"As good as the view is, get outta the way and let me do it. Have you got classes this morning? We'll go get a new one."
I've already looked up how much they are and I have to be careful with my budget, I still have to redo the bathroom, the carpet, and get a fence put up.
I move aside and shrug. "I've got classes in an hour. It's fine, I just gotta learn how to do it as fast as you do."
He lights it in no time and stumbles outside to pee because Trink's still hogging the bathroom. I bite my lip at the thought of old Mrs. Farley getting an eyeful of him.
The old bitch'll have a heart attack.
Rue stumbles through to the kitchen, eyeing the piles of bacon like a caveman and mumbles, "You need a fucking fence."
Then disappears outside to take a piss as well.
Gross.
Speck is still snoring when we all finally sit down to eat. I ask about waking him but Rue shakes his head. "More bacon for me, the little fuck can eat back at the clubhouse. Trink, pass me a beer. I need the hair of the dog."
It's all so freakin domestic.
This is what being a Callaghan means.
The problem is that I relax.
Now I have a life and a man and everything I didn’t even know that I needed I relax into it and I forget that I wasn’t just keeping secrets.
I was running from them.
I spend the day at the library studying and attending lectures. Tomi checks in constantly like he said he would but I’m feeling better today. My ribs aren’t hurting at all and my lip has finally sealed over so with a little makeup you can’t see a thing.
Poe and Trink both message me about coming over to help pick out tiles so I know I have to stop in at the grocery store. It’s shocking to me how much food they all go through but I’m so thrilled at having them all around me that I can’t really complain. I stop in at the store down the block from the Mugshots bar.
My saving grace.
I grab a cart so I can make a proper shopping trip out of it. I know all of the shit that Tomi likes and now I have a deep freezer I can get to filling it up with shit for him. Otherwise, I really will be in here every other day.
Everyone in the store is polite to me, all smiles and kind words as I pass and I just enjoy the hell out of living in this town.
As I walk to the back of the store I glance out of the window and I see the car.
My breath dies in my chest, my heart stutters to a stop, my skin begins to crawl.
I know whose car that is, that car is etched into my fucking soul for all of eternity but it should not be in Coldstone. No, it should be far away from me, all the way in Maryland where my monsters are supposed to stay.
Paul has found me.
I dart out of the grocery store leaving my cart behind and I fumble around in my bag for my keys. I need to get to the clubhouse right now. I need to get on the road and call Tomi.
A hand clamps over my wrist, squeezing it until I feel a snap, the pain like blinding light through my skull. “Jazmin, there you are.”
A year ago, I would have frozen.
Fuck, six months ago I would have burst into tears and slid back into the mindset of that little terrified girl I once was. Alone and scared and utterly fucking helpless.
I’m not her anymore.
My keys are already in my hand so it’s easy enough to lift the pepper spray and aim it at his smirking face, pressing the trigger on it and unloading the can of liquid fire into his face.
He snarls at me and his hand tightens on my wrist even more but I jerk myself away from him, ignoring the pain as best I can. He taught me how to do that.
Then I run. I fucking run so hard my lungs try to jump out of my chest. He’s faster than I am and pissed the hell off but I know where I’m going, I know exactly where I’ll be safe just the second one of the Unseen see me.