Page 19 of Sparrow

Tightening his jaw, Romeo looked to the back door of the clubhouse, checking for any of the new members. This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have before he’d even seen her. Hell, it wasn’t something he wanted to explain ever. Though the expectant looks from the men around him told him he couldn’t avoid talking about it.

“Jesus, you guys gossip more than a bunch of bitches,” he lamented. When he was sure the coast was clear, his focus returned to his father and his brothers, which he was sure looked shady as fuck, but he didn’t want to talk about her in the club her father helped run. “A couple of years ago, at the rally, I met a girl,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, feeling like he was sixteen all over again getting caught stealing his father’s car. “She’s from around here, and I was hoping to catch up with her.”

“All this phone checking shit is for pussy?” Monty waved a hand in his direction. “We’re swimming in quality snatch. Are you tired of Molly at home? There’s plenty of new Odin’s Fury property waiting for us at that bar.”

“Yeah.” Romeo stuffed his hands into his pockets with his phone. “If those bastards would hurry the fuck up.”

The men around him laughed in agreement before doing a toast to new pussy. Romeo met Dash’s gaze, and when his sponsor gave him a wink, Romeo vowed to kick the shit out of him later. Only he knew the history between Romeo and Sparrow because he’d witnessed it every step of the fucking way.

He didn’t want to bring up Sparrow to the club yet, not specifically. If he did, he’d have to do something about her. They’d want to know his intentions. While she’d still be considered a club daughter in the patch over, and Bowie’s decree that she wasn’t club ass wasn’t in jeopardy, the fact that he had an interest in her would need to be explained.

He wasn’t about to have a conversation about his relationship with her with the club when he hadn’t even had it withher. Hell, he hadn’t even had it with himself. Other than knowing he didn’t want anyone else to touch her, he didn’t know what he wanted. Andfuck Dashfor trying to force him to have that discussion.

Sure, it was meant in jest, but still. He knew what having it would mean. It would put Romeo in a spot of having to either claim her or forfeit her—neither of which he could do just yet.

Chapter 12

Sparrow

While she felt bad for Kimber and the others working the now extremely overcrowded bar, Sparrow didn’t have it in her to jump in and help out beyond mixing a few drinks when it got overwhelming. She just wanted to go home. She’d gotten a pass and she needed to make the most of it.

Any hope of that quickly extinguished when leather men came through the door. She watched as several unfamiliar faces entered the bar. Pressing her teeth into her bottom lip, she read the patches. President. Vice President. Treasurer. Their lapels told their rank, and the rockers on their back confirmed they were Odin’s Fury. So far, he wasn’t there.

She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed. Maybe she was both. Relief that she wouldn’t have to deal with the little love triangle she’d made for herself, but also disappointed that she might not see him.

Toward the back of the parade of out of town outlaws, she recognized the last two. The disappointment left. The relief went with it. Fuck her sideways, literally. Jacob and the guy he’d been with two years ago both scanned the bar. It didn’t take a genius to know they looked for her.

Part of her wanted to duck and hide. The other part of her that still crushed on him wanted to stand proud and be noticed.

“The mother chapter.” Kimber broke into her thoughts with a slight shoulder bump.

“Huh?” She turned, still holding a bottle of rum in one hand and some cranberry juice in the other.

“Puck texted me about the patch over, said be prepared for the mother chapter to show up while they worked out some shit,” she explained and jutted her chin in time for Jacob to spot them. “They must be the mother chapter.”

This couldn’t have gotten any worse. The mother chapter meant the national chapter. That meant of all the chapters of Odin’s Fury, the Montana Chapter were the ones in charge. They ran everything. Which meant, if another chapter fucked up, the mother chapter could send someone to fix it.

Finishing the drink, Sparrow ducked her eyes while Kimber called out to someone asking for their order. Putting two glasses of cranberry colored rum drinks on the bar for the waitress to take, she shifted her focus away from Jacob. Her weak attempt at being invisible wouldn’t bide her any time.

She’d just spent a couple years fawning over the memory, longing for him. Now, he was there, and she wanted more fucking time to sort out her head.

He wasn’t supposed to come back. He wasn’t supposed to be in Ohio again. He wasn’t supposed to be connected to her. Granted, they’d never had that conversation, but the last time they’d seen each other wasn’t exactly a ‘can’t wait to see you again,’ invitation.

A fling, a moment of weakness, a fond memory, those were the things Jacob Karolsson was supposed to be. He was supposed to stay in her goddamn fantasy and in fucking Montana.

Okay, one time. There was one time she’d allow him into Ohio. The rally. She’d concede that. He could come for the rally and she would avoid it like the plague. It shouldn’t be too hard. It was good to have a plan.

“You got any Jameson back there?” he asked once the crowd practically parted for him to walk to the bar. The whiteness of his teeth was a stark contrast to his dark beard as he put his elbows on the bar top, smiled, and leaned over it.

Frozen in place, Sparrow looked him over as though she wasn’t sure he was real. Enforcer. Blinking at him, she realized he’d gotten an officer position. When her gaze made it to his light blue eyes, she stuffed the lollipop in her mouth.

Jesus Christ those eyes.

Something jabbed her in the side, and the trance was broken. The hum of conversation over Aerosmith rushed to her ears, and she turned to see Kimber holding a bottle of Jameson, and peering at her questionably. Caught staring at him like a high school girl with a crush. Could she be any more pathetic?

Taking it, she offered a smile to Kimber first and then looked to Jacob. Still grinning, he seemed to have added a bit of smugness to it. Clearing her throat, she half-filled a lowball glass and placed it on a napkin for him.

Placing a twenty on the bar, he reached for his glass, allowing his digits to graze hers. Fire danced up her fingers, over her hand, and through her arm. She should have yanked her hand back. She should have looked away from him. She shouldn’t have turned into a puddle where she stood.

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