When You're Ready (28 page)

“Ohmygod, Scout…I…” Before she could say anything else, Nola came all over my dick, her body squeezing and releasing me again and again while she yelled out in pleasure. She felt so damn good that I exploded soon after, grunting like an animal that had conquered its prey.

We crumpled into a heap on the stairs, trying hard to catch our breath. We were going to be late to the barbeque, but shit, I didn’t even care. I had a beautiful woman in my arms who
loved
me
, and that’s all that really mattered.

Nola pressed a kiss to my forehead and tried to get up. “I guess I should go change before we’re late.”

“In a minute, baby.“ I tightened my grip on her waist and tasted her lips again. If it wasn’t for my boys I would have skipped the barbeque and stayed inside Nola for the rest of the day, but I couldn’t.

Still, being a few minutes late meant Nola and I could preserve our happy little bubble a while longer. It felt like the safest, most wonderful place in the world, and I didn’t want to let anyone in for fear that something, or someone, could mess it up.

“But what about your friends?”

“I’m in no rush, baby.” I pulled Nola further into my arms and placed my lips against her neck. “They can wait.”

31
Nola

Hogs & Heifers was
exactly
how I imaged it would be. Rows of loud, wildly decorated motorcycles slowly chugged up Pacific Coast Highway on the two-lane road leading to Zuma Beach making the trip seem excruciatingly long. Stout bikers with long ponytails, fat bellies, thick boots, and colorful jackets sat atop custom bikes that sounded more like rockets blasting into space than vehicles trudging along the scenic route. I kept my eyes closed and clung to Scout for the first half of the journey down PCH, but I finally opened them in time to enjoy the brilliant blue water and the bright cloudless sky zipping by.

After I changed into something more appropriate for the occasion—jeans, a black tank top, and my Doc Martins—Scout surprised me with yet another gift: a beautiful, hand-stitched leather jacket with a bird on the back.

“You remembered!” I clutched the coat and ran my hand along the elaborate wings of the Sankofa bird sewn into the back, the same image I’d told Scout about the first time we hung out.

“So you like it?” he asked, a smile plastered on his face.

“Of course. I
love
it.” I slipped into the jacket and marveled at how well it fit. The leather was soft and comfortable, but the jacket felt sturdy and tough, like if I fell off the bike it would protect me. “Why is it so heavy?”

“I had them put some skid protection in the sleeves….just in case.”

I shuddered and tried not to think about hitting the pavement and scraping off my skin, or worse, dying.

“Don’t worry,” Scout said, reassuring me I wouldn’t die on the back of the bike. “We’re going to have fun.”

I held onto Scout’s words—
we’re going to have fun
—as we dismounted his Harley and walked through the crowd of people looking for Jason and Fernando. Scout grabbed my hand and told me to
stay close
, as we moved through the people, who already seemed to be tipsy even though it was the middle of the afternoon. Although he assured me we’d have a good time, Scout seemed tense and on edge and he squeezed my hand a little harder whenever the crowd grew boisterous or thick.

“Wasn’t expecting to see you this year, Flex,” a man said, bringing our search to a halt.

I peeked out from behind Scout to see a gigantic man with a wooly beard and a couple of beers tucked into his hands.

“Flex?” I looked at Scout, but he just shrugged.

“It’s what we called him back in the old neighborhood because he always liked to show off.”

“It’s what
you
called me,” Scout said through gritted teeth. Whoever this guy was I could tell they weren’t friends, but the man kept smiling anyway.

“Whatever.” The man’s gaze flickered toward me, his eyes traveling over my entire body before landing on my breasts. “Not going to introduce me?” he asked Scout before draining a beer, tossing the bottle to the ground, and grabbing one of my hands. “I’m Bear.”

“Bear?” I repeated, taking my hand back. The name certainly fit. He was big, hairy, and from the looks of things, foul mannered.

“Yeah,” he licked his lips and winked, “I’m an animal.”

