F-Bomb (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 9)

“You and those ears,” I muttered, closing my eyes again.

“What were you thinking about?” she asked as she smiled at me.

“The fact that I’m going to get an insurance payout for my car and I’m going to give that money to my sister since she was the one to pay for my car and house while I was in prison,” I answered.

“Really?” Harleigh asked. “Why did she do that?”

I shrugged. “She was supposed to sell my bike for me and then use the money off the sale of the bike to pay for the house and car payments. Plus, I had quite a bit in savings. But she didn’t touch any of it. Only worked her ass off to pay for my shit so I’d have a bike when I got home.”

Harleigh made a squeaking sound that had me opening my eyes again.

“What?” I asked.

“That’s so sweet,” she said. “I don’t think my brother would’ve done that for me. He would’ve found a way to pay for it, likely doing what I originally asked, but he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to work extra shifts just to pay for my shit.”

My lips twitched. “My sister’s a sweetheart.”

“My brother’s awesome,” she said. “But he’s definitely not that awesome.”

“Your brother cares for you quite a bit,” I told her. “You should’ve seen the looks I got when I got too close to you. My sister would pay my bills, but she definitely wouldn’t kill anyone if I was hurt in any way. Your brother, on the other hand…”

Harleigh’s lips twitched. “He would do that, wouldn’t he?”

“Undoubtedly,” I answered. “If I hurt you in any way, your brother would fuck me up and still be able to sleep perfectly that night.”

She snickered.

“The last passenger has boarded,” the flight attendant said. “Please make sure you stow all electronic devices bigger than a cell phone and be seated. The pilot will be leaving shortly.”

I felt my hands curl around the seat.

“Your sister said you don’t like flying,” Harleigh said. “Is it the motion part or is it a fear?”

“Motion,” I answered, swallowing hard. “Doesn’t matter what I take, I can still feel it. My head is all fucked up.”

“Have you tried those motion patches?” she asked. “And you do realize that all the rides that we’re doing at Disney World are rides that…”

“Ma’am,” the flight attendant said, interrupting Harleigh’s words. “You need to buckle in, please.”

“Oh, sorry,” Harleigh said as she hastily did just that. “I apologize.”

The flight attendant winked. “Don’t worry, honey. If I was sitting next to him, I wouldn’t be paying attention to me, either.”

Harleigh’s eyes sparkled when she looked over at me.

“What she says is true,” she snickered, then sobered. “So tell me, this week, will I be allowed to do you, or is that off limits?”

My lips twitched. “You can do me all you want.”

Harleigh fist pumped. “Yes!”

My lips turned up into a smile. “You’re weird.”

“I’m totally weird.” She tilted her head. “But what does that say about you that you’re doing me when I’m weird?”

I thought about that for a long moment, then sighed.

“That I’m weird, too,” I admitted. “Shit.”

Harleigh pulled out her phone and started to scroll through her text messages.

“That needs to go on airplane mode,” I told her.

“I know, but I wanted to look at these pictures,” she said. “My dad sent me some of the house.”

I leaned over to get a look.

What I saw made my stomach churn.

“Your house is a complete loss,” I found myself saying. “Shit.”

It was, too.

The only thing left standing was the fireplace and the back part of the house where the bedrooms were. Hopefully that meant that their clothes were all right.

“I think my dad was able to salvage my clothes and stuff. Luckily, I mostly lived in my bedroom. I’ve been eating so much at your grandmother’s bakery that I haven’t had to buy anything lately. And when I’m not spending time there, I’m sleeping in the hammock. The only thing I really did in the house was use my bathroom to shower and get dressed in my bedroom. Dre was still living out of boxes because he was hoping that things would go back to normal with Craig. The stuff he hadn’t fit in his room was in a storage building. This could’ve been a whole lot worse.”

“Where are you going to stay?” I asked curiously.

She grinned. “I’m totally gonna just keep living in your hammock. I might sneak into your bathroom to shower.”

I felt my stomach lurch when we started going backward away from the gate.

“What about your clothes? Where will you keep those?” I wondered.

“I’ll just leave them in my car. My driveway is still good enough.” She snickered.

I rolled my eyes. “Why not go back to your mom and dad’s place?”

She scrunched up her nose.