We rode into the lot at Haven, and Kaden pulled up to an open spot. I let go of his waist and slid off, standing to the side while he backed it into the space. I looked around the parking lot while I waited for him to cut the engine and dismount. People were still pulling in, and I watched a car park and the doors open. Four women got out, and I looked down at my t-shirt and jeans, then back to them. Shit, I had more material covering my body than they had put together with theirs.
“Ready?” Kaden’s voice drew me away from the women that were walking across the lot. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in close. I felt his lips touch the top of my head and I looked up at him.
“You know there’s a soft side buried under your toughness.”
“Only for you, Red.” He leaned down and kissed my lips.
I learned a lot about Kaden these last couple of days. And I’d shared parts about me with him. I told him about my grandmother and her death. My dad and mom, and everything leading up to me moving here.
We found in a way that our lives were a little similar. He’d grown up in Washington. His father and mother had owned a horse ranch until they died in a plane crash going to a thoroughbred auction. Kaden owned the ranch, but there weren’t any horses on the land now. The house on the property was huge but old, and he had it renovated. That was why he lived in the same neighborhood I did. He had no siblings, just a grandfather who still worked his own farm daily and lived about an hour away. Other than the club, his grandfather was his only family.
After Kaden had done a short stint in the military, he moved back to Washington, and joined Haven and had been there ever since.
“What has your eyebrows drawn together?” Kaden asked as we approached the door leading into the clubhouse.
“I was just thinking of all the stuff we talked over the few days. You know what you didn’t tell me?”
“No. What?”
“If you were selling the house.”
“I’m not selling. I just hadn’t wanted to live in it with all the updating. It’s was finished right before I left town. The only thing left is to move in.” Kaden moved his arm from around me and reached for the door.
“Hawk, I was hoping you would be here tonight.” I knew the voice had to belong to one of the women who had gotten out the car just a few minutes ago. Kaden turned toward the woman who spoke. The brunette was tall with curves that went on for forever, and her breasts were big and barely contained in the tank top that looked two sizes too small.
“How’s it going, Sarah Jane?” The woman looked at me, then back to Hawk.
“I haven’t been able to make it here for a couple months, but I was finally able to make it work tonight. Glad to see you’re here. Been a long time.” As Sarah Jane talked, she moved until she stood in front of me.
“Yeah, been awhile.” The other women stood to the side and waited for her. Kaden reached around the woman and grabbed my hand. I moved from behind her and stood beside him. The move didn’t even give the woman pause.
“Maybe we can hook up later.” She stepped closer to Kaden and ran a red painted fingernail down the middle of his t-shirt and stopped when the finger encountered his belt.
I’d seen enough by then.
“Excuse me,” I said and waited for the woman to acknowledge me. She didn’t move the finger that rested on his belt, but her eyes cut in my direction and ran up and down as she assessed me.
“Why don’t you run along inside, honey, and give Hawk and me a minute. We are old friends who need to get acquainted.” The other women snickered.
“Sarah, enough,” Kaden’s voice held a warning, but evidently it was missed by the woman.
“It’s okay, Hawk, I didn’t expect for you to go without when I wasn’t available. But now that I’m here, you can cut the little one off. I’m sure there is someone who likes their women on the tiny side.”
“Knock it off, Sarah, or you and your little group can leave.” She looked at Kaden with puppy dog eyes, and I wanted to laugh because the ability to pull off innocence had left her a long time ago. It was time to put a stop to it before we drew a crowd.
“It’s okay, Hawk, I knew you had women before me.” Sarah couldn’t hold the wounded puppy look. When I started to use her wording from before, it didn’t take long for her façade to drop. “You can let them stay because I don’t want to be the cause of one of the men not getting their skank fill or filling their skank. Whichever it is. I’m sure there are some who don’t mind strapping a two by four across their ass, so they don’t fall in.”
“Why you, bitch. By the look of those bruises on your face, it seems like someone else didn’t like your mouth—”
“Now, now. Don’t turn into a catty little skank on top of things. And this,” I pointed to my cheek and eye, “happened when I headbutted the last bitch that tried to step into my territory. So you might want to take your hand off him and step back. Then why don’t you ask someone to explain about personal space because if there is another episode while I am around, I will Taser your ass, and what I hear is that if you set the juice high enough, it will pop breast implants like a balloon.” I looked at her breasts to emphasise what I meant, and the look on her face and her little groups were priceless. Then I walked through the open door and called over my shoulder. “Coming, babe.”
