Page 14 of My Romeo

“Chicks before dicks,” Sloane called. “I will move for Dove, not Aero.”

“Who is moving?” Throttle stood in the entryway to the hallway with a beer in his hand and a shit-eating smile on his face. He held up his finger. “Just hold on one minute before you answer that, though,” he laughed. “Aero!” he hollered. “Get your ass out here.”

Aero came jogging down the hallway and headed straight for Sloane.

“Now say it,” Throttle called. He took a drink of his beer and swept his arm out. “Say it.”

“Say what?” Aero asked.

“Sloane is going to move to Mt. Pleasant if Dove moves here to work at the shoe factory,” Faye explained. “She will move for Dove, not you, but that’s okay because you should just accept any way she moves here just as long as she moves here.”

Throttle stuck his finger in the air. “There it is.”

“Are you drunk?” Olive asked.

Throttle finished his beer and crushed it in his hand. “Have to be after that disaster of a shopping trip, but not drunk enough that I won’t be coherent for when Yarder sees all of this fucking pink.”

“Your idea,” I called. “The pink and the green were all your idea.”

“You’re moving?” Aero asked loudly.

“Uh, well,” Sloane muttered. “I think we were just talking to talk. It’s not like Dove is serious about getting a job at the shoe factory. That’s a big step, ya know?” She wrung her hands in front of her and looked around. “But I would.”

“You would what?” Aero asked.

“Uh, well…”

“Your girl would move here, but only if I moved here,” I explained. “Not saying you wouldn’t be a huge perk if she moved her.”

“Chicks before dicks,” Sloane blurted. “I have to stick by my slogan, and I will move if Dove moves.” She slammed her eyes shut and cringed. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re moving here?” Aero asked me.

I shrugged but nodded. “I mean, no, but yes?” I had just heard about the job at the shoe factory, and being closer to the club might help me speed up figuring out if the Iron Fiends were up to no good or not.

“If you had told me a month ago you would move here if Dove moved here, I would have moved you both in a heartbeat,” Aero laughed. “I don’t care what or how you get here as long as you get here.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I love to ride my bike, but sometimes it’s hell driving to get you when it’s been a long week.”

Sloane cracked open one eye. “Seriously?” she whispered. “You’re not mad about me moving here, but only if Dove moves?”

Aero shrugged. “Whatever gets you here, babe.” He pulled her into his arms and swung her around.

Yup, Sloane totally got her real-life fairytale.

I turned my back to give them a little bit of privacy and looked directly at Throttle.

Shopping with him hadn’t been horrible.

Sure, he had his little jabs and jokes here and there, but for the most part, he had been bearable. The camera crew had managed to catch up with us when we hit the grocery store, and everyone seemed to sober up and just want to get back to the clubhouse.

It was definitely weird knowing your every move was being recorded.

Like it was right now.

“Like what you see, doll?” Throttle called. He winked, and I couldn’t stop my heart from doing a little flip.

Throttle tended to walk the thin line between nice and jerk, with him veering off into jerk territory more than not. But I had to give it to the guy that he was not at all hard to look at.

Tattoos covered both of his arms, hands, and neck, and I assumed more than what I could see was also covered with colorful ink.

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