“Fucking hell.” I run a hand through my hair and then wrap the other arm around her shoulders, tugging her to me. “I never thought I’d have this conversation with you. I’m so unprepared.”
“Off-the-cuff conversations are the best kind,” she muses as we start to walk again. “They’re honest.”
Her hand rests against my chest, rubbing gently with each step she takes. It feels as natural as if we’ve done this for years. As though she never went away, and my teenage dreams came true: she was mine all along.
I lift my hand and trap hers to me. “I like the feel of your hands on me. Reminds me you’re real and you really did come back.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t?” She seems confused.
“It crossed my mind.” Also, thought it might be a blessing in disguise that Kyra had gone away.
She never had to see the man I’ve become. Never witnessed the rough years when we took over from our fathers. Never had to endure my darker times while I came to terms with my condition.
Things have a way of working themselves out right, even if we can’t see it at the time.
“Come on.” I start us toward the house again. “Best we get this interrogation over and done with so I can get you settled for the night.”
“You make me sound like a stray dog.” She laughs.
“I won’t complain if you want to curl up in my bed.”
She doesn’t get a chance to answer; Flinch already rises from his seat after he spots us approaching the steps. “You’ve finally returned.”
“Where’s Circus?” Chaos is on his way to Vanessa’s, Fang rides with him to return here, and Crow is in the clink.
Flinch nods toward the timber meat safe in the backyard. “Busy with Loki.”Right.Pits.
Best I keep Kyra from wandering too far while she’s here, then. She might just change her mind about how much of a necessary evil we are.
“Who have we got here?” Flinch looks toward Kyra with a friendly smile.
“None of your business,” I answer.
I get an elbow in my side and a muttered, “Don’t be so rude.” She strides right up the steps to the man and offers her hand. “Kyra. And you are?”
“Flinch.” He takes her hand in both of his rather than shaking it. “The club’s chaplain. I’m the man you find if you ever need to talk.”
“She doesn’t need to talk to you,” I grumble, walking past the pair. “Come on, Kyra. I’ll get you settled.”
Sips watches the whole interaction with quiet interest, yet enough smarts to know it’s not his place to ask any questions about an officer’s affairs.
The place is quiet, those who’re still awake being respectful of the ones who’ve already turned in. We don’t have too many in-house members—a handful at best. Another lesson learned from our fathers’ time, when there’d be more bodies than beds and the complications that came with that.
The majority of our membership now choose to live off-site, many holding down regular jobs during the week.
“There are a couple of spare rooms to choose from,” I tell her as we ascend the stairs. “I’ll let you pick where you feel comfortable.”
“Which room is yours?”
I gesture to the one on the left of the bathroom at the head of the stairs.
“I pick that one, then.” She helps herself to my space, pushing the door open to step inside.
I hesitate a second before I follow her in, mentally double-checking that I closed the fucking laptop before I left. “You want to kick me out of my own bed, huh?”
“I didn’t say that.” She crosses to the window and leans her hands on the sill to take in the view. “I just think it’d be better for me to stay close to you rather than on my own in this place, right?”
“Nobody would bother you.”
