Before Holly can answer, Mia, Kelly"s daughter comes running and falls down, tripping over the rug in the middle of my room.
I scoop her up instantly just as her tears come.
"It"s okay, sweet thing." I console her, holding her close in my arms.
"You"re a natural." Holly smirks, eyeing me carefully.
"Oh, I love kids. Some days I wish I would"ve had one, but then I realize I"m so glad I didn"t. Having a child in a marriage like mine would have been tragic." Mia finally settles, her little five-year-old fingers playing with the gold necklace my nan gave me.
"Well, it"s not too late, Kenzie."
"Please, I"m thirty-five. I missed the baby making boat."
"Please, you"re like the average childbearing age these days, right? You still have time."
"Well, I don"t see myself dating, getting married and having a kid all within the year."
"I think you"re off to a good start, moving in with Beau."
"What?" I nearly choke on the shock that she just called me out.
"Oh, come on, Mackenzie. You"re telling me this is just a housemate situation?" She lifts her right hand and bounces her pointer and middle finger on the word housemate.
"I have no idea what you"re talking about." I avoid her eyes. The last thing I need is her putting any ideas in my head.
Beau and I are friends and we don"t think of each other as anything more.
I almost believe it.
"If you say so." She smirks, letting me off the hook.
"Kez." Mia pulls back and points to something over my shoulder. I spin around and follow her direction. She can"t manage my full name, so she settles with Kez.
"What is it?" I ask, watching her point to a packet of Starburst. "Ahhh, candy. You have to ask your mom." I place her on her feet and she runs out as fast as she came in to ask Kelly for permission.
"You hungry?" I turn back to Holly, ready for lunch.
"I have to get going. My mom and dad are coming over for dinner tonight and my house is a mess." She stands, adjusting X as she goes.
"Well, thank you for helping me settle in." I follow her out and down the hall back to the living area.
"I barely did much." She winks, then bends to pick up X"s diaper bag off the sofa. "Kell, Beau, I"m out," she calls to them in the kitchen.
Beau appears first, Kelly following close behind with Mia chomping into a cookie. Guess she forgot about the candy.
"Yeah I should head out too." Kelly turns and walks back to the kitchen to fetch her belongings.
"I"ll help you put him in the car." Beau steps forward and reaches for X.
"No, it"s fine, you stay." She pulls back, only to offer him her cheek for a kiss.
"You still p.i.s.sed I"m taking your girl?" Beau lifts his brow, not missing her att.i.tude.
"Who"s gonna bake me all those goodies every week?" She winks at me but levels her stare back at Beau.
"She was gonna go and live in some c.r.a.ppy apartment complex Hunter lives in. It probably didn"t even have a functioning oven. I have one that works. She"s better off here." He leans down and pecks her cheek as she rolls her eyes, realizing he has a point.
"Behave," she warns, pulling back. She then turns and leaves.
"Okay, I"m off, too." Kelly returns all packed up and ready to go. "If you need anything, Mackenzie, you have my numbers." She kisses my cheek then lets me kiss Mia goodbye.
"I"ll be sure to let you know," I tell her, watching her say goodbye to Beau.
"And don"t forget, Beau. We have the meeting with the lawyer on Wednesday, to go over everything." Beau turns to me. A strange look falls over his face before answering.
"Yeah, I haven"t forgotten. I"ll be there."
Feeling like he doesn"t want me to know what their meeting is about, I leave them to talk in private and set about making some lunch. Not sure what Beau"s plans are for the rest of the day, I make us both a sandwich. His cabinets and fridge look miserable and I make a mental note to start a list. Now I"m living here at minimal rent, the least I can do is keep on top of these things. When I"ve managed to put together a decent lunch, Beau walks in.
"You hungry?" I ask, handing him his plate.
"Starved." I follow him over to the table and take a seat opposite him. "Looks good, darlin"." He digs in then looks up and gives me a wink, mouth full of food.
Friends.
I remind myself as I start eating.
It"s what we"ve been doing at the clubhouse anyway. There"s no reason for this to be awkward. I continue to have my conversation in my head.
It isn"t until I"ve finished eating, cleaned up lunch and found my way back to my room, I realize we didn"t say another word to each other.
Oh, G.o.d, it"s already awkward.
"Mackenzie! Have you seen my coffee mug?" Beau shouts down the hall a few days later. I just stepped out of the shower and was about to dry my hair when I hear him banging around.
"In the cabinet," I shout back as I run my comb through my hair.
"It"s not!"
I roll my eyes, ignoring his annoyance and walk out to the kitchen. He"s searching in the wrong cabinet with his bare back to me when I walk in.
"It is. I put it in there last night," I tell him, reaching up and opening the door to show him the mugs.
"That"s not where the mugs belong." His head spins toward me, brows dipped low.
"Ahh, yeah, they do. It"s where I found them." I pull down his mug and hand it to him. "It"s also the cabinet above the coffee maker. So makes sense." I drop my hand when our fingers graze sending an electric current all the way up my arm.
"I don"t know why you think it belongs there, but it doesn"t. It belongs here." He opens the cabinet under the microwave to reveal the plastic containers. "The f.u.c.k?" He looks up. "Did you tidy up in here?" I shrug, not prepared to answer.
I might have tidied a little.
I didn"t however move his mug. His mug has been in the sink every day I have been here, and when I did sort out the kitchen yesterday, the rest of the mugs were in the cabinet above the coffee maker.
"You don"t need to clean and organize s.h.i.t here, Kenz. It"s not required and I sure as s.h.i.t don"t like not being able to find my mug."
