Verek (Savage Kings MC - South Carolina #3) - Lane Hart Page 0,45

but Tessa remains silent.

Thankfully, as Leo slides her only half-full glass toward her, he gives me the answer I wanted, “Roman’s making the prospects take shifts sleeping inside a tent in the side yard of the apartment building.”

“Sleeping outside in winter,” I remark loudly with a grin as I glance over my shoulder at the two boys briefly, both staring daggers in my back. “I’ll wave to them from your window,” I say, assuming Roman would insist on her having at least a second-floor apartment for safety.

“You’re not staying with me tonight,” Tessa says bluntly.

“Sweetheart, you know you’ll sleep better if I’m there. Have you stayed on your own, or has Charlotte been crashing with you?” I ask. Her tightening jaw is my answer. Sliding closer to her, but still not touching her side, I add quietly, “As you already know, I’m capable of keeping my hands to myself. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

Tessa rolls that idea around before she turns to me and says the last thing I expected. “What if I want you to sleep in my bed with me?”

I’m not the only one shocked by her sudden, head-spinning change of heart. Leo drops a fucking lowball glass, shattering it on the floor. Thankfully, we were out of the blast zone.

“I’ll still sleep on the sofa because I’m guessing you’ve lost count of how many drinks you’ve had. Not only are you pissed at me, but you’re also drunk, aren’t you?”

Tessa wets her lips, but her eyes stay on mine when her fingertips reach out and run a line down the center of my chest and abs. “Maybe that’s a good thing. Lower my…inhibitions.”

“It’s not your inhibitions I’m worried about, and you know it,” I respond when I gently remove her hand from my stomach just for a chance to touch her. Lifting her knuckles to my lips, I place a kiss on them but don’t release my hold afterward as I rub my thumb back and forth over her smooth skin.

From the corner of my eye, I see the boys bristle before one of them grows the balls to come up beside of us.

“You okay with him, Miss Singleton?” he asks, which means he’s fully aware of her limits, which has me raising my opinion of him, even though I want to tell him to fuck off.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Tessa asks without taking her eyes off me, eyes that are growing heavy either from exhaustion or something else entirely. “Do you know how many men he killed for me?” she mumbles, making it clear it’s the alcohol talking. Sober Tessa would never bring that up in public.

“Huh?” the kid asks.

With my free hand, I hold up four fingers to him.

“Seriously?” he says.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” I tease, giving Tessa a wink. “She’s obviously very intoxicated. What do you say we take you on home now?”

“Okay,” Tessa thankfully agrees with a sigh. “Lola is probably wondering where I am.”

“You got a roommate?” I ask in confusion.

“Lola’s her black Lab,” the prospect explains since Tessa is suddenly very interested in slurping up the last of her drink.

“Oh, right. Guard dog. I forgot she had three of them,” I joke.

Now how do I get her home since I’m on my bike?

“How did she get here?” I ask him.

“Lucas and I drove her,” he says, gesturing between himself and the other kid, who finally steps up and joins us.

“In the club’s van?” I whisper in disbelief, hoping Tessa won’t hear the v-word.

“God no! Roman sold that a long time ago,” the other boy – Jake I think Tessa said his name was – replies. “We’ve got a red Suburban to drive around for club shit.”

“Good, that’s good,” I say in relief.

“We know more about her than you think,” Lucas chimes in defensively.

“Not as much as you wished,” I remark.

“I want ice cream,” Tessa suddenly turns to us and declares. “We should go get ice cream!”

“There’s some Neapolitan in your freezer, remember?” Jake tells her, making me realize they do know a lot about her and probably buy her groceries.

“Oh yeah!” Tessa replies excitedly. “What are we waiting for? There’s enough for all four of us.”

“Two of us,” I amend. “The patchless puppies have to stay outside. Now let’s go,” I say, standing up and taking Tessa’s hand.

“Not Lola. She sleeps at the foot of the bed.”

“Fine, she can stay inside, but the other two pups can stick to their tent,” I reply as I guide her to