Scout stepped between Bear and me, using his body as a barrier. If Bear tried to touch me again he’d have to go through Scout to do it. “Look, man, have you seen Jason and Fernando?”

“They’re around here somewhere,” Bear shrugged, peering at me over Scout’s shoulder. “You’re not going to introduce me to your friend?”

Scout’s jaw twitched and his eyes narrowed. He was nearly as tall as Bear, but not as wide. Bear looked like he
used
to be a linebacker in a previous life with his massive arms, broad chest, and sturdy legs. Unlike Scout, who was in amazing shape, Bear’s stomach was flabby and hung over his jeans.

I could sense Scout was pissed, so I gave his hand two quick squeezes and pressed myself into his back. “Let’s go find your friends, baby.”

“Baby? She’s your girl?” Bear laughed like he’d heard the funniest joke ever. “Does that mean I can’t have this one when you’re done, Flex? Because you know how you do. You don’t keep bitches around long enough to—“

“Shut the fuck up,” Scout growled, tugging his hand loose from mine. I’d never seen him get so upset before, and in that moment, I knew what he said earlier was true. Scout would take someone down if necessary, and I didn’t want him getting into any trouble because some idiot couldn’t hold his liquor, or his tongue.

“Scout, I think we should keep looking for your friends,” I said, slipping my hand in his and tugging him away from Bear. “I think I see another jacket like yours over there.”

“Okay,” Scout said, keeping his eyes squarely on the oversized man. “Bear…I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah,” he said with a smirk on his face, “you will.”

We continued weaving through the crowd, looking for Scout’s friends but I could tell he was pissed. He was mumbling curse words under his breath and the tops of his ears and cheeks were bright red.

“You okay?” Scout ignored my question and continued walking, scanning the crowd for Jason and Fernando, or maybe Bear. Scout had told me about his old neighborhood and how it wasn’t exactly a nice place to grow up, but I’d never seen anger cloud his eyes until he was face to face with Bear. I didn’t know
that
Scout, and from the look he gave that gigantic man, I didn’t want to.

“Scout?” I asked trying to get him to slow down and look at me.

“Yeah…” He grabbed a beer from a nearby cooler, popped it opened, and took a swig. “I’m fine.”

He said he was okay, but Scout’s face was still set into a serious grimace. “You don’t look fine.”

He took another long pull from the bottle and finally met my eyes. “I am,” he leaned in and gave me a peck on the lips, “promise.”

I wanted to believe him, wanted to believe running into Bear would be the lowlight of the day, so I ignored the tingling in my gut that told me we should hop back on his bike and go back to the comfort of his bed. My mother
swore
by her womanly intuition, but considering she was in Texas probably still surfing from one shitty boyfriend to the next, what did she really know?

I swallowed my ambivalence, hopeful that we’d recover from the rocky start. I grabbed Scout’s face and stared directly into his soft brown eyes looking for reassurance that he really was all right. “Okay…as long as you’re fine, I’m fine.”

He leaned his forehead to mine and circled his arms around my waist. “I’m—“

“Well, well, well,” a man’s voice boomed from behind Scout. He circled around us, giving Scout and I the once over. I braced myself for another confrontation, but before I could intervene, the man pulled me into a hug. “You must be Nola.” I looked toward Scout, but to my surprise he was smiling. “Damn, man, how come you didn’t tell me she looked
this
good?”

“Watch it, Jay. You’re a little too close to my girl.”

“I’m Jason,” the man said, taking my hand and kissing it in an overly grand gesture. “Scout’s handsome, clever, and”—he cleared his throat—“
very
single friend.”

“Seriously, man?” Scout said moving between us. “Don’t start this shit today. I already ran into your boy and I’m not in the mood.”

Jason turned toward Scout, but he was still holding onto my hand. “Which one?”

“Bear,” Scout nearly growled. “That motherfu—“ he stopped, looked at me and adjusted his tone. “That
guy
was trying to push up on Nola. He was grinning in her face, and staring at her like he was ready to pounce.”

