“You have a fight night?” I asked, a little surprised that I hadn’t heard about it yet, and I’d been with Silas for well over two months now.
“Yeah,” Silas said. “We’ve not had one in a while. The weather’s been fucking with everything lately. Every time one is scheduled to happen, it starts to rain. And the warehouse isn’t all that waterproof, not to mention that the parking is grass. I don’t want eight million people stuck out here in their cars. That would blow.”
I snorted.
Ever so honest, was my Silas.
“It’s raining right now…” I told him the obvious.
He squeezed my hand slightly.
“Yeah, but this has been planned for a year now. Not like I can just up and change it. We just have to have about eight million buckets catching all the water. Luckily, we have prospects to empty them and replace them when needed,” he said, pointing out one such prospect doing that very thing. “And the party is gonna go on nearly the entire night. Hopefully the rain dries up and they can get out when the time comes.”
“Who is that?” Ruthie gasped from my side.
I followed the direction of her gaze to a man I’d never met before, but then again, that wasn’t surprising when there were about five hundred people here, and I only knew about fifty of them.
“That’s my brother, Sterling,” Silas said with a smile in his voice. “He’s the reason we’re celebrating tonight. Made it home in one piece from another tour.”
I blinked.
“That,” I said, pointing at the man who was absolutely stunning. “Is Sterling?”
I’d bought underwear for that man!
“Come on, I’ll introduce you,” he said, pulling me behind him, skirting a bucket every now and then as he went.
We came to a stop in front of a crowd, but Silas’ booming voice made them part.
“Move,” Silas ordered two men.
They weren’t dressed in their biker cuts, which was why I assumed that Silas spoke to them like that.
The man we’d come over there to meet looked up at Silas’ barked order and grinned.
His gaze followed Silas’ arm down until he found me and smiled widely before moving to Ruthie’s hand in mine.
She squeezed my hand tightly once his eyes hit hers, and I barely smothered a smile as I watched him watch her.
Finally his eyes moved back, and Silas stepped forward.
“Sterling, this is my woman, Sawyer. Sawyer, Sterling. Sterling, Ruthie; Ruthie, Sterling.”
Simple, yet effective, and so Silas.
Sterling was gorgeous.
Tall with muscular arms leading up to wide, broad shoulders. Deep green eyes and a messy mop of dirty-blonde hair tumbling over his eyes and capping a face that was the very definition of ruggedly handsome.
His beard was pretty wicked, too.
The man standing before me grinned as he took two huge steps towards me and then scooped me up into a bear hug.
“Thanks for the underwear,” he said as he valiantly tried to squeeze the air from my lungs with the ferociousness of his hug. “I really needed them. They’re now my favorites due to the fact that they don’t chafe.”
I laughed, patting his back awkwardly since I was pinned down by his arms.
“You’re welcome. Nobody likes to chafe,” I laughed.
He set me down on my feet, and I turned to Ruthie.
“This is my best friend, Ruthie.” I looked over at Ruthie, who was wearing a wide-eyed expression.
Sterling’s eyes were all for my friend, too.
I couldn’t help but smile.
Ruthie was beautiful.
Like incredibly so.
She was about five foot two inches of perfect wrapped in a beautiful bow of happiness and sunshine.
She had curly hair that was styled perfectly.
She had worn a bit of eyeshadow, but it was the smoked eyeliner rimming her green eyes that made them pop like emeralds.
And I’ll be damned if her smoky, sparkling emerald eyes weren’t just as focused on the man staring her down.
He didn’t move; neither did she.
For so long that I started to worry, but then Sterling smiled and offered his hand.
Ruthie took forever to take it, and I felt like it was something pivotal in her healing.
“Well,” I said, turning to look at Silas. “What’s next?”
“Silas is going to fight Stone,” Sterling chirped at my side.
I blinked, turning to see Sterling looking at some man across the room and leaning up against one of the bars.
“What? But, but… why?” I asked stammered worriedly.
My hand clutched Silas’ who looked down at me in amusement.
“Because it’s tradition. The presidents of the chapters fight to see who gets to host the next year’s event,” Sterling said. “Stone is the winner on his bracket. Silas the winner on his.”
I blinked.
“So you lost last year?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. Last year a tornado took out the Alabama chapter’s clubhouse, so we went there for a week and helped them fix it up.”
“He won last year. Was supposed to be here,” Sterling offered helpfully.
I nodded. “Gotcha.”