“Yep. You are invited to Ugly and Abriana’s house, to celebrate the little princess. The dress code is casual.” Raven looked him up and down. “That is not casual. Do you even own a pair of jeans?”
“No.” He did.
“I suggest you go shopping.”
“Can I interest you in shopping?” he asked.
Raven had been about to leave but stopped at his invite. “You want to take me out shopping?”
“Yes, consider it my treat.”
Raven folded her arms beneath her breasts. The leather cut she wore hid those beauties from his view, which was such a shame. “Let me get this straight, you want to take me clothes shopping, and you’re buying?”
“You got that right.”
Her lips were pursed. He had to hold in a smile.
“I don’t think you can afford me,” Raven said.
“Oh, believe me, I can.”
“Okay, but it’s your mortgage. Lead the way.”
That was a little too easy.
“Did you need to drop off any more invites?” Carlos asked.
“None. Yours was the last one. I gave Abriana time to cancel your invite, but she didn’t. I checked with her as well. She wants you to come.”
“I’m honored.”
“And if you have to play dress-up?”
“Then that is what I’ll do.”
“Yeah, okay, we’ll see.”
Carlos put his hand at her back and led her down to his car, which was parked in his driveway.
Holding the passenger door open, Raven rolled her eyes. “I’ve got to get my bike. I’ll ride behind you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We can go together. Grab your bike, roll it in here.”
Raven nibbled on her lip, taking a few seconds to hesitate, and then nodded. He didn’t know what kind of conversation she was having in her head. Either way, he won. So it was a victory for him. She pushed her bike into his driveway. The machine looked way too big for her.
He still held the door open. Raven climbed in, and he slammed the door shut. After rounding to the driver’s side, he climbed in.
“How come you don’t have any soldiers around?” Raven asked. “Don’t you think it’s a little dangerous not to have them?”
“I’m in Hell’s Bastards territory. I would have had to alert Smokey and make arrangements, and I didn’t want to … make certain people aware of what I was doing here.”
“I bet Smokey knows.”
“He does.”
“Oh.”
“Has he not told you?” Carlos asked.
“Not yet, but I’m sure he is going to have his reasons.” Raven shrugged.
“Do you trust Smokey?” Carlos asked.
“With my life. I have no reason to doubt him. Why?”
“No reason, I’m just curious.”
“You’re not a very trusting guy?”
“I’ve had it proven time and time again that people can be easily swayed,” Carlos said. “It kind of puts a dent in the whole trusting people easily.”
“In the club, you’ve got to learn to trust. We’re a family. A fucked-up one, but still a family. We have to rely on each other. Always have each other’s backs. Without that, we’re nothing. Just a bunch of random people thrown together. It doesn’t work that way.”
“It sounds like the mafia way.”
“Huh, if you think about it, it does sound that way.” She smirked and glanced at him. “Does that upset you?” she asked.
“No. There is power in being alone.”
Raven wrinkled her nose. “I highly doubt it.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know what, we’re going shopping. I don’t want the experience to be a bad one just because we don’t agree. Let’s agree to disagree, and we can come back to this … issue another time.”
“Agreed.” He nodded at her.
Raven rolled down the window, and he kept taking quick glances at her. Her long, raven hair was blowing with the force of the wind.
“Will you be at the little girl’s party?” Carlos asked.
“Yep. Abriana has asked me to be there.”
“Will you be dressed … like that?” he asked.
“There is nothing wrong with the way I dress, but as it happens, no. Abriana has asked me to be … like a girl, a princess.”
“And the guys?”
“If they agree to it, to look like princes. I don’t know if that is going to happen.”
“Do you have a dress?”
“There’s a costume store at the mall. Seeing as we’re going to pick you some clothes, I will pick a princess costume. Makes sense.”
Carlos couldn’t help but smile. Shopping with Raven would help him to deal with two of his needs. The first need, him wanting to spend more time with her. They were together, and she’d be able to tell him what he looked good in. A perfectly reasonable explanation for them to be together. The second, he would be able to use this opportunity to dress Raven up how he wanted her.
Smokey would agree to his plan, he had no doubt about it. If he had the wardrobe ready for Raven, it would make life a whole lot simpler.
“I still think you should have brought a soldier or two. Assuming your ass is safe is dangerous,” Raven said.