Page 22 of Wyatt (The Black Roses MC #5)

Chapter nine

Wyatt

“ I can’t.”

Those two words are like a bucket of ice water thrown over the charged moment between us.

My hand lowers from her face, and my arm drops from the door handle. I take a step back, and it feels as though the foot of space I put between us stretches as wide as the Grand Canyon.

Stupid move, Wyatt.

“I’m sorry,” she says the same time I start to apologize.

“No, let me get this out,” she starts. “I work for the club, and I need this job. Colby depends on me to keep a roof over his head. We’re friends, and you’re friends with my kid. I can’t do anything that would jeopardize that. No matter how much I want to.”

Well, that makes me feel marginally better. At least I’m not imagining this insane attraction between us that we’ve been dancing around.

“Really, Maizie. It’s fine. I totally get it.

” I have no idea what I’m supposed to say in this situation, seeing as nothing like this has ever happened to me before.

Being part of the Black Roses hasn’t exactly made women run away from me.

“I would never want you to feel uncomfortable.” I laugh, trying to dispel the tension between us.

“It’s been a hell of a long day. Cash wanted to get back to Shine, so we rode for nearly twelve hours straight.

My head is”—I shake it as if to demonstrate—“not in the right place.”

She gives me a smile. “No harm, no foul,” she says in an overly bright voice. “I should probably finish up here. Get home so Cece can have the rest of her night to herself.”

I nod. “Okay, let’s finish up.”

“You don’t have to—”

I take another step back and grab a chair, flipping it over and setting it on the table. “Four hands are better than two.”

She’s still standing against the door, and I swear, there’s nothing I want more in this moment than to press her against it with the length of my body and show her we’re more than friends. But I don’t. Instead, I grab another chair and flip it over.

“Thanks,” she says and picks up the broom to start sweeping.

When we’re finished with closing duties, I walk her to her car.

I open her door—because I’m a fucking gentleman—but I don’t allow there to be less than three feet of space between us the entire time.

When she sits in the driver’s seat, I shut it for her and she starts the engine.

I step back and she gives me a wave before pulling out.

It’s awkward as fuck.

There’s a strain that’s been gnawing at my gut for the last twenty minutes it took us to close down Thorn and Thistle. I hate that it’s there, and even more, that I’m the one responsible for putting it there.

I watch her turn right toward her house and stand next to my bike for a few minutes, collecting my thoughts. My hands fist the side of my hair as I let out a frustrated breath through my teeth.

“Fuck,” I say to an empty alleyway. “That definitely could have gone better, dumbass.” But it could have gone worse, too.

No matter how much I want to. That’s what she said.

I’m not about to force myself into her life as more than a friend, but it’s obvious to me that she needs some reassurance that her job and our friendship are safe.

I don’t want to be just friends. I want more.

And I don’t just want it for the here and now.

I want it for always. If she’ll have me.

There’s nothing about the woman that I couldn’t fall in love with.

No part of her that I don’t see and already feel… something more than friendship.

And she feels it, too. This isn’t some fleeting attraction.

Not anymore. Talking with Knox, overhearing the girls’ conversation the other night, and having hours riding to Michigan and back have given me plenty of time to think.

Plenty of time to get my head on straight and out of my fucked-up past.

She’s it for me.

Now I have to figure out how to get her to come to terms with that. It's time we stop running from our feelings.

A couple days later, Knox is having people over, or rather, Mia wanted to invite us over for a family dinner. Linc and Charlie show up, followed by Jude and Lucy. Even Cece shows up with Colby.

“Pepper!” Colby exclaims when he runs through the door to where we’re all sitting around on Knox’s patio furniture. For not being one who likes people in his space, he’s got a pretty nice area for entertaining.

Pepper’s ears perk up, and as soon as he sees Colby, he hops up from where he was lying next to me and starts jumping around the boy.

“Pepper, sit,” I command.

He does, but I can tell he’s waiting on pins and needles to be released from his command.

“He wasn’t hurting me or nothing, Wyatt. I’m big,” Colby complains.

