“I bet,” King responds with his mouth twitching.
“What’s that mean?”
“When he found out that you were the last shop that we worked with, he let it be known that with him we would find the work was better and not made with shoddy materials.”
“That fucking asshole,” I grumble.
King laughs. “That was my reaction.”
“It was?” I ask, more than a little surprised. I mean, he didn’t know me or Prime that well. I would have understood if King believed his snide remark about me—especially since I cut the club off the way I have.
“Yeah, though to be fair I also didn’t like the way his eyes kept moving to my woman’s tits. So, I may have thought that when he tried to make you look bad, but my fist busting his nose had more to do with him eyeballing my woman,” King replies.
My mouth falls open in shock and then I laugh. I do it in a way that I haven’t since … since my night with Hunter. It felt great. It also made me realize that I wouldn’t mind working with King. “I’ll pay you if you have pictures of that,” I mutter.
“Sorry, Gabby was too busy making sure I didn’t kill him to take snapshots.”
“That’s a shame,” I mourn, wishing he did.
King laughs and it makes his eyes twinkle. Yeah, Gabby definitely traded up. My gaze moves to Skull and Torch who are smirking, obviously already aware of King’s run in with Prime. That’s when it hits me. I’ve missed these two just as much—probably more—than they’ve missed me.
I let out a sigh. “I’ll be finished with Grifter’s first project this week. I’ll squeeze one of yours in before I take on the truck that he wants me to paint. After that, you can come over and we’ll go through your projects and try to pencil in some days when I can take them on. Will that work?”
“Fuck, yeah,” King says, his beautiful lips spreading into a smile that makes his eyes light up. Yeah, Gabby definitely traded up.
“That’s my girl,” Skull says, wrapping his arm around me, hauling me to his side so that he’s hugging me. Then, I’m in the middle of him and Torch—who incidentally, also puts his arm around my shoulders—as the three of us face King.Yeah, I’ve missed these guys.
“I do have a couple of requests, though.”
“You name it,” King says at once.
“I don’t want BB to be on my property. That’s my decision and one I don’t make lightly. I’d prefer to deal with you three, Apex, Spider, or Crash and that’s only because I know them. If you need to send others, I’d prefer one of you guys be with them, just until I get to know them.”
“You got it, sweetheart,” Skull says. His voice is soft, and his gaze holds mine. When I look into his eyes, my heart nearly stops. It’s written all over his face.
Oh, shit. He knows.He knows.
“Dad. He told …”
Skull takes me in his arms. I hate it because I know he can feel me trembling. “Beau, stop. Your dad would never betray you. He told me as he was dying. He wanted me to watch out for you. I’ve failed in that recently, too. Still, it’s only me and Torch that know. That shit will go no further. We haven’t told King. He’s accepted that what we know is yours and only yours to give. There’s no reason for anyone else to be aware of it anyway. I’m here and Iwillwatch out for you.”
“I’m fine,” I semi-lie. I’m a lot better than I used to be, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be plain old fine again. My gaze shoots to Torch. “Don’t you tellhim.If you do, I’ll gut you like a fish and you know that I’ve been taught how to do that, Torch.”
“I won’t say a fucking thing,” Torch says, his face stern. “I will confess that I will be getting the entire story of what went down with you two from that asshole son of mine, but I will never tell him anything about you, Beau. I haven’t even told Katie, and I never will. Like Skull said, it’s not mine to give.”
I take a deep breath, proud that I kept any and all tears from falling. I turn back to King. “Have the guys bring over the first project you want worked on. You can call me once it’s delivered if you want something specific,” I tell him.
“Skull indicated that you normally look at the bike and go wild. So, since this is a build that we’re selling, just have at it, Beau.”
I laugh. “I can do that.”
“Good,” he says.
When Skull and Torch give me a squeeze something settles inside me. I hated cutting ties with the club. I’m glad that’s fixed now. I just hope I don’t regret it.
Chapter 2
BB
