Page 26 of Doc

Now he was laughing. "It'll all work out." There was a promise in his tone that gave me hope.

I breathed in deeply. I hoped so. I really did.

Chapter 9

Doc

I hated seeing Harlow leave, but it would make staying away from her a fuck lot easier. Having her around all day had given me a case of blue balls that I wasn't going to lose until I had her under me. That little episode in my room had stayed fresh in my mind all day, teasing me with the promise that there would be more.

My brothers already thought I'd fucked her, and I let them go on believing that. If they found out I'd held off because she was still legally married, they'd laugh me out of the club. Not many of them would have let something like that stop them from claiming a woman they wanted. I was sure Demon was the only one who'd caught my meaning when I’d said that I wouldn't claim Harlow until the papers were signed.

I'd meant what I said about taking her to Sunrise Heights. I had plans for Harlow, and claiming her was right at the top of them. Was I moving too fast? Probably. But she was the kind of woman I’d never known I wanted. I liked what I knew about her. She was sweet and she was beautiful, and she cared way too fucking much.

Damn, maybe she was too soft to be an old lady. What if she couldn't hack club life? Understand the things I'd have to do? Right now, it appeared that trouble with Wild Bandits was in the forecast. Cole had headed out with BF and his two brothers right after he'd spoken to Raven. We were still waiting to hear how the confrontation had gone. If things heated up and there was a fight, we'd be riding out.

"What's got you looking so dark, Brother?" Oz took a seat next to me.

"Just thinking about shit."

"Like what?"

I shrugged. "Wild Bandits."

It grew quiet for a minute before Oz finally said, "Oh. I kind of thought you were stewing over Harlow and whether or not she's cut out for this life."

I snorted at his intuitiveness. "Well, that too."

"We've all been there, Doc. We meet ’the one’ and ruin it before it even gets off the ground. Demon's stubbornness not to admit that he had a thing for Bobbie chased her away."

I remembered that.

"Loco used his reputation as a man-whore to try and keep Millie at bay. Hell, when I first met JoJo, I purposely put the moves on her sister to prove to her I didn't want her. We all have a story, Brother. For some reason we convince ourselves we're not good enough for these women, that they're not fit to be old ladies because they're not from our world, but all that is is fear."

I took in his words while staring straight ahead at the playground where a few kids were still running around. Oz's three rugrats were among them, laughing and squealing like little pigs as they ran away from each other. Sax's two daughters were close behind. I grinned watching Raven, Holly, and JoJo calling out to their kids that it was time to go, only to be ignored. They had their hands full.

After a while I looked over at Oz. He was watching the same scene play out that I was, a contented smile on his face. Sensing that I was staring at him, he turned his head. "It's all worth it, Doc. I've watched you agonizing over Harlow and your situation for too fucking long. Don’t blow it now.”