If Bolo and I were going to make it, this would be a logical step in the process. So what if it was massively early? Our situation wasn’t normal. And we’d find out a lot faster this way if we couldn’t stand to be around one another all the time. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I’ll stay for a week.”
“Okay,” he repeated with a nod.
This meant I’d get a chance to speak with the other old ladies. And meet more of his brothers. Nerves danced in my belly. I just hoped everything would go well.
CHAPTER 20
Devyn
We hadn’t made it more than a couple steps out of the parking lot before a booming voice split the air.
“Norman!”
My eyebrows shot up and I froze where I was standing because whoever was yelling sounded pissed. I looked over at Bolo. He’d stopped beside me and looked amused. “A biker named Norman?”
He chuckled at that then jerked his chin, indicating that I looked in that direction.
A huge Rottweiler came slinking around the side of one of the buildings, carrying a tan, military style, boot in his mouth. He paused when he noticed us.
“You better keep moving, Norm,” Bolo told him with a grin. “He catches you out here with his boot and you’re never going to hear the end of it. You know his rants can go on for hours.”
I swear the dog grinned at us around the prize inside his mouth right before he trotted off. There wasn’t even enough time for me to ask before a man with sandy brown hair and blue eyes stalked around the corner. He was…very neat looking. Not a hair out of place on his head, his clothes completely free of any dust or dirt. I glanced over at Bolo’s boots, which had a layer of grime on them, then at the stranger’s pristine black boots. Despite his immaculate attire, the man looked stressed to the max. He was handsome enough, but I was sure my blood pressure shot up another ten points just by looking at how tense he was.
“Have you seen Norman?” he asked Bolo. He gave me a small nod of acknowledgment, but then focused fully on the man standing next to me.
“Nope.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m not fucking around, Bolo. The damn dog stole my boot.”
“How do you know it was him?” Bolo asked. “For all you know it coulda been Code.”
That just annoyed the man further. “Because he’s been stealing my damn socks ever since Rue brought him home.”
Bolo made a face, as though he was considering the options. “No, see, that could still be Code.”
He rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh. “As weird as that kid is, he’s not stealing only my left socks.”
“…do socks come in left and right?” I whispered to Bolo. I gave Flir an innocent smile when he scowled at me.
“He labels them.”
My gaze swung over to Bolo in surprise. “Excuse me?” I didn’t even try to pretend like I wasn’t talking about Flir in front of him any longer.
“We had to label everything in the military for a multitude of reasons. We always labeled all our shit with our last names. He never stopped doing it.”
“But…they made you label socks as left and right?” I asked, looking between the men.
“No,” Flir said. “But it just makes sense to designate them.”
Bolo shook his head at me, indicating that ‘no, it didn’t just make sense to anyone but Flir’.
I bit the insides of my lips to keep the laugh building inside me contained. It was hard when remembering the dog’s grinning face as he ran off with the boot, seeing Flir’s frustration, and Bolo’s obvious amusement.
“Now he’s graduated to my boots. But only the left fucking…” He stopped and took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he blew it out. “I don’t know where the hell he keeps hiding them. One of these days I’m going to find his stash and his game will be over.”
