Page 9 of Levee

I might have a rule against sleeping with neighbors because of the possible awkward interactions in the communal areas.

But Levee wasn’t exactly a neighbor.

And I was very clearly interested…

CHAPTER FOUR

Levee

Kylo was holding out a potato chip to Mackie, the club’s ornery macaw who had been cursing at him for the past five minutes.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck you, Benny.

“Better not let it get back to Remy that you’re feeding him junk food,” Eddie warned.

“Says the guy who slips him some of everything he cooks,” I shot back, having caught him giving the bird eggs and a piece of hash brown just that morning.

“Hey, he was giving me the sad eyes,” Eddie defended himself as he gathered some greens for the tortoise.

“He doesn’t have eyebrows,” Velle reasoned. “He can’t give the sad eyes.”

“The tort gives me sad eyes too,” Eddie insisted, shaking his head as he held out the plate of greens to Velle. “Can you bring these out to him? Toss a few of the hibiscus flowers on top too?” he asked. “What?” he asked at Velle’s bemused smile.

“Just didn’t imagine that being an arms-dealing biker would involve feeding exotic animals their lunch,” he admitted. “Kind of refreshing how everyone here has a soft side,” he added.

Velle was the club, for lack of a better way to put it, profiler. Or shrink. I dunno how to put it. But he had a knack for getting to people’s souls in just a few minutes. I figured Huck wanted him in the club to be able to help find appropriate new prospects as well as keep a finger on the pulse of the mental health of the current members. And, I imagined, to help with trying to make allies and shit like that.

“Speak for yourself,” Coast shot back at Velle.

More of the current resident loose cannon, Coast wore his crazy on his sleeve. Right there with all of his tattoos. Including one that, supposedly, was a tally of how many lives he’d taken so far.

I liked Coast.

Now that Cato was kind of wrapped up a lot with his girl, I would have felt kind of adrift if Coast hadn’t been around. Always ready to party or to hit the clubs. Anything that involved music, booze, and chicks.

“Please,” Velle shot back, shaking his head. “No one who is as good with kids as you are could be all hard,” he said before moving outside.

“Whatcha making?” I asked Eddie as he opened the fridge and started unloading a shitton of items onto the counter.

“Enchiladas and a chopped salad,” he said as he went into the pantry to get some more supplies. “If you give me an hour, I’ll have some to bring to your uncle,” he added.

I checked the clock, deciding it was no big deal to be later than usual. It wasn’t like the old man wanted me there anyway.

He’d been in rare form the week before. Sure, his back had been tweaking him, but he’d been almost intolerable. Spouting off shit about myself and both of my long-dead parents while I just tried to get him settled in his chair again.

I hadn’t bothered to try to do any cleaning up or shit like that, not wanting to listen to him for any longer.

I did manage to pass him the offer from Jade. That had gone about as I expected. Plus a few new inventive curse words for good measure.

I didn’t know how the man got one look at that woman and didn’t want her pretty up in his apartment as much as possible.

She was one of those chicks who was just naturally gorgeous. Long, wavy brown hair that the sun kissed at the ends, bleaching them almost blonde. Oval face with high cheekbones, pretty brown eyes, a slightly dimpled chin, and a generous mouth. And that smile? Fuck, that was easily her best feature. And she did it easily and fully, making little lines crease her lips on each side and showing off one charmingly pointy eye tooth.

Imperfectly perfect.

She hadn’t had a stitch of makeup on, either.

She had a long, lean body clad in one of those flowing floral sundresses that flirted with the floor and had a deep V down the chest. It didn’t actually show anything, but it hinted at how easily some of her assets could be seen.

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