his eyes. Apparently , I’d spoken enough non-verbally to satisfy his curiosity.

But my questions were only beginning.