“You do not,” I say.
“You’re being kind. But I’m going to get changed.”
Kai opens one eye. “Come back wearing nothing but one of Garrett’s T-shirts.”
The cutest stain of pink touches her cheeks. “Five minutes,” she says.
“If you’re wearing just my T-shirt, you’d better bring the condoms with you,” I add.
Kai grins. “And the lube from my bedside table if you want us to use it.”
I guess being around Isla is bringing out a different side to him. In some ways, I thought he would be the same with Isla that he is with me, but their dynamic is going to be different to ours.
What he has with me has been forged over years of knowing exactly how hard to hold on to me. With Isla, there’s more room for being softer, for stepping forward as opposed to being pulled in. Different dynamics with love at the center, and it settles something in me that I can’t give a name to.
Yet, strangely, I’m not jealous, because I treat Isla differently to Kai. With Kai, I know he can withstand all that I am and not worry about breaking anything. With Isla, I slow down more and want to uncover her softness…or maybe give her a safe place to let it grow.
She heads down the hall, and I watch the sway of her hips as she goes. I don’t look away when Kai sees me staring. He simply raises an eyebrow and chuckles.
“Is she okay?” I ask.
He nods, scrubbing a hand over his stubble. “Shaken. Pissed, maybe. Don’t think the Karlie thing helped. She saw the two of us making out. I think it’s time for us to tell the club, because Karlie’s got a fucking mouth on her, and even though I threatened her, I think she might spill.”
There’s a quiet stretch where I think about what Kai suggested. I shift a little on the sofa, testing my ribs, my shoulder. Everything still aches, but I think I could manage a truck ride.
Then, I think about the thing I’m avoiding. “My experience of coming out has never been like yours. I’m happy with who I amand accept it fully, but, fuck, the horror of telling the world and the world not…”
I let the words run off.
He reaches for my calf and squeezes it. “I’m ready to let the club surprise us with their response. I’ll stand by your side, unwavering in my acceptance of who you are. They don’t like it, we roll.”
I look around at the living room in the house we just bought, but I’m already falling in love with. “What if I don’t want to leave here?”
“Then, we retire our cuts, invest in some laser work for our club ink, and live a fucking good life. We get jobs. Mechanics. Or we start our own shop just over the border of the town limits so we don’t piss Grudge off.”
While laser is preferable to the way Paltrow lost his ink with a blowtorch, it still doesn’t sound like my idea of fun and I wouldn’t want Kai to have to go through that. “You’d quit. For this place?”
Kai shakes his head. “No. I’d quit for you.”
“Come here,” I instruct.
Kai huffs playfully as he moves closer to let me kiss him. Both of us sigh, breath against each other’s lips.
“We’ll go to the clubhouse and we’ll tell them,” I say. “But can we wait a few more days? I need to get my head straight about it, and I want to feel physically stronger when I do it.”
Kai nods. “Whatever you need. I’m excited.”
“I’m scared shitless.”
He touches my face. “Whatever happens, we’ll still be together at the end of the day. And that’s enough for me.”
Together.
It’s one of the only words that can ease my racing pulse.
“So, we tell them all of it,” I say. “You and me. Isla. Why you suspended Karlie for a month.”
Kai shrugs. “Might take some heat for that, given Isla isn’t officially our old lady.”
