Page 51 of Rise In Arms

I know he’s watching me. I look up now and then and catch Kane staring over at us, and his gaze flicks away as soon as it catches mine. His friend seems to be doing the same thing, the one with tattoos on the sides of his head.

“So how long have you and Trigger known each other?” Luisa asks. Luisa is Hawke’s wife, and Jasmine’s best friend. She has twin girls, who are now playing with Jack in the playground.

This clubhouse is not what I thought it would be. I mean, I always thought a clubhouse would be full of bikers who smuggled stuff and were involved in illegal activity. Maybe they do, but they hide it well.

“Um… not long, a couple of days,” I say, smiling at her. She seems really nice, and her girls are adorable.

“You mean you hadn’t meet Trigger till now?”

“Nope.” I look distractedly over at the boys in the garage before turning my attention back to Luisa. “I mean, Hazel’s always spoken about him, but I’ve never actually met him.”

“So it’s true, then….”

“What?” I say, frowning.

“That it was love at first sight,” Luisa responds, her eyes softening and a smile forming on her face.

I laugh at that. “I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, but Kane doesn’t love me, and I sure as hell don’t love him.”

She raises her eyebrows and looks at Jasmine over her shoulder, who has Rose cradled to her chest in a pouch. “I thought you said they looked like teenagers in love?”

I narrow my eyes at Jasmine. “You said that?”

Jasmine gives Luisa an annoyed stare. “Lu! I told you that in confidence.”

“Oh come on, Jazz! You said they were so cute, and it was as if they didn’t want to say good night to each other.”

Jasmine’s face turns pink from her obvious embarrassment at being caught out. “I’m sorry, Charity. It was really cute, though. Did you see the way he kept looking at you when I took you to your room? He obviously wanted to follow you there.”

I wave a hand in front of me, not believing a word. “He was probably thinking, thank God she’s out of my hair.”

Jasmine and Luisa both laugh out loud. “Yep, I think she’s going to fit straight in,” Luisa says, then walks up and embraces me. “Welcome to the club.”

“Huh-hm.” A throat clears behind us and I turn to see who it is—it’s Kane, looking so goddamn hot. It’s just not right, him being so damn gorgeous and all. He looks over at Jasmine and a warm smile touches his lips. I look over at Jasmine, who has the same smile on her face. They must be close.

“Um… Charity…. Can I have a minute?” he mumbles out.

I cross my arms in front of me. “What for, Trigger? I have nothing to say to you.”

I turn away from his stare and see Luisa’s shocked face. “Um…. We’ll just leave you guys alone…. Jasmine, didn’t you want to show me the orders that have come through, for that wedding next week?”

Jasmine looks at her in confusion, then it must hit that Luisa’s trying to give us time alone, because her eyes widen. “Oh, yeah, sure. Come on, Jake, Mommy’s got a surprise for you.”

“You really don’t have to leave us,” I say, hoping like hell that they’ll stay. I really don’t want to be left alone with Trigger right now. And Hazel? Where the hell is she? She said she was going to call our professor at college, to let him know that she’ll be doing some online study for a while.

Luisa moves closer to me, and whispers in my ear, “Honey, if there’s any advice I can give you, just give in. They get their way anyway. When a brother wants you—he gets you.”

I stare at her, stunned. Does she really think I’ll just give in to Trigger just because he wants me? I don’t think so.

“Thanks for the advice, Luisa, but it seems you haven’t met a girl like me yet.”

“We’ll see. We’ll see,” she repeats, winking at me before turning and calling out to the twins. Followed by Jasmine, Rose, and Jake, she walks off toward the clubhouse, her girls catching up on the way.

I hesitantly look back at Trigger, who has a smirk on his face. “What’s so funny?” I’m still pissed that only minutes ago he was in bed with some whore, whose mouth was actually on his… his… penis.

He sighs then does the sexiest thing I have ever seen—rubs at his stubbled jaw with his large hand then runs his thumb over his bottom lip. A lip that I know from experience feels so damn soft and good. Charity, keep it together, girl. Those lips were just on another woman.

“Look, I’m sorry you had to see that,” he starts out. “Honey just doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.”

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