“Jake.” Celia sweeps a cool look over him. “I see you’re still existing.”
“Waiting on you to come to your senses.”
She sneers at him.
Murphy chuckles but I slide a cool look Celia’s way. She’s always mean to Jake. Although, he seems to egg it on, if not outright enjoy it, so I guess it’s really none of my business.
“All right.” Aubrey grabs her sister’s arm and drags her past Jake, stopping next to Murphy.
From what Murphy says, Aubrey’s helped the gym get their social media straightened out. I’m jealous she has time to plan her own wedding, finish school, and create her little social media empire.
Jake drops an arm over Aubrey’s shoulder. “How’s my favorite almost-sister-in-law?”
“Nuts.” Aubrey asks. “Is Trinity here by any chance?”
“She’s next door working.” Murphy jerks his thumb in the direction of Trinity’s photography studio next door. “But Wrath’s in a good mood. If you need to talk to him about some PR stuff, now’s the time.”
Aubrey eyes the back door like she doesn’t quite trust Murphy’s assessment of Wrath’s mood.
Of course, Wrath chooses that moment to step outside. “Anyone care to explain to me why everyone who works here is outside?”
“I was on my break.” Murphy taps his chest. “Jake came out to get shot down by Celia again.”
Celia rolls her eyes.
Wrath’s gaze lowers, settling on Aubrey. Poor girl. She could stand on the picnic table and still not be anywhere near eye-to-eye with him. “What’s up, Aubrey?”
“She’s here to see me!” Trinity jogs over the small patch of grass between parking lots for the gym and her photography studio.
Wrath’s irritation over finding us all chilling outside seems to disappear as soon as his gaze lands on Trinity. “You’re not here for your husband?”
“That too.” She wraps her arms around him for a second before turning to me. “You’re still available tomorrow night, right?”
“I’m done with my clinical by three-thirty. I can make it here by five.”
“That works. Thanks, Heidi.”
I have clinicals in three different locations this semester, which makes it harder and harder to hold onto my job as Trinity’s assistant. Since I enjoy the job and Trinity is club family, I don’t want to quit if I don’t have to.
Grumbling, Wrath steers her inside and motions for Aubrey to follow. Celia glances at Jake, then hurries to catch up with her sister.
The second Jake takes a step toward the door, Murphy grabs his arm. “You know one of these days, she’s gonna rip off your balls and stuff them down your throat, right?”
“Counting on it.” Jake winks at me before heading inside.
“Is it bravery or stupidity?” I ask.
Blake doesn’t so much as blink. “Horniness.”
I snort-laugh.
The back door whooshes open again, and Wrath calls out, “Murphy, you want to run down to Crystal Ball and grab something from Dex for me?”
“Now?”
“No, next year.”
Blake rolls his eyes but agrees.
I follow him inside where he stops in his office and grabs his cut. “You want to come with me?”
Assuming it’s some sort of club business, I ask, “Is that okay?”
“Yeah, it’s no big deal.” He takes my hand, and we stop at my car where I grab my helmet out of the trunk.
Once I’m snuggled against his back, I wrap my arms around him. “I don’t think I’ve ridden with you since we got back from Texas.”
He reaches back and squeezes my leg. “Your old man should do better. Need to take you out more often.”
I tighten my hold, and he rubs his hand over my arms before firing up the bike.
Dex is waiting in the back parking lot for us and ambles over as soon as Blake shuts down the bike.
“Hey, Heidi-girl, didn’t expect to see you.” He gives me a quick hug once I take off my helmet and shake out my hair.
“I was just visiting.” I tip my head back and take in the twilight sky. “It’s a nice night for a ride.”
“Too bad he wasn’t taking you somewhere better than here, huh?” Dex nudges my shoulder and slaps Blake’s arm.
I eye the back door of Crystal Ball. While we used to hang out in the garage out back and the old clubhouse next door when we were kids, somehow, I’ve never been inside Crystal Ball. My brother always made it clear stripping wasn’t in my future career plans, and I really had no interest.
