"Party pooper."
Sonny laughed again. "Whatever." I could hear Trip talking over the other end of the line. "Are you at Dex's?"
"Nope, I'm at the bar waitingforhim."
Ugh. This was even after I expressed to him how much I didn’t want to go to Mayhem after he’d embarrassed me in front of the MC men a few days ago.
There was more of Trip's voice on the other end of the line. "You know why no one's answering the phone then?"
That. The reason why Dex had brought us over to Mayhem instead of going back to his place. "They caught the bartender that's been stealing from the Club," I relayed the information Dex had told me before we'd left Pins.
Sonny huffed on the other end of the receiver, repeating what I said to his friend. "Who did it?"
"I think I heard them call him Rocco before they took him upstairs."
Before I’d stood there incapacitated, wondering what in the ever-loving world was going on with my boss.
Dex had calmly looked over at me then, with the thief just a few feet behind him. He’d swept a hand over my hair and, in a voice much louder than he normally used, murmured, “Baby, wait for me upstairs, will you?” And then he ran his hand over my hair again.
I—I just stood there. Shocked, stunned, flabbergasted, whatever. All of those things. Because...I mean, he’dasked. And he’d been affectionate in front of the other Widows, who were looking like they’d just discovered the wheel.
By the time I’d absorbed those ten seconds of my life, Dex had disappeared upstairs along with the poor moron that had stolen from the club.The guy hadn't even batted an eyelash when Dex, Luther, and four of the bikers in the bar escorted himto the offices.
I really didn't think that they'd kill him or beat the crap out of him, but maybe I was being naive. As long as no one started screaming from the office, then it was probably fine, right?
"It would be fucking Rocco," Sonny noted. "Look, I'm gonna get going. We want to make it to Sacramento early tomorrow. Call me if you need anything, okay?"
"Okay."
Trip said something on the other end that made Sonny laugh again. "Trip says hi."
"Tell him I said hi back." I sighed. "Love you, Son."
It was impossible not to miss the smile in his voice. "Love you too, kid."
Oh boy. That conversation hadn't exactly gone the way I'd expected it to. Now that I thought about it, the last two conversations I'd had with Sonny had been disturbing. We should probably stick to text messaging from now on.
I wonder if I could get by communicating with Dex by only texting too?
Ugh, I was such a coward.
My half-assed attempt at going back to Sonny's had been theleast hearted thing ever. What it came down to was, did I like staying withThe Dick? Yes. Did I like him? That was the problem. I liked him too much. He was a member of the Widowmakers, kind of a half-assed one, but a member nonetheless. I was just me. Tattoo-less. Homeless. Poor. Untalented.
Yeah. I was definitely throwing myself a pity party.Yia-yiawould be rolling in her grave if she knew.
When was the last time I'd felt so little for myself? I'd always been tattoo-less, homeless, poor and untalented, so why did it matter all of a sudden? I was alive and healthy, and most of the time that was all I wanted. Genuinely, it was all I needed. Yet here I was, giving myself pathetic reasons why I should stay away from Dex.
An ex-felon with a temper that owned his own shop. Talented, employed, a homeowner and tatted. My antithesis.
But he was kind, thoughtful and caring when he wanted to be. And he'd never let me down, if you didn't count the night he left me alone at his house, which I wasn't.
I could hear my mom saying, "You could do much worse, Ris."
What was the worst that would happen?
I'd end up like my mom.
Shit.
