Wild Heart (12 page)

Ani’s eyes followed Chloe, who turned and gave her one last vicious look before heading into the kitchen. Ani tried to keep the irritation off her face, but she was pretty sure she’d failed.

“Don’t take it personal, Honey,” Starla placed a reassuring hand onto Ani’s shoulder, “She’s just a lay; she isn’t anyone’s old lady. Though that’s not for lack of trying,” Starla huffed before she took Ani by the hand and led her over to the couch.

Knox’s protective eyes followed her over to where they sat on one of the large couches; she smiled at him as he resumed his conversation with Repo.

“I take it you haven’t been around many M.C.’s before?” Starla asked, brushing her long sun-kissed blonde hair back behind her ear. She was slender and matched well with Jameson’s large figure.

“I remember being around my uncle’s club when I was a kid, but that’s about it,” Ani took a long swig of her beer. She had been too young to know what was going on then, but she had always known that behind their loving demeanor toward her they lived a rough lifestyle.

“Well, I’ve been married to Jameson for about ten years now, met him when I was backpacking through Ireland. So much for finishing college, two months later I was in love and knocked up with our first child,” Starla held up her phone, smiling at three boys piled on top of each other in the picture.

“They are adorable,” Ani smiled up at her.

“Yeah, they are a handful. Take after their daddy,” Starla rolled her eyes in Jameson’s direction.

“So how did you end up back here in the states?”

“We came over when Knox’s father expanded his business. I have family in Knoxville and everyone loved the small town life of Coker Creek, so when he needed someone to start and run it we all settled in here,” Starla eyed over at the guys as if she’d said something she wasn’t supposed to before leaning closer to Ani, “Has Knox told you much about the family business?”

“No. This is the first night we’ve actually hung out.” Ani wasn’t sure if that was something she really wanted to know about, but she’d feel much better talking to Knox about it. Not Starla.

“Well, I’ll leave that up to him to explain,” Starla said quietly, cutting her eyes toward Chloe as she came strutting back into the room and over to Knox, “That one you are gonna have to keep your eye on.”

Ani looked up at Chloe; she was only a few inches taller than Ani, but that was mostly from her trashy stiletto heels. Her pants hugged tight to her hips corresponding with the tight black top that was unzipped exposing her large, fake, cleavage. She had bleach blonde hair and wore a lot of make-up but it didn’t take away from her beauty, it only made her skin look even more flawless. Ani wondered, with as much attention as Chloe was giving Knox, if they had slept together. She wasn’t much for being jealous but something about the closeness of Chloe to him caused her to see green.

She excused herself from her conversation with Starla and walked over to where Knox stood next to Jameson and Chloe. He didn’t turn as she approached him, but held out his hand for hers and wrapped it up to his mouth planting a light kiss on it as Jameson continued talking about some kind of “knuck” in his motorcycle. She smiled at Knox as Chloe stomped off in the direction of the kitchen as the vibrations of the door slamming reverberated throughout the house. She watched as Butcher quickly followed Chloe, though the rest of the group seemed to be unfazed by her sudden exit.

“Ani! Come play the Indian card game with us,” Kate slurred from where she sat on Rage’s lap.

Oh, this is going to be a long night.
Ani smiled as she headed toward the table.

“Deal me in,” she laughed as Kate took one of the cards and stuck it to her forehead.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Not again.
Ani reached up and rubbed her temples, trying to avoid opening her eyes. This was the second weekend in a row that she had woken feeling like a dog’s ass. She panicked slightly as she opened her eyes, forgetting at first that she was at Knox’s cabin, not Kate’s apartment. She wasn’t sure what time it was and quietly rolled over as to not wake Knox.
Eight thirty. Go the hell back to sleep.
She attempted to close her eyes and drift back off but the rumbling in her stomach was loud enough to wake the neighbors down the road. She peeked over at Knox who was sleeping soundly and decided it was time to raid the fridge for something to eat, hoping she’d make it back before he woke.

She slipped off the bed and tip toed across the room. Grabbing one of his old Harley t-shirts from the stack sitting at the end of the bed and slipped it on along with a pair of his boxers. She hadn’t really had a chance to see his room last night; it was spacious with pictures of Ireland’s coastline hanging on the wall above the bed. For once, he looked almost little in the middle of the giant four-poster bed. Across the other walls were various framed posters of scantily clad women and motorcycles,
typical dude,
she smiled. She walked back over to the bed quietly, leaning up and kissing his cheek before heading downstairs to the kitchen.

She wasn’t sure who was still here and she didn’t particularly want to run into anyone while wearing Knox’s boxers. She made it down the stairs and through the living room, giggling at the amount of empty bottles littering the tabletops from last night. Just as she crossed the living room, the door to the downstairs bathroom came open and she froze. Kate came out looking just as disheveled as she had before Rage had carried her off over his shoulder last night. Ani laughed as she looked at Kate’s ensemble, she too wore a pair of Rage’s boxers and a t-shirt.

“You look like shit,” Ani chimed as she headed on into the kitchen.

“Look who’s talking. I don’t think you’re gonna be winning America’s Next Top Model any time soon,” Kate teased as she followed behind her, “Damn bank schedule, I was up at seven this morning with a headache the size of Texas.”

“Yeah I woke up starving. I am going to find something to eat, though I don’t expect there to be much in the…” her words were cut off as she opened the door to the fridge, finding it fully stocked, “Ok I take that back. They shop better than I do.”

