Page 53 of Where We Promise

“You do eye-fuck him. A lot.”

I glared over at the dark-haired tattoo artist. “Surely you of all people can appreciate that I was merely staring at his ink.”

Natty laughed this time, brushing a stray piece of blonde hair out of her face.

“It’s true!” I argued, but Laura merely lifted her pen and clicked it again.

“Seriously, we have to get this stuff planned. Once Natty is finished with her baking, we’re going back up to her room because you can’t watch that man fix your car without drooling.”

He was fixing my car, and he was doing it shirtless while laughing and joking with members of the Stone Riders while he did it. I was slightly swooning, possibly drooling, but most definitely picturing him naked.

“What do you have so far?” I set my attention on Laura.

Her eyes moved over the screen. “Okay, we have the date, this Friday—which can I just say again, how insane you two are—then we have the space, which will be held at the senior center bingo hall.” Laura shuddered the smallest bit before moving farther down her list. I knew the bingo hall didn’t sound romantic, but it was practical for fitting the members of both clubs, whom we’d invited.

“The nice thing is the hall comes with chairs and an arch.”

Natty poked her head over the bar. “And then we’ll head to The Drip afterwards for a reception.”

The entire thing felt strange to even process. They all knew it was fake, and yet they were sitting here with me, planning and helping me not to feel so overwhelmed or alone. It made me emotional.

“Thank you, guys.” My voice cracked as I tried to meet every one of their eyes.

Callie reached over and hugged me, then Laura jumped off her stool and did the same. “You’re one of us now, and we take care of each other.”

I was still fighting back tears when Jameson walked over.

“You okay, babe?” The term of endearment shot straight to my core, making me wet in a way that I hadn’t been since last night when he’d texted me the emoji of the lock.

The one indicating that he was taking care of himself. I had sat there pondering what had gotten him so worked up. It wasn’t like anything had happened to make him react like that…he’d just suddenly needed a shower. Although lately it was starting to be like that for me too…randomly I’d be desperate for release just randomly throughout the day. It was getting more and more difficult to take care of myself the larger my stomach became. When he’d texted me that emoji, it had taken every bit of self-respect not to storm in there and demand he make us both come.

It only took two seconds to remember that Jameson didn’t want me in that way.

He hadn’t shown a shred of interest in me ever since that one night we nearly had sex, but stopped when he realized I was still a virgin.

“I’m good, we’re just wedding planning,” I finally replied, clearing the tightness from my throat. He was staring down at me with that crooked smile, and he had grease stains on his face and chest. I lowered my gaze briefly to see the script again and withheld the urge to trace it with my finger. His finger came under my chin, stopping me.

Our eyes connected, silently speaking those words he’d always say when he’d do this.

He broke our stare first, moving his finger from my chin. “Your car is fixed. I greased the door, replaced the timing belt and did an oil change.”

I forgot how talented he was with vehicles. Used to be that there wasn’t a mechanical problem he couldn’t fix. When I’d moved back to the clubhouse and started dating Luke, I didn’t see Jamie that often because he’d started up his own garage in the city. Everyone in the club took it hard, wondering what had forced their president to open a non-club funded or affiliated business in the busiest part of Richland. He’d handed most of the responsibility of the club over to Luke, and only came around on the weekends to party. I remembered in vivid detail because he’d always have a new girl on his arm, or in his lap. He’d never look at me.

In fact, he treated me like a stranger.

He’d broken my heart, and to this day, he probably didn’t even know…or if he did, it was likely that he didn’t care.

Red was in front of us and handing something over to Jamie. “Thanks, Red.”

She nodded, then rubbed my belly before taking off. She’d asked if I would mind, and I told her I didn’t. The older woman was starting to grow on me, and maybe because my mom was gone, and I had no family left, but this club was starting to feel like home. It was possible that I’d ask to stay here when Jamie eventually took his club back and returned to Richland.

The thought made a tiny fracture in my already broken heart. I pushed it down, though, and focused on the folded leather in Jamie’s hand.

“Here, Red got it done sooner than expected.” He unfolded the leather, revealing a cut.

On the front left side of the vest was my name sewn in white, under where it should have CKRV, for Chaos King Richland Virginia, it was blank. It made me curious if he just wasn’t sure what to put, or if he was having the same thoughts about staying that I had.

I flipped the cut over and smiled so big my face hurt. Fake or not, wearing Jameson’s name on my back had been a dream of mine since I was old enough to understand what they meant.

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