Big Timber (Royal Bastards MC: Flagstaff Chapter #7)

Chapter 6

Timber

Walking past the workers who are replacing the damaged entrance, I’m more than a little puzzled that I have to track Declan down for his appointment, despite all the shit going down.

I’d expect it of some of the others, but this guy has an internal clock the likes of which I’ve never experienced, so I’m more worried than pissed. Especially since he hasn’t responded to my text, and no one answered at the clubhouse.

Damn, I accidentally did this a couple of weeks ago and he had an entire crew out looking for me. It’s unfair to think that, but I have something important to discuss with him today.

Neither he nor any of my other brothers are in the front room, so after sticking my head into the kitchen, I really start to wonder what the fuck is going on. On my way back to Declan’s office, I notice that the door to the room we use to hold church is cracked open. As I reach for the knob to secure it, I see him standing inside the room, studying our creed.

ROYAL BASTARDS CODE

PROTECT: The club and your brothers come before anything else and must be protected at all costs. CLUB is FAMILY .

RESPECT: Earn it I tear through my closet, as if a biker babe outfit has magically appeared after years of wearing sarcastic T-shirts, flowy tops, and jeans.

“Talia?” Tarak’s voice calls from the top of the stairs, and I can tell his breathing is labored.

I peak my head out of my room to see him holding onto the stair rail. “You shouldn’t have climbed up without help,” I scold him.

“Baby, it doesn’t matter what you wear. Not tonight. Not ever,” he says as he enters my bedroom for the first time.

Pausing for a moment, I study him, watching for his reaction to the room I’ve turned into my sanctuary and hoping that it appeals to him.

“Come sit down,” I coax him, pointing to my king-sized bed.

“Why the fuck are we sleeping on that small-ass bed downstairs when this is here?” he asks, not three seconds after sinking onto my sleep number bed.

All thoughts of my wardrobe fly out of my mind as I emphatically point at his ankle. “You could barely make it up here tonight! A week ago, you would have been scooting up on your ass.”

“It would have been worth the humiliation,” he groans, stretching backward with his arms raised above his head. “Christ, fuck Declan, we’re staying in tonight.”

“No, we’re not,” I insist, turning back to my closet to put on a different top. “What do you think about this one?”

“You look hot,” he sighs.

“Can you at least open your eyes when you say that?”

Crossing to my nightstand, I grab the remote control and elevate the head of the side that he’s on.

That gets his eyes open. “There’s a remote?”

“How do I look?” I ask, holding the controller behind my back and trying to grin as he narrows his eyes in thought.

“I think teal looks amazing on you,” he replies.

“Should I bring wine or flowers?” I ask him, knowing we’ll have to make a stop on the way.

“I got chocolate and flowers earlier,” he tells me, and I try to hide the surprise from my expression. “When your brother picked me up on Sunday, he stopped at the store to grab some flowers. He said that your family expected everyone to bring something, even if it was just a bag of chips or a small hostess gift.”

At those words, I sit down beside him, stroking his cheek. “I come with a lot of people, Tarak. With a lot of opinions. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for that, Talia. Not ever,” he replies, sitting up to kiss me as he wraps his hand around my neck to hold me to him. “They are great. It just wasn’t anything I had ever learned about. Honestly, I looked it up online afterward. I felt like an ass, so I left some money in Tanner’s cupholder—I didn’t want him to wave it off and I appreciate him trying to make me look good.”

“Even though you were kidnapped?”

“Again,” he says with a laugh. “Is that another weird Workman family tradition?”

“I’m sure Jenna’s little brother will love the chocolate.” I smile against his lips as I change the subject, and almost reconsider going out if he really wants to stay in.

“Come on,” he groans, slowly standing up then shaking his head when I wrap his right arm around my shoulder to give him support on the way downstairs. “Babe, I can make it.”

“Shush,” I hiss at him. “I’m a trained professional.”

“Couldn’t have been a nurse, huh? At least that way you could take care of me in a sexy costume,” he grumbles, even as he accepts my help.

