naked, but it’s less tolerable when she’s clothed.
“Keep an eye on Simone,” I tell him.
He merely nods in my direction as Griffin takes a step away from me. Ivy fills his arms immediately, and I feel loads of guilt for interrupting their goodbye. We never know what’s going to go down while we’re away and watching the two of them embrace makes me wish the conversation with Simone had gone differently.
But I can’t go back into her apartment and demand that she kiss me or fall into my arms. One, she’s pissed, and two, I don’t think she even cares if I come back at all.
I’m pacing in the parking lot when Griffin manages to finally pull away from his girl. Of course, Jinx took off in the SUV we’ve been riding together in, but Griffin doesn’t say a word when I jump in the passenger seat of his truck.
I’m thankful the entire ride to the clubhouse is spent with the windows down and the radio up. I know I fucked up. He knows I fucked up. So we both just leave the entire conversation alone. I don’t need advice. I don’t need someone to tell me to get my shit together.
What’s hard is keeping myself from asking this damn kid what I should do because he seems to have life all figured out, and I’m just pretending to be a damn adult.
Chapter 16
Simone
I don’t know who coined the phrase be careful what you wish for, but whoever said it first was one enlightened son of a bitch.
Give me space.
I need room to breathe.
Go back to the clubhouse.
When I said them, I wanted nothing more than all of that.
It’s been five days since Rocker and Jinx walked out of my apartment.
Five days of silence.
Five days of peace.
Five days of room to breathe.
Five days of feeling alone and wishing I’d never have opened my mouth in the first place.
They haven’t called or texted. Besides Cannon, Samson, and occasionally Lawson sitting on the far side of the bar when I’ve worked, they haven’t checked up on me.
I’m not a fool. I know if I did something crazy, one or all of those guys would let Rocker or Jinx know immediately, but work has been boring. Other than losing my temper several times because the new bartender can’t seem to separate his flirting from doing his actual job, even work has been boring and lonely.
I miss working with Cannon, but he’s now working for his dad and finishing his last year of college. He spoiled me with his expertise the months he was working here during the summer, and no matter how many times I looked across the bar to plead with him to come back to work, he simply smiled and tipped his beer bottle in my direction, laughing like a maniac when I would scowl at him.
But today is going to be different. Today is my first full day off since the guys disappeared, and I plan to spend it doing absolutely nothing. My life is less active these days than it was before Jeremy made his unwanted appearance, but apparently growing a baby is tiresome work.
My stomach roils with certain smells, my tits hurt like never before, and as much as I hate to admit it, the guys put some kind of bug in my ear about being unsafe. I don’t exactly feel as if I’m in danger, but I stay home just in case. I have someone else to worry about other than myself these days after all.
So when the knock comes to the door, I stiffen on the couch rather than getting up to see who it is. The insistent pounding comes again, but I’m frozen on the couch. I know Rocker and Jinx both have keys, ones I didn’t give them I might add, so I know it isn’t them. Despite our borderline argumentative conversation when they were last here, I know they wouldn’t bother knocking to come inside. They think they have every right to just walk in.
“Simone?”
I jerk my head in the direction of the front door at the feminine voice.
“Are you home?”
This gets me off the couch. Excitement fills my blood as I cross the room. I haven’t texted Emmalyn, even after Kincaid’s insistence, but I wouldn’t put it past her and Misty to just show up.
Maybe a little girl time is exactly what I need.
Only when I peek through the keyhole, it isn’t the women I met last week. I recognize the girls