Between Brothers: The Sacred Brotherhood Book IV Page 8

  I took them with mine and padded barefoot across the cold cement to toss them in and to start the dryer. When I turned around, the rain raged harder, roaring against the roof, and my lights flickered.

  “Ooooh, please don’t go out!” I pleaded, “I want your clothes dry and warm.” I shivered and Blue stood up, coming to me. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me close, rubbing his hands up and down my arms to generate a warm friction.

  “Not how I pictured our evening ending,” he said with a wry smirk, “but I’ll take it.”

  I smiled and blushed a little, telling him the honest truth. “I’ve had fun.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  We were quiet a moment and he said, “It’s freezing down here.”

  “Yeah, the cement’s cold. I can turn up the heat but it takes a while.”

  “Can we go up there?” he asked and I swallowed hard.

  “Sure, but… um…”

  “Your virtue’s safe until you don’t want it to be… I’m not like that.”

  Hot color flooded my cheeks and I closed my eyes briefly. “I didn’t mean it like that,” I said.

  He rubbed my shoulders lightly and said, “I know…”

  “I feel like you think that I think the worst of you.”

  “Citizen’s usually do. It’s become a habit just thinking everyone thinks the worst. I’m sorry if I made you feel that way, though. I know you’re different.”

  I looked up at him sharply and said “I am?”

  “You are. I think that’s what drew me to you in the first place.”

  I stepped back and took his hand, leading him around to the ladder to my loft. He followed me and I snapped off the track lighting that hung above my work tables, which were empty of any current projects. He let me go first up into the loft and when I reached the top, I flipped the switch on the wall to light the strands of Christmas lights along the beams. I stood by self-consciously while he stood up, head stooped from the low ceiling and took my sleeping arrangements in.

  His eyes widened at the little bits of origami of his hanging like a canopy from the ceiling over the bed and I didn’t say anything. I was waiting for him to say something first.

  “You kept all of them?”

  “Of course I did.”

  “They mean this much to you?”

  “Of course they do.”

  I went to the bed and dropped onto the corner. Blue came over and dropped down beside me, staring up at the dangling bits of folded paper almost awestruck.

  “I love them,” I confessed, hugging my knees, “I love all of them. They’re beautiful and the highlight of my day.”

  Chapter 8

  Blue

  “So, did you hit it?” were the first words out of Cell’s mouth when I walked through my hou- bedroom’s door. It’s not a cell, it’s not a house, you’re not in prison; I reminded myself for the thousandth time.

  I scowled at him and he raised an eyebrow, “Seriously, did you hit it?”

  “On the first date?”

  “Why the fuck not, you pussy!?”

  I shook my head, “You really have no idea how regular people work, do you?”

  It was his turn to scowl, “I’m not regular fuckin’ people.” That was the truth. “Well that’s fuckin’ irritating as shit. I was hoping to hit that come my turn.”

  “Slow,” I reminded him and he rolled his eyes.

  “So what did you do? You at least round second base, Junior? Seriously. Give it up!” I shook my head and turned around, irritated with him. “Aw, come on!” he cried after me but I shut the door on his smug look and went out back, trudging across the wet grass to the one person I found I could talk to that would actually give a damn about how I felt, who would listen and be happy with me.

  I tried the smaller side door into Dani’s shop and found it unlocked, which it always was. When I opened it up, hot air wafted out to greet me. Red looked up from his phone from the small table and two chairs set up in the corner for visitors. He had a six pack of beer next to him, the amber glass sweating, one of the bottles open and three-quarters empty by his elbow.

  Dani looked up from her workbench and over, her eyes magnified comically behind a pair of those square jewelers goggles. She set down her tools and pulled the apparatus off, cocking her head wordlessly to the side, communicating with a look, asking what was wrong.

  I smiled and shook my head slightly and her smile lit up the world. I turned back to Thirteen who was grinning.

