Page 38 of Pirate

“Sophia!” Jazz laughed. “That man can’t take his eyes off of you and he gets this stupid look on his face when you’re beingverySophia. I’ve suspected for a while that he has feelings for you.”

Sophia swallowed hard. Jasmine was wrong. She had to be. Pirate couldn’t have feelings for her. He’d said it himself that he didn’t. It was sex. Just sex. And a divorce.

“And frankly, I think you have feelings for him right back.”

Shaking her head, Sophia handed Jasmine her coffee mug. Jazz dropped her phone into the sheets between her crossed legs and accepted the mug. “I don’t,” Sophia insisted softly. “I like him but not like that.”

Jasmine kept an eye on her as she took a sip of coffee. “Are you sure? Or have you been telling yourself that for so long that you’ve actually convinced yourself of it?”

Sophia opened her mouth to refute her bestie’s claim but ended up closing her mouth without speaking.

Jasmine just nodded like Sophia had proven her point for her. “Let me ask you this. What was Pirate’s reaction when youtold your mom the two of you were dating? Did he seem appalled or angry?”

“Shocked,” Sophia informed her, recalling how Pirate had just stood there.

“And what was his reaction to Fletcher being there?”

Sophia didn’t have to remember. “Possessive. But it was, like, a quiet possessiveness. He let Fletcher ramble on and make a fool of himself while he kept his hand on me or would rev his engine so I couldn’t hear Fletcher talk.”

Jasmine’s look said Sophia had just confirmed everything she’d been saying to her. “And, with that, I rest my case.”

Sophia shook her head. “No, you don’t understand. Wecan’thave feelings for each other. We agreed not to.”

Jasmine snorted. She drank the last of her coffee and then twisted around to place her mug on the nightstand. “Hate to tell you this, babe, but you two have been lying to not only each other but also to yourselves. Frankly, I’m not surprised in the least. The two of you are kinda perfect for each other—as long as you can get your heads out of your asses to actually make this work.”

Jasmine moved to stand up, pulling the sheet with her and nearly knocking Sophia over as it moved from under her ass. “Now, if you don’t mind. I have to get showered and dressed so I can get to work.”

In a bit of a stupor, Sophia managed to get herself up and off of the bed.

“Hey, Soph?” Sophia paused by the doorway, turning to see Jasmine standing at her dresser. She had the sheet wrapped around herself like a toga and holding a bra and a pair of panties. Jazz smiled cheerfully at her. “If you do end up marrying him one day, we really will be sisters.”

CHAPTER 7

Pirate had never clocked out so fast in his entire employment. Generally, he clocked out but still hung around to ensure all the students left safely or to watch whatever extracurricular activities his club nephews or niece were up to. But this time, he needed to get to the clubhouse as soon as he could.

During Saturday’s Church meeting, it had been casually mentioned that Steel, Lucky, and Bulldog would be interviewing a potential prospect on Monday. After meeting Fletcher the day before, Pirate now knew who that prospect was—and he was not happy about it. He’d wanted to discuss the matter with Steel after Sophia left, but then the two of them had ended up staying in his apartment late and talking to Steel had slipped his mind.

Since Enola, Sophia’s dog, was in the apartment that morning when he fed the dogs, Pirate knew Sophia was there too, but he hadn’t seen her. From the voices coming from Jumper’s bedroom, Sophia and Jasmine were in there. Jumper’s grumpy mood also confirmed it. The two brothers had walked the four dogs but there’d still been no sign of Sophia by the time Pirate had to leave for work.

Disappointment and a weird agitation had been plaguing him all day. It was like an itch on his back he couldn’t scratch.

He sent a message to Steel, Lucky, and Bulldog saying that he needed to speak with them prior to their meeting with the wannabe prospect. He had no doubt that Steel would see through Fletcher’s pompous pretense but Pirate still had to ensure that Fletcher did not get the vote. Unfortunately, there was nothing in their bylaws that prohibited assholes from prospecting. The stipulation was they needed to have served in one of the branches of the armed forces and have been honorably discharged.

Even with those two conditions met, a prospect still needed the officers to vote in his or her favor. Bear, as the Road Captain, was the tie breaker of the MC. Since there were seven officers, he only voted when there was a tie. However, in the case of voting someone in as a prospect and then voting a prospect to become a patched member, Bear got a vote like everyone else because it wasn’t a majority wins situation. Every officer needed to vote ‘yes’ to let someone prospect and then every patched member needed to vote ‘yes’ to let that prospect earn his or her rockers.

In the MC’s history, there’d only been one instance where a prospect did not get all the votes. It was before Pirate’s time but he’d heard the stories. For the first two years of the MC’s existence, the prospecting timeframe had been six months rather than the year it was now. They’d been trying to build membership and hadn’t wanted the club to wait a full year to get patched members other than the officers. Supposedly, during that six month time frame, the prospect had been a complete asshole, did not do what was asked of him, and spent his time at the bar fucking anyone he could.

It was no surprise he didn’t get the votes and had actually threatened to sue the MC for not allowing him to be patched over.

Pirate was heading to his hog in the staff parking lot when he heard “Uncle Pirate!” from behind him.

He turned to see Scotty and Harper walking out of the building. Harper, being around eight months pregnant, was waddling more than walking—not that Pirate wouldeversay that to her. This was her last week of work before going on maternity leave.

Knowing his priority was to Harper and Scotty rather than making his meeting with Steel, Pirate hurried to meet them halfway. He immediately took Harper’s arm and let her lean on him. She smiled up at him, but it didn’t meet her eyes. She was breathing heavily and had a scrunched look on her face like she was trying to hold back pain.

“Are you okay?” Pirate knew nothing about babies or labor or pregnancy but he knew that she shouldn’t be in pain.

“They’re Braxton Hicks contractions,” Harper explained through gritted teeth. She put most of her weight on him. “I’ve been getting them on and off all day.”

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