I refused to go with Grease when he went to pick up Dragon. I was still pissed enough that he was going to have to come to me. The asshole.

I was pissed at him, but I still helped set up the food for his welcome-home party. It was sort of a tradition to have a welcoming party for the brothers as they got out of jail. A little weird, sure, but it was their thing, so I didn’t judge it.

Vera and I spent all day shopping for food and beer, dragging Casper and Curly with us to load anything heavy into Slider’s huge pickup. The sheer amount of food we needed made our shopping trip take forever. By the time we headed back to the clubhouse, I thought the boys were going to fall asleep from exhaustion on the back of their bikes.

The wonderful thing about having an extended family meant I was never lacking babysitters, so Trix was off to stay the night with one of the old ladies. I knew it was selfish of me to send her away on Dragon’s first night home, but I honestly didn’t care. We needed one night that was just for us. I didn’t even tell her that he was coming home yet, and I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when we went to pick her up the next day.

By the time Grease left at about four o’clock, my stomach was in knots. My hands were shaky, and I frantically checked the food and the plates and the toilet paper in the bathrooms. I couldn’t stop moving. I was a nervous wreck.

My belly wasn’t huge. I was only about four months along, but it was already making itself known through my clothes. He knew I was pregnant, but I wondered if he would be surprised when he saw me. I felt like I had changed completely in the three months he’d been gone.

When the time finally came and I heard the bikes roar into the forecourt, a sense of complete calm settled into my bones. When he walked through the door, I started toward him, noting the leanness of his face as he searched for me in the crowd. When his eyes finally found me, they lit up, and a huge smile spread across his face. I didn’t smile back. I just kept walking toward him, my hips swaying. I knew I looked good. Vera and I had bought a welcome-home outfit that I’d known he would love, and my larger boobs gave me killer cleavage. By the time I reached him, his smile had turned into a frown, and he was looking at me in confusion.

“Baby, what’s goin’ on?” he asked me, completely unaware of the looks everyone was giving us.

“Welcome home, Dragon,” I told him, my face completely blank. “I washed all your bedding in your club room and made sure everything was clean before you got back. I hope you enjoy it.” I nodded once and then turned as if to walk out.

“The fuck are you talkin’ about, Brenna?” he asked me and grabbed my arm. The look on his face had changed from confused to pissed.

“You didn’t want to see me for three months?” I asked him. “Well, now, I don’t want to see you!” And then, I tried to walk away again.

“Stop right where you are!” he called after me, but I kept moving.

I knew he’d follow me. I knew we’d make up. But I was going to make him freaking work for it. My attitude was solid until he came up behind me at the edge of the forecourt and wrapped his hands around my waist, spreading his fingers over the small mound of my belly.

“Baby…” he whispered, moving my hair away from my neck with his chin. “You know I wanted to see you. I thought about you every goddamn second. Wonderin’ if you were all right, wonderin’ if our babies were doin’ okay.”

He started kissing my neck, and tears began to roll down my face, but my back stayed straight.

“Then, why didn’t you let me come see you?” I asked him in a wobbly voice.

“Because, baby, I don’t want you seeing me in there. Wearin’ a fuckin’ jumpsuit, fuckin’ tennis shoes with no laces. I’m your man. I don’t want you ever seein’ me as anything else,” he told me as he walked around me and tilted my face up to his. “You can be pissed all you want, Brenna. But don’t ever tell me again that I won’t be sleepin’ in our bed. Got me?” he asked, and the dominance in his voice made me feel like I was coming home.

“I got you,” I whimpered back.

His hands on my body and his face close to mine after so long made me feel like I was going to spontaneously combust. I hoped that he would always affect me that way.

“That’s right, baby. You got me,” he whispered back as he took my mouth in a hard kiss. “God, baby. I was goin’ crazy without you,” he told me when we finally stopped kissing, and he started dragging me through the tall grass toward our house.

“Dragon!” I laughed up at him. “We can’t leave! You have a welcome-home party going on!”

“Baby, any of those boys inside won’t expect us back for a couple hours. Neither will their women,” he answered me, never veering from his course.

I reached forward to run my nails down the back of his arm, and it stopped him in his tracks about ten yards from the house.

“Brenna, you keep doing shit like that, and we ain’t gonna make it in the house,” he groaned.

Before I knew what he was doing, he’d reached down and lifted me up, so my legs wrapped around his waist, and the little skirt I was wearing was pushed to the top of my thighs.

“Fuck, Brenna. You can’t be wearing a skirt like that with no underwear,” he ground out as he squeezed my ass in his hands.

“Just being prepared.” I kissed him lightly on the lips. “Now, take me in the house.”