Fuck, I’d missed her, and now she was back. Here in town, here in my life. Always in my heart. What the fuck was I supposed to do about that?
Ihad the eveningfree after spending all day manning a gate that barely needed to be opened, and intermittently helping out with clearing rubble away from the site. The place was literally just rubble, and the barest mapping out of foundations right now, but one day it’d be amazing.
I dug out my phone as I arrived back at my house, and dialled the number for my assistant.
“Hey, Na…Henley. Did I get that right?”
I grinned as I leaned against my kitchen wall, waiting for the kettle to boil.
“Almost, yeah. Look, the club compound is ready for us to set up temporary housing, how are we doing with getting that organised?”
Libby laughed, tapping away at her keyboard, because when you run a business like mine, you have people on standby day and night, and she’s currently working the evening slot.
“Okay, so we have five glamping sets packaged and on the truck for delivery tomorrow. Is that not soon enough?”
I pushed away from the wall and grabbed a coffee mug as the kettle boiled, making it strong and black, the way I preferred it.
“Nope, that’s perfect. Any issues though? I know we had some people wanting to hire them. I just… the club needs priority right now. These guys are pretty much homeless.”
“It’s all fine. We were able to convince those few pesky people to use one of our static camps, so they’re sorted. They just wanted somewhere they could have a retreat to, but Shady Lakes was perfect for that.”
Thank god. I didn’t want to turn business away, but that’s what Libby and the others in my team were for. Keeping people in our glamps.
“Amazing, thank you. I’m not on duty until lunch tomorrow, am I needed anywhere?”
I could hear her clicking her mouse as she checked the calendar.
“No, we’re fine. I’ll need an in person meeting later in the week to sign off some upgrades, but that’s about it. How’s it going at the club? You said you were doing a temporary thing there?”
Temporary. That was the problem with being a prospect. It wasn’t a permanent residency, or even proper membership. It was the whole ‘we’re trialling you in case we don’t like you’ situation, and I hated it. After so long of feeling like a nomad, even if I didn’t technically call myself that, I just wanted somewhere to settle long term. More than that, I wanted it to be Phoenix MC, because they were damn good people.
“Prospect duty. It’s about another two months of that, then I should get patched in. I hope.”
“You will. Who wouldn’t like you?”
A face swam into my mind, despite the efforts I’d been putting in to try and keep her out, even though she wasn’t someone who’d ever not liked me.
“Yeah. Some people don’t. Anyway, thanks for sorting that. I’ll let the Pres know to expect the driver. Do we have an ETA?”
“About lunchtime, so you might be there already.”
“Gotcha. Thanks, Libby.”
Despite my best effortsto not think about her, Gloria was on my mind all evening. I’d taken to checking in a few times a day, and I was covering the costs of her hotel stay, but it’d been over a week now, and quite honestly, it felt like I’d dumped her somewhere unfamiliar instead of offering her something she could rely on as a known entity. Me. I withheld me, and I had no idea why I didn’t realise that at the time.
I dug out my phone, leaning back on my sofa and staring at it for so long that I wanted to slap myself. Just make the call, you cowardly prick.
Tapping the number of the phone I’d given her felt like making a long term decision that I couldn’t unmake. Was I about to fuck up everything? Again.
There was no reply, but then that was to be expected. I opened up a text message.
Me:Glory, it’s okay, it’s me. Pick up this time.
I gave her a few minutes, watching for a sign that she’d seen the message, and then I called again. Her voice when she answered was so soft that I wanted to climb through the phone and hold her. She’d lost all of her character thanks to that fucker. She was so diminished from the person she’d been before marrying him. I missed the sass and the fire so much.
“Y-yes?”
“Glory, it’s just me. You’re safe.”
