Page 49 of The MC's Surprise
The nurse who was standing nearby immediately pulled the needle out, reclining his chair until he was more flat. He looked pale and there was sweat on his temples, but the nurses didn’t seem worried and they gave him a minute to come to on his own. While we were waiting, my own donation bag was filled, but I was too worried about Rooster to notice the nurse pulling the needle out and bandaging me up. She handed me a cookie and a juice box and told me to wait a little while before moving. I wasn’t going anywhere until I knew Rooster was okay, so I didn’t argue with her.
Rooster woke up a few minutes later, sucking in a sharp breath and sitting up suddenly. His nurse put her hand on his forehead, gently lowering him back down.
“Take it easy. Just relax. You’re okay. Hard part is over.”
He let himself be pushed back down, looking around warily. “What happened?”
“You passed out,” I answered.
Rooster groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face. “Shit, seriously? I’ll be tormented for life now.”
Chuckling, I shook my head. “Relax. It won’t leave this room.” I shot a warning gaze to Mel, who was the only person I could see telling other people, but she looked concerned and she didn’t even complain when I narrowed my eyes at her. She just held up her pinky to Rooster, promising to keep it to herself.
Sierra looked close to tears, moving closer to Rooster’s side. “I’m so sorry, Rooster. If I’d known it was that bad, I never would’ve–”
Rooster shot her a goofy grin, waving away her concern. “Neither did I, sweetheart. I mean, yeah, needles freak me the hell out, but I never thought I’d actually pass out. If I’d known, I would’ve skipped today entirely. It’s fucking embarrassing.”
“Language,” the nurse scolded, sitting his chair up a little so he could take the treats she offered him. Rooster shot her a sheepish grin, dutifully drinking both juice boxes she handed him and eating his cookie.
Sierra still looked really upset, and I didn’t want her crying again, so I beckoned her closer, putting my arm around her waist and tugging until she joined me on the chair. I rubbed her arm, soothing the guilt a little, and offered her the rest of my cookie.
“You’re supposed to eat that,” she pointed out, leaning her head against my shoulder. I shrugged.
“Not a huge fan of sweets. Well… Most sweets anyway.” I shot her a lecherous look, effectively banishing her melancholymood, as she burst out laughing. It was a lame come on, but I wasn’t trying to get in her pants right now. I just wanted to make her feel better, and dirty jokes seemed to do the trick. She was fun like that.
When we finished up and were finally released, Rooster and I shot each other looks.
“Not a word about this,” I said firmly.
He nodded. “No one needs to know.”
Because if the crew knew either of us was afraid of needles and needed hand holding to get through this, we’d never hear the end of it.
28
Vegas
After our first date got interrupted, I was determined to make it up to Sierra. I planned it all out, and after the blood drive was over, I ran back to the clubhouse to grab the shit I needed, stuffing it all into a backpack and tossing it into the back of my car. Sierra got a ride home with her parents since they showed up to donate before it was over, so I headed to her place to pick her up before someone in the crew could attempt to distract me with club business or whatever. I wasn’t interrupting this date for the third time. It wasn’t going to happen.
I’d been to her house before, several times in fact, but I couldn’t help looking at it in a new light when I pulled up. The place was small, probably only two bedrooms if I had to make a guess. The yard wasn’t that big, and had no grass for our kid to play in.
What was the likelihood that I could convince Sierra to move in with me? That way we could raise our kid together. We were still pretty new in our relationship, but Butch moved in withSkylar after only a couple months. Surely our timeline could be bumped a little so she’d be staying with me before the kid came.
I’d need to look for an opportunity to bring it up. If I kept the conversation casual, made sure she knew it was just an idea, I could possibly avoid making her feel like a burden. It wasn’t like I wanted her to move in just because of the kid. After our one night together, I found myself craving more. I wanted her in my arms at night. Being apart, especially after the kid got here, would suck.
The door to the house opened before I even got close enough to knock and Sierra slipped out, looking like she was trying to sneak away. I tipped my head at her, fighting a smirk.
“What are you doing?”
“Sneaking out,” she whispered. “My dad wants to meet you and I don’t want anything else to interrupt our date.”
While I got that because I went out of my way to avoid people too just so we could go on this date, her dad was different from my crew. It felt wrong to ignore it when he said he wanted to meet me.
“We can just say hi?” I offered. “I mean, we’re coming back here for dinner anyway, so I don’t think he’ll need to drag shit out or anything, but–”
“Nope!” She grabbed my arm, hauling me with a surprising amount of strength toward my car. “They’re good people. They’ll invite you in for iced tea and start up a conversation about your life and your family. We’ll never get to leave. Let’s just go. We’ll blame me later when he asks.”
This felt like a bad idea. I didn’t want to piss off her dad when we were going to have to be in each other’s lives for the next eighteen years at least. But Sierra was being so dramatic about it, I couldn’t help but laugh. And because I didn’t want to upset her, I went along with her plan.
