“Harley’ll be out in a minute to find you. We’ll stay til then.”
I think my heart melted a little more then, at the way he was putting her comfort and safety way up on the priority list, maybe even above me. It wasn’t something I could be jealous of, but something that made me proud of him.
Harley’s appearance was swift, as he helped his lady out of my car, and guided her over to pass Nixie to me. He knew enough about the pup now not to try touching her, but he clearly didn’t want to put Caroline too close to another man either. It was cute, really.
“Rocket-”
“Yeah, it’s okay. It was my bad. You’ve made your apologies, and now it’s my turn. I get it. You care about women, you care about people, and you try your best. I respect you caring about V’s safety, or whatever, but I know she chewed you a new asshole about that already. I find that hot, by the way. I’m a fucked up prick. I’m sorry though. I was… I was hurt, and lashing out. That’s something I do, for your FYI, but I can’t change that. I’ll… I’m trying.” Rocket cleared his throat, and Harley waited.
“If it’s okay, I’ll come back to work tomorrow.”
Harley grinned, and slapped him on the back. “I’ll get the coffees in.”
And that was that. Men fixing an argument that burned in their chests for a whole day and night. Apologies, and back to pretending this shit never happened. For women it’s harder, but I think their way might be better. Drawing a line under things. Moving on. Forgetting the hurt, or putting it far enough away that it’s easier to ignore. Maybe I should be learning from them.
I handed Nixie to Rocket, and waited for him to get in the car, but then I hesitated, because where the hell were we even going?
“Babe?”
I swallowed hard, remembering that we came here from a night of drinking, none of us showered, hell I never even had a chance to brush my teeth. There’s no way in hell this is turning to sex, so what the hell will it be?
“Just drive, V. Don’t overthink anything. I’ve got no expectations, but I need to be away from here right now. We could go to yours if you like? Or you could just ditch me and go. I’m easy.”
I headed for the town centre, because I wasn’t clear on whether I wanted to take him anywhere and leave him, or take him home to Auntie Pam, and have to try and explain who he is, or what we are. We had no answers to those questions, beyond maybe being friends. Maybe friends was enough for now.
“Coffee shop?” I asked finally, and he groaned, leaning his head against the headrest and squeezing his eyes closed.
“Fuck yes. The stuff in the hospital was crap. I was gonna bring you one, but I figured I’d end up wearing it.”
“I’m not such… okay, yeah, maybe if it was that bad.”
His eyes stayed closed, but I saw a grin appear. I felt a sense of freedom hanging with him, because I didn’t have to hold back my acidic thoughts, or school my words, because he just took everything I said in his stride. If anything, I think he looked forward to what I’d say, or relished the bite of each word.
“You’re a masochist, aren’t you?”
His eyes flew open, and I knew this because I was darting far too many looks in his direction while I drove. Definitely not the best way to be transporting us in this thing he rudely called a cage, or even a coffin.
“Are you threatening to spank me or something?” He lifted a hand. “Not saying no just yet. I’m thinking.”
Typical Rocket. Humour lacing every word, while he pushed my buttons, and you know what? Maybe I liked it a bit too muchsometimes. Where my ex would have been argumentative and snappy, Rocket leaned into it, added humour, and made it fun.
“You couldn’t handle a spanking from me, Rocket.”
A low chuckle, and then his warm hand rested on my thigh, something that should have made me jump, but didn’t.
“I’m man enough to try.”
I shot him a surprised glance, and realised it was Nixie’s head on my thigh, which couldn’t be comfortable, since she was practically draped over the automatic gearbox. Why did it disappoint me that it wasn’t his hand, after all?
“Babe?”
“She’s got to be uncomfortable,” I jerked a hand at Nixie and he cursed.
“Little bugger. I thought my leg was cooling down.” He tucked her beside his thigh once more, and stroked her little head as she yawned.
“I’d need a shower before I come back to the clubhouse,” I said unexpectedly, because my thoughts were still mostly around what we’d do with ourselves, and not wanting to be away from him. I wasn’t scheduled to work again until tomorrow afternoon, and that left us plenty of time between then and now.
“We have a shower,” he said, and then grimaced, “yeah, you don’t want to use that. I hate using it myself.”
