“Must’ve,” I lied, forcing myself to appear casual. “Wasn’t Liv supposed to be here soon?” I prompted. I needed her out of here in order to pull this off.
After spending the past few weeks only leaving her side for one reason, I was finally ready to share the surprise Sal and I had been working on.
“Yeah,” she replied, looking at me skeptically as she left the room with Frank, Rosie, and both dogs in tow, a now constant sight.
Gunner’s mom had readily agreed to us keeping Rosie. Now, I just needed to get Wren off her wanting a whole farm kick. I’d caught her looking at miniature horses online the night before.
The fact we had a goddamn pig was enough. Though I had to admit, she was cute as hell.
“Liv just texted. She’s pulling up,” she announced as she reappeared, her hair still wet from an earlier shower, looking fucking beautiful in blue jeans and a white tank top. I loved the rare occasions where she dressed up, but I thought she was most beautiful as she was now, dressed casually with little to no makeup marring her gorgeous skin. “Hopefully I can actually pass this test.” She wrinkled her brow.
She’d been able to register late for fall semester. She was playing catch up, but my girl was determined.
“You’ll do great,” I assured her, dipping to kiss her lips and tweaking the engagement ring I’d placed there weeks before. “We went over all your notes last night. You knew them backwards and forwards, don’t sweat it.”
“Okay,” she replied breathlessly, swaying into my kiss. “Maybe I’ll just stay here and we can go to bed.”
I chuckled. “Tempting, but you’d be pissed at me later if I took you up on that.” I swatted her ass as she pouted over her shoulder, headed out the door to meet Liv.
Even now, weeks later, it was hard for me to watch her go, to let her be away from me. But I knew I needed to. The business with Jared was over and done with. She needed to reclaim her life in Hawthorne, and some of that had to be without me.
“I’ll see you tonight.” She smiled coyly over her shoulder at me.
Sooner than that, baby. I thought, as I fought a grin.
It was only a short time after I’d heard Liv’s car pull out of our drive that the rumble of a motor sounded. I bolted for the door, finding Sal cutting the engine on Wren’s Mustang that, unbeknownst to her, we’d finished the upgrades on.
The car looked fucking sweet. We’d kept it as original as possible while finishing up the plans she and Sal had come up with together. As far as she knew, I was still against her driving it. Though I’d still love to see her behind the wheel of something even safer, vintage cars were a passion of Wren’s, and I knew I’d have to meet her in the middle.
I caught the keys midair after he threw them.
“We doin' dinner tonight?” he asked with a lifted brow as Kat pulled up the drive to pick him up. It had become a bit of a tradition that we grilled at Sal’s place on Thursday nights.
“Yep,” I agreed.
Kat leaned out the window with a grin. “She’s gonna be so excited.”
I nodded. “We’ll be by later,” I said in parting, watching as Sal strode toward Kat’s car.
After a brief argument, where he obviously insisted on driving, she moved to the passenger seat, huffing about alpha men the entire time.
I grinned at their antics, watching as they pulled away before I made my way back into the house to grab my jacket.
I grinned as I fired up the Mustang, it’s throaty throttle like music to my ears. The sun was shining with just a hint of the chill of winter starting to creep into the late afternoon as I pulled onto the highway, cranking the stereo. It was a few hours before Wren was done with school, but I was too fired up to sit around and wait.
The club was just as good a place as any to kill time.
“Nice ride,” Mad commented, headed for his bike when I pulled into headquarters a few minutes later.
“It’s Wren’s,” I replied as I cut the engine and climbed out. “You outta here?”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t lost on me that Mad had seemed troubled the last few weeks. He’d always been on the serious side, but this was something different. I leaned against the side of the car, my arms crossed. “You good?”
His eyes slid to the side.
“You worried about your girl?” I guessed. It was no secret he’d claimed the Rossi girl. Whether or not she claimed him back was something else entirely.
“How could I not be fuckin’ worried?” he shot back. “She risked her life to save Wren’s. Those assholes know she worked with us. And it’s not like she’s getting the warmest reception from our side either,” he scoffed. “She thinks everyone hates her. She’s keepin’ her distance right when I need to keep an eye on her.” He looked at me, his gray eyes blazing. “If those assholes lay a hand on her, they’ll answer to me.”
“We have your back on that, brother,” I assured him firmly. There might be some lingering lack of trust when it came to Francesca and the family she came from, but if she mattered to Mad, then she mattered to all of us.
“Appreciate it.” He nodded, throwing a leg over his bike. “Gonna go see if I can get my stubborn woman to stay with me.”
I bit back a smile, knowing something about stubborn females myself. “Good luck.”
He snorted, firing up his bike. With a final two-fingered salute, he roared off down the road.
The club was quiet when I walked in, the only sound the pool balls clacking together as Gunner and a prospect played in the corner. After a nod in their direction, I headed down the hall, finding Cole in his office scowling at something on his phone.
“What’s good?” I asked, plopping down in the seat across from him.
He heaved a breath, shoving his phone away from him. “Same shit, different day.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Something I can help with?”
“The Rossi’s don’t fall in line, then yes. For now, no.” He shook his head as he sat back in his chair regarding me. “You seem good,” he assessed, his bright blue eyes zeroed in on me with his typical intensity.
“I am.”
“You were always quiet,” he mused. “But sometimes I wondered if it was because you were holdin’ back, holding something in. I don’t get that from you anymore.”
“Still working on it,” I admitted. “Wren’s helping. She pushes me when I need it.”
He nodded. “A good woman will accept who you are. But the best will push you to be even better.”
I couldn’t have agreed more.
“You get word that Janelle left town?”
The question caught me momentarily off guard. I hadn’t been keeping tabs on her, but I wasn’t surprised Cole had been. “I didn’t.” I shook my head. “Not surprised.”
He nodded, his fingers steepled against his chin as he regarded me. “You didn’t go and see her.” It wasn’t a question.
My instinct was to say no and let it lie, to avoid the conversation all together, but then I remembered what I’d told Wren, that I’d promised to try.
“I didn’t see the point.” I shrugged. “Nothing to work out with her, and I have no interest in hearing what she has to say.”