Page 42 of Tick Tock, Boom!

He washed up while I set the plates on the table. The scent of garlic and seared chicken wafting through the small space. He sat at the kitchen table, still shirtless, tattoos flexing as he dug in.

"You spoil me," he muttered, voice low.

"I like feeding you."

He looked at me then, and there was something in his eyes I couldn’t name. Something raw. Unspoken.

"Feels like home," he said quietly. "Unlike that fucking clubhouse."

I paused, my chest tightening. "Is everything alright?"

"We named a new President."

"Oh? Who is it?”

He swallowed and then shoveled more food in his mouth as he responded. “Elrik. Jameson’s kid. Damn this is good,” he side-tracked.

I smiled. “Is Bulldog alright? What about Aiyana?"

"Their fine. You really like Aiyana, don't you."

I shrugged. "She was sweet to me. Kind. Like a mother figure, I guess."

He stared at me for a long second. "Yeah, I get that. Maybe we can see if she'd like to have dinner with us one of these nights."

"I'd love that!" I smiled at him, taking a bite of the chicken.

He still looked stressed out and I urged him slightly to continue telling me. "I know I'm not supposed to ask you but, are you okay?"

His jaw tensed. "We had an issue with Rancid today."

"Rancid?"

"He comes near you again, I’ll put a bullet in his spine and take the heat for it."

"I haven’t seen him," I whispered, and it was the truth.

But I was worried. My thoughts went to my father who had been different lately, anxious, distracted. Hiding things from me like he always did.

"You, okay?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.

I shrugged. "My dad. He’s been going out a lot. He says it’s club work, but I don’t know. Something feels off."

Tick Tock didn’t answer right away. He just stared down at his plate, chewing slower. Thinking.

"I haven’t seen him in weeks," he finally said. "His ‘runs’ feel more like Rancid’s orders than club business."

That made my heart pound. But he didn’t say more. Just kept eating.

I let the silence stretch between us, watching the man I was falling deeper in love with every day and praying we weren’t heading for something we couldn’t come back from.

I was scared. Because for once in my life, I had a home. A man. A chance.

And I wasn’t ready to lose it. Not yet.

TICKTOCK

The news came two days after Bulldog had made his decision. The founding members had raised our glasses to Elrik, Bulldog’s son, the heir to the fucking throne. I’d watched the kid stand there, proud, confident, shoulders squared like he could carry the weight of the club on his back. That night, Bulldog had clamped a heavy hand on his son’s shoulder and said he'd be patched out of Sargent at Arms, and he'd now become his predecessor. He'd been proud of him and you could tell just how much by how he hugged him.

---