Chapter 13

If I could say one thing about my life right now, it would be that it feels as if I'm on a roller coaster. A never-ending one of twists and turns. I don't know how to explain it.

Everything with my aunt and with Lynch it's been mind-boggling. I can hardly focus on work with everything swirling around me. Maybe I should take the rest of the week off. Get my life back under control.

To say the least, what my aunt decided to do to me has seriously gutted me in ways I didn't expect it could. Helena is the last blood family I have left. My dad's parents died when I was ten. Mom's family, I don't know who they are. She said she didn't have any contact with them. I wouldn't even know what name to look for when it comes to searching for them. Not that I want to. I remember my mom telling me stories about how she left home for college and never went back. She cut ties with them and never regretted it. Said they were bad blood, and I didn't need to be subjected to it. She'd even stated that Dad and I were the only family she needed.

I hadn't thought of that in a long time. It makes me wonder if they could be as bad as she made them out to be. I mean, my dad and grandparents were amazing people, whereas Helena, my dad's sister, is nothing more than a gold-digger. Which is something I wish I'd figured out long before now. Maybe if I had, Lynch and I wouldn't have lost so much time together.

We're lucky to have a second chance, and I know this. I don't deserve it, but as he would say, I'm taking it. He's mine as I'm his. After our conversation, well more or less him setting me straight, things have been good between us. Not that I haven't still struggled, but with what happened at the office, I'm done struggling. It's like something inside me clicked fully into place. Something that didn't have anything to do with sex, which has been nothing but spectacular.

Even this morning, when he'd taken me over my desk, it was way, way better than fantasy.

"Why didn't you tell me you asked Dan to handle your shit?" Lynch asks, breaking the silence between us.

On the way home, he hadn't spoken, which was fine. I needed to get my head together. I still haven't completed this task, but he waited until we got to his house.

Rather than answering him, I toe out of my heels and set my briefcase on the dining table, then spin on my heel to face him. I cock my head slightly and take him in as I ask a question I hadn't asked in years. "Can we go out on the bike? Spend the rest of the day just riding?"

Lynch blinks and looks surprised by the question, a sly grin forming on those kissable lips. Lips that were on mine just hours ago while he'd been inside me, my legs wrapped around his waist with my skirt up around mine. Afterward, I hadn't even been able to put my panties back on. He ripped them in the process of getting inside me.

"You wanna go out on the bike. We'll go," he states, closing the distance between us, hands coming to my hips. "You change, and we'll go, but first answer me and tell me why you didn't tell me about Dan handling your shit."

"I didn't tell you because I was waiting for news to see what he was able to do regarding Helena," I answer, shrugging.

"You could have told me while waiting." Lynch tightens his grip on my waist. "Wouldn't have stopped you. Just don't like being blindsided by anything. Last several years, I dealt with enough shit that blindsided me and my brothers."

"What do you mean you were blindsided enough?" I want to know more about what's happened in his life since we were apart.

At the clubhouse Sunday, I'd gotten to know the other women, those who are ol' ladies. They told me some of their stories. All of which I found scary. I'd even gotten to see Ela again. She hugged me and whispered in my ear that she knew I'd come home where I was always meant to be. Lynch later explained to me how eccentric Ela really is. How she told him years ago about letting the anger go.

"Every damn time one of my brothers got with their ol' lady, drama ensued. We've had brothers shot and others hurt. Pulled out of fire. Hell, Nora was taken and hung over a pit filled with poisonous snakes."Nora told me about that, and as scary as that sounded, I think the other time she'd been kidnapped was scarier. "I ain't about to have to deal with bullshit when I can be ahead of it just by knowing the slightest detail."

I can understand that, so to communicate this, I nod and tell him so. "I see what you mean."

"Good, ‘cause I ain't mad about it, but from now on, talk to me. I'm not gonna question you on it unless it's something I gotta question. When it comes to legal shit, though, I know you've got it. I'll handle the rest." Dipping his face down and getting in mine, he kisses me lightly. "Now, go get ready." Lynch lets me go, eyes still on me as he drops his hand and takes a step back.

I give him a smile and nod, spin on my heels, and dash down the hall to his room. A room, I might add, that now has the rest of my clothes. What I don't have here is my bed and the rest of my furniture from my apartment, along with my other belongings. Something that will have to be rectified. Lynch isn't about to let me stay living separately from him, and honestly, I don't want to.

Too much time as it is has passed, and I want to enjoy every minute I can with Lynch. Especially if it means I get to ride on the back of his bike, with my arms around him, and the wind whipping around us, I wouldn't want it any other way.

"Hop off, Cams," Lynch orders, patting my thigh hours later.

We rode for a while. Lynch took us to a back road where he went down a lane where no one else could see us and screwed me on the back of his bike. This was yet another fantasy I always had but never thought I'd experience with him.

Afterward, we got back on the road. It was heaven, completely freeing, and I loved every minute.

Even when he pulled into a little hole in the wall, I recognized but hadn't been to in years. Not since I last came with him before leaving for college. They have the best po' boys I've ever had.

Placing my hands on his shoulders, I climb off the back of his bike and take my helmet off as he follows suit. He takes my helmet from me, settles it on the handle, and sets his on the seat.

Lynch takes my hand and guides me to the entrance while I ignore the other people milling around. I'm in heaven just being here with Lynch and not worried about anything else. He's all that matters.

This very moment in time is all that matters.

Our time.

Mine and Lynch's.

Goofy as it sounds, I like it.

Together we step into the building, and with his hand just above my ass, he ushers me over to a high-top table. He takes a seat with his back to the wall. I know he's doing this to be able to see who's coming and going. As he said, he doesn't want to be blindsided.

"What can I get ya?" an older woman asks, holding a pen and pad in her hands, looking at the two of us while popping a piece of gum between her lips.

"Two po' boys and beers," Lynch answered, giving her the order.

"You got it," she says, dropping her gaze to write the order down. "I'll get those beers. You want tap or bottle?"

"Bottle," Lynch replies, furrowing a brow while tilting and reaching in his pocket.

"Gotcha." The waitress wanders off as Lynch pulls his phone out to look at the screen.

"Fuckin' hell," he mutters, swipes his finger over the screen, and lifts the phone to his ear. "Fuse, what's going on?" His body tenses at whatever Fuse is telling him on the other end of the line. "Right, we're on the way to the clubhouse." Pulling the phone from his ear, his jaw visibly tight, and his fingers tight around the phone. His eyes locked on me.

"What's going on?" I ask and swallow nervously.

"Someone set the house on fire," he growls, getting to his feet. "We've got to go."

At his saying fire, I'm on my feet, ready to follow. He pulls out a twenty from his wallet and tosses it on the table. Granted we hadn't even taken a first sip of beer. Lynch grabs my hand and guides me through the building and out to the bike.

Nothing needs to be said between us. I honestly don't know what I should say. I mean, yeah, this has me freaked out. I've lost all my clothes now, and my briefcase that had the files and my laptop in it, but those files, I keep copies of them and also scan them into the laptop, which is backed up on a cloud server I use so I won't lose anything important.

What I do know is that house was Lynch's. It might have been bare, but it was his, and now, it's been set on fire.

Outside, I take my helmet from him, quickly put it on, jump on the back of his bike once he's on, and wrap my arms around his waist. A second later, without warning, he squeezes the throttle and takes off, riding like a madman. I'm not sure what's going on in his head, but whatever it is, it's screwing with his head.