Page 32 of Hero: Claimed

“He’s your friend,” she argues.

“Yup. He’s my friend who now knows I’m not bullshitting around when it comes to you and he can spread the word.”

Brinley looks over my shoulder at a wincing Blaze as he struggles to stand straight again.MaybeI might have hit him too hard. “I’m so sorry about Levi. I think he might’ve been dropped on his head as a baby.”

I laugh and Blaze attempts to but winces again.

“Kiss me, bird,” I order. She does this sort of smile-sigh, bending in to touch her lips to mine. I push it harder, deeper, than I’m sure she means it to be in public, but light touches aren’t enough when it comes to Brinley. There’s no such thing as enough.

When I pull back, I pat her ass a couple of times. She smiles, and it’s that punch-in-the-chest feeling again. She kisses me once more, quickly, before turning to walk her incredibly fine ass into the kitchen.

Brin comes back out about twenty minutes after, give or take, carrying two plates of something that smells amazing. And when she sets the plates in front of me and Blaze, it looks like these thin, rolled meat, maybe pork. Possibly a cornbread stuffing? And it’s got a white gravy over top. Blaze looks from me to her and back to me again.

“Seriously,” he says. “I’m down with one of those polyamorous relationships if I get to eat like this every day.”

Hell, I didn’t even know Blaze knew a word likepolyamorous. Brinley leans way over the bar top snagging my attention by giving me a good look down her T-shirt at her melon tits. Nope. I’m never sharing. One of the flaws of being an only child, never learned to share. She strokes her thumb over my cheek then drops a kiss, it was supposed to be where her thumb had been, but I tilt my chin up in time to catch her mouth with mine and I could punch the air at her sigh. It’s loud and Blaze hears it. There’s no way he didn’t.

“Sorry, Blaze,” she says. “I’ll be happy to whip you up a plate when I’m cooking for Levi, but I’m a one-man kind of woman and I’m with him for as long as he wants me.” And she points at me, like any of us don’t know “him” in this scenario.

It’s too soon to tell her I never plan on letting her go, that even the promise of longevity with the woman makes me believe that a lifetime wouldn’t be enough.

Brighton enters the common and it’s the first time I’ve seen her walk around the compound without Frankie or Crass. She smiles at Brinley, maybe because Brin is new. Or maybe because she doesn’t think Brin has a connection to the club other than needing protection, but she seems taken with my woman.

“Hey, Brighton, you hungry? I just cooked,” Brinley asks.

“That’s what smells so good. I should’ve known.” Then Brighton walks back into the kitchen.

“How ‘bout you eat too, baby?”

She looks like she’s about to argue when I raise my eyebrow at her in challenge and at my look, she lowers her lashes, slightly tipping her lip up at the corner in a sultry smile and fuck—I’m gone. She doesn’t know it yet, but I am absolutely gone.

I feel Blaze’s heavy stare and when I turn to look at him, he busts out laughing. “Shut up,” I tell him, shaking my head, but he was right when he said I was whipped, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

13.

Brinley

We’ve fallen into a routine since returning from Cumberland and it’s a routine I absolutely adore. Levi drove me in the truck down to the Lords’ shipping business and I rode him in the front seat before I went in for my interview. Chaos hired me on the spot. I guess they really needed somebody, that, and I’d been sure he was doing a favor for a brother.

Since my man works in receiving, it’s not out of his way to take me along with him every morning. We got the keys to a gorgeous singlewide on the property with dark gray siding and lighter gray trim. A stoop or porch would be nice rather than the metal steps that are there, but it’s hands down the nicest place I’ve ever lived—or, will live once the furniture gets delivered. I told Levi we should wait until I get paid to go crazy in the furniture store, so I could contribute, but he nixed that one pretty quickly.

There’s this code that the brothers live by and setting up house apparently falls under things they pay for? The first piece of furniture he picked was the bed. It makes sense, seeing as he hasn’t skipped a night. Whether with fingers, mouth, or genitalia, since the night he took my virginity, we have some form of sex. If we keep up this pace, we’re going to have to make a special trip to a warehouse store to buy an industrial-sized box of condoms—condoms he probably won’t let me pay for either.

Brighton hangs out with me in the evenings, while we eat and when the guys shoot the shit. It’s nice having a girlfriend. My sister comes around when she’s home, but she works nights. Scotch invited us over to his and Frankie’s place one night. It was an intimate gathering, just me and Levi, Crass and Brighton, and of course, Scotch and Frankie. I’ve never had this—friendships and dinner parties. It’s all because of Levi and that scares the crap out of me because the nicer he is, the more of his life and his Lords family that he gives me, the deeper I fall for him.

Blue and Blaze go out of their way to make me feel at home, though I suspect that Blaze does it more so I’ll cook for him than because of his loyalty to his friend. But I’ve been noticing some disturbing things with Blaze. Like, the other night, while Levi was pulling patrol with Blood, Blaze couldn’t sit still. He kept pacing, or rather he’d sit, stand, pace a little, and repeat. Enough that if you weren’t paying attention to his movements, you might not see the pattern, but I lived my life taking care of a man who paced like him.

And he disappears to use the bathroom more than anybody I know. As I’m not up on his medical history, I have no idea if the guy has a urinary tract infection or hell, with the way he goes after the pieces, it could be chlamydia for all I know—wait, do guys pee a lot from that? Whatever. It’s troubling just the same. The Lords have a steadfast rule. An unbreakable steadfast rule. No doping. At all. Weed and booze are the extent of what they allow, which means it can’t be what I’m thinking, but I decided that night to keep an eye on him just in case.

Levi had to work late tonight. There was some shipment issue that needed resolving, so he sent me home with the truck and told me he’d catch a ride with Chaos. When I arrive at the gate, the furniture truck is waiting to get inside.

“They’re here for us,” I tell Dutchy. “We finally get furniture.”

Dutchy laughs but lets me and the truck through. I roll down my window and wave them in the direction of our place. Both Levi and I have a key and I’m able to let them in to unload the bed, sofa, a recliner, coffee table, and kitchen table and chairs since it’ll be a while until he can get to refurbishing the set we bought at the flea market. He bought us a box of pots and pans, a box of dinnerware—plates, cups and bowls—and utensils, including flatware, the day we ordered the furniture.

While the men are busy unloading the truck, I go inside the club to get the extra sheets and blankets. Once the mattress is set up, I make up the bed in clean sheets. The place is cold, so I get the heat going with the pellet stove. It would be nice to surprise Levi with a homecooked meal in our place. Our first meal in our place. I go back inside the clubhouse to find someone to escort me down to the grocery store. The “Brinley needs a bodyguard” rule is still in place for the time being and now, having Levi working late, I don’t mind going to find one of the guys to take me. Someone is usually available if Levi isn’t.

I’m sure any of the guys would help, but I’d rather ask one of them that I’ve spent more time around and I leave behind the warmth of the pellet stove to walk the short distance into the clubhouse. There’s not a lot going on tonight. A few brothers I’m not familiar with sit around shooting the shit or playing pool. Butch is behind the bar, but I don’t think I’m allowed to ask him to come along. Guard duty is something the Lords take seriously and as a prospect, he hasn’t been elevated to guard duty yet that I know of. He could get in trouble and risk getting patched in, even if it’s to help me out, so I go searching for someone else.

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