Page 17 of Next Level (Royal Bastards MC: Oakland Chapter #1)

SAMMIE’S HOME

“G eorge Casso was married to Letti Casso. He was convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter with child endangerment and just got out of prison,” Zoom says over the speaker.

Shit!

I don’t want Sam to hear this, so I cut him off from going any further. “Zoom, we’re an hour out. You and Dawg get the boys to the clubhouse, and once I drop Sammie off at Brooke’s, we’ll have church. We have a lot to go over when I get back.”

Zoom replies, “You got it. We’ll all be here waiting.”

Before he hangs up, I add, “Make sure it is only members at the clubhouse. No women. I’m exhausted.”

I don’t want to deal with any drama today that doesn’t involve Sam.

Dawg chimes in, “Okay, I’ll see you when you get here.”

Zoom says goodbye before hanging up.

Sam sits quietly, staring at the landscape out the window.

“You okay?” I say, glancing over at her and wondering what she’s thinking.

“Yeah, just anxious. I don’t really want to go home to Mom, but I know she needs to see me. I’d rather go with you,” she says, still staring out the window.

It warms my heart that she wants to stay with me, but her mother’s going crazy without her. She needs her baby girl home.

“Punkin, you know I’d love for you to stay with me, but your momma needs to see and hug you. She might be mad, but she’s been going crazy without you.”

She doesn’t say anything.

So I continue, “If in a couple of days you want to come stay with me, I’ll talk to your mom. We’ll get through this. You won’t be grounded forever.”

She says softly, “Okay.”

A few minutes later, she turns to face me. “Can I come over when Cherry comes over? I want to hang out with her and Sunshine.”

I love that my girl wants to be around Cherry, but I also know she’s obsessed with Sunshine DJing. I feel like my girl wants to learn how to DJ.

I glance over before replying, “Sure, Punkin.”

Speaking of Cherry, my thoughts go to last night.

We FaceTimed each other while in the shower.

It was hard, but we managed it, and holy hell was it hot as fuck.

I don’t think I can take another shower without jacking off from thinking about it.

It was that fucking hot. I adjust myself, hoping my erection doesn’t get out of control while driving.

I can’t wait to have Cherry up against her shower wall.

She’s got one of those modern fancy showers with multiple showerheads.

A rain showerhead above her, and a hand-held wand that she can move around.

Christ, seeing her get herself off was out of this world.

I watched her move the showerhead back and forth between her legs as her nipples tightened up and her breath became labored.

I came a couple of times with her. I just kept going, pulling and jerking as she moaned my name.

Shit, I might come right now while driving just thinking about it.

Fuckin’ hell.

“You’re thinking about her?” Sam giggles next to me.

Shit.

I sit up, adjusting myself again. Christ. What is wrong with me? I’m with my girl driving, and I’m sitting over here like a kid in puberty coming in his pants.

I chuckle at myself.

“How did you know?” I ask, hoping she couldn’t see my hard-on.

“You have this happy expression on your face, which I haven’t seen before. I like it,” she replies warmly.

“Yeah, I’m digging on her pretty hard,” I tell her honestly.

“You should call her.”

I texted her this morning, but I haven’t talked to her since.

Agreeing with Sam, I say, “Okay.” Hitting the mic on my steering wheel, I announce, “Call My Blossom.”

Sam laughs out loud. “ Your Blossom. Like Cherry Blossom.”

Before I can answer her, Cherry’s voice echoes beautifully through the cab of the truck.

“Hello, gorgeous. I was just thinking of you,” she purrs through the speaker.

“Funny, Blossom, I was just doing the same thing. You’re on speaker by the way, so we have ears.”

“Hi, Samantha.”

“Hi, Cherry. My Pops is over here daydreaming about you.”

I give her a death glare.

She shrugs and mouths, “What?”

Cherry keeps giggling. “Is he now? I like that he’s daydreaming of me because I may be doing the same over here.”

It’s silent for a beat before she asks, “How far away are you from home?”

“Less than an hour.”

“Nice.”

“When do I get to see you?” I ask, hoping it’s sooner rather than later.

She takes a deep breath, and I don’t like the sound of that.

“Blossom?” I question.

“Well, it looks like my parents are on their way here. They’re coming to deal with Jared.”

“Okay, but what does that have to do with me seeing you?”

She sighs. “Well, they’re staying here at my place.”

“Okay, again, why wouldn’t you be able to come see me?”

This time when she replies, I can tell she’s smiling. “I can. It just won’t be today or tomorrow as I’d wanted. It’ll probably be this weekend. I need to get them settled and go over everything with them.”

I relax.

“Okay. I can deal with that. I need to deal with some shit here too, but you better be here Friday or I’m coming to you.”

Her laughter vibrates through the truck speakers.

Sam chimes in excitedly, “Perfect. Then I can come over Saturday and see you.”

Cherry replies right away, “I can’t wait. It’ll be a fun weekend. I’ll make sure Sunshine’s with me.”

I glance over and see my girl’s face light up even more.

My heart fills with joy.

“Okay, Blossom. I’ll call you tonight once I’m settled.”

“Yeah, call me the same time you did last night,” she says softly, letting me know that we can repeat last night.

Fuck yes!

“It’s a date. Have a good rest of your day.”

“Okay, gorgeous. Bye, Samantha, see you this weekend, sweetie,” Cherry says.

We both say goodbye to her before hanging up.

Sam turns to face me. “Yeah, I like her.”

God help me, so do I.

“Yeah, me too, Punkin.”

As we pull up to Brooke and Mike’s house, I can see the anxiety on Sam’s face.

“It’s going to be okay,” I reassure her.

Before I even put the car into park, the front door swings open, and Brooke runs for the truck. Sam opens the door, and they meet each other halfway, embracing. Both girls are crying. Sam’s a couple of inches taller than her mom now.

I get out of the truck and head toward them just as Mike emerges from the house with a smile on his face, seeing the girls crying and talking to each other. Not wanting to interrupt them, I head for Mike, extending my hand to him.

“Hey, Mike.” I shake his hand.

“Ray. Thank you.”

His words take me off guard.

“Thank me for what?” I ask.

He points to the girls. “For bringing our girl home.”

It makes me feel good that my Sammie girl has someone else besides me and my club watching out for her. I know so many people who don’t get along with their exes’ partners, but I like Mike. Mike takes care of Brooke and Sam. He’s a good man. Plus, I’ve never been the jealous kind of man.

All I can say in return is, “Always.”

When the girls finally let each other go, Sam goes to Mike and gives him a big hug. He embraces her lovingly.

Brooke makes her way to me, grabbing me for a hug as well. I welcome her into an embrace, kissing the top of her head.

“Our girl is home safe,” I murmur into her hair.

She’s crying against my chest.

I try to soothe her by rubbing her back. “It’s going to be okay. She’s home safe.”

When Brooke finally releases me, she says, “Thank you. I knew you’d bring her home.”

I give her a nod.

Brooke turns to Sam as she comes back to embrace her mom again.

“Okay, I’m going to take off. I’m needed at the clubhouse,” I announce, ready to be home myself.

My girl is safe and sound, so now I can focus on the ‘why’ and ‘who’ did this.

Brooke breaks off from Sam again, focusing on me. “Will you keep me posted if anything changes? The FBI agent investigating the case seems like a nice person, and I feel she genuinely cares about what happens. She wants to meet with Samantha on Thursday. Can you be there with us?

“Of course I can.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Sam comes over and hugs me goodbye.

I tell her I love her and I’ll see her tomorrow.

When I head for the truck, Brooke says again, “Thank you.”

“Always.”