“ Plenty of people think firefighters are sexy,” I tease him back, getting a bark of laughter.

“Well, they weren’t ever featured in any of my fantasies,” he smarts back, leaning down to kiss my temple. “Until now.”

*

At Declan’s, Tarak doesn’t pause to knock, he simply opens the door and walks right into chaos.

There’s a toddler who’s scaling a baby-gate, and he freezes until he sees who it is before proceeding to throw himself over the top. Landing on all fours, he goes scurrying behind one of the sofas.

A pregnant lady comes scrambling down the stairs, her hair tied up in a towel and she starts talking to us while wrestling with a different baby-gate.

“You must be Talia, I’m Jenna. It’s so nice to meet you,” she says in a soothing, sweet voice before turning to look over her shoulder and bellowing, “Justin! Where’s Cullen? Timber’s here!”

“I don’t know,” a boy’s voice calls from somewhere on this level. “Where’d you leave him?”

“With you!” she sounds panicked now but turns back to me with another smile. At least she’s smiling until she reaches her hand up, suddenly realizing her hair is still wrapped in a towel. “I’m so sorry.”

“Is Cullen a little boy?” I ask her, ignoring her distress over her wet hair as I peek behind the sofa that I saw the child dodge behind. Just as I lean in and try to grab the little rascal, he shoots out on the other side and into the kitchen.

“Got him!”

A boy who’s probably about ten years old emerges, carrying the screaming child under his arm like a sack of potatoes. “Timber! I missed you. I worked on the drawings we talked about the other day and I think …”

“Justin, please just give him a minute,” Jenna pleads with him as she accepts the flowers I hold out to her with a smile. “And you haven’t introduced yourself to Talia yet.”

“Are you the one who kidnapped him?” Justin asks me, continuing to talk without missing a beat. “Declan said he ran away, but he can’t exactly run right now, can he?”

“I got dinner.” Declan’s deep voice comes from directly behind me and I almost jump out of my skin.

And just like that, there’s silence. The baby stops hollering, Justin’s mouth snaps shut as he slowly lowers the child, and Jenna turns to smile at the man just behind me like he’s a glass of ice water on a hot day.

“How are you feeling, baby?” he asks her, sliding around me to greet her with a kiss before turning back to Tarak and me. “I grabbed Thai for us since Jenna has her hands full without me adding to the dinner tally. Justin, can you run out to the truck and get the other bag?”

“Here, let me help with that,” I say, stepping forward to relieve him of the two bags he’s already carrying. “Jenna, what do you need me to do?”

Joining her in the kitchen, I help her get the food laid out as Declan wrangles Cullen into a highchair. As nervous as I was coming here, the initial craziness—reminding me so much of my family, immediately sets me at ease.

Jenna was entertaining, keeping everyone talking or gently redirecting the conversation when her brother would let his excitement get the best of him.

It was hard to remember that Declan was the one who set this meal up. Although incredibly attentive to Jenna, he was quiet and only rarely joined in the conversation. Even his young son seemed to realize something was bothering him and after he was released from his highchair, he curled up on his dad’s lap.

“Is everything alright?” I ask Tarak on our way home.

“Declan’s dealing with a lot right now,” he says after a moment, reaching out to squeeze my thigh. “What did you think of Jenna?”

“She’s great. Not at all what I expected, I guess,” I admit. “Justin just adores you, y’know?”

“Yeah, he’s a good kid,” he replies after letting out a heavy sigh when I stop at a yellow light.

I know Tarak hates being in the passenger seat, but he’s not on my insurance, so I haven’t let him drive my truck yet.

“How are things at the clubhouse?” Even knowing he was there today; I haven’t wanted to bring it up.

“Most of the damage has been removed, now it’s just up to Declan to figure out the materials he wants to use, I guess.” Turning onto my street, I reach up to click the garage door opener and he lets out a little laugh. “Handy thing, isn’t it?”