Blake wraps his hand around mine, and we follow Dex across the parking lot.
“You okay?” Blake asks in a low voice.
“I feel like Dorothy about to get a peek behind the curtain.”
He snorts. “Accurate way to put it.”
“I heard that,” Dex says over his shoulder. “This is a respectable entertainment company, Heidi.”
“Sorry, Uncle Dex.”
He’s grinning as he holds open the back door for me, so he’s not mad, thankfully. We enter a darkened hallway. Music pulses through the air, but I can’t see anything except a few tables and a section of the bar from back here.
“Hey, Murphy,” someone sings out.
Well, that took about eight seconds.
Blake groans. “How’s it going, Regan?”
Dex motions for the tall blonde in the eight-inch clear platforms heels to wait. “Give me five minutes, Murphy. I’ll be right back.” He stops at the open office door. “Just don’t violate my desk, please.”
By the time I get his meaning, Dex is gone.
“Gross.” I glance at the desk. “I can only imagine what that desk has seen.”
Blake closes the door behind us. “You have no idea.”
“So, Regan…” I try to inject a casual lack of concern into my voice, but it’s futile.
“Has worked here for a while,” he finishes for me. “And before you ask, no, I don’t know her in that way.”
“I didn’t say a word.”
He takes both of my hands and stares down at me. “You don’t have to. I know my girl.”
There’s a quick knock at the door before it opens to Dex shielding his eyes. “Please don’t—oh, thank God.”
“Shut up, asshole.” Blake laughs and shoves Dex.
When they finish joking around, Dex unlocks a giant safe stored in the corner and hands Blake a thick envelope.
Blake stuffs it in his cut without looking inside or commenting on it.
“You want to stop next door and see how the clubhouse is coming along?” Dex offers.
“Sure.” Blake turns to check with me, and I nod.
How did I not notice this when we pulled into the parking lot? “Wow, it’s coming along fast. Looks like it will be a lot bigger than the old one was.”
Dex stares at the frame of the building for a second before glancing at me. “Shit, Heidi. Sometimes I forget how long you’ve been part of the club.”
Happiness that he considers me part of the club turns my mouth up. “Some of my happiest memories as a kid were hanging out in the old garage you had back there.” I gesture toward the new clubhouse’s parking lot.
Sadness seems to dim Dex’s expression. Maybe the thought of a little girl hanging out in an MC’s garage is depressing as hell to Dex, but I never saw it that way.
He and Blake move on to discussing the clubhouse. How many rooms. Ravage’s request for a sex room.
Now, that’s something I can help with. “You know who to talk to when it’s time to stock it with sex toys.” I grin at Dex’s shocked face.
Blake chuckles and hooks his arm around my shoulders. “My girl wants to spread joy everywhere.”
I grin at him.
Dex shakes his head quickly. “I’ll let someone else deal with that.”
“I better get back,” Blake says.
He and Dex bump fists, and we take off.
The quick outing was a nice distractio
n from my problems. Part of me wants to tap Blake’s shoulder and ask him to keep going.
Ten
Heidi
While I pop my trunk open and set my helmet inside, Blake groans. “I don’t want you to go.”
“But you need to get back to work.” I slam the hatch down. “And I need to get home and read Alexa a bedtime story.”
His mouth twists. “Shit, I hate working so late. I gotta fix this soon.”
I stand on tiptoes and kiss his cheek. “You’re there for her almost every morning.”
Before I can move an inch, he slips an arm around my waist, holding me against him. I poke him in the chest and run my fingers over the Furious Fitness logo on his T-shirt. “Making her breakfast. Discussing her favorite mythological creature of the day. A few night shifts won’t erase that.”
“You have any idea how much I love you?” He dips down, resting his forehead against mine. “Meant what I said earlier.”
“About?”
His hand drops to my hip, and he brushes his thumb over my stomach. “Adding to our family.”