Craving Kara (The Aces' Sons 7)

“They only saw us on the porch,” Kara said after a minute, putting the phone back into her pocket. “They don’t have cameras inside.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if they did,” I said seriously. Once I had a house of my own, I was gonna put cameras all over. You never knew who’d come knocking or what kind of proof you’d need later.

“They went over to Grandma Callie’s,” Kara said, throwing her hands up like she didn’t know what to do with her crazy parents. “So, I can just stay here if you want Curt to come get you?”

“Don’t you wanna go to Callie’s with everyone else?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Kara replied with a laugh. “But I can drive myself there.”

“Jesus.” I gestured toward the door. “Come on, let’s go.”

“You don’t need to drive me there.”

“Curt’s probably already over there,” I replied, ushering her back toward the front door. I couldn’t keep my eyes above her waist, but I felt like less of a creep by only glancing at her ass as she walked ahead of me—instead of staring like I wanted to. There wasn’t as much there anymore. Kara had gotten very slender in the last few years, but it was still her ass. I didn’t care what size it was—it was still hers and I still couldn’t keep my eyes off it.

The drive between Kara’s parents’ place and her grandparents’ was mostly silent, but only half as awkward, which I considered a win. As we parked outside, I grinned as Kara muttered, “Good grief,” under her breath. There were so many cars parked out front that we had to park down the street.

“Is that Dragon’s RV?” Kara asked as she got out of the car, pointing at the monstrosity parked in the driveway.

“I think technically it’s my Grandma’s,” I replied with a laugh. “She drives that and he takes the bike. I thought they were parking it at the greats’ house.”

“Poet’s probably here, too,” she replied. “They seem to congregate, and this looks like it’s the spot for now.”

“Truth,” I replied. With the clubhouse evacuated, I should have known they’d find somewhere else to gather.

“That’s gonna be me,” Kara replied, pointing at the RV. “My guy can ride his bike and I’ll follow in the freaking tour bus.”

“Your man’s gonna be a biker, huh?” I asked, bending down a little as I tried to meet her gaze.

“Even if he isn’t, I’m still going to have one of those,” she replied quickly, jerking her head toward the RV as she sped up and weaved her way through the parked cars.

“I’ll get you one,” I said, catching her with one arm around her waist. Her body relaxed against me for a full moment before she stiffened.

First the genuine reaction, then the dishonest one. Always.

“I’ll buy myself one,” she said, pulling away.

“That works, too,” I replied easily, letting her go. I lowered my voice. “Long as I get to ride in it.”

Kara tripped at my words, but thankfully caught herself before she could face-plant on the pavement.

“You’re here,” Charlie yelled, coming out the front door to meet us. “Finally!”

“You haven’t even been here that long,” Kara replied with a laugh. “And I just saw you a few hours ago.”

“Well, it felt like goddamn forever,” Charlie shot back. “Why the fuck did you stay at the apartment so long?”

“Because I didn’t realize I was supposed to evacuate until some cop came to the door.”

“Ew.”

“Seriously, ew,” Kara said, nodding. “He was a total asshole. He put his foot in the door so that I couldn’t close it.”

“He did what?” I asked, my hands involuntarily clenching at my sides.

Slowly, Kara turned her head so she could look me in the eye. By the expression on her face, she hadn’t meant for me to hear that last part.

“It was no big deal,” she said slowly.

“If it wasn’t a big deal, you wouldn’t have brought it up,” I countered.

“Maybe he didn’t do it on purpose,” Kara replied with an unconvincing shrug.

I didn’t even bother to respond to that, just continued to look at her. I knew that guy had given me a bad vibe and it had been impossible not to notice how he’d watched her from across the parking lot—but I hadn’t realized he’d been harassing her before we got there. Was that the first time? She seemed pretty fucking calm about it.

“Ugh,” Charlie said with a grimace, interrupting our stare-down. “Whatever, it’s over now. Let’s go inside—it stinks out here.”

“Just drop it,” Kara said quietly to me before turning away. She followed Charlie inside, her arms crossed over her chest.

Drop it, my ass. Kara was about as far from a troublemaker as someone could get—there was no reason whatsoever for her to be hassled by the cops. Hell, there hadn’t even been any drama with the club lately that could’ve trickled down to her. It didn’t make any sense that he’d fuck with her, and that got under my skin more than anything.