Page 29 of The Biker's Second Chance
JAYNE
"How are you ever supposed to find anything in all this?" Spike chuckles as he helps me pull a large bag of flip-flops out of my closet.
"Don't start with me now." I laugh and grab hold of the bag to help him get it onto the floor. "I just need to get another pair of sneakers." I'm already sweating and puffing hard. When I moved in here, I managed to shove all my clothes into the extra-small closet, but I didn't really think about the fact that I'd have to go diving back into it whenever I wanted something out.
I'm surprised that Spike is willing to help me. This is really going above and beyond what he needs to do to protect me.
"Is this the bag?" He shows me the corner of a bright blue duffel bag, which I know only has belts in it.
"Nope, the bag is black."
"Jesus. Seriously, what is in all of these bags?" he questions.
"Clothes," I reply.
"How many clothes do you need?" He looks back at me with that quirky smirk on his face.
I look over his head and see there’s an intense overabundance of clothing. Unfortunately for me, that’s how I relieve stress. Nothing like a sale on a cute top to get my endorphins pumping.
"I know, it's too much. But a lot of that stuff in there I've either never worn or it's very lightly used. I hate the idea of just throwing it away for space." I bite the corner of my lip, getting an icky feeling just thinking about that.
"Then don't throw it away. Why don't you donate what you don't wear to one of the women's shelters? There's one on Cribbons Ave, a lot of young teenagers, single mothers who are always in need of stuff. The club tries to help them out as much as we can." Spike nods and goes back to digging in the closet to find my bag of shoes.
I'm shocked silent.
Did he just say the club was going out of their way to help a women's shelter? That's news to me. Something they weren't doing when Spike and I were together. I guess this is what Nisa meant when she told me things had changed since I'd left.
"That sounds like a good idea. I'll give that some thought." There was no thought to be had—if they are supporting those women and I can help, I will.
Spike isn't the same man he was when I left, and the crazy part is I don't even know if he notices. I don't know if he realizes that after only a short while, he's changed into a much better man. Equal parts pride and remorse fill me up. If I'd only stuck it out a little longer, maybe I could be the one benefiting from all his changes. Maybe we wouldn't be stuck in this awkward situation.
"Oh, that one!" I exclaim when Spike grabs hold of a large duffel bag and starts to yank it forward.
"Finally." Spike groans as he starts heaving the bag out from the depths of the small closet. He pulls harder and harder. Various items start to fall as he dislodges the bag.
Boom, boom, boom.
Both of us stop and look at each other. At first, I think he must have knocked something down inside the closet, but when we hear the banging sound again, I realize it's coming from outside the house.
Shit, it could be one of the girls. I rush out of the room with Spike right on my tail.
"Jayne, damn it, hold on." He orders, and it takes everything in me to stop moving forward.
"What the hell was that?" Spike questions Lash, who is already looking out the peephole.
"Someone is real eager to get into the apartment next door." His voice is cold, calculated.
"Be quiet, come with me." Spike puts his hand out for me and walks me over to the front door. He moves Lash out of the way and allows me to look through the peephole.
"You know him?"
All the fear I'd just been feeling rushes out of my body. "It's nobody, just a john. He's a regular. I used to see him at least twice a week coming in and out."
This man wasn't one of the people I was afraid of. He was just there to taste the merchandise before it was shipped off to wherever the final location was.
"If he's a regular, maybe he has intel we aren't privy to?" Tella says from over my shoulder. All three of them look at each other before Spike moves me out of the way and they open my door.
The man across the hall is so focused on getting into the apartment that he doesn't even notice three large biker men coming up on him.