"I"m sorry. It"s a bad habit. I"m used to having everything perfect," I admit, not wanting to get into it with him over the mug. The truth is, it"s the least I can do after everything Beau has done for me.
"Well, break those habits, darlin". You don"t have to clean up after me. I can look after my own s.h.i.t."
"It"s really no problem, Beau. I have free time."
"Not arguing with you on this." He steps around me to fill his mug, ultimately ending the conversation.
"Are you always like this in the morning?" I ask, not really sure what the big deal is. His kitchen is clean. What"s the issue? Chad always expected a spotless kitchen and if it wasn"t, he sure would let me know about it.
"Only when I haven"t had coffee in my favorite mug." He takes a sip from his basic black coffee mug and moans briefly.
Jesus.
"Are you feeling better now?" I ask after few minutes of letting him get acquainted with his coffee.
"Getting there," he mumbles taking another sip.
"Good, you can thank me later for tidying up your kitchen." I nod then make my way back to the bathroom, hearing his grumbling about how I"m gonna be the death of him.
"Oh, and if you think the kitchen is too organized, I"m just going to go ahead and apologize in advance for the junk room," I shout my reply and then quickly flick my dryer on, blasting out whatever he has to say.
He can"t be angry. I"m only helping him out in the long run.
Right? Right.
Twelve.
Beau "You have her at your place? What the f.u.c.k are you thinking, Beau?" Tiny asks the following week at Fireside Bar. He called a meet after finding out we had moved Mackenzie in with me.
Tiny acquired his name "cause of his size. The guy stands at six-foot-nine. A real big f.u.c.ker. He"s been a friend of the club dating back to when my dad was VP. He"s had his hands in a lot of things. Ex- military, former cop, he"s also the guy who started this whole gig with helping abused women. I came on board two years ago knowing it was something I wanted to do to honor Missy. At first it was pick-ups, drop-offs and a few recoveries, like Mackenzie"s situation, but then it turned into something bigger. Something I wanted to fully commit myself to.
"Yeah, well it was either with me or have her living in some s.h.i.tty apartment in a f.u.c.ked-up neighborhood where he could easily manipulate his way in."
"What"s to say he"s not gonna come knocking on your door, boy? This is f.u.c.kin" wrong and you know it." He shakes his head, and I have to give it to him, he"s not as p.i.s.sed as I thought he would be.
Ever since Mackenzie has been back, Tiny"s wanted to move her into one of his safe houses to ensure she was protected. But I would have no part in his plan. She came to me for help. I wasn"t going to palm her off.
"He comes to my house, I"ll have my Beretta "92 waiting for him." Tiny doesn"t reply but I can see his mind ticking over what I just said. "If you"re so worried, you put a man on her. Keep her in your sights." I finish my beer and keep an eye on the clock above the bar.
"You don"t have men on her? What the f.u.c.k, Beau? You"re meant to be f.u.c.king helping."
"You think I"m stupid? Of course I have eyes on her, a.s.shole. But if you want your own set of eyes on her, then fine, I"ll give you that, but she"s not leaving my place to be holed up in some f.u.c.king cheap unit where he can find her again." I give him a long look, telling him I"m still p.i.s.sed she was found in the first place.
"Don"t look at me like that. I have no f.u.c.king idea how he found her. For all we know, it was the missing friend. She could have tipped him off."
"It wasn"t her. She didn"t even know she was in Ohio. The last time she spoke to her she was in Phoenix."
"Well, he obviously had someone working on it. I don"t know." I"m p.i.s.sed at his blase reply.
"Well, maybe your fail safe f.u.c.king system isn"t working well," I call him out.
"You have your head messed up on this one, brother." He ignores my look and gives me his opinion.
"Only thing messed up here is that this f.u.c.ker hasn"t been found yet. Until he is, she"s staying with me. Simple." I drop a twenty on the table to cover my two beers and stand.
"And when you have another call out? You"re just gonna leave her as an open target?" He drops his own twenty on the table and stands with me. "You know I"m about done with this s.h.i.t. I"m ready to hand it all over. I need to know you"re serious about coming on board." I know he"s worried about this, but he also knows my reasons why I do this. He loved Missy like his own daughter. But he has nothing to worry about. Yeah, I might want in Mackenzie"s pants. But she"s the only one. I"m not some f.u.c.king sick f.u.c.k who wants to fix every broken woman I help.
"I told you, I have eyes on her. My commitment is still the same, Tiny. Don"t f.u.c.king make it a problem. Now, I gotta head out. You have anything for me to work with?" We"re coming up to two months since Mackenzie has been back and not one f.u.c.ker in this town nor a marker out of town has seen Chad f.u.c.king Morre.
"It"s like he"s dropped off the face of the earth. Same with the friend. Friends and family say she moved away, left no forwarding address."
"How the f.u.c.k is that possible?" I"m f.u.c.king p.i.s.sed. I thought for sure bringing in some markers would have pulled something up. He"s either killed her, or she went deep into hiding.
"Your guess is as good as mine. We"ll keep looking but in the meantime, we need to sit down and talk about how we"re gonna integrate the shelter with the runs." I nod because I know he"s right. We have a lot of work to do for this project to work.
"Let me know the place and time and I"ll be there." He pulls me in for one of those slap-on-the-back man hugs. I return the sentiment.
"You sort this out, Beau, whatever is going on. She"s in your home. You make sure you keep her safe."
"On it, old man."
We don"t say anything else, both of us leaving at the same time. I make my way over to my bike and send a text to Hunter to check in.
Me: Everything all good?
I mount my ride and wait for a reply while thinking about Tiny"s warning. Having her in my s.p.a.ce is opening us up for more drama, but if I didn"t offer her my house, I"d be a f.u.c.king mess.