Page 34 of Lips On My Soul

Stella is still trying to win over Josephine, jumping at every opportunity to help with the wedding. Josephine has torn into me a half-dozen times for my fuck up, suggesting Stella help with the last minute wedding details.

After seeing the things Stella is picking out for their house, I completely understand why Josephine doesn’t want her mom’s assistance with wedding planning. The woman’s taste is cringe-worthy. However, Josephine has asked her mom to come to her final gown fitting, which made Stella ecstatic.

On the other half of the coin, Jim helped the entire week on the build. The construction and welding knowledge he has brought to Josephine’s team has impressed all of them. After spending the week with him, I know where Josephine gets her hard work ethic from—she’s like his mini-me. The two of them seem to be getting along great.Thank fuck.

Stella and Jim told Simone they were moving the night after we had dinner at the restaurant. She was not pleased. Considering she lives in Sacramento and constantly travels for her accounting job, you would assume she would be okay with her parents leaving California, but that’s not the case.

It seems kind of ridiculous to expect her parents to stay in Los Angeles in a risky neighborhood without either of the girls living nearby, but I don’t say anything since it’s not my place. Josephine seems to be squawking enough on her parents’ behalf—I don’t feel the need to step on more toes. Though if this continues, I foresee Gauge standing up alone without a maid of honor.

Chase did a sweep of the building site, rental, condo, and all computers and cells used by the team—nothing popped up. We all let out a huge sigh of relief, but Chase had a nagging feeling in the back of his head and dove deep into our surveillance system via the cyber web. Red flags flew up across the board.

Chase’s typical calm demeanor flipped to pure rage. In all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him this pissed, and we’ve been in some real dire situations.

Using our surveillance system to monitor our moves and locations explains why Bianchi appeared out of thin air to find Josephine alone on the road—it was genius actually, in a stalker-psychopathic kind of way.

As furious as I am with him monitoring us visually, I’m more pissed off he had access to audio on all live feeds. He knows Josephine and I had fought when I came home from California. If the twisted little fucknut thinks he can use this to weasel his way into Jo’s life, he’s got another thing coming.

Chase hasn’t left the garage in days, submerging himself in the dark web to find Bianchi’s hacker. Until Chase finds who the shit stain is, all surveillance is down to protect our safety.

Josephine keeps bringing Chase meals and begging him to rest, but he steadfastly refuses. He feels responsible for having this shit fly under the radar, but he can only have his fingers in so many pies. No one blames him—only Chase does.

It’s part of the reason why Josephine has worked tirelessly to finish the tech room at the new headquarters. Chase, Butch, and Ziggy are now settled over at the build site. It’s a tremendous upgrade from our hole-in-the-wall garage setup.

With Ziggy being on-site, he and Jared have been ogling each other nonstop. No longer able to watch them pine after each other without either one willing to make the first move, I finally ask Ziggy to stand up with Jared at the wedding.

Ziggy tries his best to mask his expression into a look of indifference, but his smile is cracking through. “Of course, Atlas. It will be an honor.”

I throw my brother a bone. “Oh, and FYI, Jared is interested in what you’re offering if you decide to man up and go after him.”

Ziggy’s eyebrows shoot to his hairline and his mouth gapes open like a fish out of water. I choke down the laugh brewing in my chest. When the shock wears off, Ziggy’s face looks like it could split in half from smiling.

“Fuck yeah!” Ziggy crows, fist-pumping the air. He surprises me with a big kiss on the lips, and races toward the office trailer where Jared does most of his work.

Josephine giggles behind me. “Um, do I have anything to worry about?”

Oh, Pixie wants to play!

I spin and take quick stock of my surroundings to make sure no one’s around to see me snag her around the waist and haul her upstairs to our nearly completed presidential suite.

She tells me not to hold back, so I slap her bottom scarlet and take her rough the way she loves it, leaving no room for doubt that all of me belongs to her. Guess we can check off unfinished headquarters on our bucket list of places to have sex.

In other club related business, Tiny Tony is adjusting well to MC life and gets along with the crew perfectly. He and Punk take turns guarding Josephine, and Reaper has returned to his regular surveillance duties.

The guys aren’t fans of Tony’smafiosoname and have been brainstorming potential nicknames.

Josephine keeps pushing for ‘The Mountain,’ like the dude fromGame of Thrones, but honestly, nothing seems to fit Tony better than his name—Tony.

Gauge has already been bugging him about pledging to the Mercy Ravens MC and earning his cut. Tony seems intrigued, but after being tied down to his mob his whole life, he’s not ready to commit to another family yet. He’s content guarding Jo and open to working recon. We’re all hoping he’ll come around and patch in.

All week, I’ve accompanied Josephine to her PTSD counseling. Her therapist was shocked when she learned Josephine’s paranoia was merited, and she indeed was being watched.

I was also given a healthy dose of death glare from the counselor for having introduced Jo’s parents back in her life before she was ready. I get it—I overstepped. But if we were to wait until Josephine was ready to reunite, it probably would have meant her parents would miss the wedding. There was no way in hell Jo was going to make amends with them anytime soon if left up to her. I took the dirty looks in stride.

Since my return home a week ago, Josephine’s night terrors have decreased significantly, but every once in a while, she throws a curveball. She’ll go a night without an episode and the following night she may have two back to back. She went all week without a panic attack following a night terror, but then she had one in the middle of the week during the day. And it was all thanks to fucking Lorenzo’s gift-giving and my temper.

Bianchi had a gold necklace delivered to her, apologizing for upsetting her on the road days before. The necklace was too much for me to handle. I flew into a rage, jumping on my hog to return his present—by shoving it down his throat. Maybe if I was lucky, he’d choke on it.

Josephine flipped out, worried I’d get hurt. She dropped to her knees with a panic attack consuming her. Gauge chewed me out, pointing out my actions brought it on. He was right—it was my fault. I’ve been trying to check myself at the door more often in order to avoid Josephine going through another one.

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