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Rebel

I stomped into the clubhouse, frustrated as hell, and claimed my regular seat at the bar. Not that prospects like me had regular seats. But this was simply the seat I claimed when no one else was sitting in it. I wouldn’t fight a brother over this seat—even if it was my favorite. I ran one hand through my shoulder-length hair, wondering what the hell was going on in my head that made me think about shit like this.

Rosie gave me a knowing grin. “Let me guess, you got another penalty for paying your business taxes late again?”

I snorted a laugh. “Good guess, but no. It’s only because they’re not due yet. There’s still plenty of time for me to screw that up between now and then.”

“You’re terrible at handling the paperwork for your business. Did you ever think about hiring someone?” She pulled out an ice-cold bottle of my favorite beer, handed it to me, and then leaned on the bar with her chin in her upturned hand looking all kinds of cute. Thunder snatched up Rosie almost the very minute she walked through the door years ago. He was always bragging about it and that made me envious of his luck in getting such a perfect woman to dedicate herself to him.

Snapping out of my angst over not having an old lady who adored me, I grumbled, “I can’t afford to hire anyone. My mother passed away last year, and it takes everything I earn to keep home workers in place for my grandmother. Hiring someone to keep my books is out of the question.”

“I’m sorry about your mother. Your grandmother is lucky to have a grandson like you looking out for her.”

I didn’t want to talk about that, because I felt guilty that I wasn’t able to take better care of her. So, I steered the subject back to what had put me in a bad mood, “Keep guessing, beautiful.”

Tapping the nails of her other hand on the counter, she appeared to be thinking real hard. “You didn’t get another ticket for hauling an oversized load in your pick-up truck, did you?”

“Nope,” I told her with a grin. I genuinely liked Rosie as a person. Of course everyone here loved her because she was so friendly and nice. As far as my club brothers’ old ladies went, she outshone all the rest. “Keep going,” I told her. “Because when you finally get it, you’re gonna kick yourself because it’s so obvious.”

Thunder came strutting into the bar from the back where the club offices were located, clearly keen on spoiling our fun. “You had to rewire another job after Livingstone Electrical fucked up again.”

Pointing the end of my beer bottle at the lucky bastard who claimed Rosie before I had a chance to even meet her, I said, “Bingo. It’s the third time this month.”

Thunder dropped down onto a barstool beside me, his brow creased. “You know Livingstone did all the electrical work on this clubhouse several years ago when we had to rebuild after the fire. Old man Livingstone knew every damn thing there was to know about electrical services.”

“That was before my time, but it looks like that old man fucking forgot everything he ever knew about wiring a damn house. It’s getting so bad, their customers don’t even trust them to fix their own mistakes for free. They’d rather call me and pay me to do it all over again and sue Livingstone to get a refund.”

“That doesn’t begin to fucking make sense to me,” he grumbled.

When Rosie leaned over the bar and gave him a cold beer and a kiss, he accepted both gratefully. When she tried to pull back, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and tugged her close for another more lingering kiss. Truth be told, I wasn’t really jealous of the love Thunder found with his old lady. He was a solid brother who deserved a sweet, loyal woman who was crazy about him. Being thirty-eight, I was just way past ready to find my one. I spent years in the military, and never really got the chance to settle down, but now I was free as a bird I realized what was missing in my life. The love of a good woman.

When they broke apart, Rosie told on me like the true-blue old lady she was. “Benny was flirting with me. He called me beautiful.”

Thunder cupped the side of her face with one hand and told her, “You are fucking beautiful, baby,” before he slipped his hand through her long red locks.

No sooner did his right hand drop away from her cheek than his left shot out to clock me in the jaw.

I held up both hands, “I totally deserved that.”

Thunder’s eyebrows shot up. “Yeah, you fucking did. Now, jump behind the bar so I can spend a little time reminding Rosie why choosing me for her old man was such a fucking outstanding idea.”

I sighed, after working all day, I was hoping to kick back and relax tonight, especially since it was supposed to be my day off from prospect rotation. I fucked that up by letting my admiration be known for a senior club brother’s old lady. Truth be told, I was lucky to get off with a punch and extra bar duty.

