Page 22 of Knight
CHAPTER TEN
Gwen
I wished I could have said that everything was roses and rainbows after Knight and I had decided to put the past behind us and start fresh, but it wasn’t. That wasn’t to say that it was horrible. I had wondered if Knight would revert back to the cold, distant man I’d come to know lately. And while he did seem to pull back a little, it wasn’t anywhere near what I expected.
After a few weeks, we’d found ourselves in sort of a roommate routine. I’d wake, make us coffee and breakfast, then he would clean up the mess as I darted out the door to class. We even sat together and ate. And, believe it or not, we carried on conversations like we were friends.
The night after Knight had run Tara off, I apologized to her over and over. She seemed to accept it but I could tell she still wasn’t all that fond of him. Matter of fact, she would always ask if he was at the apartment before she came over. While I couldn’t excuse his attitude that night, there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it. I had hoped that he would come home one day and right that wrong. I knew once he showed Tara his true personality that she would like him.
In truth, the real Knight, past and present, was a perfect balance of fun and protective. He laughed—and it didn’t slip past me that he did so often around me now that the tension had eased a bit. He was serious when he needed to be, or more so when he knew Ineededhim to be. He took time to hang out with me, but also made sure I was keeping up with my studying. He wouldn’t ever let me slack off. Not even a little.
I felt like we were finally in a good place, or if not there exactly, we were headed on our way there.
But my life wasn’t all about Knight. I made sure that I didn’t completely isolate myself with only his friendship. Here I had what I’d craved while I was in Cali but I also made sure not to become dependent on that one side of my life. The club, while it was awesome and the brothers were great, wasn’t the entire existence I wanted for myself. If I was going to make my life like I had set out to do three years ago, then I was going to have to have a well-rounded balance of everything.
I was still currently trying to find the best balance. It would have been easy for me to rely on the guys, especially because it seemed like every time I turned around one of them was there. And I wasn’t stupid, I knew this was my dad’s doing. Or maybe Knight’s. Okay, it was probably a combination of both of them, but I wasn’t about to take it for granted.
“Alright,” I said tossing down my pen on the coffee table. “I think we’ve done enough for one night. Besides, all these words are starting to blur together.” I leaned back on the couch and glanced over at Tara who looked about as done as I felt.
“Yeah, no arguments there.” She let out a little laugh as she snapped the book closed that was sitting on her lap.
That was the moment the front door burst open and an uproar of manly chaos filled the apartment. Five of the brothers walked in with bags hanging from each of their arms, Knight pushing his way in very last.
“I should, um, go,” Tara said at the sudden intrusion. While I didn’t want her to feel like she had to run every time we weren’t alone, the last thing I wanted was for her to feel uncomfortable.
“No, stay,” B-ry said before I could even get a word out. “We’re making nachos.” He flashed Tara a charming smile then ducked into the kitchen.
“We may look big and scary,” Mouse said walking into the room and tossing his arm over my shoulders, “but we’re pretty much giant teddy bears.”
I rolled my eyes and smacked him on the stomach with the back of my hand. Then I resisted the urge to shake off the sharp pain that radiated through my fingers at the collision with his hard abs.
Shit, when did he get so fit?
“Speak for yourself!” Sketch yelled from the kitchen.
Sure, he may have been a prospect, but I could tell he was already in tight with the guys. He’d been working at the tattoo shop that the club more or less owned since it opened. He had a connection to someone in the South Carolina club and when he got wind of the new chapter opening up a tattoo shop here, he didn’t hesitate to bring his skills to the table.
Branded In Ink was pretty much named after Brand. He was from the Moon Hill chapter but from what I’d picked up, had only been there a few years. I’d met him a couple of times and he seemed like a pretty fun guy. Sketch had told me that Brand wasn’t the one to actually name the shop and when Brand had shown up to the shop after the sign was up, he seemed less than thrilled with the business’ title. I got the feeling that Brand wasn’t one to hog the light. While he had a boyish, playful air about him, he seemed like he could be a bit shy at times.
I had yet to meet Blade, the other guy that worked there. He not only did tattoos but he was the shop’s piercer. From what I’d heard he was huge, like muscles on top of muscles. He sounded like someone I definitely wouldn’t want to get a hole put in me by. And the name didn’t help either. He wasn’t currently part of the club or even prospecting, but by the way the guys talked about him, I could tell they still considered him part of the family.
“So, you like nachos?” Mouse asked Tara after she didn’t respond to anything that anyone had said to her.
“Um, yeah, okay,” she managed to get out.
I remembered her being shy the first time she approached me in the coffee shop. It seemed that once she warmed up to someone she was a completely different person because now she could talk my ear off. Not that I minded at all. It was nice to have someone to talk to, especially one that understood what it was like to be a girl. I had no doubt that once she hung around the guys for a bit that she would relax around them and come out of her shell.
“Well come on then, sweet thing. Tell me what you want on ‘em,” Mouse said as he moved toward her, tossed his arm around her shoulders, then walked her to the kitchen.
Knight passed them and gave Tara a small chin lift but didn’t say anything. In fact, he didn’t even look at her for longer than a flicker of his eyes. I knew he wasn’t being dismissive on purpose, it was more like his eyes couldn’t help but to lock onto mine.
His face was stern as he stalked—yes, stalked—toward me. I swallowed and didn’t dare even blink. I felt the pull to him and I wondered if I was the only one. But then there was a flash in his eyes that was dark and full of heat and I knew I wasn’t alone in this feeling. However, it didn’t last longer than a second before he pushed it away with a blink of his lids.
“Hey,” he whispered harshly like he was having trouble getting the word out. He stopped right in front of me, our toes almost touching. So close that our breaths mingled, and his heavy leather and musk scent filled my nose and made my head dizzy.
“Hi,” I said back just as harsh as he had because my throat was suddenly as dry as a desert.
“I got you olives,” he said and his lips twitched with the flicker of a smile.