  “Heard you had a hot date with that little waitress you been pining over, I take it by the smile it went well?” I nodded and blushed slightly and Thirteen plucked a beer out of the six pack and held it out to me. “Congratulations, brother!”

  I took the offered beer and twisted off the cap. He kicked the chair opposite him out from the table and I dropped into it, the buckle on my jacket rattling and clacking against the arm of it.

  Dani stood and gracefully stepped across the cracked cement floor, lowering herself into Thirteen’s lap. His arms wound protectively around her trim waist and I smiled a little bigger. I was happy for her, and for him, but I had to admit it to myself… before Hayley and even still, I held a little bit of a torch for Dani Broussard. If the stars aligned and I were allowed, I would go there.

  Dani put her hands over Thirteens and smiled before saying, “Tell me everything,” and I shifted a bit uncomfortably. She raised an eyebrow and gave me a secret little smile and I huffed a laugh. She was going to make me do it. She was going to make me talk in front of Thirteen.

  Thirteen laughed a little and said, “’S’all right, man. Your secrets are safe with me. That’s how this brotherhood and club business is supposed to go.”

  I nodded. Things hadn’t exactly worked that way at the old chapter and this chapter, it still took some getting used to that it worked exactly how I imagined these things were supposed to work when I first went in to prospect with that first chapter. They’d talked a good game, but they hadn’t exactly walked the walk. Not like these guys did.

  “I took her to Soul Fuel for that live music thing that Red and Em started up…”

  “And?”

  And I told them, all of it… I even told them about how she’d saved every bit of origami I’d ever folded for her. They celebrated with me, and I felt good about the time I’d spent with her. By the time I finished a couple of the beers and the conversation, I felt good, relaxed and ready to take on the ration of shit that Cell was likely going to have waiting for me for walking out on him.

  I went back to my room and sure enough, Cell was waiting, the blue light of my flickering TV casting shadows and highlights across his face. The expression he wore gauging and calculating. He raised his eyebrows and said nothing, and the worry and apprehension evaporated. He genuinely wanted to hear how the night had gone. No more jibes, no more fucking around.

  “Seriously, you gonna make me ask?”

  I nodded, and he rolled his eyes but moved over so I could drop onto the edge of the bed and get out of my still-damp boots.

  “Fine, this is me being totally serious. How’d it go and how far did it go?”

  I leaned back against the headboard and put my feet up before I answered him, then I thought about how to answer, seeing as I just gave the full story to Dani and Thirteen. Still, spin was important when it came to Cell, mostly to make sure he kept himself reigned in.

  “It fucking dumped on us on the ride back to her place.”

  “Nice, that lead to some hot and heavy?”

  “Some, but honestly, it didn’t go any further than making out like a couple of teenagers for a few hours.”

  Actually, what it’d led to was one of the deepest, most perfect moments of sharing I’d ever experienced. It’d led to us laying in her bed, the blankets up around us, getting warm again and being close; talking into the night. It’d led to her fingertips tracing over my skin in these light, torturous touches. Picking out the scar along my ri
bs that I’d earned in a fight with a couple of the Suicide Kings, this rival club that’d caused trouble for this chapter and one of the reasons Cell and I had relocated here.

  It’d needed stitches, and Cell had done a pretty decent job of ‘em. We’d taken care of ourselves back then. Still new to this chapter, our old chapter gone to hell and gone. Wiped out by their own greed and dirty dealings. Crossing the mob was a bad idea, but they’d done it, hell, we’d done it. It was why we we’d barely survived being on the inside. Our colors having made us a target.

  There was no such thing as a small crime family, we’d all learned the hard way that small meant doubly or triply as ruthless. We’d been the lucky ones locked up. By the time we got out, the rest of our chapter and the next furthest one north had been wiped out. Facing that reality it was clear that we sure as fuck couldn’t stick around the area.

