I slid my hands up his chest and kissed him. “How was church?”
Church was the weekly club meeting for officers only. Although, once a month, it was an all-hands patched member gathering, which was why Rabbit had been there tonight.
“It was good,” he said. “How was the shop?”
“Busy,” I said. “I’m going to need to hire more help. Stevie and I are a little overloaded. Lila wanted to have lunch again, but I just couldn’t take the time off.”
“So, hire more help.”
I rolled my eyes. “Easier said than done, honey. People don’t seem to want to work anymore, so hiring more help isn’t the problem. Having them actually show up is.”
“Shadow and Otter are already trained.”
“But Shadow and Otter are patched members, honey. They have stuff they have to do.”
“We got a couple of recruits who’d be willin’.”
“Really?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Not all of them want to work at the bars, and a lot of ’em aren’t qualified to work at the shops, so this would be good.”
“How does that work with club fees and stuff? Do I need to be part of that?”
“You pay them, they’ll take care of their shit. You’re just their employer.”
“Hmm. That might not be a bad idea. Can we revisit this conversation tomorrow? I’m beat.”
“Yeah. I grabbed Chinese. You hungry?”
“Starved.”
“I’ll heat it up.”
“Thanks, honey.”
While Rabbit heated dinner, I sorted our mail, opening a very official looking letter and letting out a quiet squeal.
“You okay?” Rabbit asked.
“Just got my license with my married name,” I said, waving it in the air. “I’m officially Parker McCormick.”
He grinned, pouring me a glass of wine. “No going back now, baby.”
I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Same goes for you.”
“I was in a long time ago, Pebbles, my tattoo proves it.”
Two years ago, Rabbit had my name tattooed below his left hip with a tiny cartoon of Pebbles, right in the delicious V muscle. I’d thought he was insane, mostly because he was sore for a while, but also because we weren’t a solid couple. He said we would be and refused to have it removed. It was right before the bombing, and selfishly, I was glad it hadn’t been burned away.
I smiled. “Yeah. Or it proves you’re crazy.”
“Crazy for you,” he said, leaning down to kiss me.
“That, too,” I agreed, and took the glass of wine from him, but the second I tipped the glass to my lips, my stomach roiled. “Ugh, this has gone bad.”
He frowned, taking the glass from me and sniffing. “Smells okay to me.” He took a sip and shrugged, handing it back to me. “It’s good, baby.”
I shook my head. “I’ll skip wine tonight.”
“Okay,” he said, and dumped it.
We ate in relative silence, then he took me to bed and proved how much he loved me in the form of three orgasms.
* * *
Two weeks later, I was working in the front of the shop when two Dogs’ recruits walked in. Dice and Bucky were barely out of their teens and eager to please the powers that be.
“Hi guys,” I said.
“Hey, Parker,” Dice said. “We’re here to work.”
“Is this your penance?”
“No way.” Bucky chuckled. “We volunteered.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Dice confirmed. “Beats moppin’ up puke and piss at the Scratching Post. Plus, you’re cool as fuck.”
I grinned. I liked being ‘cool as fuck.’
“Well, I appreciate it. Come on back and I’ll show you where everything is.”
As we made our way to the break room, a pain shot through my side and I doubled over with a whimper.
“Shit!” Dice rushed to my side, taking my arm. “You okay?”
I pushed his hand away and took several deep breaths. “Yep. I’m okay,” I bit out. “I think I just got a stitch.”
Although, I was getting a little worried, because I’d been feeling like crap ever since the wine incident a couple of weeks ago. I was sure I was coming down with something, but nothing ever really seemed to come.
“You don’t look good,” Bucky said. “I’m callin’ Rabbit.”
“No, don’t bother him,” I countered, the pain easing. “I’m okay. I’ve just been overdoing things obviously.”
Before Bucky could argue, Jasmine walked in. One of her spas was a few doors down, but she was typically in her lab, leaving the spas to be run by her partners.
“Jesus,” she hissed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just a little pain. I think I lifted something weird,” I said, and forced a smile. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?”
“Babe, you don’t look good,” Jasmine said.
“I’m