Page 15 of Loch
“I know that will make Cringer happy.”
“Yeah. It will be good to have him here.” He nodded and took a long drink of his beer, looking lost in thought for a moment.
“Somethin’ on your mind?” I asked, unsure if I really wanted to know. He shrugged.
“It’s just my baby girl. She’s all grown up. And she has been distant since Knight left. I hate that she’s leaving when he’s finally decided this is the place for him.” He scanned the room almost like it was talking it all in. “Eh, maybe it’s for the best.”
I nodded not having anything to add. I could sense there was more to the story but he wasn’t gonna say. Or it could have been that he didn’t know himself. Whatever it was, it would work itself out, I was sure of it.
It all reminded me that I was apart of something bigger than myself. I had brothers. People all over that were there to watch my back. Families that I was an extension of. I got to be there the day two of Stone’s kids were born. The day Tank’s boy was born. I was at every birthday party. I got to watch these people grow and their children grow. It was an amazing feeling to be part of it.
It was good to catch up with the brothers. It had been too long since we had gotten together. As the clubs shifted hands we got together less and less. We all had our own things going on. Even though it hadn’t been said out loud, most of us were making a move to legit. That meant we had more businesses to run, and taking time away from that meant shit got backed up. Like us, the Tennessee boys had opened a garage fixing cars. They were talking about opening a bar and a strip club as well. I knew the time was coming for us all to sit down and put an end to the gun runs.
On Sunday we headed over to their garage. They were behind and we figured we could throw in a few hours to help out.
“You got your fill, brother?” I asked Diesel as he came up to help me with the truck I was working on.
“For now.” He gave me a smirk and I chuckled.
We worked silently next to each other for the two hours. We were both men of few words. Diesel was smart, but most people never caught on to that fact. He would be in the room and even though you’d notice him, he never let on he noticed you. People figured he wasn’t paying attention and most times talked freely. He kept his head down and ears open. Always listened. Always watched, even if it didn’t appear that he was. Most of what he heard was useless gossip, but he seemed to know everything. He was pretty quiet. Until he got some ass in his room, that was. That boy was into some crazy stuff, and we all heard it throughout the clubhouse.
The ride back seemed long. It was dark when we left and we drove through the late hours of the night. The highways around us quiet, save for the rumbling of our motorcycles. Which wasn’t enough to keep my thoughts at bay. All those thoughts revolved around one thing. Reagan. It was starting to piss me off. So much so, that when I got home I drank myself to sleep. Something I hadn’t done in a long time.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Reagan
I woke to the sound of someone mowing the lawn. I shuffled over to the back window. I practically started drooling at the sight of Nate pushing a lawnmower. His faded jeans hung low on his hips, and his shirt was hanging out of the back pocket of said jeans. I clenched my thighs together at the sight of his sculpted bare torso covered with a light sheen of sweat. I thought he was hot before, but nothing compared to seeing him like that. All his sculpted muscles were on display. He had the well-defined body of a mature man. Tone and rigid. Tan and rough. A tattoo of the club logo covered the left side of his chest. There was something that wrapped around his ribs on the other side. But from my view in the second-floor window, I couldn’t make it out. From the curvy flow of the lines, I would have guessed it was a word or two. My fingers itched to run all over the lines of his ink. He turned and I caught a glimpse of his back. More tattoos covered the top half and wrapped around his right shoulder. A beautiful collage in shades of gray.
He ran his hands through his damp hair, making it stick up in places. It only made him sexier. Thoughts of what he looked like after a good roll in the sack ran through my head. Then I imagined what it would be like to be taken by him. Vivid thoughts of what I wanted to do to that well-defined body stuck in my brain. Dirty, sweaty things. I groaned as my lady parts screamed at me.
I pulled myself away from the window. It couldn’t happen and I needed to shut the desire down.
I watched myself in the mirror as I brushed my teeth. The circles under my eyes were darker. I knew it would take more makeup to cover them. The bruises were hardly visible, but the evidence of that night still showed on my face. In the exhausted, sunken in eyes. The dullness in the color of my skin. The worried lines etched deep in my forehead.
I sighed and spit the toothpaste out. I knew I couldn’t keep going like this, but what other choice did I have. I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. I couldn’t pull anyone else down with me.
Nan caught me in the kitchen a little while later. I was drinking a cup of coffee and staring out the kitchen sink window at Nate. I was becoming shameless. I had turned back into a teenage girl drooling wistfully at the poster of her favorite boy band member on her wall. Nan looked at me briefly before pulling out a tall glass. Turning my attention away from the scene out the window, I watched as she filled up the glass with ice then sweet tea.
“Take this out to him,” she said, holding the glass out to me. I snorted and shook my head. “When a man cuts your grass, you bring him a cold drink.” She gave me a pointed look. One that screamed ‘how dare you have no manners’ but at the same time said ‘it’s just the excuse you need to stop staring at him and go talk to him’.
“You’re right. Since it’syourgrass he’s cutting,youshould take it out to him.” I smirked, proud of myself. She pulled the glass closer to her body.
“Reagan, just as stubborn as your momma.” She paused for a moment. “Look, I’m not gonna say he’s a good guy because I think we both know that isn’t exactly true. That club is into some stuff we will never talk about. But he looks after his own. You won’t find a more decent man than Nathan Loch.”
“Nan, it’s not…” My voice trailed off. I knew the words would never come out strong enough to be convincing. Her eyes went out the window looking at him. Mine followed suit.
“Plus, that man has a tight ass. Could bounce damn quarters off of it.”
“Nan!” Oh my God. I couldn’t stand there and listen to this. She smiled, her sweet but evil all at the same time smile. Her hand rose again, holding the glass out to me. She shook it back and forth, the ice cubes clinking against the side. I rolled my eyes, stomped my foot, then snatched the glass out of her hand.
Nate looked up as I walked down the stairs off of the back deck. His eyes squinted against the blinding sunlight. The mower cut off as he stopped and released the handle. The air became too thick and quiet. The tea was shaking in my hand as I made my way over to him. My heart raced in my chest and I started to sweat, and not from the sweltering heat of the day. I held the glass out to him without a word, making sure to keep as much distance between us as possible. A smirk played on his lips as he reached for it, like he knew what I was doing. His fingers brushed against mine and a shiver shot down my spine.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to,” he said after drinking half of it down.
“Yes.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Yes, I did. It was this or listen to Nan go on about how tight your ass is.” To that, his eyes widened and a short, deep laugh escaped him. The sound sent shock waves through my veins. At that point, I wasn’t even surprised that I found his laugh sexy. My nipples hardened and I was glad they were hidden behind my arms.
His expression turned hard as he took me in. His eyes searched my face. I knew I looked like crap, but he didn’t have to react that way. The nice thing to do would have been to ignore it. He stepped closer to me and I had to tilt my head back to look at him. His free hand came up. The pad of his thumb brushed along the dark circles under my eyes. Then he traced down the lines of my cheekbones and jaw. I held my breath and it took all my focus to keep my eyes from closing at his touch.
