Page 47 of Demo

Demo put the phone upright on his dresser against the wall so he had his one good hand free. “He shouldn’t have had to do that. It’s my responsibility.”

“Actually, it’s mine,” Paige reminded him. He wasn’t looking at her, instead he was rifling through his drawers for a pair of boxer shorts, loose fitting sweats, and a long sleeve shirt. “I appreciated his help, though, because I can’t leave the boys alone to go outside to shovel myself. Ronald knows this and he comes over to help when we’ve had bad weather. He took the boys back with him to his and Cindy’s house for the day so I had a few child-free moments this morning.”

Demo groaned as he hiked up his underwear. “And I wasn’t even there for that! This morning just keeps getting better and better.”

“You know, if you’re going to tease me with a backwards striptease, the least you can do is step back so I can see what it is you’re covering up.”

Demo paused. He glanced up at the phone to see most of his body was covered by the dresser from the angle of the camera. He inclined his head to her and then took three big steps backwards so she could see his entire body in the frame. “Better?”

“No, you’ve already put your undies on.”

Demo snorted. “I don’t wear ‘undies’,” he corrected. He put the sweats he’d been holding on the edge of the bed. Then he pushed his boxer briefs down and stepped out of them. Standing naked before the camera, he did a slow turn so she got to see his frontandhis back.

Paige licked her lips. “Yeah, I’m definitely seconding your frustration at being called away this morning.”

Demo’s cock twitched at her words. “Really? And what would you do to me if I was there and at your mercy?”

His hand dropped to his groin, stroking himself in lazy, long pulls.

“Come to the clinic and I’ll tell you while I work on your shoulder.”

Demo growled at being thwarted of the opportunity to have phone sex with her. “Really, Paige?”

She gave him a wide smile. “My first appointment isn’t until nine-thirty. Just think of how much…attentionI can give your shoulder in that time.”

“If you think my shoulder is the area that needs your attention after this conversation, you might need to retake an anatomy class or two.”

Paige chuckled. “Get your sexy ass to my clinic, Demo!”

“Fine! I’ll pick up donuts and coffee along the way because I highly doubt you ate this morning after I left.”

Her blush was answer enough, but she still said, “I wasn’t that hungry.”

“I’m going to ignore that lie and finish getting dressed. I’ll see you at the clinic in half an hour.”

“Wait!” she called when he moved to end the call. For a moment, Demo thought she still wanted to watch him get dressed. But that thought died pretty quickly. “What happened this morning? Why did you run out like that?”

Demo stood frozen for a moment. He hadn’t yet explained that there were some things he wouldn’t be able to tell her. Club business and all that. But…the other ol’ ladies knew about the bomb threat. He wasn’t sure how much they knew, but they had to know something from being evacuated out of their beds at five in the morning with their kids.

Despite his use of the word ‘other’ Paige was not his ol’ lady. He hadn’t officially claimed her, which meant that she didn’t get the perks of being his woman. Right now, she fell into the ‘club family’ category. Like the club members’ parents or in-laws, Paige was awarded the club’s protection as well as an open invitation to their club events. Club businesses offered them discounts too.

An ol’ lady was different. She would have the right to be told everything but the most secretive of details. Like the cellar beneath the clubhouse floor. No one but prospects and patched members knew about that floor plan detail. Other than Abby, Demo had to wonder how muchotherdetails their men gave the ol’ ladies. Even if they weren’t told something specifically, they had eyes and ears, probably picking up on a lot.

None of the women were stupid.

Demo and Paige’s relationship was only days old. It was far, far too early to claim her as an ol’ lady… Wasn’t it? But fuck, that image returned to his head of Paige wearing his property cut…and, damn, how he wanted to make it a reality.

“Nothing major,” he lied, feeling like his tongue was made of lead. “It was a small incident, but it’s been handled. Only reason I had to be here was because I’m an officer.” Clearing this throat, Demo rushed out, “Let me finish getting ready. I’ll see you at the clinic in a bit.”

A lot happenedin the days following the bomb threat at the clubhouse. Yelizaveta came to Steel the day afterwards upset because her husband never came home from work. Steel called Carlos, who took the missing person’s report from the couch in the clubhouse. Neither of them knew the man was only a few feet away in the hidden cellar beneath the floorboards.

The man was still there, naked and hanging from the ceiling by his wrists, next to Nathan Moore. Despite all the evidence against him, including that his fingerprints were found all over the pieces of the device and the duffel bag was his own gym bag with his DNA all over it, Billy Merrick continued to cling to his innocence. Steel thought prolonged time in the cellar might get him to change his mind.

Demo took apart the bomb with a fine-tooth comb. As he suspected, the batterieswereat full charge. If Billy hadn’t used rubber glue, he would have blown himself up building the damn thing. Demo wasn’t sure that would have been a bad thing.

SJ was the only club kid living in the clubhouse, but that was still one kid too many that close to an explosive device. Based on the haphazard way the duffel was left between the cages, it was concluded that no specific member was the target. Plus, there was no way Billy could have guessed that Bones would be the one to take that exact spot. Pumpkin did not know Billy at all or Yelizaveta well enough to be a target.

“I gave her a ride home once,” Pumpkin had told them all when asked. “But that was months ago, before SJ was born.”

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