She wanted to believe him. But there were no men in her life who proved they were trustworthy. Every boyfriend had cheated or dumped her because she failed to sustain a relationship after moving across town. Her dad was never around, and it was her fault—she'd heard him blame her, and her mom repeated it to her all the time.
A chill swept over her upper body, and she moved away from Romeo, turning sideways and picking up a shirt out of the basket. "I don't need anything. It's allergies, or maybe I'm allergic to your fabric softener." She sniffed. "It's potent."
"Okay, doll," he whispered.
She ignored him until she realized he'd left the room. Once alone, she fisted her hands and balled the shirt she held.
Why was he so nice to her? Why would he care if she needed something?
All he was doing was making her think things about him that shouldn't even enter her mind. He was at least twice her age.
She shivered, remembering how firm and hard his body was against her. His hand was big enough to hold her head. The way the rough skin on the palms of his hands caressed her gave her goosebumps.
He was rough and bossy, but he was sexy. Sexier than one man deserved to be.
The way he took care of his brothers and kept them together was the most honorable show of love she'd ever witnessed in someone else. She'd never seen men love each other as the Muel brothers displayed.
A person could almost sit back and watch them every evening or over breakfast in the morning and strip back the years to how they were when they were five, ten, thirteen years old. They had that ease that only came to older people who had lived together fifty years.
They weren't perfect. Far from it.
They were often inconsiderate, volatile, and verbally abusive to each other. But behind the punches, the crudeness, and the destruction, they depended on each other. They worked around each other's schedules, ensuring everyone stayed in contact. They were protective—she'd experienced that firsthand.
The brothers' close relationships with each other made her jealous. She couldn’t understand how they'd turned the life-changing experience of losing their mom at a young age into a positive move for their tight-knit family.
Her mom and dad had failed to stay together. Both of them had blamed her.
She was cancer on relationships.
Nobody wanted her.
She'd give anything to have what the Muel family had built together, but she was alone. Always alone.
Chapter Fourteen
Romeo walked into the meeting room at the clubhouse, knocking on the open door as he zeroed in on Onyx stretched out in the chair at the end of the table by himself. "Where's Dice?"
After a week of waiting to see if Dice would show up at the house, Romeo decided it was time to see what was going on with Timber's dad. But he couldn't find Dice anywhere.
"He up and left this morning before I walked over to the clubhouse. Creamer was in the kitchen making coffee and spotted him." Onyx put his boots up on the table. "I expect we'll see him in a few months when he deals with the shit following him."
"So, he leaves his daughter here without even seeing her? That's bullshit, brother."
"Some men weren't made to be fathers."
Never having a father figure, his opinion of Dice fell a little more. The guy should've at least checked in with Timber in case she needed something.
"How the hell did Dice leave? I thought he lost his motorcycle," he said.
"He bought that eighty lowrider shovelhead Rager's been trying to sell."
He shook his head. Dice had no problem putting his life back together to hit the road, but couldn't take two minutes to fix his relationship with his daughter.
"What do you think about hitting the rally at WACOM?" asked Onyx.
"I didn't think the Spokane chapter hosted one."
"They don't. This one is being held over in Bellevue at the main clubhouse." Onyx put his feet on the floor and leaned forward, planting his elbows on the table. "I thought I'd send a crew over there if there were any interest."
Now wasn't a good time to leave Timber in the care of his brothers. They'd never had a female roommate before. Mainly, he was afraid of coming home and finding out that she'd run off. She was still skittish. He couldn't seem to break through her defenses and make her accept that she was safe at his house.
"Only way I could go was if I took Timber. I don't want to leave her at the house when I'm gone."
Onyx shook his head. "Nah, it's good. I'm sure I can get a crew together. Take care of the shit you've got going on first."
Romeo's phone vibrated, and he pulled it out of his pocket, reading a text from Bull.
Dice diner. Trouble. Get over here.
He pocketed the phone. "I need to jet."
"Trouble?"
"Apparently, Dice never left. He's causing trouble at the diner."
"God damnit." Onyx stood, rounding the table. "With the way he's skulked around here, pissing people off, it won't take long for him to push the wrong trucker and tear the place apart."
Romeo's walk turned into a jog. Outside, he headed straight to the diner, leaving his Harley behind at the clubhouse.
"I've never known Dice to be a fighter." Romeo glanced over as he jumped a curb.
"He's got bad luck. Trouble seems to follow him. It's one of the reasons why I gave him the okay to take to the road. Somehow, the motherfucker always seems to pick himself up and bounce back to Killere."
Going through the backdoor, he followed the raised voices. Burt held his shotgun aimed at Dice. Knowing the two men could hash it out themselves, he searched the crowd of customers and found Timber with her back to the shouting match, wiping down a table as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening in the diner.
Romeo nudged Onyx and motioned over the heads of the others to Timber, then pushed his way through the group until he reached her side.
He put his hand on her back. She startled before relaxing when she found him beside her.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I need to clean these two tables off before more customers come in." Her brows lowered. "You should go home. I can call you when I'm off or maybe get a ride from one of the other women. Vega mentioned she goes to your neighborhood to grocery shop, so it wouldn't be out of her way to drop me off. I can see if she's going to run errands today."
What the fuck was she talking about? Her dad was bellowing fifteen feet from her, and she was ignoring him and acting like it was her regular shift.
He hooked her neck, bringing her forward. "Stay by my side. I'm getting you out of here."
"My shift isn't—"
"Fuck your shift." He kept her beside him and pushed his way to the front door, taking the closest exit.
Outside, away from the commotion, he could feel her shaking under his touch. He brought her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her head. She buried her face against his vest and made no move to get away from him.
"Did Dice come in there to talk to you?" he asked.
She nodded without saying anything. He stared at the door, prepared in case her dad barged outside.
It took a lot of work to ease her into living with him. She was just beginning to talk to him and his brothers without thinking first before opening her mouth. Sometimes, she'd tease them back when the banter was tossed around.