“Oh, I planned to ask. But Snow had that background check from when you worked at the Shamrock. I’d only briefly scanned it before I headed to your house. Now, you gonna keep running your mouth? Or are you going to kiss me and make your man happy?”
“My man?” I asked incredulously, but his lips met mine and anything further I had to say was swallowed by his kiss. It was a good hour before we made it out of bed.
The past several days had been pretty uneventful, but enlightening. I’d found out that most of what I believed about the world was wrong.
I’d thought that everyone was, well, human. Turns out, some are human but with a little something extra. Decker’s club is full of those kinds of people. Sort of like anti-superheroes, if you will.
From what I’d pieced together, they did what some people would term bad things, but for good reasons.
I’d gotten duplicates of my driver’s license and credit card from Hacker when they delivered my truck to us the day before. I wasn’t sure how they got it all so fast, but I wasn’t going to question it.
“Hey, Decker?” I asked as I peeked in the door of his office. He looked up from some papers he was going over with a questioning gaze.
“Yeah, babe? What’s up?” The term of endearment seemed to flow seamlessly from his lips, but it threw me for a loop every time.
“Umm, I was wondering if it would be okay for me to go shopping with the girls,” I asked, though it grated on me to ask permission to go somewhere.
There were two other women around my age who’d come to the clubhouse to meet me, and we’d hit it off great. Kira was one of the local veterinarians, and her man was Voodoo. The other was Korrie, and her guy was Angel. Lynda was older and of course with one of the older guys. She was nice, but I really only saw her once that first day when Korrie brought Trace to hang out.
I found out that she’d pretty much adopted Trace as an honorary grandchild.
Kira and Voodoo had two German shepherd dogs that were amazing. Zaka was all black, and Sasha was a traditional color. They were crazy smart and made me really want one.
Kira had the cutest baby named Parker, and Trace was Korrie and Angel’s son.
Then there was Jasmine. She was Angel’s sister. I really liked her too, but she was always a little haunted-looking.
“Come here,” he said and pushed his chair back. I went around the desk and sat on his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck as he looked up at me. “You know why I’m worried about you leaving here? I’m not trying to be a dick.”
I sighed. “I know. But it’s Christmas Eve, and I want to get you a gift.”
“You don’t need to get me anything. You’re my gift,” he said with a grin as he buried his face in my neck and nibbled. I giggled when his beard tickled my skin.
“Cut it out,” I squealed. He pulled back, and the gentle smile made my heart skitter. “I also want to get a gift for Ms. Margaret. Please?” I asked while I batted my lashes at him.
He sighed. “Let me see if anyone is able to go with you. You’re not going alone. That’s nonnegotiable,” he added when I started to protest. I ran my hands through his dark hair, then down the silver at his temples.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I leaned forward to kiss him.
I rushed back to the room I was sharing with him to grab my new purse and wallet he’d gifted me with when I got my shit from Hacker. Thankfully, he’d had the girls help him pick it out. I’d been irritated when he gave it to me early, though. It was supposed to be a Christmas present.
I hadn’t had one of those in ages. I hadn’t really known Ms. Margaret last Christmas, so she hadn’t gotten me anything. And the fruit basket from Mel didn’t count.
When I returned to his office, a prospect, Raptor, and the guy they called Jigsaw were there. He scared me a little, though he was very nice to me. He had a flair for the macabre, for sure. His tattoos on both of his leanly muscular arms were horror flick related.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” I said in apology as I started to back out.
“No, you’re fine. Jigsaw offered to go with you along with the prospect. I spoke to Angel and Voodoo. They said their ol’ ladies would love to go with you. Angel said Jasmine agreed to go too,” Decker said, causing me to smile.
“That’s awesome! Thank you so much,” I said to the four men in the room.
I’d learned that the prospects in their chapter didn’t get a road name until the day they were patched, so everyone called them by their first name or “prospect.” I wasn’t calling someone “prospect,” because it reminded me too much of being in prison when we were referred to as “inmate.”
“What’s your name?” I asked the younger-looking guy.
His cheeks actually flushed deep red, and he ducked his head as he said, “Roscoe, but you can call me Train.”
Decker snorted. “Your name ain’t nothing ’til we say it is.”