Page 33 of Rebel

“Yeah, he’s always been that way. I used to love listening to him tell stories about his life, especially the ones from before he and Mom had me.”

“Yeah, he told me about the fossil he found and donated to a collection at the college.”

“That’s one of my favorite stories, because of how hard he looked and just when he thought he wasn’t going to find anything, he found a huge fossil.”

When she glanced away, I asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry about saying your property cut was ownerish. I regret that so much.”

“Really?” I asked curiously. “What made you change your mind about that?”

“To be honest, I was talking to Zoe about it and she set me straight.”

Disappointment settled in my gut. “So, if Zoe says property cuts are okay, that changes everything but when I tried to explain you didn’t want to know, right?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m so upset with myself. I’m not used to trusting men, but the thing is, I do trust you. I feel like I screwed up my chance to wear your property cut and maybe even any opportunity I had to get to know you better. I want you to know that I’m really sorry for my initial knee-jerk reaction about the whole thing.”

Impressed by her ability to give a sincere apology and the fact that she still wanted to get to know me better, I gave her a lopsided grin. “Don’t worry, your old man gave me permission to buy you flowers and court you, so it’s all good.”

Her mouth fell open, and she sputtered, “My father did what now?”

“He said I would be a good catch for you because I was laid back and could wire shit.”

“Yeah, but you’re not laid back at all. I don’t know where he got that idea.”

I just shrugged, “I can’t imagine.”

“My dad can’t just give you the green light to date me. That’s my decision alone.”

“Then it’s a good thing you just said you wanted to get to know me better. You’re really cute when you’re all self-righteous and indignant, by the way.”

Catching on that I was just joking around with her, her expression softened into one of amusement. “I’m slowly figuring out your sense of humor.”

Switching up the conversation from my weird personality quirks, I asked, “How do you like your flowers?”

She ran her palm over the blooms and smiled. “They’re really beautiful. I love yellow.”

“Yeah, that’s what your old man said. I was originally going to get red roses, but I decided to get the color you liked best instead.”

She came around the counter and gave me a brief kiss on the lips. “You made a good choice. We can save red roses for Valentine’s Day.”

Drawing her into the circle of my arms, I kissed her again. Having Lacey back in my arms was the best feeling in the whole world. “Would you like take a ride on the back of my bike? We can ride up the coast. The view is incredible.”

Chapter 13

Rebel

Before she could answer, my phone rang. It was Hacker. He sounded serious and somber when he spoke. “I have something that I think you might want to see.”

“I’m with Lacey and her family right now.”

“I don’t think you’ll want to hold off on this.” There was a short pause before he said, “Seriously brother, get your ass to the clubhouse right away.”

Standing there with my phone to my ear, warning signs were going off all over the place in my mind. “Sure thing, Hacker. Gimme twenty minutes and I’ll be there.”

“Trust me, you won’t regret it, Rebel.”

“I do trust you and I’ll be there ASAP.”

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