Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Clearly, he’d seen some nasty shit.
“It ain’t all bad,” Perish said. “Loved me having nursemaids while I was recovering.”
“Hey, Zima,” I said as the dog made her way over to me, sniffing, likely wondering what all the blood was about. “I’m alright, girl,” I assured her, rubbing her head.
“She calmed your girl down real fast,” Perish said.
“Did you?” I asked Zima, giving her more scratches. “You gonna be her therapy dog, huh? I won’t mind that if you let me in the bed too.”
She sniffed at that.
“So, where are you looking for a house?” Valen asked.
“What?”
“That’s the next step,” he said, giving me a knowing look. “How much room you gonna need? She want a bunch of kids?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, suddenly realizing that there were a lot of details I didn’t know about Bonnie yet. Hell, I actually didn’t even know her last name. “She would want a craft room. And a nice yard for the dog. Dogs,” I clarified. “You’re definitely going to have siblings eventually,” I told Zima.
“Market is shit right now. But I’ll keep an eye out for signs,” Valen said as Dezi and Callow cleaned up the mess.
“Might be getting ahead of things,” I said.
“Yeah?” Nave asked. “‘Cause the way I see it, you two got a dog. And her place doesn’t allow dogs.”
That was… true.
“Well, we have the clubhouse for the time being.” Even as I said it, though, I knew it couldn’t last long. She wouldn’t want to be without her dog. But she would also have a hard time being away from all her little craft supplies, books, and creature comforts at her place. As big as the clubhouse was, there wasn’t room enough for her to move all that stuff in.
Maybe we were closer to a house than I realized.
“Kinda jarring how fast it happens, right?” Dezi asked, nodding. “Next thing you know, you’ll have two pygmy goats and a mini house cow…”
“That’s just a you thing, man,” Fallon said, shaking his head.
“You want any pain meds?” Dezi asked. “Think I still have some laying around.”
“I’m alright,” I said.
“Drink then,” Nave said, going behind the bar.
“That, I won’t turn down.”
I wondered what the girls were talking about, how Bonnie was handling things. I got the impression that Courtney was a bit of a larger-than-life personality. And it was easy for people like that—people like me—to bulldoze over someone with a more timid disposition. Without meaning to, for sure. But often without even realizing.
That said, I couldn’t step in, even if I wanted to. Bonnie could handle it. She was already coming out of her shell more, getting more comfortable around others.
I had a drink with Nave.
Then a second.
It was Zima’s whining and scratching at my bedroom door that finally had the two women emerging.
“Gird your loins,” Nave whispered as he raised his glass for a drink.
“Alright. I hear I am getting a personal protection detail,” Courtney declared, looking around. “Which one of you is watching my ass?” she said. “Ooh, two for one,” she decided, gaze landing on the twins.
“Courtney,” Bonnie said. “Behave.”
“Behave? In a clubhouse full of hot guys? I think not. Okay. Show me where we’re all sleeping,” she demanded, sliding her arms through Rune’s and Croft’s arms.
“I’m sorry in advance,” Bonnie called to them, but got matching dimpled smiles in response. “Hey,” she said, looking over at me.
“Wanna go talk in the room?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said, looking relieved to get a few minutes alone with me.
“Want to eat cold tacos too?” I asked, lifting one of the bags that Fallon had brought in from the SUV ‘before it becomes a forgotten science experiment.’ Sometimes, the dad in him really shone through.
“Okay,” she agreed, looking suddenly worn out.
Talking.
Food.
Sleep.
But, hey, if she wanted to slip some fucking in there too, I was game. Shoulder be damned.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Bonnie
“Why aren’t you freaking out?” I asked once I got through most of the basics of the situation.
“I get that you’re new to Navesink Bank,” Courtney said from her position on the chair. “But I’m a lifer here. And everyone from around here knows a few things. Like… the local bar is run by a loan shark family. The local fancy Italian place and a string of pizza joints are owned by the mafia. And this building with its cool-ass glass room on the roof? That belongs to the bikers.”
“But you knew what kind of bikers?”
“They don’t exactly hide their one-percenter status. They have a patch on their little vests.”
“Cuts,” I corrected automatically.
“Look at you with the lingo,” Courtney said, smiling. “I never imagined you with a biker. Let alone an outlaw biker. But now that I see you with Sully, it oddly fits.”
“He made a craft night for me,” I confessed.
“That’s adorable.”
“And he made me a bracelet,” I told her, holding up my wrist.