“Shush. I would have gotten the batteries replaced eventually,” I insist with a grin. “At least by the end of the year.”

“You’re good with me living with you, right?”

It’s not that the question comes out of nowhere. Honestly, considering the late-night conversations we’ve had, we should have discussed it already—but I still get a little anxious.

Living together and planning a future with someone I barely know is a lot , no matter how right it all feels.

“I can split my time between there and the—”

“No,” I tell him, suddenly adamant. I don’t want to give him whiplash, but the thought of him bouncing back and forth doesn’t sit right with me. “Sorry. It’s a lot to take in. I’ve never lived with anyone before, other than family, I mean.”

“I’ve lived in plenty of clubhouses and other places, but never with a woman,” he tells me, getting out of the passenger seat and reaching up to hit the button to close the garage door behind us. “I was thinking about the bills. How does it sound if I cover your mortgage payment? I know Rick sends you something for his room, so how about you put that toward your utilities, and we’ll split everything else up?”

“I don’t need your money,” I reply, feeling weird about accepting money from him. Heck, my longest relationship up to this point was almost a year and we never talked about living together. Yet here I am with Tarak.

“And I don’t need yours,” he calmly says, reaching over to pull me into his chest. “I want to build our future together, to be your partner. I’m not asking you to put me on the deed for the house, but I am going to contribute to our monthly bills.”

I nod against him, just now realizing how tired I am as he gently strokes my back.

“You’re making a pro and con list in your head, aren’t you?” he whispers in my ear, his breath giving me goosebumps as it passes over my ear.

“How do you know what my mortgage payment is?” I ask, suddenly pulling back from him.

“I looked up your house on one of those real estate sites and got an estimate,” he’s grinning and shaking his head at me as he responds. “I don’t have the first clue how much utilities are for a house, but I’m hoping we’d be about even.”

“That’s pretty risky, you know,” I tell him, trying to look worried, and he tilts his head in question. “Agreeing to pay that much every month without touring the property.”

“You’re right,” he nods his head, trying to look serious. “I need to know exactly what I’m getting myself into. Would you show me around the upstairs?”

Pretending to be a real estate agent, I square my shoulder as I turn to head toward the stairs. “It’s three bedrooms and three bathrooms, plus a den that could be used as a bedroom!”

“You don’t say?” he teases back, pinching my ass as he follows me up.

“Here are the two standard sized rooms. They have a bathroom joining them,” I tell him, turning on the lights in each room.

“They’re empty!”

“Yes.”

“Why are they empty?” he asks as he walks through one, then the bathroom before emerging in the other one.

“I haven’t decided what to do with them yet,” I answer, turning off the lights as I try to hurry the conversation along. Knowing I’m about to get roasted again.

“How long have you lived here?”

“Since January,” I reply, hoping that settles it. “Come on, check out the master bath!”

“January of what year?”

My sigh tells him he’s hit the nail on the head.

“Just think, we’ll be able to decide what to do with them together.” I try to spin this to my advantage as I turn on the light in what will now be our bathroom.

He lets out a grunt before looking around. “This is sweet.”

“My family and I gutted it after I moved in.” I’m grinning with pride as he appreciatively checks the shower and the tub, his eyes widening when he realizes there’s even a built-in towel warmer. “And honestly, one of the bedrooms was a staging room for all the tiles and fixtures while the work in here was done.”

“What do you think about making them rooms for our kids?” he quietly asks me, reaching out for my hand.

“How many kids were you thinking?”

“Two,” Tarak immediately says. “They could share a room and use the other one as a playroom. At least until they get older.”

“Aren’t you glad I left the rooms a blank canvas for our kids?”

“I promise not to tease you about that if I can play with the remote control for the bed now.”

“I mean, I was thinking I’d give you a blowjob, but if you’d rather play with—” Letting out a shriek when Tarak’s face darkens with passion, his intention written across his face as he straightens and takes a step in my direction. I dart into the bedroom and around to the far side of the bed, looking back to see him stripping his clothes off.