Beard Up(27)

I couldn't see why anybody would want to be with him. Well, except me. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

And then, as if he sensed my thoughts, he appeared on the back porch; the only thing that lit his way was a small green light outside. It'd been a light I'd asked about when I'd gotten here.

Apparently, green lights were for veterans. According to Ellen, they kept a green light burning here all day, every day, in support of veterans everywhere.

I'd never been a veteran, and neither had Tunnel, but we'd both known many veterans, and a few were important people in our lives. Hence the reason I thoroughly approved of this gesture, as I made a mental note to get a green light bulb for my house as soon as I found the nearest Wal-Mart.

"Ghost is here," I murmured to no one in particular.

But both Jessie, the man Jessie was talking to, and Ellen all turned.

A hush came over the room after that, and the moment that Ghost came inside, all eyes were on him.

"What?" he rasped.

And yes, I do mean rasped. He had a smoker's voice. One that said he smoked and smoked a lot.

Which kind of disheartened me a little bit. I didn't like smokers. My father had been one, and even the faintest whiff of smoke reminded me of the man who loved to beat the shit out of my mother, often while he had a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

A big man that had been introduced to me as ‘Big Papa' earlier, walked toward him and said a few words.

I saw the moment Ghost realized that I was in the room.

His eyes swept over the room, stopping on me, before he quickly looked away.

He turned back to Big Papa as he pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and slipped them on, causing me to slump a bit in disappointment.

I wanted to see his eyes. Badly.

But with him all the way across the room, that obviously wasn't going to happen, especially considering that I had really poor eyesight.


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It was my heart, though, that grabbed my attention with the way that it was beating out of control. With just that one single sweep of the room, his gaze briefly locking on me, and I was nearly shaking in my pretty, new boots.

"I really like those leggings," Ellen broke into my contemplation. "I wouldn't have thought that the octopus print would've been very cute, but they are adorable. I sell leggings at my store. I'll have to see if I can order any like that."

I looked down at my leggings.

They were my primary wardrobe choice now after a woman from work got me my first pair for my birthday. Every time a pop-up sale would show up in my Facebook news feed-I followed over ten leggings sale pages-I would buy at least one pair. Most of the time, it was more like two or three pairs.

Now, I owned more than fifty-five pairs, and I probably would've owned even more than that had I not given away a few pairs to friends as birthday presents over the last year.

Yes, I was addicted to leggings.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I didn't think they'd be all that cute either, to be honest. I originally ordered these for a friend for her birthday, but when I saw them after I got them, I couldn't give them away like I'd originally intended. This is one of my favorite pairs."

She nodded. "I tried to wear leggings out of the house once, and my husband told me I needed to go change. I'd love to have some, but they wouldn't be practical."

"That's a good thing, Elle," Jessie offered his two cents, not bothering to act like he wasn't listening to our conversation any longer. "Because I'd seriously have to spank your ass, and those leggings wouldn't offer much in the way of protection."

I grinned. He was, of course, correct.

"I don't have a husband to tell me no."

I heard something crunch behind me, and saw that Ghost was standing there, next to the food table, holding a beer can in his hand that he'd somehow crushed.

I looked up to see his eyes, but was caught with the glare of the glasses covering them.

He stared, but that gaze was too intense for me, so I looked away.

And I felt him there, for at least twenty minutes, while he spoke quietly to another member of the club, this man was huge and bulky with kind eyes and had been introduced to me earlier as Sunshine … or something similar to that.

I felt like my skin was about to burst into flames.

"Can you give me a drink, Mister?"

I turned at the sound of my child's voice, and I saw that she was standing in front of Ghost, pointing to a pitcher of tea. 

Normally, she would've just gotten it herself, but the pitcher was completely filled to the brim, and she didn't have the arm strength yet to lift it up and hold it without spilling.