There’s a chiming sound filtering through the outdoor speakers, and my eyes pop open, though everyone else’s heads remain in their bowls.
“What is that?” I ask Harlen as Chase pulls his phone out of the front pocket of his black ripped jeans.
Harlen shoves a piece of sweet potato in his mouth, then says, “The intercom at the gate.”
“Did we have something on today?” Asher asks curiously, his green eyes bright as he licks the avocado sauce that coats his lip ring.
Chase taps on his phone before I watch a smile crawl across his stubbled face. “Ayyy, Rusty. Come on through. We are outside.”
Rusty, Harlen’s father?
Chase hits something on his phone, and the purr of motorbikes is loud as they draw closer, heard clearly even through the walls of his mansion. He tilts his chin up to Harlen. “Did you know the old man was stopping by?”
Harlen shakes his head. “Nah, dude. Must have been in the city for something.” He looks excited to see his father, and I mean, I am too, though I have a feeling he might be a little pissed that I left the hospital, especially because of the state I was in.
Harlen grabs my waist and drags me onto his lap when everyone returns to their conversations. His hands brush through my hair, his voice quiet when he says, “You know every time I spoke with him, the first question we would ask each other is if one of us had found you yet.” He pushes a piece of curled hair behind my ear and angles my lips down to his, though they just barely touch. “You made an impact on all of us, Cherry Bomb.” He taps my ass.
Warmth coats my chest. “Har–”
I’m cut off when I hear a chuckle of excitement beating its way through a deep, husky chest.
“Is that who I think it is?” The familiar voice of Rusty drifts past my ears like a warm breeze, curling over my limbs and causing me to shiver. A grin appears at the corner of Harlen’s lips, and it’s easily the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen.
Gazing over my bare shoulder, I see two leather-covered bodies step up onto the patio. “I guess that depends who's asking,” I reply, biting my teeth into the pad of my bottom lip.
Rusty meets Chase with an open, rough hug, and I watch Chase pull back with only complete and utter respect gleaming in his eyes for the man who has treated him like a son.
I don’t recognize the man with him, but he’s as big and muscled as Rusty and, honestly, just as good looking. He seems to be around the same age as Rusty too. His hair is as dark as Tyler’s, though his eyes are a bold hazel. He looks like an older version of the guy I fucked the night I met Harlen, and at that thought, I swallow a little harder.
What the fuck was I thinking?
“Who’s that?” I ask Harlen when Chase shakes his hand and they do that man hug that guys do.
Harlen laughs. “That’s Manic, The President of the club.” He pushes his lips to my ear and whispers, “You fucked his son.”
I shiver.
“Right.” I draw out the word before he sinks his teeth into my neck.
Harlen growls his next words against my skin, quiet enough for only me to hear. “Pissed me off, you know, when you turned your back on me like that.” I feel my shoulder rising at his words as he continues to bite across my neck, creating constant ebbs of undulating goosebumps.
I moan slightly because the feeling of his lips, his teeth, against my bare skin feels so fucking good. “Sorry, that was poor judgment,” I admit with a stutter, even though at the time, I didn’t give a fuck whose dick I was seating myself on.
“Mmhmm,” he hums, squeezing my ass.
I gaze back over my shoulder and see Rusty with open arms. He has that same matching smile that Harlen is notorious for painted across his lips.
“Come here, Cherry.”
I slide off Harlen’s lap and wrap my arms around Rusty’s waist. He threads his tattooed fingers through the hair at the back of my head and pulls me into his hard chest. His forearm snakes around my head as he drops his chin and presses a kiss to the top of my skull. “It’s good to see you, sweet girl.”
I step back and wrap my right arm over my chest, clenching onto my left tricep. “You aren’t mad I left?” I ask, flicking my eyes up to his blues, and I hate that I can feel the searing plea in them.
“You aren’t mad I didn’t come back?” he asks, then when I attempt to speak, he stops me. “I did, just so you know, but you were long gone.”
So, he did come back for me. Knowing that made me smile. I nod, dropping my chin, but he tips it back up.
Rusty shakes his head, his golden curls dancing with the movement across his shoulders. “To answer your question, no, I’m not mad. I mean, I had to deal with this dickhead.” He jerks his head behind me, and I turn over my shoulder to see Harlen grinning at him before stepping around me, and falling into a tight hug with his father.
