“I think we should get you into bed before you fall down.” I take Kai’s hand. “Let’s go home.”
“Okay,” he says, then taps Smoke on the shoulder. “We got a nine-foot bed so we can all sleep together and make babies in it.”
Smoke shakes his head with laughter. “I got a seven-foot bed, and sometimes I can’t find Quinn in it for all the pets that hop on during the night.”
“Come on,” Garrett says, slipping his arm around Kai’s waist. “Sooner you stop talking, sooner we’re tucked up in it.”
Garrett winces. He’s still not fully healed, but he doesn’t look to be in as much pain as he has been.
Kai sees Wraith holding the door open for us. “I’m gonna have a baby, like you. We’ll be fucking twins.”
Wraith laughs. “Pretty sure that’s not how biology works but enjoy the practice.” He looks at me, his face softening, a little. “Night, Isla.”
We manage to get Kai into the truck and get his seatbelt on.
“Did I tell you that you have the prettiest earlobe?” he asks, touching it.
“You did not,” I reply.
He makes a chomping gesture with his teeth. “Just want to bite and nibble it.”
Garrett starts the engine, and Kai clutches my hand between both of his.
But he’s snoring before we make it to the clubhouse gate.
“You did good tonight,” Garrett murmurs.
“So did you,” I reply.
Things…softened…tonight. Eased. I can’t explain it.
But when we roll into bed and I curl up between them, I realize it’s the first time in a long time that I haven’t fallen asleep while bracing for impact.
33
ISLA
Two days later, Kai leaves the house before the sun is properly up. The house is still cast in that blue-gray quiet that makes everything peaceful. I wake just enough to feel him lean over me and press his mouth to mine, then feel him do the same to Garrett.
Then, I’m falling back to sleep as the bedroom door clicks.
When I wake again, I’m alone in bed.
I know Garrett is mad that he can’t go with the club. They’re riding out to visit the Cedar City Outlaws. It’s a seven-hour ride, something Garrett just can’t handle with his ribs.
Kai didn’t offer to stay home, and I understand why. He has a job to do. He’s the club enforcer. If he doesn’t go, it sets the tone that these things are optional, which they most definitely aren’t.
And while Garrett didn’t ask him to stay home because he gets that, he’s pissed and grumpy about it.
I slip on one of Garrett’s huge hoodies and wander down the stairs. He’s standing barefoot on the kitchen tiles, coffee in one hand and his helmet on the counter beside him. His hair is still damp, curling at the nape of his neck. He must have showeredin one of the other bathrooms and not the en suite, as he didn’t wake me up.
Most of all, he looks steadier, more like himself than he has since the accident.
“Morning, sweetie,” I say, placing my face into the bouquet of flowers they got me to celebrate the success I’m having with my videos about the house renovation. They’re all white, and beautifully arranged in a pretty vase, but the thing I love most is how sweet they smell.
The corners of his lips lift in a smile. “Not sure I’ll get used to getting called sweet things by you.”
“You like it?”
