Helpless (Steel Demons MC #5) - Crystal Ash Page 0,21
kiss to my lips, then arranged his pillows for sleeping on his stomach.
Gunner slid up behind me, tilting my face to plant a kiss on my forehead. “Goodnight, baby girl.”
“Night, guys.” My eyelids were already drooping, searching for Reaper before I completely passed out.
He laid right in the middle, hands rested on his chest with his mouth parted softly. Deep, even breaths became gentle snores.
I crawled over to lay a soft kiss on his forehead before whispering, “Good night, my love.”
Seven
JANDRO
“Tell me this. How the shit does he expect me to pack up a whole damn bike shop and fit it in the bed of a pickup truck?”
Shadow bent over his desk in the corner of the room. He didn’t reply and likely hadn’t even heard me, deep in drawing some tattoo design. It didn’t really matter, I was just venting and talking to no one in particular.
“So we’ve unanimously voted on Four Corners, but aren’t making it a permanent stop until we scope the place out. Fair enough. I understand we might be continuing on to fuck-knows-where and we gotta pack light for the road. But where does Reaper expect me to store all my tools and shit? And on top of that, I’ve got like a dozen chickens to pack now!”
A grunt floated over from the desk.
“He asked if I can bring the lift! The fuckin’ two-ton hydraulic lift that took us three days to get here from down the road! Like sure, I’d love to hold on to that thing, but are you fucking kidding me?”
“So don’t bring it,” Shadow muttered distractedly. “We’ll prop bikes up on blocks like before if we need to.”
“That’s what I’m saying! Reaper’s all,” I lowered my voice and added a growl to imitate him, “Oh, don’t over-pack, bring just the essentials, like all the fuckin’ machinery in the shop and my fuckin’ mahogany coffee table.”
“He didn’t say anything about a coffee table.”
“I know, man. I’m just picturing him trying to load that thing onto his bike as a taste of his own medicine. I bet he would too, he stole that out of some governor’s office.”
Shadow’s shoulders shook with a light chuckle, but he otherwise remained steadfast on whatever he was working on. I didn’t like to hover over his tattoo work, but curiosity got the best of me and I walked up to lean against his desk. He stopped immediately, straightening up with a stiff back, but didn’t try to hide the design.
“Still tweaking Mari’s design, huh?”
He had four separate sketches of her Rod of Asceplius arm piece, each the same base design with slightly different variations. One had smoke and flames billowing out from behind the snake. Another had the snake and staff emerging from a rose with a small butterfly on the petal.
“I just keep getting different ideas,” he shrugged. “I want to make sure she gets something she likes.”
“Like you do with all your clients?”
“Yes.”
“Shadow.” I cocked my head, giving him an intent look.
“What?”
“Bro, I saw your line work after her bandage came off. She was hardly bleeding at all.”
“Yeah, well, I just didn’t want to—”
“Come on, dude. Be straight with me.” I crossed my arms. “I’m not mad. I know you two are on friendlier terms now. But is it more than that? Do you want it to be?”
He met my eyes for the first time since starting the conversation, and I was surprised to see it wasn’t the confused, deer-in-headlights look when I usually asked him an uncomfortable question.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t know if that’s what I want, what she wants, or even if I did know, what that would feel like.”
“You like her, though.”
He nodded carefully. “I like being around her. I enjoy it when she’s here and it feels…strange when you’re all at Reaper’s house.”
“You miss her,” I said, the realization becoming clear. “You…long for her when she’s not around.”
“I…I think that’s what it is, yes.”
I released a sigh, lowering my head to pinch my brow. On one hand, I was glad to learn Shadow felt something toward a woman besides fear, resentment, and defensiveness. He was miles ahead of where he was just a few months ago, and it was all Mariposa’s doing. On the other hand, why did she have to be the first woman he developed feelings for?
I wanted the big dude to be happy, to have good experiences with women, but he was still years behind the curve emotionally. He’d make mistakes, like we all did,