He shook his head, gaze catching on Wilder standing a few feet away, his jaw clenched tight as his eyes narrowed in a glare. It took a second before he realized that Wilder was glaring at Kian, or rather, at Kian’s arm around him.
His heart took off at a dizzying speed. Was he a complete idiot for finding that possessiveness hot? Absolutely. Did he care? Not at all. It was already well established that Wilder made him a bumbling, blushing idiot.
He left Kian to get dinner ready and went upstairs to change out of his sweatpants and T-shirt, pulling out the few sets ofclothes he’d brought and laying them out on the bed. He ran his gaze over them while tapping his lips, wondering why his stomach felt like it was tied in knots.
“Blue shirt,” Ezra said, rolling his desk chair closer.
Emmett looked over his shoulder, brow arched at Ezra. “You think?”
Ezra leaned back in his chair, rolling a pencil between his fingers as he glanced at the clothes covering Emmett’s bed. He raised his head, a wicked smile spreading on his lips as he met Emmett’s gaze.
“Unless you don’t want to get laid?”
His mouth dropped open, no words finding him as he flapped his hands at Ezra until he managed to sign,“What?”
Ezra’s eyes were shining with that mischief he knew to expect from him as he tapped the end of the pencil against his temple. “I notice things, babe. Ain’t no reason for you to stay in that man’s bed unless youreallywanted to be there.”
He snapped his mouth shut and dropped his ass onto the bed, a groan pushing past his lips as he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Don’t worry,” Ezra said, a smile playing on his lips. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
That wasn’t reassuring whatsoever.
He arched a brow at Ezra, watching him shrug with that annoying look on his face before he rolled his chair back to his desk.
He turned his attention to the clothes strewn across the bed. His gaze landed on the long-sleeved polo shirt Ezra had pointed out, and a sigh pushed past his lips. Blue it was.
∞ ∞ ∞
He tugged on the sleeve of his shirt, gaze skimming across the room. The short amount of time in which these bikers managed to throw everything together for a party still surprised him.
His gaze caught on a young woman who was standing by the dining table with a glass in one hand, her other arm wrapped around her middle. She wore a maroon dress that hugged all her curves, her honey blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail with a few loose pieces framing her pretty face. He hadn’t seen her before, but he’d recognize that look of anguish on her face anywhere.
He made his way across the room. He was a few feet away when her head jerked toward him, as if he’d caught her by surprise.
He smiled and said, “Hi, I’m Emmett. You new around here, too?”
She shook her head. “I’m Dove. Maddox’s sister.”
“That’s a beautiful name.”
“Thank you.”
She threw him a quick glance, then returned her gaze to a group of the bikers hanging out by the couch. The twins were laughing as Cooper wrapped an arm around Emma, who shot him a warning glare as her left hand lowered to the holster at her thigh. Nicky slapped the back of Cooper’s head, and he let go of Emma before she could pull a knife on the idiot.
Dove cleared her throat, and when Emmett looked back at her, he noticed how her brows flitted together, her lips pursed in what almost looked like anger.
“Are you alright?”
She sighed loudly, a sound that resonated in his soul.
“Men. Why are they such assholes?”
“Couldn’t tell ya. Which one’s yours?”
Dove harrumphed. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? He’s not really mine.”
Why did that sound like something he could’ve said? Why did it make his chest feel impossibly tight all of a sudden?