  We’d reached out to the next nearest chapter and had been told the call had gone out for aide from the mother chapter, that they needed guys. So, we’d gotten our bikes out of storage, got them back up and running, and had ridden out here. Right into the middle of another kind of war… but one we had a distinct advantage in. The Suicide Kings hadn’t required near the level of skill surviving the mob, had.

  I still couldn’t be sure we were totally free and clear on that front, but these guys out here… they had it on lock. We’d left the Bianchi family’s territory; had effectively disappeared, and hadn’t looked back. I think it had been enough. We hadn’t heard or had to deal with anything since, and honestly, didn’t want to have anything to do with it either. Enough time had passed to make us feel secure. That was part of what had taken so long for me to make a move with Hayley.

  “So you mean to tell me after all of that you barely edged down the line towards second base? Jesus fucking Christ, you didn’t give me shit to work with did you?” he complained.

  “Sorry, but getting your dick wet on the first date doesn’t exactly scream longevity to a woman.”

  “Yeah, fuck you and your logic,” he said grumpily.

  “So, you decided where you’re going to take her, or what you’re going to do for your date?”

  “I have some ideas,” he said honestly.

  “Like what?”

  “That’s for me to know and you to find out you closed mouthed bastard.” He grinned. “Two can play at this game.”

  I smiled and shook my head, “She’s the one, Cell. I know it.”

  “Yeah, yeah, we’ll see.”

  I wasn’t a praying man, but I sent one up right then that Cell wouldn’t blow this for us. I guess in the long run it was up to Hayley not to blow it with Cell but there was no way to tell her. I sighed and settled back, focusing on the TV screen.

  “Just don’t fuck this up, please?”

  I didn’t make it a habit of asking Cell of anything, so I think I got his attention. He searched my profile even though I kept my eyes riveted to the TV screen. His went cold and his jaw clenched, like mine was.

  “I fuck this up and you’re gonna make my life hell, ain’t yah?”

  I turned and looked him in the eye and nodded once. He sighed and shook his head and that was the end of the conversation. We both turned our attention back to the TV and dropped the subject for now.

  Chapter 9

  Hayley

  I was nervous. It was Saturday and a week and a day since my date with Blue; and I was waiting at the curb in front of my house for Duracell’s arrival. It was nine o’clock in the morning on the dot, the time he’d asked me to be ready and waiting, and I could hear him coming.

  It was at least sunny between spates of clouds today and the temperature was more autumn like than it had been. He pulled up to the curb in front of me and shut off the bike. He crossed his arms and leaned forward against its gas tank, his eyes unreadable behind his sunglasses. He pulled them off and his eyes were smiling. Some of the apprehension drained from my body and he reached out, smoothing a thumb along my cheek.

  It was the most Blue-like thing he’d ever done, and for a moment, it was like he really saw me.

  “Really want to kiss you hello,” he said and I blushed faintly and smiled, nodding.

  I leaned in and he pressed his lips to mine, warm, and chaste by his standards. Just once, twice, a third time, barely sucking on my bottom lip with absolutely no tongue. It surprised me. He was being very respectful of my boundaries with that one kiss, which knowing him the little bit that I did, respecting boundaries wasn’t exactly Cell’s thing.

  “Hi,” I murmured lamely when he broke the kiss, settling back down onto the seat of his motorcycle.

  He smiled and said, “Been looking forward to this for almost two weeks, you ready?”

  I nodded, “Yeah, I think I am.”

  He grinned, pleased and said, “Good deal. You ride before?”

  “Once, with Blue.”

  “Alright, look at you! Gotta be brave to get on the back of my bike. No joke, I like to go fast and we’re going to have to hit the freeway to get where I want to take you.”

  I nodded and said, “Thanks for the warning.” He dug into the saddle bag on one side of his bike and came up with a helmet.

  “You look good, darlin’,” he said smiling. “I like the pigtails.”

