She cuddled against him, turning his words over and over in her head. Did they mean what she thought they did? And if they did, is that what she wanted?
****
Wolf woke when his cell phone chirped. He reached out to the nightstand and shut the alarm off, squinting his eyes against the dim light coming in through the window. It was barely dawn, but he needed to get back.
His eyes moved to Crystal.
He knew she still worried where this was going. He was a long way from winning her back. But last night she’d let him back in her bed. And that was a hell of a start.
He slipped from between the sheets and quietly dressed.
When he was finished, he stood looking down at her. He leaned over a fraction, not wanting to wake her, but needing one more touch before he left. One hand softly brushed over her hair as he gazed down at her. Then he dropped his hand and moved quietly toward the door.
****
Crystal’s eyes slid open as the soft click of the door closing sounded through the stillness of the apartment. She’d been awake. She’d heard him moving around the room, getting dressed, making his escape before he had to face her in the light of day. Like he always did.
Her eyes pooled.
It was just more of the same. Nothing had changed.
He’d gotten what he wanted, and then he left.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The brothers stood in the metal shed, a large roll-up door was open to reveal the downpour of rain coming down in buckets outside.
Wolf leaned one hand on the door frame and gazed up at the dark sky, muttering, “Shit weather.”
Crash stood next to him, his arms crossed and his booted feet in a wide stance. “Wouldn’t be Sturgis if it didn’t rain at least part of the week.”
“I guess.”
Shades, Ghost, and JJ from the Birmingham Chapter also stood watching the sky.
Shades looked over at Wolf. “Heard you boys had a little run in with the Death Heads last night. Sorry we missed the fun.”
Crash grinned back at Shades, answering for Wolf. “Lasted about two minutes. You didn’t miss much. They just happened to walk into the wrong bar. Have you boys have any trouble with them this week?”
“Not so far,” Shades answered the question.
“But the week’s not over. There’s still hope,” Ghost offered with a grin and a waggle of his brows.
“Where’d you guys end up last night?” Wolf asked.
“We took 12Gauge over to a couple bars in Deadwood. Slightly less crowded.” Shades grinned.
Crash and Wolf nodded.
JJ eyed the sky and complained, “This rain is sucking the fun out of the day I had planned.”
Ghost twisted to look at him. “That’s right, you were all set to get your club tattoo today, weren’t you?”
Shades looked over at him with a grin. “Has it been two years already? Huh. Seems like just yesterday you were runnin’ that gauntlet.”
Under the club’s National Bylaws, number ten to be exact, no member could get a club tattoo until he’d been a full patch member at least two years. He also had to be accompanied by two other tattooed brothers when he got the ink.
“Two years today, VP.”