“Right behind you, Red.” I could hear the amusement in Kaden’s voice.
My grand entrance was put to a halt when I almost ran over Katie. She and Moose stood with Wild Bill and a couple of the others. Katie had a worried look on her face while the men smiled.
“Linc wouldn’t let me come out there. The eye and cheek are healing nicely. Even the darkest of the bruising is started to turn lighter. How are you feeling?” Katie asked.
“Still tender to the touch but overall not so bad. I’ve been taking Tylenol instead of the pain pills, and it seems to be working good. Now stop worrying. Isn’t this supposed to be a party.” I looked around the room and saw people drinking, dancing, and card games going on.
“I want to know if what you said about the Taser is true.” Tram shrugged at Crank when he hit him in the arm. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Honestly, I have no idea, but it sounded good.” Everyone laughed and then laughed harder as Sarah and the others walked past to enter the room, and not one looked my way.
“Come to the kitchen. Tink and Macy are in there too. We are setting out the snacks so everyone can just grab something when they want.”
“Sure.” I started to follow Katie and Moose when an arm wrapped around my waist. I looked up, and Kaden winked at me. “I can go to the kitchen by myself. You don’t have to stick with me.”
“Maybe I want to. Didn’t you refer to me as your territory?” Kaden’s lips twitched, and I shook my head. Men.
“Is that all you got from that outside? Seriously?”
“No, I got something else watching you in action.” Kaden grabbed my hand and placed it on his crotch, and I jerked it back.
“Put that thing away. If he breaks free, someone could lose an eye.” Kaden chuckled, then he leaned down and whispered in my ear.
“Did the warm bath help? Or are you still sore?”
Kaden had felt bad when I grimaced getting out of bed and filled the tub up and let me soak while he fixed us something to eat. It had felt so good that I dozed and he had to wake me when he came up to tell me the food was ready.
“A little stiff but I think that is more due to my lack of sex for the prior six months, which thanks to you, no longer exist. Add in your size and well... But moving around seems to help. I’ll get used to having regular sex.”
“Damn, straight. ‘Cause I’m more than sure you will be later.”
“You are insatiable,” I said as we walked through the doorway to the kitchen.
“Only when it comes to you,” he said kissed the top of my head as we walked into the kitchen.
Tink and Macy said hi as they passed with bowls in their hands and Katie was already at the bar helping Roach place hot wings on a platter. Moose was bent in front of a couple coolers filling them with soda that Crank was handing to him.
“What can I do?” I asked, and Katie and Roach looked up.
“Can you look in the cabinets for a few bowls to put pretzels and nuts in? We thought we would set those out on the bar in the main room.” As Katie spoke, Roach kept looking at me. Then he stepped from around the counter. He still seemed a little apprehensive, but he pushed through it and hugged me.
“That shiner is looking a helluva lot better each day. I told Shock and Freak about you being my granddaughter. So when they see me, you are who they ask about.”
“Huh? They talk about Charlie?” Kaden asked the man.
“Isn’t that what I said, Hawk? Who’s the old man here?” I grinned at him giving Kaden a hard time and then he turned back to me. “Those two don’t normally say more than ten words when you talk to them, so it was nice to see them interested in others enough to share. Hawk, you and Moose might want to watch your women around those two. They might try to steal them away.”
Moose grunted, and Katie chuckled as Roach winked at me, then went back to the counter and began fixing another platter.
I looked up at Kaden to see if he noticed Roach’s slip about me being his girl and caught him staring at me.
“What?”
“Checking to make sure you weren’t going to flip at his words,” Kaden said.
“Me. I thought you would. It was just words, Kaden. He didn’t mean anything by them.” I walked over and opened and closed cabinets to look for the bowls Katie asked for. I found a few smalls bowls in one of the bottom cabinets and bent and grabbed them. When I stood, Kaden was right beside me.
“There’s more here,” Kaden moved his hand between us, “than just words, Red. Can’t flip out over something that is true.”
“Can we enjoy this between us and see where it leads before we start analyzing it?” I asked and waited for his reply.
“Not sure, I can.” He turned and walked over to where Moose was and started helping load the cooler.