Crossroads (Beautiful Biker MC Romance Series) - DD Prince Page 0,130

said, getting to his feet.

“Ice?”

“Somethin’. Want more jellybeans? I’ll walk to the store down the street. We need to exchange numbers.”

I frowned. He looked like he needed a minute. I wanted to ask questions, but decided to let him tell me about this in his own time.

“I have yours. I’ll text you so you’ve got mine.”

I’m engaged to a man that doesn’t have my phone number. It’d be funny if I wasn’t thinking of it right now with him like this.

“Do that now, baby. What do you want from the store?”

“Oh. Yeah. Jellybeans. Jelly Bellies if they have them. If not, any beans will do. Unless you can find the ones made with fruit juice. I like those even better than Jelly Bellies, but they’re hard to find. And chips. And… Ben and Jerry’s Urban Bourbon first choice, chunky monkey is number two.”

He cracked a half a smile. “Is that all?”

He was being a smartass.

I stifled a giggle and shrugged. “I mean, I guess.”

“Lock the door, jellybean.” He kissed me, grabbed his keycard and his phone, pulled his boots on, and left.

I flopped back on the bed. There was definitely a rift between him and his mom. And though I didn’t know all the details, I hoped that there could be healing. I texted him from my phone with some candy emojis and hearts.

***

He was gone no more than fifteen minutes. He seemed in his head though, so we watched movies snuggled up.

“So, what kind of a house did you want?” I’d tried when I got bored with the movie.

“Whatever you want, baby. As long as there’s a big garage, a big yard, and people aren’t on top of me, I’ll be good.”

“I have money away too,” I said. “So, we can---”

“I’m buyin’ the house, polka dots.” He hit the mute on the TV.

I smiled, liking that he called me that. “If I chip in, we’ll have a smaller mortgage, Superman.”

“We don’t need a mortgage. Fuck that. I’m buying it straight out as long as the house you want is under three hundred k, which I’d prefer so it doesn’t clean me out completely.”

I blinked.

“Not all that money is squeaky clean, baby, keepin’ it real with you, but I stuck my neck out far, I put myself at risk. A lot. And I decided long ago that I’d use that Jackals money for something to make me happy. Hadn’t figured out what yet. Buyin’ my woman a nice house and not havin’ to worry about a mortgage? Takes the sting off a little.”

“Oh,” I said. “Like restitution for victims.”

“Not a victim, Jojo. Don’t ever fuckin’ call me that.”

“Whoa. Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that, but you were a kid and I just ---"

“Make good money at work, too. We’ll be good.”

“I have money, too. I’ve saved up forty k, so…”

“Keep it tucked away for a rainy day, baby.” He kissed me.

“We should buy a fixer upper. Spend way less than three hundred. We’ve got skilled friends that can help with the stuff we can’t do.”

“Sounds good to me. Whatever you want, baby. Watch the movie,” he ordered, jerking his chin. “Good part comin’ up.” He took the Chunky Monkey from me and gave me the Urban Bourbon. “Switch,” he said, and his eyes moved back to the TV as he turned it back up.

Okay, so he nearly bit my head off over my comment but was clearly not holding a grudge. That was good.

***

We left early to get to go to his mother’s place. I thought it was sweet that he wanted to get there early so she could get to bed. He told me she was a nurse. She’d worked in a hospital in a nurse’s aide role when he was little but after she split with his dad, she went to nursing school while working part time and living with his widower grandfather to save on expenses. She became a nurse a few years later.

It was a nice building and she lived on the main floor. We were greeted by a tall, blonde Jolene Forker, still dressed in her pink scrubs. Her hair was in a French braid with some grey roots, and she had the same eyes as Christian. Her eyes looked tired and she looked worried. She smiled at me first and then her eyes moved to him and her lip trembled. She opened the door wider and I saw a clean-cut, much shorter and average leaning toward husky-build version of Christian standing behind her,