Page 7 of Where We Promise

It looked more like a fashionable Airbnb, instead of a motorcycle club.

“Killian told me this usually remains locked until a certain time of day, but he gave me the code.”

Jamie softly spoke as he moved ahead of me to what was clearly the back of the clubhouse, and the entry point. This was the third door I’d seen with a keypad attached…seemed like they took their security seriously.

He tried it first, but when it didn’t give, he pressed in a series of numbers until it opened.

“Want the code? Just in case you ever need to head over here?”

I shook my head at his question because there was no world in which I saw myself comfortable enough to ever venture into this club on my own.

The hall we’d entered was dim, but it quickly led toward a long bar that made up most of the greater room. Behind the bar there were sounds of people moving, pans clanking, and the smell of bacon permeating the air.

A woman with white hair and a bandana holding her long locks up faced the bar, while she set steaming loaves of baked bread out.

“Good morning!” she called, smiling as we approached.

I instantly relaxed at her generous smile and easy demeanor. She was so different than our kitchen manager, Gene, from back home.

Gene was mean, and often cruel. But I loved her just the same, especially after she cared for my mother in hospice.

This woman looked like she was a grandmother, soft and sweet, but hard enough to survive this life.

“Good morning,” I offered, sliding onto a barstool.

“Would you two like some breakfast, we have a few others coming in to eat.”

I turned my face toward Jameson to make sure he was okay with eating with other members. He smiled at the woman while sliding onto his own stool. “That would be great.”

Her warm gaze landed on me again. “I’m Red. You need anything at all out there at that cabin, I’ll be sure you get it.” She winked, and I dipped my head in silent thanks.

Jameson’s knee knocked into mine and I knocked mine into his. It was our silent way of speaking. He was telling me to relax. I was telling him to fuck off.

“Hey!” a sweet voice greeted us as a familiar woman came out from the kitchen. She’d introduced herself to me when I arrived, but I hadn’t been brave enough to seek her out again.

I went to smile, but her friendly gaze landed on Jameson who was beaming up at her.

“Natty, hey.”

She set a plate of scones in front of him. “Don’t tell anyone else, but I saved these for you.”

I looked between them, wondering at their familiarity, and hating how my stomach dipped with fear and something else I had no business feeling.

Natty was gorgeous, but she also had an unruliness to her that reminded me of a wildflower. She was free and seemed to completely understand exactly who she was without fearing it. I tried not to focus on her wide smile, or her honey-colored hair that hung in long curls down her chest. Jameson wasn’t focusing on anything but her face, and then the scones she’d placed in front of him.

“Can’t believe you got me into eating them.”

“She got you too?” a new voice echoed next to Jameson.

I looked over and saw Killian pull out a barstool, followed by Laura, his girlfriend.

Laura peered down the length of the bar and spotted me. Her huge smile nearly knocked the wind out of me. She’d come by the cabin a few times since I arrived, and while each time was brief it had created enough of a connection for me to feel comfortable around her.

Seconds later, Laura’s blonde hair swayed as she sidled up next to me by pulling out a stool.

“How did you sleep?”

Her blue eyes were bright and excited as she flicked them from me to the man sitting next to me. As if she knew he’d been sleeping on my couch.

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