“I know, but remember what I said about not wanting any trips to the ER while your mom’s at work?”

He nods.

“Oh, come on. Let the poor thing go,” Lucy tells me with a smile on her face. “You can’t get in the way of a boy and his dog having a good time.”

I wish Pepper were Colby’s dog. That would mean I’d be a permanent fixture—not friend-zoned by the boy’s mom like I currently am.

“Okay,” I say, releasing Pepper, and he charges into the grass, running around and bending low on his front paws, waiting for Colby to go down there with him. It takes less than five seconds before the two of them are running around the backyard.

I look over at Knox, who is eyeing me much like he was at Maizie’s the other night. He doesn’t say anything, but there’s sure to be a follow-up conversation to the one we had previously. That’s fine with me. I have a clear view of the future I want.

When we went on our run to the Iron Disciples clubhouse in Michigan earlier this week to drop off a shipment from the Monaghans—since we’re now the go-between for the Irish mob family and the MC—I had a lot of time to think while I was on my bike.

That’s the real reason I showed up at the bar.

I wanted to see the woman who is going to be mine. It’s just a matter of time.

We eat our weight in BBQ ribs, and I marvel at how messy one five-year-old kid can get.

I pretend I don’t see him sneaking the dog bits of meat here and there.

Cece takes him home not long after dessert with a promise from me that we’re going to go fishing as soon as his mom has time in her schedule.

Obviously it won’t be Saturday, considering she has her last date with Steven that night.

Jude and Lucy are next to take off, followed closely by Linc and Charlie, and then it’s only Knox and I left on his back deck, enjoying a cool evening.

“It was something seeing you with Colby,” Knox says over the rim of his whiskey glass.

“Is that good or bad?” I ask.

“It’s good, brother. You seem to take to him like a duck to water.”

“He’s a good kid. Easy.”

“Nah,” he says. “It’s more than that. After our conversation the other night, I got the distinct impression that you didn’t think you were father material. That’s what you’ll have to be if you want to be with Maizie, you know?”

I nod. “I know.”

“And you’ve worked out the bullshit that was in your head?”

“You mean my shitty childhood and worrying that I was too much like my old man to be trusted with a woman as spectacular as Maizie and her kid?”

Knox arches his brow. “Yeah, that shit.”

I chuckle. “I won’t lie and say the thought of turning out to be anything like my old man doesn’t scare me. I think any sane man would be worried about that. But I’m not going to let it stand in my way anymore. She’s scared, though.”

He nods with a thoughtful look on his face. “That’s understandable. She’s been doing it on her own for a long time. As far as I know, Colby’s dad has never been in the picture. When she came back to town, she refused to tell anyone who it was. He must have been a real piece of shit.”

The idea that any man would let her go, especially at such a vulnerable time, skyrockets my blood pressure.

I take a calming breath before continuing. “It’s more than that, though. She’s worried about her job. And she’s worried that if things don’t work out, I’ll ditch her kid, too.

“Well, to her first point, that’s crazy. She’s the best damn bartender we’ve ever had. Ozzy was just talking about giving her a raise. Hell, I think if anything were to go south between you two, he’s more likely to strip your patch than fire her,” he says, chuckling at his own joke.

“You’re probably not that far off, brother,” I grumble as I sip from my rocks glass.

“And to her second point. Would you stop being a part of Colby’s life if it didn’t work out between you guys?”

“Fuck no,” I reply. “One, he’s a great kid.

I’d never ditch him or his mom if she decided she didn’t want to be with me.

Because that’s what it would take. Her bailing on me.

This isn’t some flash in the pan for me.

I’ve never been the love ’em and leave ’em type.

Shit, I’ve never been the love ’em at all type. ”

“You saying you love her?”

“I’m saying that I’m sick of not spending every night with her. I’m sick of leaving her house with my dog in the truck to go back to the clubhouse because my place isn’t in her bed. Yet.”

Knox’s brows lift in surprise and maybe a little shock. “Damn, Wyatt. You’re coming in a little hot. You sure you’re ready for that?”

“Brother,” I say, looking him dead in the eye, “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”