Page 6 of The SAA

Nope, not on my watch. Now to figure out how to tell her that she’s my fated mate. A snicker escapes when I picture her, hands on her hips, toe tapping, as she glares at me with her beautiful chocolate brown eyes. She’s stunning, and I don’t think she’s aware of that fact, but there’s not a thing about her that I’d change. Her curves had me walking around half hard at the clubhouse, and my hand has seen more use than it did when I figured out whacking off felt good, for fuck’s sake.

Thank heavens I never really used the club girls, especially since they live at the clubhouse as well. I shudder thinking about the cat fights avoided thanks to my reluctance to stick my dick where my brothers have been. Granted, we don’t get sick and can’t catch diseases like humans, but still, no woman should have to face their significant other’s past sexual partners on a daily basis as far as I’m concerned.

“Anything else?” the waitress asks.

“No, thanks.”

“Alrighty, I’ll leave the check here. You can leave payment on the table or if you’re using your card, take it up to the register. Have a nice day.”

“Appreciate it,” I reply, pulling out my wallet. I place the money for my meal, along with a sizable tip underneath my coffee cup, then stand to leave.

Only to catch a whiff of the scent that’s burned into the memory bank of my nostrils. As I walk through the diner to head out, I casually look around and spot a nerdy looking guy at one of the counter tables, drinking coffee. Pretending to stumble, I bump into him which causes him to spill his coffee. When he turns, a snarl on his face, I hold my hands up in a placating manner and say, “Sorry, man, sometimes I trip over my own two feet. Let me get your breakfast as an apology.” I then toss down a twenty, which should more than cover anything he orders, and walk out the door to my bike with one question screaming.

“Who the fuck is he and why has he been sneaking around Nicole’s house?”

Nicole

“Huh,these don’t look like the normal gemstones,” I murmur, as I bag the stones from one of the vases I use to put water lilies in. Shrugging, I close the Ziplock bag and place it in the box. While I’m unsure of what they are, I’ve got too many things to do to worry about the mystery of it for long.

“Another box finished,” I say in triumph as I tape it shut then carefully label it before I carry it over to the wall where all the other boxes are currently stacked.

It took me hours to fix the disaster I came home to, but thankfully, when I got home from work today, everything was as I left it. I wassupposedto be off, but one of my coworkers called out and my manager called me in a panic earlier this morning. While I wish my manager wasn’t letting me work out a two-week notice because I’d really prefer to have everything ready when Tressa gets here, the money will come in handy once I get to Zephyr Hills. Now with an extra four-hour shift added into my paycheck, I’ll probably have overtime, which is always a good thing.

“Should I keep going or stop?” I wonder out loud. “Eh, may as well keep going since I’m on a roll.”

* * *

Several hours later,I’m out of boxes so I decide to run up to the big box store and buy some more. I also need more bubble wrap since I’ve got a ton of knick knacks that need to be carefully wrapped and packed. It doesn’t take me long to slide some shoes on, grab my purse and keys, and head out. As I slide into my driver’s seat, I think I hear a motorcycle starting up, and I briefly wish that Stealth was here.

“Wishful thinking, Nini, you’d have better luck winning the lottery,” I mutter to myself as I navigate out of my driveway and to the stop sign so I can travel into town to grab more boxes, wrap, and stuffing. “Tressa’s just all loved-up from being mated to Chaos, so she’s seeing things that aren’t really there. There’s no way Stealth sees me as more than Tressa’s friend.”

My phone rings through my Bluetooth so I hit the button on my steering wheel. “Hello?”

“Whatcha doing?” Tressa asks.

“Speak of the devil, I was just thinking about you,” I reply. “I’m heading into town to grab some more packing boxes, as well as some bubble wrap. Why did you let me buy all of those glass figurines?”

“Because they were ofBeauty and the Beast,remember? Oh shit, that’s right, you’ve got a lot of them.” She starts to giggle so I make a face at the screen that depicts our phone call.

“It’s not funny.”

“Well, you can always grab something to eat at Tsao’s Chicken. We don’t have anything like that here so you’re going to wanna get your fill. Tick tock… time’s winding down, Nini.”

“That’s not a half-bad idea. I think tonight’s half-price wing night too. Bonus!”

“Okay, so I have it on relatively good authority that Stealth may already be there, have you seen him?” she asks.

“Wait, what?” I shriek.

Suddenly, I feel flushed, as though I went through a round of cardio, which I can guarantee is in no danger of happening any time soon. Taking a deep breath, I blow it out then say, “I need you to repeat that, please. I thought I just heard you say that Stealth may already be here.”

“Yep, you heard me correctly. He took off from here already. Are you sure you haven’t seen him?”

I shake my head while saying, “Nope. Of course, I’ve been at home when not at work, so he might be, and I’ve missed him.”

“Huh, that’s weird. I’ll call you back, maybe I misheard. Love you, bye.”

My music comes back on, only I’m still stuck on the bomb Tressa dropped on me. If he’s here, does that mean what Tressathinksis going on is true?CouldI be his mate? A shudder courses through me when I remember the somber yet intense man. Actually, he’s probably very intimidating to those who cross the club; he likely crosses those thick, muscular arms over his wide, well-developed chest and glares at them. I start giggling at my farfetched thoughts, then quickly sober because I went toe to toe with him more than once during my brief stay at the clubhouse.

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