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Standing and watching her leave, I almost scream when a hand touches my shoulder. “Well, Mateo. I think she liked what you did there, and she's gone away to think about it. If she decides she liked it enough, you could be in trouble when she comes back for more. If she decides she doesn’t like it, or how you went about it, you could be in even bigger trouble. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes if she takes option B.” Doc looks me over and has an evil grin that I find unsettling, to say the least.

“Do you think I should go after her?”

“I’ll leave that entirely up to you, but you had better tell me what you want on your headstone if you do, and definitely tell me before she comes back.” Doc sits on the grass in the sunshine and starts picking small wildflowers from the grass around her.

“Is that for a wreath?” I ask her without an element of truth in there.

We sit in the sun for an hour, and are getting ready to go back into the bunker when Spectre appears from the woods. He’s closely followed by Salem, and then Bruno.

Doc pats me on the back, mutters ‘good luck’ and leaves me to my fate. Spectre sits by me, where I rub his head and neck. Salem stands before me, then sinks to her knees. Bruno throws himself to the ground, and I swear I feel the ground tremble.

“Why did you do that? The kiss thing. Why?”

“Because it seemed right. You’re a stunning young woman in so many ways, and I wanted to do it.”

“On the radio, you said you wouldn’t mind exploring things further. Was that part of it?” Salem looks at me with an intensity that I find intriguing.

“What I meant by that was exploring a relationship, which covers so much more than just the physical stuff. I’d like to get to know you better as a person. Find out what makes you tick, your likes and dislikes. I could learn a lot from you, too.”

“Such as, Mateo? What could I teach you? I have no real experience of men, other than when they want something I haven’t been willing to give. I’ve dealt with drunks, trespassers, fraudsters. No one has ever shown any interest in me, for me. Until Thorn. I don’t know what it was, but I only saw him as a potential friend.” Salem’s voice is quiet and very gentle. It appears she is telling me her darkest sordid secret.

“I’d like to start as friends. If you teach me about traveling through the woods as silently as you do, I’ll teach you knife skills that Vortex, one of the MC brothers, has taught me. How’s that to break the ice?” It’s all I can think of off the bat that she might be interested in learning from me.

“You travel through the woods like an elephant. I’m not sure I can quieten you down much, but I’ll give it a go. This knife stuff you’ve learned had better be useful. I don’t want to learn circus tricks.” She gives me a squinty-eyed look as she stands.

Standing with her, I’m surprised when she leans forward and up to kiss me. All I can say is, she’s a quick learner and when she breaks off, she leaves me breathless and wanting more.

“Friends it is, but you’re not having my dog. You two can have your bromance when you visit for lessons, and he’s not going with you for no sleepovers. Clear?” She smiles at me and my world is so full of sunshine I can hardly spit the word out.

“Clear.”

“You may call me Spirit. I liked the sound of how you came up with that. For now, that will just be between us.” Turning, she walks away and both dogs are hot on her heels.

I don’t remember getting back into the bunker or how long it is before I see Jamie watching me with a sickly sweet grin on her face.

Chapter 27

*~* Fury *~*

Placing a call to the practice, I speak to Barbara at reception and ask for a telephone appointment with Tom. She puts me through directly as he has a quiet morning, apparently. After a brief conversation about what I need, my physical, he tells me to come over right away and he’ll see what can be done. He knew immediately why I was asking for one, it’s going to be embarrassing as hell, but it has to be done.

Driving by the practice house, I see a van outside and I remember that the kitchen needed a makeover after the bomb incident. Life goes on, as they say. I bet Guardrail organized this, as I never gave a thought to getting it done. He must be busy, as that’s not one of his construction vans. He sub-contracts work only when he’s fully booked or it's a specialist thing that needs doing.

Leaving the SUV in the front lot of the practice, I walk in and say hi to Barbara. She gives me a beaming smile and waves me on through, saying that Tom is waiting for me. Walking into his room, I immediately take a seat. As soon as he grins at me, I flipping well blush. I knew this was going to be awkward, but I have to use Jamie’s practice for this, or she’ll never accept that I’ve had it done to her exacting standards.

“So, you want to get back in the saddle, Fury. This shouldn’t take long.”

“Get back in the saddle? Jamie is not going to like that terminology, Tom.”

“Ah, yes.” He looks at some papers on his desk, obviously embarrassed by his sense of humor, and then tries again. “So, has there been any sexual activity recently, and if so, with who? By that, I don’t need a name as such, but was it a club woman or a promiscuous partner, shall we say?”

“The last sex I had was several weeks ago, and it was with a club woman. They are required to keep themselves clean and have regular check-ups with a professional, so everything should be okay. I just want to get a clean bill of health so that there are no surprises and to put Jamie’s mind at ease.” I raise my eyebrows at him so he knows I’m serious and not expecting any smart-ass comments.

He takes an oral swab that he says is for a rapid test, and some blood from my arm, which he tells me has to be sent away for testing. I have to give a urine sample and then answer questions whether I have noticed any type of discharge, rash or lumps. I may be a hard-nosed, dyed in the wool biker, but I still find this all very uncomfortable.

Once I’ve been given a verbal clean bill of health, I’m told that it can be five to seven days before all the test results are in. Oh, well. I’ve gone this long, I can go a bit longer being celibate.

Walking back by reception, Barbara gives me a huge grin and a thumbs-up. I suppose discretion was a bit too much to be expected. They all know about Jamie and me, so it wouldn’t take much to put two and two together.