Jason shook his head and chuckled. “And what happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Scout said, nodding in my direction.

Jason bobbed his head like he could read Scout’s mind, then he turned to me again. “See, you’re already a good influence on this guy.”

Before I could say anything, another man walked up and pulled Scout into one of those one-armed hugs men do when they want to show they care, but are still manly. He was shorter than Jason and Scout, but in impeccable shape like the two of them.

“About time you got here,” he said, pounding Scout on the back. Then he turned to me, glanced back at Scout, smiled, and introduced himself. “I’m Fernando. You must be Nola?”

“Of course that’s Nola, fool,” Jason said playfully shoving Fernando.

I watched the three of them rib each other for a minute, completely caught up in their own friendship, until a woman walked up and shook her head.

“Don’t mind those three. They’re a mess, but you’ll get used to it,” she said, staring at the old friends. She looked tiny compared to them, but she had a presence about her that exuded strength. When she smiled at me I noticed she was downright
beautiful
, with long, dark hair that fell to the middle of her back, light brown eyes, and a stud in her nose. She looked like an old time pin-up girl. “You’re…Nola?” she asked, extending her hand, “I’m Zoe.” She glanced over her shoulder, “Fernando’s fiancé.”

“Oh! Nice to meet you.”

“These boys aren’t giving you any trouble are they?”

I looked back at the three of them huddled around each other deep in conversation. “No, not too much.”

“Good,” she leaned in close and dropped her voice, “so….you and Scout…”

“What about me?” he said, walking up behind me and slipping his arms around my waist.

“God, do you have supersonic hearing or something? Shesh!” Zoe said, chuckling. “C’mon, Nola, let’s go somewhere so we can
really
talk.” She winked at me and grabbed my hand, attempting to tug me away from Scout. He tightened his grip on my waist and for a moment I felt like a ragdoll being pulled in opposite directions.

“I think it’s better if Nola stays with me, Zoe. You know how people get at this thing.”

“Relax, Scout, we’ll just be over there.” She pointed to a group of umbrellas set up on the beach. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my eye on her.”

I turned to him and cupped his face. “I’ll be fine. You go have fun with your friends.”

Scout scrubbed a hand over his chin and kissed the top of my head. “Fine…but keep your phone on.”

“Damn, we’ll just be a few feet away not on another continent,” Zoe said, still laughing.

He ignored her comment and met my eyes. “Keep it on, okay?”

“Okay.” I gave Scout a quick kiss on the cheek before Zoe won the tug-of-war and pulled me off for a little beer and gossip. She looped her arm through mine and guided me toward the sand. When we got to a cluster of yellow umbrellas we kicked off our shoes and I dug my toes into the cool earth.

“So tell me,” Zoe said, handing me a beer, “how did you manage to get Scout to settle down?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged, not exactly sure how I’d stumbled on such an amazing guy either. Before I met Scout I’d been so terrified of getting my heart broken that I avoided men like the plague, and for good reason. Most of the guys I came across at work or on campus were major league assholes, but Scout was different. He sure looked like he could be a pretentious jerk like all the rest, but he was the most caring man I’d ever met…besides my dad. Scout was so much like my father—proud, thoughtful, incredibly charismatic—that at times it scared me.

“I worked a cocktail party at his house and we’ve sort of been hanging out ever since, ” I said, taking a swig of my beer hoping to dull the mixture of emotions about Scout and my father threatening to flood my eyes.

“Damn girl. Well, congrats. Scout’s a good guy, I’m glad he found someone like you.”

“What do you mean?”

“
Normal
,” she said, chuckling. “Not a waitress-slash-model-actress.”

I winced. “I
am
a waitress.”

“Yeah, but you’re only doing it to pay for school, right? Not to get
discovered,”
Zoe said using air quotes. “Scout used to have a thing for models. Actually,” she paused to sip her beer, “they seemed to have a thing for him and he just tolerated them. But you,” she pointed the bottle in my direction, “you’re different, and that’s a
very
good thing.”