He grabbed hold of my arm as I moved to pass him. “You are not cleaning up my ma’s puke. Go outside and sit your ass on the bike,” he growled.
I looked at his grip on my arm and then up to his eyes that were filled with too many emotions to name. But I recognized one, shame. I wasn’t about to let him feel embarrassed about this. Not with me.
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” I replied quietly. “I know something about having parents you’re not proud of,” I murmured, looking over at his mother who was now completely passed out, with her mouth hanging open. “I’m going to help you get this cleaned up. I know you’d do the same for me,” I added with conviction.
He looked at me intently for a few moments before he swallowed audibly. “Fine,” he groused as though it pained him to give in, again.
Together, we cleaned up the room relatively quickly. Once done in the bedroom, I started on the dishes in the sink. The house wasn’t in that bad a shape given the circumstances. I had a million questions about how often she drank like this, what she’d been like when the boys were young, but I held my tongue, sensing it wasn’t the time.
“Come on, Soph, we’ve been here long enough,” he grumbled from behind me as I was drying one of the plates I’d washed.
I nodded in understanding that he’d want to get out of there. “Is she…” my voice trailed off as I looked toward the bedroom down the hall. “Will she be okay by herself?”
He snorted. “She’ll sleep it off like she always does.”
“Okay,” I replied, watching his jerky movements as he shoved his jacket on. He was well and truly pissed off.
“I’ll drop you home,” his deep voice rumbled as I followed him outside the house.
I eyed him steadily for a moment, trying not to be deterred by his curtness.
“You don’t want to eat?” I asked lightly, following his long, angry strides to his bike. It was well past lunch and I was starving. We had some time yet; Kat had texted not long ago saying Mad was down for a nap.
Aggravated, he rubbed his hand through his hair and looked off to the side, helmet in hand. “My ma always puts me in a shit mood. I should just drop you home. Take care of some shit,” he shrugged. I didn’t miss the inference that said ‘shit’ would be done alone.
He was trying to protect me like he always did, even from himself.
I snorted. “When are you not in a shit mood?” I teased. “You’re like a growling bear half the time but somehow I still love you,” I smiled before realizing what I’d said.
His demeanor shifted entirely from something foreboding to a different kind of intensity altogether. He moved into my space, his large hands cupping both sides of my face. “What did you just say?” his voice was a hoarse murmur as his thumbs traced the outline of my lips.
“You heard me,” I whispered.
“I want to hear it again,” he growled. “So I can say it back,” he added, his words making my heart pound.
“I love you,” I repeated, wrapping my arms around his neck.
“And I love you, baby,” he replied, his full lips covering mine. “You couldn’t have picked a better day to tell me that,” he said between kisses.
I pulled back slightly, looking up into his face. “I’m glad. Because you know, if anyone knows we’re not defined by who we came from, it’s me,” I assured him.
He pressed his forehead to mine. “I know. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
I nodded as he took my hand, leading me to his bike. “I’m starving. I’ll even eat Mariachi’s.” I wrinkled my nose and he chuckled.
“Shit, you must really be hungry. All right, darlin’, hop up.” He nodded with a grin that warmed me from the inside out.
I wrapped myself around him as we roared off, giving him my support by holding him close as we put his past behind us, kicking up dust as we barreled toward our future.
Chapter 13
“What’re we havin’?” Ryker asked enthusiastically, already poking through the Chinese takeout we’d picked up for a late dinner. I seriously needed to learn how to cook. We ate take out entirely too much. He’d let himself in as we were getting ready to eat. Rather than be annoyed that Ry had a key, I thought it was sort of sweet.
“We’re not having anything,” Axel retorted, tossing a bottle cap at Ryker when he’d begun rummaging.
I laughed at the brothers’ antics and got Ry a plate. “Geez, at least someone is nice to me around here,” Ry winked, dropping a swift kiss to my temple.
“I think we’re going to watch something if you want to hang out, Ry,” I offered, plopping on one of the two huge sofas that made up the living room.
“Thanks, sis, but I got plans,” he replied, stuffing a huge bite of chow Mein in his mouth.
Ryker usually had ‘plans’ and they usually involved a woman. Lots of women.
“Uh huh,” I nodded with a lifted brow.
“You got that run for Cole tomorrow, bro,” Axel reminded him gruffly.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ryker mumbled, scooping Mad up from his play mat and making a ridiculous face at him. He always had Maddox giggling.
“Say good night to Mad,” I smiled, taking Maddox out of his uncle’s arms.
“Night, bud,” Ry replied.
“Night, little man,” Axel added, coming over to move his large hand over Mad’s head and back.
I took my time putting Maddox down, giving the two brothers some time to talk. I could tell Axel had more to say and probably didn’t want to reprimand Ry in front of me.
When I headed back out to the living room, Ryker was on his way out. “Thanks for the grub.” He shot me a chin lift, his mouth still full of food.
“Have fun, Ry,” I waved.
We soon heard the boom of his bike and its resonating rumble as it took off down the road.
“He can be such a little shit,” Axel shook his head, though his tone held no anger.
I continued to eat without reply, knowing he wasn’t really expecting one.
“Mad go down okay?”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“He might sleep a little better with a real crib in there,” he hinted.
It wasn’t the first time he’d pressed me about officially moving in. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to. I did. I just wanted to take my time getting there. Part of me worried that this was all too good to be true. I couldn’t really have it all…could I?
“He might,” I answered vaguely.
“What do you wanna watch?” he sighed, claiming the remote.
“Vikings?” I asked with a cocked brow, knowing that’s what he wanted. It was still the only show we could agree on.
“Sounds good,” he nodded.
“You okay?” I asked quietly.
He turned to look at me, seeming to consider his response for a minute. “Yeah,” he shrugged.
I continued to watch him out of the corner of my eye.
“What do you want to know?” he grumbled, running a hand over his beard.
“What do you mean?” I asked with my best innocent expression.
He snorted. “You’re practically in pain over there holding in your questions.”