Page 89 of The Heart We Guard
“Was kinda busy, Prez. Did you need something?” he asks.
“Need you and Quinn to invite me and Greer over to dinner tonight”—I wait for a moment—“please. I mean, if that’s okay with you and Quinn.”
Smoke smirks. “Can’t ask Quinn; she’s pretty tied up right now.”
Then, I realize he’s serious. “Fuck. Sorry, brother, I’ll let you get back to…whatever…”
“You can come say hello. She likes that kind of thing.”
I put my hands up. “Nope. This is me going. I don’t want any part in your kinky shenanigans.”
At that, Smoke really does laugh. “That’s why I was late to the door. Couldn’t leave her in the position she was in. Would be unsafe to leave her tied like I had her.”
At that, I put my hands over my ears. “La. La. La. La. La.”
“Fine. Come over at seven. I’ll grill. Should I invite Atom and Ember?”
I think about that for a moment. “No. Still got some work to do, there. Invite Wraith and Raven. Greer already met her and seemed to like her.”
“Can I ask you a question, Prez?” Smoke crosses his arms and leans his hip against the door jamb.
“Looks like you’re going to.”
“You once told me how Ember arrived three nights before you turned eighteen. How you missed out on celebrating your birthday ‘cos of diapers. You said you loved Ember and her mom, but the club means you don’t have a lot left to give a family, and you weren’t going to put yourself in a position where you need to choose ever again. Now, it looks like you’re doing the exact opposite.”
I had a feeling one of the brothers would challenge me about it. Should have expected it to be Smoke. “You’re right. I did say all that.”
“So, what changed?”
I look out over the acres of Smoke’s property. The leaves have turned and will drop any day. “Can’t answer that fully, yet.”
Smoke steps out and pulls the door closed. “You owe Greer and that kid better than that, Prez.”
“I know I do. And I’m working on it. It’s just…when she left the clubhouse that night, I felt like a piece of my world was leaving too. It was hard to leave her bed that first morning. Already had regrets. But seeing her pull away from me and head down the drive from the clubhouse was even harder. The first time, I left her. That time, she was leaving me. Finding out shewas pregnant? Man, that was something else.” I shake my head and then rub my hand over my jaw as I blow out a breath. Then, I look at my road captain. “Felt like a chance to try it all over again and be a better man this time around. A less selfish one, at that.”
Smoke nods. “Fair enough. But I’ll say this, Butch. Greer did the club a huge favor when she saved you. If she wants to leave for a different kind of life, you should let her, and the club should help her financially.”
“Understood.”
I climb on my bike, and Smoke steps onto the first step of the porch. “Oh, and Butch.”
“Yeah?”
“If she goes, and she means that much to you, maybe you should think about going with her. See you back here at seven.”
With that, my road captain steps back inside.
I can’t help but think about his words all afternoon. I think about them as I watch Greer wake from her nap with soft features and thick pink lips. I think about them as she pulls on a pretty top with some jeans that hug her narrow hips. And I think about them as we drive over to Smoke’s house.
“I’m looking forward to meeting Quinn,” Greer says. “Raven was lovely. Although, I’m surprised you even looked twice at a thirty-six-year-old doctor when there seems to be a bottomless supply of cute twenty-somethings for you all to feed off of in this town.”
“New man, remember? I’m not thinking about twenty-somethings. I’m thinking about you, and this being a date. And thinking I can’t remember the last time I actually took the time and effort to take anyone on a date either. Must have been decades ago, if you don’t include breakfast this morning.”
Her hand rests on her stomach, and I cover it with my hand. Our fingers intertwine, and she doesn’t brush me away.
“Not sure I can remember the last date I went on either.”
I glance over at her. “Find that hard to believe, looking the way you do.”
