Page 553 of The Tempted

Chapter Seventeen

Hope.

It wasn’t the right word, but the only one that came to mind as I rang Jack’s doorbell.

For the first time since Christine’s death I felt something and allowed myself to keep on feeling. I didn’t look for a quick hit to numb me. Instead, I embraced it and wondered if I could have more.

It was a foreign concept for me, to think there was a possibility of getting more out of life than what I planned.

To live and not merely exist.

I wondered if I was capable of looking forward to the future and if I could learn not to dread it.

I wondered if I could smile again.

And for no other reason than because Lacey asked me, and I didn’t want to deny her.

I didn’t want to deny her anything, least of all any of her wishes. I wanted to be the one that made them come true.

How crazy was that?

About as crazy as thinking I can.

The door opened and Jack greeted me, tucking a cigarette behind his ear.

“You’re late,” he observed with a smile, moving aside allowing me room to walk inside the house.

“Shut up and be happy I came,” I mocked, brushing past him. “Where is everybody?”

“Dining room,” he said, kicking the door close. “Reina said dinner would be done in a half hour, it’s been a fucking hour,” he quipped, following me into the dining room. I stopped at the entryway and spotted Wolf, pulling the elastic band of his pants and snapping them back into place.

“You look ridiculous,” Pipe hissed.

“They’re my eating pants,” Wolf argued, diverting his eyes back to Jack who chuckled. Wolf pointed an accusing finger at him. “Laugh it up now, but when your jeans are digging into your gut, I’ll be the one laughing,” he said as he took a seat at the table and reached for the loaf of bread, tearing off a piece and handing it over to Pipe’s wife, Oksana.

“You need carbs, girl, or a fucking cow or something,” he quipped, shaking his head as he passed her the stick of butter. He turned to Pipe. “She’s all tits, man. You need to put meat on those bones, man needs something to hang on to when he’s motor boating those bad boys,” he advised.

I turned to Jack.

“How long you think we have until Pipe flips the table and knocks Wolf on his ass?” I questioned.

Jack wrapped an arm around my shoulders, leading me into the dining room before tipping his chin to the chair next to the head of the table.

“My monies on Wolf,” he said, sitting down at the head of the table.

I took the seat beside him, stretching my arm across the chair next to me and glanced around the table. Wolf, Pipe, and Oksana took the three seats across from me. Jack was at one end and I’m assuming Reina would sit at the other, leaving one seat free.

“Where is everyone else?” I asked.

“Riggs ditched us for quality time with the baby mama,” Wolf informed.

“And now that Bones don’t have a wingman anymore he’s off looking for a wifey,” Pipe added.

“You can help him with that, no?” Jack asked as he cocked his head and eyed Oksana. “Didn’t you get her off a website?”

“Ukrainian Match.com,” the red head confirmed.

“I didn’t even know you knew how to use a computer,” I commented, lifting my eyes as the kitchen door swung open and Lacey held the door open for Reina.

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