Page 15 of Trouble

Trinity: What is it? Can one of you bring it to me instead?

Bishop: Headed out of town with my woman. Stop being a pansy and go pick it up.

Trinity: Fine!

It had beenthree months since I laid my mother to rest on the hill beside the lake. I’d been by once since then to take flowers to her and Trent. I wasn’t sure if I would ever go back, even though my eyes traveled that way whenever I passed by. Knowing they were there, and I was close enough to take a peek as I drove by gave me a small bit of comfort. It made me think I’d made the right call by staying. There was also Bishop. My uncle decided to lessen his travels, and he became a member of the Sierra High Chapter of the Aces High MC. It became official last month, and I was still stunned by the change. I thought he wouldbe a nomad for life. Then again, he fell in love and his woman was done with his roaming around like a single man. Good for her. She deserved to have all of him. My uncle was a good man. I wasn’t naive in thinking that. Even though I knew he did some bad things, he had always been there for me and that was what I judged him on.

I drove over to the house that Hollywood shared with Trouble. I mostly avoided going to Carson’s place because I knew Trouble was there too, but my uncle had left me no choice. On second thought, I might have to reevaluate whether he was truly a good man. He knew that I hadn’t wanted to see Trouble again after I was so vulnerable with him the day my mom died. I saw him when I left the graveside service. He had been there, lurking in the shadows for some reason. I wasn’t sure why he had shown up, or for that matter, why he hadn’t joined us at the service since he had come. He never even said a single word to me before I left with Carson’s mom.

It only took about fifteen minutes to get to the house. When I pulled up, both Hollywood and Trouble’s motorcycles were sitting outside. Normally, they were garaged. I hoped like hell that meant they were about to go somewhere and I wouldn’t have to deal with Trouble, or the looks of pity because I no longer had a parent or sibling in this world to give a shit about me. With any luck, they would rush out the door before I could even get my Jeep in park.

I took a deep breath, then another one as I eased into the driveway. Still no sign of the boys. Dammit.

By the time I put my Jeep in park, I couldn’t take another deep breath without hyperventilating, so I pulled up my big girl pants up, hopped out, and headed to the door. I knocked, but no one answered. I knocked louder because I could hear music coming from out back, but didn’t want to just help myself and walk around. Finally, Hollywood came to answer the door. Hiseyes widened a bit and then he glanced back over his shoulder, as if he needed to signal for someone to hide. When he didn’t see whatever he thought he would, he opened the door a little wider and took a quick scan of the area.

Weird.

“What are you doing here, Trin?”

“Bishop sent me a text to come here.”

“What the hell for? I thought he went on a trip to Cedar Falls with my mom?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “He said he left something here for me.” I pushed past him and moved into the main living area of the house. When Hollywood looked puzzled, I huffed. “Look, I don’t really want to be here. No offense, but your roommate is not my favorite person, so if you could go look for whatever Bishop might have left me, I’d appreciate it.”

“Yeah, sure.” He spun around the room, and took everything in. His brows scrunched together as he did so, obviously not seeing anything out of place. “Let me go grab my phone, and call him. I have no clue what he could have left here for you, or why he wouldn’t just take it by your place on the way out of town.”

“That makes two of us,” I teased. I walked a few more paces into the house and stared down the little hallway that separated the kitchen from the living area. There was a bathroom on one side and a storage closet of some sort on the other. Their house was honestly one of the weirdest layouts I had seen on a newer built home in a while. Most people wanted the living space and kitchen closer together, but maybe whoever had the house built hated their family. I thought of my own family in that moment and snickered. My mother would have loved the layout.

“Hey man, the grill is all fired up and should be perfect for the meat in…” I turned to see Trouble standing there. He was wearing sweatpants, no shirt, and his hat was on his head backward. I had somehow walked into my teenage self’s wildestdream. Of course, back then they were innocent and he would have realized how in love with me he was as he walked to me and then laid a very closed-mouth kiss on my probably dry and cracked lips. That was absolutely not where my grown adult mind went as my eyes inadvertently tracked down his chest from the hard points of his nipples to the line of dark hair that started just below his belly button and trailed down into those low-slung sweats. Dear sweet lord in heaven, the man must not have been wearing underwear either because I could see the full print of his cock as he came to an abrupt stop at noticing me.

Someone cleared their throat and still I couldn’t take my eyes off that place. I should have been ashamed, but I was too busy ogling his business to worry about anything like my own personal embarrassment.

TROUBLE

It had been weeks since I’d laid eyes on Trinity, and not for lack of wanting to. After everything her father laid at my feet that day, Bishop demanded I keep some space from her, allow her time to grieve, and to give me time to process how to keep a secret from her that I thought she deserved to know. He knew how I felt. I was ready to put the past behind us and claim her. I was fairly certain that Hollywood knew that too, though he didn’t seem as keen on the idea as Bishop was.The nomad turned chapter brother had a long talk with me about his niece, and told me I would know when the time was right, and only then could I act on it.

Lo and behold, the woman of my dreams had come to me, to my home, and she was staring at my dick like it was a fuckingfilet mignon and she was starved. There was no way to help the instant chub I got while she eyed me up.

“I couldn’t find anything and Bishop isn’t answering.” Hollywood announced as he made his way back into the hallway. He stood between Trinity and me and I wanted nothing more than to push him out of the way. The moment his body moved into her line of sight, her eyes instantly came up to meet mine and then she blushed so hard even her neck turned red.

“Sorry, what?” Trinity asked Hollywood.

“Couldn’t find anything. Look, we’re expecting guests, and I’d like for you to stay, but…” Hollywood started to spout off.

“We’re cooking out on the grill,” I corrected him, and it was just the two of us, to my knowledge, so I wasn’t sure why my brother suddenly started acting skittish, as if Trinity had never seen his pigsty of a room before.

“No.” Hollywood said just as someone knocked on the door. “Shit!” He hissed under his breath and then looked back over his shoulder at Trinity as the front door opened. “Sorry, Trin.”

What the fuck was he apologizing for?

I found out about two seconds after the thought hit.

“Hey lover, are you ready to party until we fall into bed exhausted and sweaty like always?” Natalie fucking Anderson ran across the room, damn near knocked Trinity over on her way to me, and then threw herself at me like it was a common, every day occurrence. This could not be fucking happening. What the fuck had she just said? Oh yeah! Fuck no! She was not about to lay claim to me in front of the woman I wanted to be mine.

“What the fuck, Nat? I haven’t been with you in almost two years.” Trinity turned and took a step away from the hallway, and I moved Nat aside so I could go stop her from leaving. If anyone was going to be leaving, it would be Natalie.

“So, you’re running after that bitch who fucking betrayed you now?” Natalie shouted at me. It stopped me in my tracks, but italso stopped Trinity from the progress she had made toward the front door. Her head snapped around and she narrowed her eyes on me before she moved them to Natalie. Why couldn’t she keep her fucking mouth shut?

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