  They weren’t exactly pigtails, but I did have my hair braided on either side of my head to keep my hair from tangling in the wind. Cell had warned me ahead of time that he ‘didn’t do cages.’ I’d had to ask him what a cage was and he’d laughed and said, “A cage is a car in biker speak.”

  He’d also said that he would make an exception if rain were in the forecast, but lucky him, there was only a thirty percent chance, and when I’d gotten up to get ready there hadn’t been gray a cloud in the sky.

  I’d dressed warm, per his request, and climbed onto the back of his motorcycle in sturdy ankle high brown boots with thick, warm, gray wool socks rolled at the top. My jeans fit close to my legs, and I wore a satin and lace camisole against my skin, underneath the heather gray faux angora sweater, I could never afford the real thing. The sweater was long sleeved and long in the torso, coming down over my hips to peek out beneath my leather jacket.

  I’d remembered the close fitting leather driving gloves that had come as a match to my coat, and wore a decorative darker gray scarf around my neck. I’d even added some light makeup to my appearance, a natural look, as I had on my date with Blue.

  I wanted to impress them, and to be honest, I liked dressing well; I just didn’t often have an excuse to do it.

  Cell was dressed much as Blue had been. Comfortable, worn-in jeans over much-used motorcycle boots. He wore a somewhat faded, but comfortable looking maroon tee shirt beneath his equally well-worn leather jacket and cut. His one concession to the chill in the air, a light gray hooded sweatshirt between his jacket and tee.

  He looked good, and when I got onto the motorcycle behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, I could smell him. Clean man with a light, crisp cologne that I would be lying if I said it didn’t rouse my senses.

  “You settled? You good?” he asked and I nodded. “Okay, hold on tight, here we go!” He fired up the bike and I jumped.

  He eased onto my street, but wasn’t joking about going fast, making it to the stop sign at the end of the road in half the time that Blue had. By the time we reached the freeway to go wherever it was he was taking us, I could already tell I much preferred riding with Blue. His handling left me feeling as safe as you could feel on the back of a motorcycle with the pavement rushing past beneath you, but Cell? Cell’s driving made me feel like we were tempting Fate to intervene just a little too much.

  I buried my face against the back of his shoulder and held on for dear life when he switched lanes to take the exit he wanted. He cut between cars with precision, but far too close for comfort and I would be glad when this ride was over. I felt his body shake with laughter at my discomfort, but it didn’t strike me as malicious.

  “Trust me,
baby! We’re good!” he called back, and I believed him, I really did, but riding with him, I felt, would always be an adventure and not necessarily the good kind.

  He took it easier on the country roads and I had an inkling that I knew where we were headed when the signs leading to the haunted corn maze and u-pick pumpkin patch grew in frequency. He turned down a long dirt track and was very careful by comparison when it came to navigating the blacktop. He found a space for us and parked in the dried grass, tapping my leg as Blue had, to let me know I needed to get off.

  I hopped down and immediately went for the chinstrap holding my helmet on, suddenly finding it restrictive. Duracell took the helmet from my hands and stowed it back in his saddlebag, stashing his own next to it. He got up and knelt down, strapping the bag closed and then stood with a satisfied ‘ah.’

  “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked.

  I lied, I smiled as best I could and shook my head as in no; it wasn’t that bad.

  He laughed at me and stepped forward, putting an arms around my shoulders and pulling me in, pressing his lips to my temple and smacking a kiss there. “You’re a terrible liar,” he said next to my ear, following it up with, “I like that.”

  I sort of liked how freely and casually he touched me. As if it were comfortable, and as easy as breathing. He walked with me, arm around me towards the entrance lined in hay bales, and the ticket booth beside it.

  “Put your money away,” he said, “I’ve got this.” He winked at me and I inclined my head, slipping my little wallet back into my pocket, stripping off my gloves and shoving them into the other. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and paid the lady at the folding table under the easy up awning. She stamped our hands with a jack-o-lantern stamp and said, “Have fun!”