But I had never, ever been as hesitant to leave one as I was to walk away from Lark the following afternoon.
Maybe I was even more resentful at having to leave because we hadn’t even gotten a moment of peace between the two of us since we climbed into the bed.
Because, well, we were sharing the house with a bunch of dogs and her best friend. So after not enough sleep, we woke up to the dogs downstairs whining to go out and get breakfast.
With a grumble, Lark rolled off of me and went to brush her teeth and splash some water on her face before making her way downstairs, leaving me to follow behind, wrapped up in her silk floral robe as I wondered if my clothes were dry from the night before yet.
“Not gonna lie,” Myles said as soon as I walked into the kitchen, finding him standing leaning against the counter, cradling a coffee cup between both hands, “that’s a look,” he said, nodding.
“My clothes got wet last night,” I explained, going to the coffee machine.
“Uh huh. In the same incident that gave my best friend beard burn all up and down her neck and chest?” he asked, smirking at me. “She’s taking out the…” he started, getting cut off by my phone.
“Gotta take this,” I said, seeing Seeley’s name on the screen. “Hey, man. How’s Cato?”
“He’s alright. Recovering. The girls have been fussing over him. And he’s got a list a mile long of foods he wants Eddie to make for him. It’s gonna be a journey, but he’s healing.”
“Good. Levee?”
“Already outside helping Alaric add more sand bags to the shooting range. Acting like nothing happened. How’s Myles?”
“Scarred for life,” Myles said, smirking. “But not really. I’m fine. Enjoying my little vacation while the big, hot bikers handle all my problems.”
“You hear that?” I asked.
“Yeah. Have you heard from Arty?”
“Not yet. I am going to head over there after I get some coffee in my system. You know how he gets when he’s on a job.” Meaning, he forgot that phones even existed unless he needed one for something. So the only way to get in contact with him was to drop in. He also couldn’t hang up on you and your questions if you were there to nag him to answer.
“Alright. Sounds good. Let me know when we have something to go on.”
“This wasn’t supposed to be a job for the whole club, man,” I said, shaking my head even though he couldn’t see me.
“Maybe not, but I’m involved now. So when you have something to go on, I want in. Levee will too. Hell, Cato would try to drag his ass up out of bed to get his hands dirty. So just say the word.”
“I appreciate it,” I said, looking across the yard at Lark who was leaning down to play tug of war with one of the dogs, but clearly underestimating his strength because he yanked then released, sending her falling onto her ass, something that made her throw her head back and laugh, the sun catching all the red and golden highlights in her hair.
“Hey,” Seeley said in my ear.
“Yeah?”
“Teddy said you had stars in your eyes about her.”
“Teddy was seeing things.”
“Just saying… if she’s worth all of this, maybe you should hang onto her.”
With that, he hung up, leaving me wondering if what he was saying had anything at all to do with Lark and me, or him and the hot doctor who clearly despised him for some reason.
Either way, though, I had to agree I was definitely seeing some merit in acting on shit if I was feeling shit.
I mean, it said something that I was just as into Lark as I had been when I’d first seen her, even after having gotten her into bed, even after spending a fair amount of time with her. Especially after having known so many women in the past and not experiencing anything even close to the interest I felt with Lark.
“She’s a keeper,” Myles said, drawing my attention. “I know I am supposed to say that because she’s my best friend. But I genuinely mean it. You could meet a hundred, a thousand, someones, and you won’t come close to that girl.”
“Then why aren’t you with her?” I asked.
“Oh, no,” Myles said, chuckling. “No. I don’t do monogamy. Lark is a one-guy sort of girl. And, honestly, now, even if I changed my mind, I would never risk our friendship. But I’m telling you, that woman is something special. So don’t be a fucking idiot about things and let her go if you don’t mean to.”