Page 12 of Bear (Rebel Saints MC 6)

Chapter Five: New Territory

Bear

I didn’t believe for even a hot minute that Delphia would really show up for pool night, no way.

So when that cute, vulnerable, slender woman with her long honeycomb hair stepped in the door, looking around nervously—I felt hard all over.

I took in a sharp breath, waiting to see if she’d step forward. I wanted to observe her for a while and see how she handled herself. She’d done something special with her hair; it looked wavy today. She looked super sexy in tight blue jeans and a lacy white top. A combination of wholesome and wicked at the same time.

Our eyes met and I raised my hand, giving her one of my classic Bear smiles.

The visible tension in her shoulders eased as she walked towards me.

As soon as she reached me, the urge to touch made me reach out and put a hand on her upper arm, being sure to leave my mark as my lips brushed the skin near her earlobe. “Hey. You made it. So good to see you. Welcome to pool night at Wheelz.” I could barely keep my voice steady.

She grinned. “Thank you. I said I would come down… so here I am. This place is huge. It doesn’t look like that from the front. I thought it was gonna be kind of small and pokey or something.”

I tried to keep my eyes on her face and not her lips as I answered, “No, no, it’s a pretty well-known spot here. And we have pool competitions, so we have to have space for that.” I explained, gesturing at the pool table area.

“Wow. I haven’t picked up a pool cue for a long time. This looks like fun.” She ran her hand over the felt on the pool table.

Chalk was standing close by with his clipboard ready for the allocated pool players to step up. He had been watching us, waiting for an intro. “Hi, I’m Chalk. I’m the maestro of pool in Holbeck, and who might you be?” He eyed me.

I smirked at his little pool joke.

“I’m Delphia. John invited me down here. I work at the local gas station.” Delphia crossed one foot over the other and grabbed her elbow.

She clearly felt a little shy, but the main thing I clung to was that she was here.

“John? He hasn’t told you?” Chalk asked with amusement.

I realized that I had yet to tell Delphia my road name.

Delphia looked over at me with a puzzled expression. “Told me what?”

I eased her worried face with a warm smile. “I go by Bear. That’s my biker name. Call me Bear.”

She nodded and said the name slowly out loud, “Bear.” Her innocent eyes looked back at me to confirm. “Bear, it is.”

“You still have time to join in the pool competition if you’re game,” Chalk added the hopeful mention in.

“I’ll watch. Maybe I will play later or something,” she mumbled back to Chalk.

“There’s a pool table we leave free for people to play casually. Maybe you and Bear can play.” Chalk coaxed us to the free spot.

I sensed Chalk was trying to do a little matchmaking. Not that I needed his help. “Do you want something to drink?” I asked Delphia. “I wanna introduce you to a few people from the club.” I placed my hand in the small of her back and guided her to the bar.

A few of the regulars were sprinkled along the bar and gave me head nods.

Ink gave me a high five then looked over at Delphia. “Hey! I’m Ink. What will it be today?” Ink whipped a towel onto his shoulder coolly.

Delphia’s eyes were fixated on his tattoos, which was primarily why Ink got them. He was a show off and a work of art all at the same time. “Your tats are so cool. I really like them. The dice are cool. That must have taken years to finish.” She pointed to his left bicep.

Ink came closer to show it off. “Yep, years is right. Seven to be exact. I don’t think I’m going to get anymore for a little while.”

Delphia stopped looking at Ink’s tattoos and looked up at Ink’s face. “Do you have something that’s a little sweeter? I don’t want a beer.”

I smiled because I knew what he was about to offer her.

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