Page 9 of Timber

Holy cannoli... there’s a lot of them. And that’s not even counting all the bikes I saw parked in front of the clubhouse. Is my dad one of these guys since the Prospect said he wasn’t here?

As they get closer, my whole body wants to back away, but I fight not to move a muscle, even though they’re intimidating as heck. The five in front come to a stop just outside the gate before turning off their bikes and removing their helmets. However, it doesn’t escape my notice that the SUV stays on the street along with the car and rest of the bikes. The SUV looks like there are a bunch of women in it and a couple of them have vests similar to the bikers’ vests.

A tall man with black hair approaches me along with another man. The second man also has black hair but has streaks of gray and white running throughout his hair, even though he doesn’t really look old enough to have gray or white hair. Both men look lethal and could probably break me in half if they wanted to. The first man’s vest says his name is Thor, and that he’s the President. The other is Phoenix, the Vice President.

Oh, fiddlesticks...

Do not panic, Mae. Do not faint. I need to be able to stay conscious long enough to talk to my dad without embarrassing myself.

“Can we help you?” Thor asks.

I wet my parched lips and repeat what I told the Prospect. When I’m done, both men look surprised before angry looks cross their faces. I thought they were intimidating before, but it’s nothing compared to when they look angry. These men look downright terrifying when they’re mad, and I don’t ever want to be the reason behind their anger.

A small whimper escapes before I can stop it and I take a couple of steps backward, but make sure I’m still close enough to be able to grab my things out of his hands if need be.

Thor’s face instantly softens. “Didn’t mean to scare you. People pulling shit like this pisses us the fuck off.”

He turns to Phoenix, and they seem to have some sort of silent communication going on. After a few moments, they both face me again.

“When the gate opens, step inside near the booth so everyone can get in and you don’t get hurt,” Thor says as he hands me back my things. He then gives the Prospect a chin lift. “Open the gate, Ethan.”

As I’m waiting for the gate to open, I look over the other three men that are in the first group of bikes. One looks just like Thor. Maybe they’re twins?Another has dark brown wavy hair and piercing green eyes. He studies me but doesn’t react positive or negative to me.

The last guy freezes me in place. His light brown hair is cut short on the sides and is longer on top. His eyes are the palest blue I’ve ever seen. He’s got a five o’clock shadow covering his strong jaw and his skin is tan, like he spends a lot of time outdoors. His arms are covered in tattoos, both color and black and white. My gaze cuts to his vest, which says his name is Timber.

My brain immediately thinks of lumberjacks yelling out the word as they fell trees the old school way using axes. Judging by how tight his shirt is pulled over his muscles and how his jeans fit his tree-trunk muscular thighs, Timber would have no problem passing as a lumberjack.

When I lift my gaze, I can’t help but blush at the smirk playing on his lips. Butterflies instantly swirl in my belly.

Oh, crap! He saw me ogling him.

He tilts his head toward the gate, and I nod as I break out of my haze and hastily pick up my bags. Oh, dear lord, I should not be having these intense feelings just from one look. I quickly step inside the gate once it opens fully and try to get a handle on these new emotions. No one has ever made me feel this way before.

Holy shit...

The woman standing in front of me is fucking gorgeous and looks like a fucking ray of sunshine. The sight of her knocks the wind out of me while also sending a jolt through me. A jolt that’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.

Her long blonde hair almost seems to glow in the sunlight and her eyes are dark blue, like sapphires. She looks like she’s in her early twenties and maybe five foot five or a little shorter. She seems thin, though. Not in the ‘have to keep my figure’ thin sense, but more like she hasn’t had much food growing up. While her clothes are clean, they are baggy. Almost like she’s trying to hide or blend into the background. Unfortunately, both are something I’m familiar with.

A surge of protectiveness shoots through me at that. The need to protect her and keep her from harm intensifies even further after hearing her tell Thor and Phoenix why she’s here. Personally, I hope I meet her bitch of a mother. I can’t hurt her cause she’s a woman, but I’ll definitely be having words with her and make sure she stays away from my sunshine.

My sunshine?

Fuck, it’s crazy as shit to be feeling this way about her already when I haven’t even spoken to her yet. I’m already half gone and honestly, I wouldn’t change a fucking thing about it.

For a while, I’ve been feeling like something’s been missing in my life, but just didn’t know what. I stopped using the bunnies a long time ago and just stuck with using my hand. Having meaningless sex wasn’t what I wanted anymore. Not to mention I didn’t want to deal with all the cattiness and backstabbing the bunnies were doing to each other. I haven’t even hooked up with anyone in town, though there have been many that have tried.

Then seeing Levi come live on the compound and settling down with my President and Enforcer made me realize what I was missing. And I definitely wasn’t going to find that with the bunnies.

Something’s telling me that my sunshine is what I’ve been missing. Even though she’s a few feet away, it feels right having her near me. She settles something inside of me. Something that I haven’t felt since I was a kid. A feeling of being home when I’m near her.

Fuck, now I’m going all sappy and shit, but it’s still true. It’s what I see with Levi, Thor, and Dragon.

And it’s what I want withher.

I can’t help my smirk when I realize she’s been checking me out and I love the blush that stains her cheeks and runs down her slender neck. At least the attraction doesn’t appear to be one-sided. Nodding toward the gate, she snaps out of her trance and hastily grabs her bags.

As Ethan opens the gate, I notice him checking her out and when his gaze reaches back to me; he flinches slightly from my glare.

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