“Don’t know that either. Do me a favor, yeah? Keep to the clubhouse for a few days. You and Reese can go out to the pool, but don’t leave the vicinity of the main building. Just until we know more.”
I nodded several times. “Sure, I can do that.”
“Church!” I heard bellowed from another room.
“I gotta go, darlin’.” He gave me a quick kiss on the lips and then he was gone.
I still hadn’t seen Reese. It was really hard for me to not go looking for her. I had to keep reminding myself what Carbon said. Still, I was worried about my friend, I was worried about Duke, and I was worried about my own situation.
Nothing better than a distraction in times like these. I set to work on making an outstanding dinner for everyone. It took me several hours, but it was worth it. By the time I finished cleaning the kitchen and putting everything back to rights, I was exhausted. I made it to my room, flopped face down on my bed, and promptly passed out.
***
The next few days passed by very much the same. Reese came back to our room, but she was like a zombie. She hardly said anything, barely ate, and she wandered around the clubhouse aimlessly. I was seriously worried about her and at a loss as to what to do. I approached Carbon about her again, but he assured me she would be fine and to just let her be.
There was also a new girl around the clubhouse, Duke’s sister, Harper. She was rarely at the clubhouse, or rather, I rarely saw her at the clubhouse. I assumed she was spending most of her time at the hospital with Duke.
I was beginning to go a little stir crazy. The bikers were always busy, including Dash. Phoenix was either at the hospital or holed up in his office with strict orders not to disturb him. Reese was lost in her head. Cooking for the club turned out not to be as much of a time-filler as I had originally thought. So there I was, bored, a little frightened, and very lonely.
It was getting late, dinner had been served, so I decided to go outside and read by the pool. Reese had brought some books she called trashy romance novels. I found the books not only entertaining, but for me, quite educational. I wasn’t against having a sexual relationship with a man nor was I afraid of one, I just didn’t know much about sex, other than insert part A into part B. Honestly, I hadn’t given much thought to relations with the opposite sex until I met Dash. I was using Reese’s books to learn as much as I could about sex, sometimes skipping ahead to just the intimate scenes. Even though I couldn’t get enough of the books and I was learning a lot, I still didn’t want anyone to know what I was reading or why I was reading it. So when Dash crept up behind me and yanked the book out of my hands, I had a freak out of epic proportions.
“Give me that back, right now!” I screeched.
“What if I want to read it, too?” the sarcastic little turd asked.
“Then get your own copy.” I continued to jump around like an idiot trying to grab it from him while he effortlessly held it out of my reach. Then, I promptly swept his legs out from under him, pinned him to the ground, and snatched the book from his thieving hands.
“Are we done here?” I glared at him.
“Nope. I wanted to take you out to the lake.”
“I thought you said I needed to stay close to the clubhouse.”
“You do unless you’re with an officer of the club and I just happen to be one of those.”
“How convenient,” I rolled my eyes.
“Shut it. Let me up so we can go.”
“Fine.” I was going for indifference, but on the inside, I was jumping up and down while rapidly clapping my hands. I truly enjoyed spending time with Dash and I really, really wanted him to kiss me again.
When we got to the lake, there was a little canoe on the shore. “Where did that come from?”
He pointed to a shed just inside the tree line. “I think it belonged to Phoenix’s grandparents. I’ve never seen anybody use it in the years that I have been here.”
“Are you sure that it floats?”
He smiled proudly, “Yes, I am. I made the prospects row it across the lake and back earlier today.”
I giggled, “That’s just mean.”
“Not really. Stuff like that teaches them loyalty. If they want to be a part of this club, they have to be willing to risk their lives for any of the brothers. Testing out a canoe is nothing in comparison.”
“Okay then.” They were all about the brotherhood and I just didn’t get it. Maybe if I had grown up with a family and friends, I would understand, but I hadn’t. This large group of men who would apparently die for one another because they belonged to the same organization just didn’t make much sense to me.
He gestured toward the canoe, “Get in. I’ll push it off and hop in.” Moments later we were floating in the middle of the lake, watching a magnificent sunset.
Once it started to get dark, Dash pulled out a blanket I hadn’t noticed before and spread it along the bottom of the boat. He lay down on top of it and held his hand out to me, “Come down here. It’s easier to look at the stars lying down.”
