The three made an odd pair, Bethany in her scrubs, Pebbles in clothes that probably cost as much as a used Harley, and Duke in jeans and his cut. Pebbles had made an appointment for them, though, and had requested they bring some specific rings in from their Atlanta store, so Duke would have a better selection.
They were ushered into a room in the back, and Duke sat and watched as the woman unlocked a safe in the wall, brought out a lockbox, and then unlocked it to pull out ring after ring, placing them on a piece of black velvet on the table before him.
Of the nine rings the woman placed in an artful display before him, Duke immediately zeroed in on two.
He picked both up, considered them one at a time, and then asked Pebbles, “Tell me about these two.”
“Both are from a designer she likes. One’s all about flashing the biggest diamond possible, while the other’s about a combination of large diamonds and tasteful design. Both are platinum.”
He looked at Bethany. “Which do you like best?”
“I’d freak if anyone expected me to wear either of them, but Gen will like them both.”
Pebbles took the one with the largest diamond from him and looked at it through some kind of jeweler’s eyepiece. She swapped rings with him, looked at the second, and said, “Both are flawless. Take a look.”
Duke didn’t know what he was looking at, but once he looked at them close up, he found he was happier with the more complex design. He worked with metal when he built and modified bikes, and he could see true craftsmanship, though on a much smaller scale. He lifted the one he liked, and the woman smiled at him as she said, “We can size it while you wait, do you know your fiancée’s ring size?”
“Hold up,” Pebbles said. “He’ll need to look at the matching bands, now. He may not buy everything today, but he’s going to make some more decisions, and you’re going to give him a discount on the engagement ring, as incentive for him to come back to you to buy the wedding bands.”
Two hours later, Duke walked out with a ring that cost more than a few of his bikes had cost brand new, even though Pebbles had successfully brought the price down by nearly two thousand dollars.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Gen gave a silent war-whoop as she rounded a corner and took out Bash, as she was pretty sure she and Pebbles only needed to get Brain now, in order to win the competition.
They’d started out as six women against six men, but now it was down to two women and one man. Gen remembered Brain climbing the tree in her back yard, and she looked up, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
She didn’t see anything, so she held her breath, and listened… and then tried to latch onto Duke’s sense of smell.
It worked, and she had to triangulate where Brain was most likely to be, based on where she thought Duke was.
Gen backed around a tree, made her way from hiding place to hiding place for twenty yards, and then stopped to look up again. She heard something on the ground in front of her, looked, and saw Pebbles. Gen’s eyes went up again, and she saw Brain, aiming his paintball gun at Pebbles.
Gen lifted her gun and shot without bothering to take time for a good aim, and then gave an audible war-whoop when she saw bright pink blossom on his leg.
Duke and Jiminy had both opted to watch and not participate, so when Pebbles and Gen came out of the woods with huge smiles and no paint on them, they both got hugs from their men, as well as high fives from most of the women present.
Duke walked them through the clubhouse and into the back so they could change clothes, and by the time they came back out, the kids were once again engaged in paintball battle in the woods. The official tournaments were over, but the kids would have a blast practicing and playing for another couple of hours.
Gen watched with fascination as Aaron and Sophia Drake’s triplets climbed all over Duke and Brain. The three toddlers were the cutest, most adorable babies Gen had ever seen in her life, and she loved watching how gentle the bad-ass bikers were with them.
Aaron’s wife was tiny, and Gen couldn’t imagine how the woman had managed to give birth to three babies and still manage to weigh less than a hundred pounds. She looked like a tiny fairy princess, and the first time Sophia had run and practically jumped into Duke’s arms, Gen had been pissed. However, she’d soon learned the two were just good friends, and that Aaron Drake didn’t have a problem with their friendship, so she probably shouldn’t, either.
She was a little surprised when her brother Frisco showed up with all of his lovers as well as Randall, but she was happy Duke’s brother accepted the invitation. It took a lot for the Pack Alpha to come to an RTMC gathering with only one Pack wolf with him, and that wolf happened to be Isaac’s adopted father, which meant it was still all family.