Remy (Golden Glades Henchmen MC 4)

It was time for a new phase.

One with walks on the beach with my gorgeous, babbling redhead and our whole pack of dogs. And taco date nights. And volunteering together at the rescues. And maybe someday looking for houses with a big yard we could fence in so there would be lots of room for fetch. Maybe a kid someday if we both wanted one. If not, I was cool with all the animals.

The partying lifestyle was fun while it lasted, but left me nothing really to look forward to.

A future with Lark, though?

So much shit to think about, to dream about, to work toward.

As soon as I dealt with all this Locust Crew shit, that is.

By the time I finally climbed into bed, it was nearly one in the morning, and between what Arty had in his file and what he’d sent me from the footage he could find recently, I was pretty sure I had a decent plan for handling the situation once and for all.

That is, of course, until I got a fucking frantic call from Myles about ten minutes after I fell asleep.

A call that changed everything.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lark

I had no right to miss the man as much as I did.

It was one night.

Hell, in the past, I would likely be looking forward to a night alone. Where I could put on a mud face mask and a deep conditioner in my hair as well as my frumpiest pajamas and just have some “ugly time.” A girl needed that now and again. I could stuff my face and watch cheesy shit I would never subject a boyfriend to.

Still, though, I missed him.

Even as I was mud masking and deep conditioning. Even as Myles and I ate an absurd amount of pasta and watched cringy reality TV.

Even as I washed off the mask and the conditioner then climbed into bed with my roomy lightweight sweatpants and a giant t-shirt that had gone soft from so many washings.

I missed him.

Maybe even more so because I could have pictured him there letting me put some mud mask over the bridge of his nose and on his forehead, and slather some deep conditioner into his hair, and eating too much pasta with the dogs in front of the TV, making comments about the bad dating choices of the people we were watching on TV.

I’d never had that before.

I think there had always been a sort of “secret” side of me that I kept from boyfriends, sharing only with someone like Myles or a female friend, people who I knew wouldn’t judge me for it.

But Remy wouldn’t have judged.

He would have enjoyed.

And that made all the difference.

I actually was excited to have another day just like the one I’d just had. With Myles and Remy.

I’d never really noticed before that Myles never liked any of the guys I’d dated. They, also, weren’t a fan of his. I guess a part of me had always figured my boyfriends not liking my male best friend was likely a trust or jealousy thing.

It wasn’t until recently that I started to consider that they saw Myles as a threat. Not for my romantic interest, per se. But because I would share with Myles all the shit that my boyfriends weren’t into. I didn’t try to bend and warp myself into a new person who liked all my boyfriends’ interests because I had someone in my life who enjoyed the same things.

No, I was not going to sit silently by your side while you played video games endlessly, waiting for you to reach for me like a shelved sex toy.

I’d rather do a Golden Girls binge with Myles.

And I wasn’t going to pretend to enjoy watching football when I could be having a picnic on the beach with the dogs and my best friend.