I'm Only Here for the Beard (The Dixie Wardens Rejects MC #4)(13)

But now, with Naomi coming for a ride with me, maybe everyone would give me some fucking breathing room.

Everyone but Naomi, anyway. She could stay as close as she wanted.

"Where are you going?" my father asked.

I turned to him, wondering if he had his President of Dixie Wardens MC hat or his father hat on.

Either way I would've ignored him, but I didn't want them to leave without me.

"I'm going to pick someone up," I leveled with him. "Don't leave without me."

"You'll be on time, or I'll leave without you," he shot back.

I waved my favorite finger at him, causing him to growl.

"This better not be some dumb blonde that's only coming so you can prove to the club and Ellen that you've moved on."

That was my father talking.

I gritted my teeth and managed not to snap at him, then walked out the door with my fists clenched tight. Ignoring the way it hurt to have my own father like my ex more than he liked me.

I knew without him saying that Dad had hoped Ellen would be it for me. That Ellen would become mine, and then I'd start popping him out some grandbabies.

Unfortunately for him, and for me, that wasn't going to happen. At least not with Ellen.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I nearly missed the rest of the men that were already starting to fill up our narrow driveway.

"Yo," I mumbled, skirting around Aaron's bike.

His wife, Imogen, was standing at his side, her side leaning against Aaron where he straddled his bike.

"Hey, man," Jessie held out his hand. "Where ya' going?"

I didn't turn to face the man that was at my back. I had liked him at first, but now that he had the full devotion of my ex, it was hard to like him, let alone tolerate him.

The fact that he was sitting in my driveway right now was making my hands itch to punch the fucker in the face.

It didn't matter that he never did anything untoward while Ellen and I were together. I knew that she had it bad for the man, and it was enough to put me off of anything Jessie James for the remaining unforeseeable future.

"Gonna go pick up someone," I told him the same thing I'd told my father. "Be back in a few."

The only good thing I could say about this was that Ellen wouldn't be here.

Jessie was still trying his hardest to not rock the boat too hard, and he was also denying his feelings in deference to me, I assumed. Meaning that, Ellen wouldn't be on the back of his bike, and she also wouldn't be here to rub it in.



       
         
       
        

Thank God.

I already needed to explain to Naomi that I wasn't using her just to get back at my ex. I didn't need to have it rubbed in her face the entire ride.

Thirteen minutes later, I pulled to a stop in front of an older home that'd survived the flood last year.

It was located at the top of a hill and was a pier and beam construction to boot, meaning it had extra protection from the water since it was raised a foot off the ground.

It was also so old that I half wondered if it wouldn't have been a kindness to the house to be swept away in the flood water.

Alas, some people found the old shit beautiful.

Me? I just saw a fire hazard.

I was all for modern construction. The newer the better.

If it was new, there was less chance of shit going wrong.

Hence the reason I had a brand-new bike, and traded my bike in once every four years, if not a little earlier.

See, I'd done the old breaking-down-in-front-of-the-fucking-mall thing. I'd also broken down in front of the Brookshire's, the Taco Bell, the movie theater, and the most popular restaurant in town. All of which at least one of my friends had witnessed, giving them free reign to rib me after the fact.

So yes, I was over the 'will it pass inspection' thing and was all about reliability. Houses. Cars. Motorcycles. Didn't matter. If I could afford to buy new, that was what I'd get, or I'd wait until I could afford to buy new.

This house was a far cry from new.

I couldn't see Naomi living here comfortably, either.

It was old, run down, and I'd lay money down that it didn't even have reliable running water.

I could see a well house in the back that was likely the source of her water, and the power connected to the house looked like it would come down in a swift breeze.

"Morning," I rumbled as the devil herself exited the house and started toward me.

She didn't even bother locking up.

"You're not going to lock up the door?" I asked her when she made it off the last porch step.

She looked over her shoulder at the house, then shook her head.

"No," she informed me. "There's nothing in there to steal."

"Not a TV?" I asked.