Page 6 of Storm

Her stomach gurgling in the dark, silent room nearly startled her. Except it had been doing that for the past couple of hours, and she was starting to think her dinner choice wasn’t the best plan.

Three chapters later, Brook turned off her e-reader and went to the bathroom to find a ginger chew to settle her tummy. The last thing she needed was to be tired and feel like crap when she woke up.

Checking her phone to make sure the alarm was set, she groaned. She would only have about three hours to sleep. Good thing her job was pretty easy and it was the slow time of year for house buying. She just hoped the grumpy tattooed guy didn’t come back in the next day, looking at her full of disapproval. It didn’t matter that he was the best-looking man she’d ever seen. He was as prickly as a cactus and clearly disliked her.

She let out a sigh, ignoring the need to squeeze her thighs together from thinking about him, and hugged her stuffed elephant tightly.

“Night, Bubbles,” she mumbled sleepily before she dozed off seconds later.

What had she been thinking?

Being in charge of herself was sometimes a major disadvantage. Especially when she got so absorbed in a book. Now, her entire Friday seemed to be lasting forever, and all she wanted to do was go home and take a nap. Except that wasn’tgoing to happen because she had Carlee’s birthday party to go to. Which she was excited for, actually. A Littles birthday party. Her friend was so lucky to have the life she did.

Brook knew how rare it was to find a good Daddy and be able to spend so much time in Little Space. Somehow, Carlee and all the other Littles in the MC had found that, but she wasn’t hopeful for herself. She wasn’t the typical Little. Loud noises and a lot of commotion exhausted her, so she could only be around it in small doses. A Daddy didn’t want a Little who was an anti-social introvert. That went against everything a Little should be. At least, so she thought.

When five o’clock finally rolled around, she couldn’t get out of the office fast enough. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her job. She did. But as the day crept by, the more excited she got for the party and the less tired she felt. Funny how that worked.

She made a quick stop at her apartment to change, opting for comfy pink leggings and an oversized tunic sweater that had a big red heart on the front instead of her formal work clothes. It was a party for Littles, after all, and she loved that she could go over there and be her most authentic self. None of the men in the club ever made her feel weird or awkward. They all seemed to love having Littles around and being in their own caregiver headspaces.

After tossing her uncomfortable heels into the right side of her closet, she shifted the doors to look in the left side. She kept her big-girl clothes separated so she didn’t even have to look at them when she was at home.

Hmm. Converse. Vans. Slippers. Ballet flats. Mary Janes.

She tapped her chin, trying to decide. It was hard to make the choice. That was something Brook was terrible at. When she’d stared at the shoes for too long, she rolled her eyes at herself.

“Stupid, just choose some shoes,” she murmured to herself.

Bending down, she grabbed the slip-on white Vans. Good enough.

Once she was satisfied with her outfit, Brook went into the bathroom and pulled the claw clip from her long chestnut-brown hair, letting it fall free. The relief was instantaneous. With each step, it was like she was shedding her adult personality. Every time she did this, it was so freeing. Responsibilities sucked.

She took a few minutes to style her hair into a set of big fat space buns on the top of her head, letting a few loose whisps frame her face. One glance at her phone and she scurried back into her room to grab her small backpack purse and the gift she’d bought for Carlee. If she didn’t hurry, she would be late.

Luckily, the Shadowridge Guardians’ compound wasn’t too far from her apartment, though it was in a more industrial part of the small town. Part of the compound housed a business that repaired motorcycles along with some other stuff the guys did. The front gate was already open so she pulled in and drove to the parking spaces behind the shop, where the actual clubhouse was.

A few men were outside talking, and as she got out of her car, she swallowed nervously. They were big and tattooed, and quite frankly, they were terrifying. She thought she’d seen them before when she’d been there but couldn’t remember for sure.

As soon as the men saw her, they smiled and waved.

“Brook,” the older man called out. “Good to see you again, Little one. The girls are all inside.”

She gave the man a weak smile, feeling awful that he remembered her name, but she had no clue what his was.

He must have understood because he chuckled. “I’m Rock. And this is King and Faust.”

Right. She had met them all before. Whoops.

“Sorry,” she said as she fingered the strap of her backpack. “There’s just so many of you.”

King winked at her. “No worries, love. We all look similar, too. Though, I’m the handsomest one, obviously.”

Faust snorted and shook his head. “Jesus Christ. Don’t fucking scare the girl off.”

She looked between the men, unsure what to say or do. A shudder worked its way through her. Faust was… well, he was one scary dude. Always had a scowl on his face. She remembered that from the first time she’d met him. Was his face just like that, or was he as mean as he looked?

Feeling bad for thinking that, she looked up at Faust and forced a kind smile. His face twitched like he was trying to smile back, but it looked more like a scowl.

Right. Time to move along.

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