I got to my feet and hopped across the bar. Pointing a finger back the way I came, I told Rosie, “You heard your old man. Take the evening off, you deserve it.”

“Thanks Benny,” she told me as she lifted up the swinging portion of the bar top so she could get out without the daring, theatrical leap I took to get behind the bar.

“Thank your old man, not me. Because if it were up to me, I sure as hell wouldn’t have volunteered for an extra night of bar duty,” I said grumpily.

Thunder turned around on his barstool and Rosie slid into his arms. “I know just how to thank you, don’t I babe?” Her tone was always soft and loving when she talked to her old man.

Thunder’s voice dropped an octave. “You know damn near everything there is to know about me, precious, including how to thank me just the way I like best.”

They kissed again and wandered off hand-in-hand, while I was stuck doing Rosie’s job serving drinks on a Friday night. Damn, I could never seem to keep my big fat mouth shut. Calling her beautiful had crossed the line just enough to provoke Thunder’s ire, I thought as I rubbed my sore jaw.

While I was standing there pondering how I managed to screw myself over yet again, a serious feminine voice drifted to my ears from the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor. “You know what you need?”

I didn’t even look up. “Home for a three-day weekend, Dusty? How’s UCLA?”

“Yeah, it’s my mom’s birthday. UCLA is great but you didn’t answer my question about what you’re missing in your life.”

“Not a thing, Dusty. Especially not a cat.” My eyes went to her arms and the large calico cat she was holding.

“Don’t be like that.”

“I’m not being like anything, sweetheart. But I know you think everyone’s problems can be solved with a feline. I ain’t got time to look after myself, let alone another creature.”

“Did you hear that, Katy Purry?” Dusty was speaking in a baby voice. “That horrible man called you a creature.”

I turned around to tell her to go away and found that she’d crept up right behind me and was holding up the calico cat. The moment I locked eyes with the animal, it meowed. Fuckin’ thing was adorable and probably the biggest cat I’d ever seen. She moved the cat around in the air, almost hypnotically and my eyes couldn’t help but follow the movement.

“She really likes you. I can tell. Want to hold her?”

Against my better judgment, I allowed Dusty to foist the cat into my arms. She was really cute and soft. I liked the way she snuggled down and purred.

“She likes you,” Dusty said.

“Look, I really can’t have a pet right now. I work twelve-hour days and in the evenings I’m prospecting here. It’s not fair on an animal,” I said, trying to hand the cat back to her.

“She’s got a home,” Dusty started. “My friend is going to take her, but she’s on vacation at the moment. Could you look after her for a couple of weeks? I’d do it, but I’ve got to head back to LA on Sunday.”

I let out a sigh.

“Please, my dad said you would. He told me that you were complaining about how empty your house was. It’s the perfect solution.”

Damn Celt and his big fucking mouth, “Okay, sweetheart. I’m just fostering her, right?”

Dusty grinned at me, though I’m sure I saw a twinkle in her eye, “Right.”

I had a horrible feeling that Katy Purry was gonna become a permanent houseguest. Goddammit, what was I supposed to do with a cute purring cat? I set her down on the counter, pulled out my cell phone and ordered some fucking cat food and then got distracted ordering a bunch of other cat stuff to be delivered to my house.

“Okay, Katy Purry. I guess we’re gonna be spending some time together.”

After settling the cat in one of the empty rooms I started prepping the bar for the evening rush, wondering what in the hell I was going to do about stabilizing my business. It was becoming increasingly obvious not only that I was rubbish when it came to handling the paperwork side of running a business, but taking care of that was a full-time job in itself. I was only one man, I couldn’t be answering the phone, fielding calls about potential jobs, preparing and mailing invoices, keeping up with tax payments and every other damn thing it took to run a small business, and still be out in the field earning enough to pay my own bills and keep my grandmother’s care workers in place. And the icing on the cake was that I didn’t know what the fuck else I could do that even came close to the salary I was earning as an electrician. That made getting another job a moot issue. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I’d be damned if I knew a way out.