Page 25 of Loch
“Let me know. I’ll keep looking.”
I headed out to find Cal. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to tell him about what was going on with Reagan. Hell, I didn’t know that much to tell, anyway. All I had was this feeling deep in my gut that something wasn’t right. I knew he wouldn’t let me stay behind, so I was trying to think of the next best thing.
I found him in his office, half-asleep in his chair, his big arms crossed and resting on his huge belly. When he heard me come in, he opened his eyes slowly and raised a questioning brow. I sat down and explained what I had concrete knowledge of and then told him what I felt. When I finished, he looked at me with one eye narrowed for a moment. I couldn’t tell what was going on in his head. He scratched under his long beard as he processed everything.
“You got the boys runnin’ scared from her, afraid you’ll do your worst on them if they even look her way, yet you ain’t claimed her. The fuck is goin’ on with you?” His words came out gruff and bounced around my head for a while.
“She’s Ethel’s granddaughter. I’m just tryin’ to look out for her.” I rubbed the back of my neck. Sure, that was true, but there was more. I couldn’t help the pull I had to her and the distance I would go to keep her safe. “You know more than anyone how much Ethel has done for me. I owe her this.”
“You are a damn fool, Loch.” He shook his head at me. “Yeah, Bocca goes, Brand stays. You better be ready for this. No blindsidin’. I need your eyes open and your mind on what’s goin’ on.” He leaned forward with his warning, pinning me with his stare. I nodded. I wouldn’t let my brothers down. I stood and walked out, still thinking about his words.
I headed out to the bar area. I needed to calm down before I saw Reagan again. I grabbed a beer and took a seat on one of the couches. I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Bocca letting him know he was going on the run. I figured I would find Brand at some point later and talk to him. He and Reagan had gotten pretty close, and I knew it was a good choice to have him watch over her while I was gone.
“Hey, man. Bocca said you needed to talk to me,” Brand said not even ten minutes later. He took a seat beside me, brow raised high in question.
“Yeah. Need you to stay here and keep an eye on Reagan. I know you were excited about goin’ on your first patched-in run, but this is important. I’m trustin’ you with it.” I eyed him and to my surprise, he didn’t look angry or upset. I knew I’d made the right choice.
“You got it.” He sat back and it looked like he wanted to say something else.
“Spit it out, boy,” I barked, not in the mood to deal with anymore shit at that moment.
“I know it’s not my place, but is everything alright with her?” he hesitantly asked. I didn’t want to tell him too much. It might change the way he looked at her and I couldn’t have that. Reagan was smart enough to pick up on when people treated her differently.
“Nope.”
“Okay. Got it. I’m looking out for precious cargo.” With that, he stood up and walked off.
Wanting to be around Reagan now that she was happier with me, I headed back to my bar. I also needed to let her know I would be gone for a couple of days. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to tell her personally. I probably could have just left and come back without her even knowing. But I wanted to tell her. I wanted her to know that I cared enough about her to let her know myself.
I found her in the stock room grabbing a case of beer. I rushed over to her and nicely took it from her. She graced me with a wide smile like she was surprised and happy to see me. We walked back out to the front and started loading up the coolers. The place was empty and I was glad to have a moment alone with her.
“I’m headin’ out with some of the boys tomorrow. I should be back late Thursday.” Her eyes turned sad. “Don’t worry, I’m leaving Brand behind.”
“Oh, so what, poor Band gets put on babysitting duty? I thought now that he was patched-in he didn’t get the shit jobs,” she joked. Her mouth tipped up on one side.
“Trust me, babe, it’s not a shit job.” A light blush spread across her cheeks as she bit the side of her lip.
“I should be pissed. I don’t need a watcher.” She smiled at me. “I’ll be fine, Nate, but thank you. You might want to be careful though…” she had a playful look on her face.
“And why is that?” I bent down to her level, our faces a breath apart.
“Because he is a hell of a lot more charming than you. And he actually treats me like a person.” Her eyebrow cocked with her sassy reply. I knew it was too good to think she was just going to let things go. And damn if that woman didn’t know how to push buttons.
“Watch it. I’ll only warn you once.” My words were stern, but my tone was playful. There was still a hint of a dark warning in my tone. Oh, the things I wanted to do to her. Her face drifted closer to mine, the sides of our noses touched.
“I’m not scared of you.” Her eyes locked on mine and her lips twitched. Then she stepped back. “Be safe.” Her face was less joking and I wondered if she had some sort of idea what the run was for. Her eyes were almost pleading with me to stay.
“Nothin’ to worry about.” I shook the feeling of her worrying about me off as she turned around and walked away from me. I needed to get out of there. I had to get my head straight before I headed out the next day.
The next day we made it to the hotel just as the sun was going down. Lake was in the van and the rest of us on our bikes. I texted Race, the president of the Dogs of Wrath. I let him know we made it into town and that we would be at the meet point in the morning. Everything seemed to be on target. I called Cal and let him know we didn’t have any problems on the way down. Part of me wanted to call Reagan, but I knew better. I sat on the bed, toying with my phone and trying to talk myself out of it. We weren’t in a relationship and I didn’t need her to feel like it was one. I sighed wishing I could hear her voice. She calmed me. Well, when we weren’t at odds, she did. Something deep inside of me was on edge and I desperately needed that warm feeling she gave me.
Bocca and I were sharing a room. He came in a while later with a bag of food. He handed me a burger and we sat on separate beds eating in silence for a bit. I could feel his eyes on me. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to get into whatever he wanted to talk about, but I doubted there was any way out of it.
“What?” I said not being able to take the odd silence anymore.
“I just don’t get it, man,” he said around a mouth full of fries. “You won’t claim her. Yet, pretty much everyone can fuckin’ tell how you feel about her, even if you won’t admit it to your own damn self. Then you go and leave Brand there with her. Sometimes, I question your smarts.”
“She’s in some kinda shit. I’m just tryin’ to look out. And what the fuck you talkin’ about with Brand?! I thought it was the best option. She feels safe with him and they get along.” He looked at me with a dumbfounded expression. “I don’t have time for this shit.” I was angry that somehow there was something going on that I was missing.
