“Men!” I threw up my hands. “Are you all like this?” I looked to Julian.
“We’re definitely not all likethat.” He motioned to Elden.
I tried not to smile.
Elden’s fingers went to my chin, gently turning me to face him.
“Like it or not, this is the first step to things getting close to sorted between us.”
“I don’t like it,” I muttered.
Elden flashed me his teeth.
“Not fair,” I whined. “You can’t just smile at me and win every argument.”
Elden chuckled.
“Now hechuckles!” I groaned. “I’m powerless against you.”
“Ditto, baby,” he murmured against my mouth.
“Out of here!” Julian demanded. “Before you get pregnant all over again.”
It was my turn to chuckle as we did what Julian asked.
And although it was biologically impossible, when we made it back to the club, Elden did his best to get me pregnant all over again.
I went back to school because even though I was questioning what I really wanted out of my future, I knew I didn’t want to drop out. I wanted to close this chapter, whatever that meant.
Elden came with me.
Not something I’d expected.
“You have a life here,” I’d argued when he started packing his bag the day before I was scheduled to leave.
“I have a lifehere,” he countered, placing his hand on my stomach. “Here,” he whispered, love shining in his eyes..
My heart skipped about a million beats as it did when he got all soft and romantic.
“What are you going to do every day?” I asked. “I don’t think there are many pastimes for biker badasses on campus.”
“Rhode Island chapter needs an extra hand,” he explained. “I’ll keep myself busy.”
I chewed on my lip. Although I had a pretty wild imagination, I had yet to ask what Elden actually did on a day-to-day basis. I knew that he worked part time in the garage. I knew that because he’d come back to our room wearing coveralls, rolled back halfway to show off his incredible torso, grease on his cheek. I’d all but pounced on him every time.
I also knew the club owned a bar, did a lot of charity drives. But they weren’t called ‘outlaws’ because it sounded cool. Although it really did.
“Ask me,” Elden said.
I stared at him.
“Ask me what the club does,” he clarified. “Know you want to. Know it’s probably been driving you crazy.”
It had been. But I’d been doingreallywell with not thinking about it. Mainly because I had a lot of other things on my mind the past two years. “I don’t know if I want to know,” I admitted. “I mean, secrets were the foundation of the first eighteen years of my life, so I certainly don’t want more of them. But I know the things you do are in direct opposition to a lot of the things I believe.”
“Like what?”
“Well, you’re involved in a club that blatantly excludes women for a start.”