Cyrus (The Henchmen MC 9)

"And coffee," she added, taking her bag from me as I pushed it toward her.

"Yes, coffee. Can't have you going to face the Wrath of Kenzi un-caffeinated."

"Perish the thought," she agreed, snapping her bra into place, and reaching for her pants.

"After dinner, you want to drive my way?" I suggested.

"Your way?" she asked, doing a little jump to get the leggings up over her ass, something I tried not to smile at, knowing she would likely interpret it wrong.

"Point the car in the direction of the compound, then drive there, then park there, and come in."

She pulled her shirt up over her head, reaching back to yank her hair free. But she had a small smile tugging at her lips. "I think I can manage that."--It was late.

I mean, not really.

It was just late for her not to be done with Sunday dinner.

Well, not really that either.

It was still fucking light out.

I was being paranoid.

I knew from past experience not to even try to text her when she was there, that she was usually too caught up cooking, eating, and catching up with family and friends to answer.

See, I realized something after I got back to the compound. She wanted into my life.

And, well, I wanted into hers as well.

It was grating at me maybe more than it should have that she hadn't mentioned anything about that to me. Because, with Reese, her family was the equivalent to the club in mine. It was love, loyalty, family. It was the biggest part of her life.

I knew very little about her family.

I knew generalizations more than anything. They had grown up poor. Their father had been a cheating scum, but her mother and the mother to Reese's half-brother had forged a friendship through it all, become as close as sisters, and raised all the siblings side-by-side. I knew she had two older brothers and an older sister who was the opposite of Reese in just about every way. I knew she had two aunts. I knew she had a grandmother who was having health issues that had the family on bated breath. I knew they had Sunday dinners with mandatory attendance.

But, really, that was all I knew.

I didn't know her mother's name. Or her aunts', grandmother's, or brothers' names. I didn't know what any of them did for a living. I didn't know if they knew about me.

But, at this point, they were supposed to, right?

"Jesus Christ," I growled, raking my hands down my face, tugging a bit at my beard, trying to shake the thoughts that I could never have guessed would ever plague me.

"Woman trouble?" Edison asked, dropping down across from me with an entire bottle of vodka in his hand. He would likely drink it all too. And not get drunk. I'd swear the fuck was fed vodka in his baby bottles for him to be able to have the tolerance for it that he did. It was like chugging water for him. "Apologize," he said, shrugging.

I laughed at that, caught off-guard. "I didn't do anything."

"So? Never hurts."

I couldn't help it; I laughed again.

Because, really, what kind of advice was that?

Especially coming from a man who I rarely ever saw with a woman, and certainly never seriously.

"That your answer to everything?"

"When it comes to women?" he clarified in that gravel-filled rumbling growl of his.

"Yeah."

"Sometimes a solid fucking is in order too," he said with a small, devilish smile.

I was going to say something else, but then I heard the front door slam shut, then Roderick's voice.

Looking up, I saw him walking Reese into the compound, looking around a little nervously, but giving Roderick a placating smile as he put his hand at her lower back.

"Just saying, mami, if you decide he's too..."

"He's too what?" I asked, moving toward them, raising a brow.

Roderick, smile wicked, making it clear he had been flirting with her just to fuck with me, because he liked doing shit like that - fucking with people, getting a rise out of them.

"If he's too busy to walk you in, I am happy to be your guide," he supplied smoothly.

"Roderick," Kennedy called from a few feet away, making him turn his head over to where she was standing with Pagan. "Leave the poor girl alone," she advised, rolling her eyes, making him give me and Ree a smile before moving off to her.

"You shoulda texted me," I said, giving her a smile. "So I could walk out and bring you in. I know you are a little intimidated by this place."

"It's less the place and more the, ah..."

"Dozen or so hardened bikers?" I supplied, waving a hand out to where Cash was tossing one of the kids up and down in the air over his head, smiling the whole time.

"Oh, God," Reese groaned unexpectedly, making my gaze snap to hers to find her eyes on Cash, looking a bit like a deer in the headlights.