Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
That was it, and now was now.
Another day in a sweet crib with a beautiful woman, a broken girl, and a lot on his mind.
He turned to the coffeepot, made himself a mug, took it to the sofa and cleared away the bedclothes Diana insisted on tucking around the cushions to make a bed for him.
He was stowing them out of sight when his phone—resting by his gun on the coffee table—lit up.
It was a call from Big Petey.
He took it and his mug to the balcony.
When he answered the call, the sky was lighter, some women were in yoga clothes carrying yoga mats and heading to a place on the bottom level, but other than that, there was no one around.
“Yo. You good?” he greeted.
“I managed to stop Eight and Muzz from storming Imran Babić’s house last night, and instead, waiting for Rush, Buck and Wash to decide how they wanted it handled. So that was a win.”
It was, though Hugger reckoned it was a battle and not the war.
“Good,” he said.
“You’re up early,” Big Petey noted. “I thought I’d be leavin’ a voicemail.”
“Couch as a bed is shit, man.”
“I bet,” Pete mumbled. Then, “Gonna hit the shower, grab some donuts and come over. Workin’ with these old bones, that’ll probably mean a couple of hours.”
“Diana wants a huddle with you to try to figure out how to get Suzette talking. But she doesn’t want Suzette seeing the huddle. So if you could figure out how to do that, it’d make her feel better.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
Something in Pete’s voice was tweaking him.
“You sure you’re good?” he asked.
It took a minute for the man to answer.
Eventually, he sighed, “Too old for this shit, Hug.”
Hugger couldn’t disagree, but he didn’t like to hear it come out of Pete’s mouth.
Still, he said, “You need to head back to Denver?”
“You couldn’t pry me away from those two women with a whole case of dynamite until I know down deep in my gut they’re safe,” Pete returned.
Hugger smiled and took a sip of his coffee before he replied, “Right.”
“How you doin’ with all of it?”
“Suzette said goodnight to me last night, so I think she’s getting used to us. Today might be a day to push. Diana will be back at work tomorrow. It’s a lot on her to work to live and then come home and have an even more important job on her hands. Her job seems cush, but it requires a lot of detail and concentration.”
“Agreed. Though, gotta put out there, Suzette isn’t there with me, son. Hate to say it, but we don’t have the time for me to get there with her. Diana and I will talk, but this is all gonna be on Diana.”
Hugger suspected that, but he still didn’t like it and tipped his head side to side to release the tension in his neck before he took another sip of coffee and replied, “Yeah.”
“Looks with the way you two were together yesterday like you made up your mind about her.”
Fuck.
It wasn’t like they were all over each other, but he for certain had broken a seal for Diana. She cuddled up to him on the couch for both movies, he let her, and not only because there wasn’t a lot of room for everyone if she didn’t.
He’d never cuddled in front of a movie with a woman in his life…or ever. Never had the urge. He’d witnessed others cuddling, and he didn’t see the draw of it, having someone up in your space like that.
With Diana, it came natural.
And it felt great.
“Pete—”
“Though, talked to Tack and he said he hasn’t heard from you.”
“I haven’t made up my mind about her.”
“Okay, so, where you at with that?”
“Not someplace I’m willing to talk about it.”
“Hug—”
“It’s too early for this shit, Petey.”
“Maybe. But we touched on this the other day, so I’m gonna touch on it again by saying, we got you, and we don’t have you.”
Hugger didn’t understand. “What?”
“You’re Chaos. We can count on you. But I bet I asked, not one brother could say he knows you.”
Hugger felt a tightness hit his chest. “That’s the way it is. It’s what you give and what I return.”
“Yeah. That’s the other thing. Not one brother could say you know them.”
Hugger was not liking this.
“That isn’t true.”
“Only because they give a shit ton more than you do, and you pay attention.”
“You sayin’ that’s a problem?”
“No, son, I’m sayin’, for me, that’s a worry.”
“For fuck’s sake, why?”
“Because you got a lot to give.”
“Like what?”
“Maybe ask Diana.”
Hugger shut his mouth.
Big Petey did not.
“She gets to that point in healing, ask Suzette. Ask any of our brothers, you pitch up at the store and do your thing there, no complaint, when most the men hate workin’ the store. Ask any brother of Resurrection, when you take their backs. Ask Tab, when Playboy got to pukin’ his guts out and Shy and Rush were up in Fort Collins, Tack and Tyra were in St. Lucia, you went to the hospital to hang with her until her man and her brother could get to her.”