“Yeah, baby, I do. I’ll make sure.”
We sat quietly while Olive nursed, both of us watching her. It seemed inconceivable that anyone would want to hurt someone so innocent and new.
My eyes were drooping, and I was leaning heavily against Mark by the time Olive was finished. Honestly, even the thought of having to stand up to pull back the blankets so I could crawl in bed seemed like too much work. Mark laughed at me as I groaned.
“Come on,” he said, helping me to my feet. He pulled the blankets down and helped me sit again before kneeling at my feet.
“What are you doing?” I asked tiredly.
“Takin’ off your shoes,” he replied, nodding at my feet.
Tears made my nose sting as I stared at him. It was such a simple gesture because he knew how tired I was, but it felt big. Really big. Down on one knee, big. Because if a guy that’s been up just as long as you have, and is just as tired as you are, still takes the time to kneel down to remove the shoes that you could easily toe-off yourself—you’ve hit the jackpot.
“I still have to run to the bathroom,” I cried, unable to stop my voice from wobbling.
“Aw, sweetheart,” he said reaching up to wipe my tears away as he fought a smile.
“It’s not because I have to go to the bathroom,” I tried to explain through my blubbering as he got me back on my feet. “You tried to take my shoes off.”
“I know,” he said, though he clearly had no idea what I was rambling on about.
After grabbing the diaper bag, I clenched my teeth and stiffened my spine while he escorted me to a bathroom I’d been in a million times before. If we ran into anyone, I wasn’t going to let them see me losing my shit. I reminded myself of that as he gently took Olive from my arms and gave me a pat on the butt to get me moving. When I got out of the bathroom, he was holding a lamp in his free hand.
I looked at him curiously, but didn’t say anything as we went back to the room. Then I almost lost it again when he laid Olive on the bed and plugged in the lamp, throwing a t-shirt over the shade to dim it, before turning off the bright overhead light.
Within minutes, I was back in bed, with Olive on one side of me—closest to the wall, and Mark on the other side, his body lined up perfectly with mine. For the first time in hours, I found myself relaxing.
“Mornin’ is gonna come early,” he murmured into my hair. “Turn that brain off and sleep.”
“I’m trying,” I replied in a whisper. “You got me a nightlight.”
“You don’t like the dark,” he replied easily. Within seconds, his breathing had evened out and his arm around my waist relaxed as he fell asleep.
I knew that the next day was going to be pretty horrible, even if it went better than I was expecting. Seeing everyone and being surrounded by the people I’d left behind was going to be hard, no matter how it played out. It always was. Even knowing that, it wasn’t long before I passed out, too, but before I did, I laced my fingers through his. Just to make sure that he’d be in the same position when I woke up.
Chapter 20
Mark
“Why can’t we be in there?” Eli asked, jerking his head toward the room behind the bar.
“Nobody goes in there,” I muttered back tiredly.
“They’re in there,” he pointed out around the toothpick in his mouth.
Swear to God, he was needling me just because he could see how very uninterested I was in dealing with his shit. We were sitting in the empty main room of the clubhouse, waiting for Dragon and the boys to come back out and give us a rundown. I wasn’t sure what exactly they had to discuss beforehand, but honestly, I didn’t really give a shit unless it directly involved Cecilia. Olive had been up repeatedly throughout the morning, and me and Cec hadn’t gotten much sleep. It hadn’t helped that we’d gone to bed as the sun was coming up.
Forrest checked his watch. “They better get a move on, this place is gonna start fillin’ up with women and kids at noon.”
“I’m starving,” Lu said, knocking her knuckles on the table. “I hate waiting on other people to get shit done.”
“The wait’ll be worth it,” I told her with a sigh. “They go all out when everyone’s here for a meal.”
“This place is different from the club down in Sacramento,” she replied. “More family oriented or something.”
“You can thank Brenna for that,” I said. “Callie and Farrah, too. They made it a family meeting place.”