“Fix me some scrambled eggs and bacon,” Kate hopped up onto the counter.

“Since when am I your house maid?”

“Since you owe me for bailing after high school,” Kate smiled wickedly.

“That’s a low blow,” Ani laughed as she pulled out the carton of eggs, a pack of bacon, and the orange juice. “Do you think they will want something?”

“Ooo fix some chocolate chip pancakes too,” Kate added as she pulled her hair up into a messy bun on the top of her head.

Ani paused, staring at her in disbelief, and then laughed as Kate shrugged. She grabbed the milk from the fridge and went in search of pancake mix. As the food began to cook, the house filled with the smell of bacon and pancakes. Kate made a few rounds through the living room, cleaning and straightening from the mess that had been left behind. She squealed as Rage came up behind her and grabbed her around the waist.

“You don’t have to do that, Babe. We’ll have that taken care of later.” He attempted to grab the trash bag from her but she swatted his hand away.

“No. I don’t want your sluts coming over to clean up. I’m a big girl, I can do it,” Kate glared at him.

“Where the hell did you find her, Ani?” Rage came strolling into the kitchen.

“She’s hard to get rid of,” Ani joked.

“Aye, though I don’t see why you’d want to,” he said staring toward Kate who was still cleaning the living room. “You fixing some bangers with that feast?”

“Some what?” she laughed. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to understand some of their terminology.

“Bangers? You know, like your people’s sausage. Just better,” he explained.

“By you people… you mean Native Americans or Americans in general?” she chuckled as she flipped the pancakes in her pan.

“He giving you a hard time, Darlin’?” Knox’s deep voice floated into the kitchen.

“I don’t know yet. We are trying to clarify who
you people
is,” Ani smiled over at him.

He made his way around the counter and into the kitchen, she found herself staring at the muscles along his shirtless stomach as he came closer to her. His plaid sleeping pants hung low on his hips, exposing the dips that led downward, down to the parts of his body she wouldn’t mind exploring all over again. His smile was crooked as he came up and kissed the top of her head. As he passed behind her and leaned into the fridge, she took in the Celtic symbols that were tattooed up and down his left arm. How did she not notice those last night? Or the ones that spanned across his back that she could now see as he stood and peered out of the window of the kitchen door. God, this man was already sexy and the tattoos only added to it.

“Looks like Chloe and Butcher left last night after all,” he said, turning back to Rage.

“She needs to go snake around someone else’s M.C.,” Rage spat out, twisting the top off a beer.

“Ok guys, breakfast is almost ready,” Ani said loudly trying to change the subject.

“Good. I’m starvin’,” Knox swatted her ass as he went back off to the living room.

Ani grabbed the plates from the cabinet and took them over to the now cleaned kitchen table. She brought over the array of food; and had already began placing napkins around the table as Starla and Jameson came down the stairs.

“Something smells good,” Jameson’s voice was raspy.

“Doll, you didn’t have to cook.” Starla came into the kitchen.

“It’s ok. I don’t mind. It’s just my dad and me at home so it’s nice to cook for someone else for a change,” Ani smiled as she took the seat next to the head of the table.

Knox took his seat next to her and the rest of the group filled in the remaining chairs. For the next hour, they laughed and chatted the same as a family would. The men shared various stories of their time in Ireland and Starla called them out on all of their bullshit. The worry of how she looked in her make shift pajamas no longer crossed her mind. She was so completely comfortable around the people sitting at the table that it no longer mattered. Her stomach dropped slightly as she thought about what it was going to be like to go back to the real world, she really didn’t want to leave this. She would have been happy staying locked away in this cabin with Knox for the rest of her life.

“Where’d you learn to cook like this?” Knox said as he bit into one of the chocolate chip pancakes.

“My dad, he was the cook of the family. My mom passed down the skill of burning bread, but that was about it,” Ani laughed.

“You did good, girl. It all taste amazing,” Starla said from the other end of the table, pulling the end of the last piece of bacon from Jameson’s mouth and eating it.

“Next time more bacon, Love. My wife keeps stealing mine,” Jameson eyed over at Starla.

“Noted,” Ani chuckled at the two of them. They were as playful with each other as children.

“So that means we didn’t scare you off?” Knox asked, folding his napkin and placing it next to his empty plate.

“I think I might stick around. If you’ll have me that is,” the blush spread across her face as she looked at him.

“You’re always welcome, Love.” His hand grazed the bare skin of her thigh as he leaned over and kissed her cheek. She wiped at the sticky residue of the syrup on his beard.

“That was a present,” he leaned over and nuzzled the side of her face as she squealed. “I saved it for you.”

She giggled as he planted another kiss on her cheek and headed into the kitchen. She smiled down the table, realizing the others were staring at her with soft smiles. Kate’s eyes were glowing with pride as she looked down toward Ani. It had been a long time since Ani had felt normal, like she was where she was supposed to be in life and Kate could see that reflected in her eyes.

As Starla and Kate cleaned the kitchen, Ani went to Knox’s room to call and check on her dad. She’d left her phone in her purse all night and hadn’t even thought to check it after they had left Kate’s apartment. She sat at the edge of the bed and turned on the screen. Fifteen missed calls, three new voicemails, and all of them from Cash. She didn’t really want to listen to them and contemplated deleting them altogether, but she couldn’t and instead held the phone to her ear and listened to the first one he’d left.