I knew this, and yet I continued to lay there on the sofa with Rebecca nestled in the crook of my arm.
We’d fallen asleep midway through the first movie and hadn’t moved all night—which suited me just fine. Her long, dark hair was slightly disheveled, and her cheeks were rosy from being bundled up in a blanket. I’d never seen a more adorable sight. I could’ve lain there all day with her curled up next to me and the sun shining on her angelic face.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Rebecca began to stir, and after a slight stretch, she yawned and mumbled, “Good morning.”
“Morning.” I brushed the hair from her eyes. “You sleep okay?”
“Mm-hmm.” She sat up and stretched her arms over her head. “Slept like a baby. That movie knocked me right out.”
“Is that right?”
“Oh, yeah. You were right.” She looked over to me and snickered. “Rocky really packs a punch.”
“You trash-talking Rocky?”
“Who me?” she asked innocently. “Nooo. Never.”
I loved that she woke up looking just as beautiful as she had when she fell asleep. I wasn’t surprised. Rebecca truly was a natural beauty. She didn’t need all the makeup and done-up hair, and after last night, I was learning she had quite a sense of humor to boot. “Better watch yourself, woman.”
“Wow. I would’ve thought your boy, Balboa, could handle a little trash talk.” She shrugged playfully. “I guess I was wrong.”
“Ah, you’re gonna get it.” I was about to grab her and carry her upstairs to bed and show her what trash-talking would get her but stopped dead in my tracks the second I heard my burner ring. “Damn.”
I reached into my back pocket, pulled out my phone, then immediately answered, “You got Viper.”
“Hey, brother. It’s Dax. You got a minute?”
“Not at the moment, but I’ll be at the clubhouse in ten. I’ll call you back then.”
“Sounds good.”
I hung up the phone, then pulled on my boots and stood. “Sorry to rush off, but I gotta get over to the clubhouse.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, just got something I have to take care of.”
“Wait a second.” Rebecca hopped up from the sofa and darted into the kitchen. Seconds later, she returned with a hot pink tumbler in her hand. She lifted it in the air and announced, “Coffee.”
“How’d you manage that?”
“It’s set on a timer.” She smiled as she offered me the tumbler. “Sorry about the bright color. It’s the only one I had on hand.”
“It’s great.” I leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “What do you have going on later tonight?”
“Cat’s supposed to come back later this afternoon.” A warm smile crossed her face as she added, “But I could always ask Mom to keep her another night if something were to come up.”
“Why don’t you do that? Maybe we could finish that movie marathon.”
“Or maybe we could find a more entertaining way to spend our time.”
“I’m sure we can come up with something.”
“Oh, I’m sure we can.”
Without saying anything more, I grabbed my cut and headed out the front door. As I got in my truck and glanced back at Rebecca’s house, I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about last night—something I wouldn’t have expected after the crazy week I’d had.
As soon as I arrived at the clubhouse, I grabbed the coffee Bec had made me and headed straight for my office. When I walked in, I was surprised to find that Axel, Hawk, and Menace were already there waiting for me. Hawk was the club’s sergeant-at-arms, and he took his job seriously. Like me, he’d been concerned about the situation with Coburn from the start and was eager to get it resolved, so I wasn’t surprised when he asked, “Did Dax get in touch with you?”
“Yeah, he called while I was ... busy this morning.” I walked behind my desk and was just getting settled when I noticed Menace eyeing the pink tumbler. I gave him a stern look as I warned, “Don’t say a fucking word.”
He held up his hands and chuckled. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Prez.”
“Pfft. Smartass.” I grabbed my burner out of my pocket and tapped in Dax’s number, then put it on speaker so they could listen in on our conversation. “Hey, Viper. Sorry to call so early this morning. I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”
“It’s all good, brother.” Before he had a chance to say anything more, I asked, “Did you get a chance to look into the Broken?”
“I did.” I leaned back in my chair and listened to him explain, “From what I can gather, they’re a fucked-up crew ... a bunch of loose cannons just waiting to wreak havoc.”
“Damn.”
“That being said, I don’t think you got anything to worry about with these assholes. Apparently, they’ve got something brewing with another club, and it has them all out of sorts.”