I blinked a few times, shaking myself free from the wishful thinking, and darting a quick glance down to make sure those last few thoughts hadn’t made me embarrass myself.
“I’m not gonna ask,” Micro said, his grin a surprise after the stress of earlier today.
“Probably best. Want me to do a coffee run or something? This is boring.”
He laughed, gesturing to my ride, today’s being theBandit.
“You’re gonna balance that shit on your ride? Food is easy, a tray of drinks? You’re insane.”
Yeah. Probably a fair point.
“Besides, the temporary setup is still doing okay.” He gestured to the table with the coffee machine and hot water urn, and a fuckton of mugs, used and clean.
“Yeah.” I grimaced because that stuff was not the kind of coffee I preferred, but that’s the ‘snob’ in me, as has already been pointed out.
“Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks. You made me realise my head was up my ass earlier, and there was a solution to my problem.”
Yeah, the problem I had no idea about. “I mean, I barely did anything, but you’re welcome.”
He grinned again. “No, seriously, you helped. Big time.”
I felt the smirk cross my face, and I know he knew what was coming. A man has to try though, right?
“Big time enough to knock a few weeks off my prospect term?”
“Weeks?” He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, but I already knew the fucker was going to say no, so just say it, right?
“Two weeks?”
He laughed. “One?”
Holy shit, seriously?
“For reals? A week knocked off?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “You helped me and a future brother, man. This is the least I can do.”
“Two would be more effective in thanking me for my service,” I suggested with a laugh, and there was the expected middle finger.
“But one’s great, thanks.”
He nodded and checked the time on his phone. “We’ve got Rocket back in half an hour, so can you hold out ‘til then to get yourself some posh coffee?”
Oh look. I’ve got a middle finger too. He laughed and headed off to check on the brothers moving in. It gave me a real sense of pride and achievement to see my glamping setups here on theclub grounds, helping the club out. Wow. I should have tried for more weeks off my sentence, but maybe I could try that later by getting them to big it up. Not Stag, obviously. I liked the guy, but he had a serious attitude problem and no sense of gratitude.
Glory had never replied to my text, or the two that followed, nor did she answer my call, so by the time I was heading home, I was breaking limits and pushing my luck, because something was clearly wrong.
She wasn’t in the living room, or responding to my voice, so I figured the logical place to look was what she’d started calling my ‘panic room’. It was a man cave, but definitely somewhere she could hide out, and that’s where she was. Curled up asleep on the sofa with a blanket around her, the TV silent, and you know what? I took a moment to be a complete creeper, watching her sleep so soundly, her face rested and at peace. No sign of the anxiety she showed all the damn time.
Of course, waking up to a face leaning over you isn’t that great for anxiety. Or my nose. She punched me as she screamed and scrambled away from me, and I fucking deserved it.
Glory
It took me agood thirty seconds to realise I was safe, and that it wasn’t Sean hovering over me, but it did beg the question, why the hell was Nate leaning over me like that?
“What… why were…”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I was just-”