Page 16 of Dark As Coal

I hated seeing that mark on her though.

Freaking abhorred it.

But… well… did it make me a bad person that Coal would hurt anyone who tried to hurt him, but knew deep down in my heart that he would never hurt me?

Some days? Yes.

The other days? No.

With Coal’s three sizes too big Crocs on my feet, I moved around the clubhouse helping everyone clean the place up.

Gabby came out of the kitchen with a trash bag in her hand, and then gasped once she saw me on my hands and knees, “Girl, what are you doing down here?”

I shrugged, my nerves were all over the place for what I was wearing and where I woke up this morning, “He’s asleep. And it would tear him up to see this place like this and know he was the cause.”

A soft look formed on her face before she set the trash bag onto the floor, tagged the broom and dustpan and then started sweeping up the glass fragments.

Smiling, I teased, “So, what are you doing down here? This is beneath you.”

She laughed softly and shook her head, “You can take the club out of the girl, but you can never take the female out of the woman.”

I laughed softly and then got back to cleaning up.

We had just straightened everything up, and unable to ignore my stomach any longer, I found myself in the kitchen making breakfast.

A few of the brothers walked in then, and none of them commented on the clothes I was wearing, which I found odd, but for some reason, it didn’t bother me.

It wasn’t until I had just taken the last piece of bacon out of the pan that I felt the air in the room stir.

There was only one person who could cause that.

My eyes lifted to the entrance to the kitchen, I saw Coal look around and when his eyes locked on me, he did a top-to-toe inspection.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t read his face.

However, I could read that slow, steady walk of his.

Slow.

Steady.

He wasn’t worried.

He. Wasn’t. Worried.

Perhaps…

The moment he made it to me, he looked down at me, and asked in a soft, raspy tone, “Why’d you leave?”

“Because I wanted to ask God to remove my bladder,” I told him.

I watched, mesmerized as crinkles at the corners of his eyes appeared.

He had smiled.

It wasn’t that brilliant smile, but hey, for a man like Coal, I would take it.

“Make me a plate?” He asked.

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