Pres gets up from his seat, and Bear motions for me to follow him. I slowly get up from my chair, dread seeping through me. If Bear weren’t holding my hand, I would run.
“Both of you take a seat,” Pres says as we walk into his office.
Bear and I sit, and Pres shuts the door. I look down at my hands, feeling uncomfortable already.
“Bear, start explaining,” Pres says.
I look over at Bear, who already has his eyes on me. He takes a breath in.
“I didn’t tell Brooke that I bought her phone, and she got mad. She slapped me while we were having a heated conversation, and some of the brothers saw. I couldn’t have her disrespecting me in front of them, so I brought her to my room and sternly told her that. We are okay now,” Bear says.
I am glad he didn’t mention that I cried after he talked to me in his room. That would have been even more embarrassing.
“Brooke, I told you to be calm about it, and you disobeyed me,” Pres says, sternly.
I shrink in my chair. Looking back on what I did, I regret it. It was in the heat of the moment, and my first thought was to slap him and run from my problems.
Now I feel the same way I did when Bear talked to me yesterday. I start playing with my hands, trying to distract myself.
“Pres, I didn’t want to mention this for Brooke’s sake. I believe it’s because of her past, but I’m not quite sure. After I spoke to her in the same tone you just did, she completely broke down. I’m just askin’ if you can talk to her without that tone of voice,” Bear explains gently.
I look up at Bear, my eyes watering slightly. No one has ever stood up for me the way he just did. All my emotions are a mess right now, and the slightest reaction could honestly leave me collapsing in tears.
I was emotional before the incident happened, but I had to toughen up when we went through the trial. I have tried to be strong for so long, but I am finally cracking and becoming weak.
Bear takes my hands, rubbing his thumb across the back of them.
“Fine, but I don’t want this happenin’ again. Keep it private. I don’t need drama going around the whole club,” Pres says.
“Sounds good. Can we go eat breakfast now?” Bear asks.
“Yeah.”
Bear stands and helps me up from my seat. He opens the door and lets me out first. We make our way back into the kitchen, where Cindy and Gears are still sitting.
“How did it go?” Gears asks.
“Good,” Bear responds.
Cindy gives me a small smile before getting up. She leaves the kitchen, and I look over to Bear, who grabs my bagel and starts to spread cream cheese on it.
“Ready for work today?” Gear asks.
With Gears sitting next to me, I shrug in response. I am ready to get my hands on some cars, but my body is still emotionally drained from yesterday.
“Today is a fairly light day. You just have to change tires on a couple of cars, and then work in the bar. Most of the stuff I pushed back since the customers were people from the club,” Gears explains.
I nod in appreciation. There are still tires to be changed, which is going to be physically tiring, but in comparison to the past week, I am happy with the lighter workday. A lot of civilians needed work over the past couple of weeks.
Bear slides my bagel in front of me, picks me up, sits in my chair, and places me on top of him. Immediately, my face heats up. This is so embarrassing to sit on his lap in front of Gears and all the other bikers.
I look at my food to try and hide my face. Gears starts to laugh, and I shrink further down. Bear wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him.
“Stop making her feel embarrassed,” Bear says.
Gears quiets, and I slowly look up. Big mistake. All the bikers in the living room and kitchen are currently looking at Bear andme. I try to get out of Bear’s lap, but he holds me tightly, not letting me go.
“Don’t you guys have better things to do than look at me and my girl?” Bear yells.
