Page 44 of Cole (Dirty Misfits MC 4)
“Good. Good, good. All right, I’ll take you home so you can do whatever it is you need to do with Rue, and when you get back, I’ll have the food from the diner ready and waiting. Sound like a plan?”
I slowly let my eyes face forward as my last shred of fleeting hope to find Cole diminished. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
Twenty-One
Cole
I stretched my arms over my head as I sat perched on the edge of my bed. The sun hadn’t quite yet risen, and I could still hear the lapping of the waves down the cliff’s base as I closed my eyes and focused my mind. It had been six entire months since we had moved everyone into the clubhouse. It had been six fucking months since we had instilled some of our strictest rules and protocols for the comings and goings of this place.
And not a fucking peep had been heard from anyone.
Both Chops and the Black Ballsack Crew had been completely radio silent. We couldn’t track them in daylight, we had no idea where the hell they were holed up, and none of them had come out to rear their heads. It was as if they knew we were hunkering down and they were biding their time until one of us fucked up and got comfortable.
So for now, we weren’t getting comfortable.
“Anything?” Tanner asked.
I settled my arms at my sides and opened my eyes as I stared at him standing in the doorway. He lounged against the wooden frame with his arms crossed over his chest, his body clad in nothing but boxers.
“You gonna put on some pants? Or are you just happy to see me?” I asked.
Tanner grinned. “I don’t even have half a chub for ya, my dude. Sorry.”
I slapped my hands against my knees and pressed myself upward. “Well, then you and that massive shlong of yours needs to go make some coffee before you take a nap.”
“Awwww, Cole, I didn’t think you cared about my dick so much. Wanna see my latest tattoo?”
I stared him down. “No.”
He stuck his hand down his pants. “You sure? It’s still healing a bit.”
I furrowed my brow. “Brooks gave you permission to go get a tattoo on your dick?”
He clicked his lips. “Dude, it’s not on my fucking dick, you asshole.”
“Then why are you palming your cock while standing in my doorway?”
Porter walked by, yawning. “Because he wants your asshole, Cole. Duh.”
I barked with laughter as I rummaged around for some pajama bottoms, then I slid into them before Tanner and I started into the kitchen. For some of us, we had grown overly comfortable, like fucking Tanner and his lack of clothes all the damn time. But for others? We felt so unfamiliar and so cramped that we couldn’t do anything but keep ourselves preoccupied.
Hence Porter being up at four in the morning when it wasn’t his shift to be the roof-dog lookout.
“Anything to report?” Porter asked as he whipped up some coffee.
Tanner shrugged as he sat down at the kitchen table. “Nothing, as always.”
“Of course,” he murmured.
I ripped open the fridge. “You know they’re just biding their time until they know we’ve dropped our guard, right?”
Porter shrugged. “Maybe we should look like we dropped our guard, then. Maybe that’ll get them to come out of the shadows.”
Brooks’ voice sounded heavily with sleep strung between his words. “Or maybe they’re watching us like we’re trying to watch them and that’s why they won’t come out. Because they know we’re planning to lure them out.”
I pulled out the coffee creamer. “I think we give them too much fucking credit is what I think.”
Surprisingly, no one had a rebuttal for my statement. So, silence fell between the four of us. Porter fixed us all a mug of coffee while I took the liberty of slicing up fruit for us to munch on. Brooks threw some bagels into the toaster and rummaged around for cream cheese, and even Tanner got up to get in on things as he cooked up some eggs at the stove. In less than thirty minutes, we had a four-plate feast fit for the kings and queens of old, so we all bellied up to the table to eat our fill before everyone else followed behind.
And the entire time I ate, I thought about Molly.
I hadn’t spoken with her since our fight. I hadn’t seen her face since I walked away to keep her safe. And yet, it didn’t do anything to help the dreams I had at night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw those sparkling emerald eyes. Every time I drew in a deep breath to take a moment to myself, her red hair bombarded my mind and reminded me of how soft it felt against my fingertips. At night, when I laid in bed staring up at the ceiling, sometimes I’d swear on my life that I smelled her perfume and felt her warmth trickling up and down my body next to me.
