Page 73 of Jacked and Jaded

Jane took pity on her and changed the subject. “Bellamy, Calliope tells me that you’ve found a building to set up your store in. I can’t wait to see what you do with it.”

“Yes. It’s a building the club owns. They’re going to rent it to me cheap until I can get things up and running first. I’m hoping to have enough stock to open in the next month.” She shot a stern look to Calliope. “That means you need to buckle down and get me some jewelry made.”

“I will. I promise. Now that my cast is off, it’ll be a lot easier.”

“Well, if you need any help at your store, let me know. I don’t really do anything other than babysit Ryker when Jackson has him and needs to go somewhere,” Jane offered.

“Uh oh, now that you’ve thrown that out there, I might just take you up on that,” Bellamy warned her.

“Jane, she is absolutely serious about putting you to work. She drafted her grandma into helping her in Boulder.” Calliope imagined once Jane helped out, Bellamy would be all over hiring her, at least part-time. Jane was organized and dependable. Two things a lot of people today were lacking according to her friend.

“Okay,” Calliope clapped her hands. “Who needs help? What can I do?” She snuck her finger into the cake batter her mom had been mixing until everyone went bonkers over her ring. “Mmm. Coconut.”

Her mom swatted her hand. “Get out of that. How old are you, anyway?”

“Old enough to know that’s the best tasting coconut cake around.” She moved in for another swipe and quickly jumped out of swatting range.

“Why don’t you peel the potatoes in the sink. That should keep you busy.” Her mom spoke to her like she did when she was ten and underfoot constantly.

“Yes, Mom.” Calliope picked up the vegetable peeler and got to work. The way the sun coming through the window flashed off her diamond made her smile. Jackson had outdone himself. The ring was truly beautiful. A year ago, she would never have guessed she’d be right here in this moment. Engaged to Jackson and madly in love with him.

20

“What was all that squealing in the house about?” Jackson’s dad asked as he took hamburger patties off the plate he was holding and tossed them on the grill.

Jackson grinned and rubbed his jaw. “They were admiring the ring I bought Calliope.”

Maverick’s head spun around causing him to almost miss the grill with the next burger. “Say again?”

“I asked Calliope to marry me and be my old lady and she said yes.” Jackson was startled when his dad pulled him into a tight one-armed hug.

“Congratulations! I’m happy for you, son.” His dad rearranged the burgers on the grill so he could get a few more on there.

“Thanks, Dad.”

Race came across the back yard, a cooler in his hands, catching the tail end of the others’ congratulations. He set it down on the picnic table and flipped the top. “Beer anyone?” He tossed one to Jackson, his dad, and Trick. Some of the brothers were busy with other things and a few others would be swinging by any time.

“Did I hear right? You asked Calliope to marry you?” Race popped the top on his can and took a drink.

“Yeah. I did. She said yes.” He still couldn’t believe it. If she had told him no, that she wanted to wait for a while, he couldn’t have faulted her. After the way he broke her heart three years ago, he was damn lucky she gave him the time of day. It was because of his own stupidity that she ended up with someone like Clint Maxwell. To the day he died, he would never forgive himself for what she went through with that asshole.

The sound of bike pipes pulling up in Bellamy’s driveway had the brothers watching to see who ended up coming around back. Tuck and Tulsa ambled their way around. Race tossed each of them a beer. Tuck caught his and popped the top. He took a deep drink and took a seat at the picnic table. “Smells good, Maverick.”

His dad grunted and continued to flip and shuffle burgers. The rest of the brothers took a seat or stood next to the picnic table.

“Something odd happened at the gas station earlier,” Tuck started.

Race frowned. “What do you mean odd?”

“Tulsa and I were pumping gas and happened to look up and through the window where the checkout lady stands at the front. There were two guys holding some kind of papers up for the lady to look at. She shook her head a few times and they left. They came out the door and headed for the BMW parked near us. They both screamed money. Expensive suits, shiny shoes, rings, sunglasses, hair slicked back.” Tuck’s lip curled up in disgust, clearly offended by these two men and their clothing choices.

“So.” Trick shrugged his shoulders.

“So, they showed me and Tulsa three pictures and wanted to know if we’d seen these people. One was of Clay, on was of Calliope and one was of Bellamy.” Tuck exchanged worried glances with Jackson.

Son of a bitch. Couldn’t he and Calliope catch a break? Clay had said his friends would come looking for him, so they’d expected that. Even expected they might be looking for Calliope considering she was his live-in girlfriend. Bellamy was a surprise, though. He chanced a look Race’s way and saw the same pissed expression as his own. That was a surprise. Was it because the club was being threatened again, or because someone was coming looking for Calliope and/or Bellamy? Time would tell.

“There is no way I can lock her down again. She just got her freedom. She was climbing the fucking walls.” Jackson sat straddling one of the bench seats, shaking his head.

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