Page 28 of Knight
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Knight
Lake and I spent a good part of the day going through the shipping containers. We were hot and the air around us was muggy.
We’d gone through half the ones on this side of the lot. And what did we find? Nothing that helped us with why someone was sniffing around. Dirt, dead critters, trash, and a few of them seemed to be someone’s home at one point. I would have said it was wasted time going through and clearing them all out, but in reality, it was something that needed to be done anyway.
“So, is there anything I’m supposed to keep an eye out for?” Lake asked, wiping his brow with the green bandanna he’d had tied around his wrist. For now, I’d decided to keep things about this quiet. If it turned out to be nothing, I didn’t want people to get alarmed for no reason.
“Nope, just something we should have done a long time ago.”
“Right,” he said as his head bobbed up and down and I could tell that he didn’t one hundred percent believe what I’d said, but he also knew better than to question me.
When we’d gotten there, I found the spot where the intruder had been caught by the security camera. I’d sent the container numbers to Prez, then did my best to follow the tracks to see where the person had escaped. I found a small break in the old, sagging chain link fence that looked fairly new, given the fact that all the overgrowth had been cut away and hadn’t had the chance to grow back. I slipped outside and scanned the area. There wasn’t anything. Just an empty, grass-filled area that stretched on beyond what I could see. The tracks led down to the water and disappeared there. Whoever it was either had a boat or was smart as fuck. I had a hunch that it was the latter and I imagined that whoever it was trudged along the river line until they thought it was safe.
“How much longer you want to go for?” Lake asked bringing me back to the here.
“We’ll do a few more, then we can head out. I’ll come back in the morning and continue on.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be ready first thing in the morning after Mouse relieves me.”
“Thanks, man,” I said with a nod. I liked that I didn’t even have to ask him.
Lake was on the younger side. I would have guessed around Gwen’s age. He must have prospected for the club at a young age considering he’d been at Moon Hill for a bit before this. But from what I’d seen, he had a good head on his shoulders. He wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and he was always one of the first people to step up for a job. Sometimes it almost seemed like he was still trying to prove himself.
“Hey,” I said, making him pause mid-stride and turn to face me. “Uh, Gwen’s cooking for me and some of the brothers tonight, you wanna come?” I thought that I needed to get to know him more, bring him into the fold a little. It wasn’t anything huge, but it was a start. By the smile that lit up his damn face, I knew I’d made the right move.
“Yeah, that sounds great.”
We worked another hour then called it quits. We both were hot, sticky, and smelled like fucking ass. I headed to the apartment to shower while he headed back to the club. I knew his room there was his home and I got a sense that he wasn’t in any rush to change that. I understood that to some degree. Maybe I would have had a different feel if I hadn’t grown up in the club.
When I moved down here I felt that I needed a place of my own. Some days I was glad for it, and now, some days I wish I hadn’t had that option. If I didn’t have my own place, I wouldn’t have been in the predicament with a roommate that was probably more damaging than not. But there was nothing I could do about that now.
As soon as I walked into the apartment my nose filled with the warm aroma of rosemary and lemon. Fuck! I knew exactly what she was making and I’d be damned if it didn’t gut me for a second.
Lemon chicken.
One of my favorite things.
The very one that her mom used to make me on special occasions. Like my birthday. Sometimes she even made it when I brought home a good grade. Or when I’d done something big.
I fought the lump in my throat as my head was thrown back to the years when I was a kid. I had the same feeling when I’d walk into Gwen’s house when I was younger. It was almost as if Mindy was right there, smiling at me and opening her arms to me for a hug. I could almost hear her soft, light voice asking me how my day was. All these years, and I still hadn’t gotten over her death. I could only imagine how Gwen felt even after all this time.
“Hey,” Gwen’s voice broke through my memories. “I wasn’t sure when you’d be home, but B-ry said he and the guys would be here in like less than an hour. So…I started dinner.”
“You,” I cleared my clogged throat. The emotions were too thick but I did my best to try and hide them. “You could have called, ya know? Or shot me a text. I would have answered.”
“Yeah, um,” she looked at me with sad eyes and I wondered what the hell was going on. “I don’t have your number. I mean, I guess I could have asked one of the guys but…”
Her voice trailed off and I knew exactly what she wasn’t saying. She had hoped that I would be the one to give it to her. I swallowed hard, knowing I’d hurt her again. My feet carried me closer to her. The scent of the chicken mixed with hers and became an intoxicating combination. I couldn’t even begin to explain how she smelled. It was sweet and sexy and uniquely her. I’d never smelled anything like it. And damn if my dick wasn’t stirring in my pants right then.
“Give me your phone,” I said in a strained whisper.
I’d spent so much time trying my best to keep distance between us. It was hard enough just being in the same room as her, but this, being so close that I could lean down and kiss her, was pure fucking torture. I couldn’t, no matter how hard I felt a pull to do so. No matter how many hours I’d spent wondering how she would taste. Or how many nights I’d lay in bed thinking how soft she would feel. I fucking couldn’t. And it killed me.
In a daze, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. Not taking her eyes off of me, she unlocked it then handed it over. Reluctantly, I broke eye contact as I added myself to her contacts.
“There,” I said handing it back. Her fingers brushed over mine and she inhaled sharply at the static charge that ran through us at the contact. Like she’d been burned, she pulled her hand and phone away quickly.
