Page 14 of Surrender
Most men, when they signed up, were eager to earn a name that represented the new man they were becoming. A lot of us were ready to move on from our pasts and start something new, and a road name was the perfect stepping stone toward that.
Rafe’s request, though, spoke louder than any name we could have given him.
It showed his character, his loyalty, and his dedication to the people he loved, and I was fucking proud of him for having the balls to stand up and explain why.
“Time for a drink,” Hawk called, another round of cheers lighting up the room, followed by the scrape of chair legs on the floor as my brothers all got up and headed out to the bar.
I caught Rafe at the head of the table, still watching in awe as everyone filed out.
“You earned every damn thread on that patch, kid,” I told him, clapping my hand hard on his back. “You fucking did it.”
He swallowed hard, bobbing his head up and down.“Thanks… for everything, I mean.” I tried to wave him off and cut the sappy speech, but he rolled his eyes. “No, seriously. You saw something in me. Something I wasn’t sure I even saw in myself until recently. I owe you.”
“Brother,” I started with a grin. “I just gave you the ingredients. You baked the cake.”
He snorted out a laugh. “That’s the motivational saying you’re going with?”
Hooking my arm around his neck, I pulled him in, scrubbing at his head with my knuckles. “So fucking cocky all of a sudden, huh?”
His laughter was loud, and there wasn’t an ounce of tension in his shoulders as he shoved me off. “All right, sorry. It’s a good saying,” he said with a grin.
“Come on, smart-ass,” I said, dusting off the shoulders of his fresh leather. “I’m pretty sure there is actually cake, and I’m fucking starved.”
Chapter Six
DARCY
“You know, most guys would just tell me to hurry up,” I joked dryly as Parker stood at the bathroom door, watching as I pulled a brush through my hair.
Since the event last night, he’d been hovering.
Not in acute boyfriend admiring his girlfriendkind of way, though. More like he was keeping an eye on me, like he was scared I was about to do a runner after last night’s confrontation.
He flashed me a dimpled smile as he adjusted the cuffs of his suit jacket. “I like watching you.”
I rolled my eyes but forced a laugh. “Well, enjoy the show, I guess.”
“Speaking of shows,” he said, his smile tightening. “I saw Mom this morning before she left for a meeting, and she said people were gushing about how beautifully you danced last night. She thought it was very elegant and classy too. You know, I think she really likes you.”
That was nice, I guess, considering I thought she was a raging bitch.
But I bit my tongue.
“She even offered to let us use the family cabin.”
“Cabin?” I asked, though, a moment later, wondering why I would be surprised that they also had a cabin.
“Yeah, it’s beautiful. A couple of hours upstate, secluded in the woods together.” He stepped up behind me and squeezed my shoulders, massaging his thumbs into my muscles. “It would be nice, right?”
“It sounds perfect,” I lied with false enthusiasm, placing the hairbrush down and turning to him with a smile.“Unfortunately, it’s your first day back at work, and you’re going to be late if you don’t leave soon.”
It was hard to pretend I wasn’t rushing him out, because I absolutely was.
We were staying in the three-bedroom pool house behind his mother’s estate. It was a setup that had seemed perfect at first. The plan was to spend the next two weeks here before I headed back to New York by myself. He was officially starting back at the office today, and while I’d expected to just hang out by the pool while he worked, relax, and spend some time with my best friend, Lucy, whom I missed more than life itself, last night’s event had changed that.
Up until this trip, Parker’s and my relationship had been pretty straightforward.
Pretty simple.
