Loving Laurel Animals MC book 6

chapter one.

If it works the photo is of Ivan.

Ivan picked Laurel up the next morning in his large black suburban, she sighed heavily pushing back the anxiety that rose in her chest as he came to help with her luggage.

"You never were a light packer," He said lifting one of the three heavy suitcases.

"I can't help it, I nervous pack."

"I remember," He teased.

He tossed her bags a little roughly into the back of the vehicle before opening her door for her, she slid onto the leather seat as he walked to the driver side.

If he was nervous about the upcoming week he didn't show it, just started the vehicle and pulled onto the street starting the long drive home. Their hometown, the one they met in, fell in love in, dated in, married in.

"Will the club be okay with you gone?" She asked.

Being a president of her own MC she knew how hard it was to leave them for long periods of time, anything could happen and they both needed to be sure that they're clubs were in good hands. Her Vice President was more than capable of handling anything that arose.

"They'll be fine, Slater can handle it."

"Slater....is...is he who...he replaced...."She fell silent.

Ezra had been the vice president for years, knowing he was gone for good was hard to deal with. The three of them had been close growing up and closer as adults, Laurel missed Ezra. His easy friendship, his laugh, his soft eyes and kind nature, but Laurel had been so busy keeping Ivan together she didn't have time to be sad for herself.

"Ezra......he replaced Ezra," Ivan said gently.

"Right, Ezra."

"I was thinking about going to France in the fall, seeing how Eve is doing."

Eve was Ezra's girlfriend, a nun at a local Church where Ezra was assigned community hours, the two had fallen in love. Ezra had made sure that upon his death Eve was left with enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life, this also provided enough money for her to adopt an orphaned baby that Ezra had cared deeply about a baby she then named Ezra.

"She calls me once a week, she said little Ezra is growing like a weed." He added.

"I bet he is."

"If....if you wanted to come with me you could," he offered with a small shrug.

"You wouldn't mind?"

"No, I think Eve would like to see you."

"It wouldn't be weird?"

"What you mean more weird than spending a week pretending to be married?" He asked.

She laughed a little, he was right the entire thing was bizarre. She should have been honest with her parents about their getting a divorce but she knew how much they adored Ivan and at the time she wasn't ready to talk about it.

"I think I have a plan for this entire thing," She offered.

"Let's hear it, I'm not doing this again."

"Well what if towards the end of our stay we started to fight? We could start small and slowly escalate. A few days after we return home I'll call mom and tell her we're getting a divorce."

"That could work I guess."

"I'm sorry about all of this."

"It's fine I owe you one....more than one actually."

"You don't owe me anything and this is my mess."

The pair fell silent with only the sound of the road rumbling to break the silence. The silence would have been more comfortable if it wasn't for the destination they were heading to and the reason they were together.

Laurel let her head fall back against the head rest of the car, her eyelids heavy. She'd been up most of the night packing and planning, trying to think of anyway to get out of this situation. She slowly felt her muscles relax and slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Ivan glanced over at his ex-wife, or rather his wife for the week at least. Shit, how long had it even been since he'd referred to her as his wife. They'd been divorced so long he almost forgot what it was like being married to her, almost, but not completely and it was the almost part that kept him up at night thinking about her.

Just a few weeks ago he'd been shit-faced drunk, cold barely stand on his own two feet. Laurel had innocently came over to try and help him and he'd made a blatant pass at her, practically begging her to go to bed with him. She'd refused, because she wasn't drunk off her ass. Now, he felt like a heel, he'd been weak, drunk, and had only wanted her because she was comfortable.

He knew Laurel, he'd been with Laurel, could remember every dip and valley on her body, her smell, her soft skin, the sounds she made, he remembered all of that and it made him comfortable asking for her help but being comfortable was dangerous, it would be too easy to slip back into that role that he once loved, her husband. He'd have to keep a tight leash on his feelings and emotions this week.

He drove most of the day with her asleep in the passenger seat next to him, it was fine with him if she slept he didn't need conversation. Just having a presence in the seat beside him was enough to keep him content on the long drive.

When he saw a small diner off the side of the road a few hours later he pulled over, he was starving and he knew that Laurel most likely hadn't ate breakfast. He turned off the car then reached over to lay a hand on her thigh giving her a gentle shake.

"Laurel, wake up."

She stirred slowly, she always was hard to wake up and a deep sleeper. Stretching she sat up better in the seat and looked around.

"What time is it?" She asked with a yawn.

"Four thirty, I need to stretch my legs and thought some food would be good."

"I'm starving," She replied undoing her belt.

She turned for the handle on the door but before she could a gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Wait, Laurel....before we go inside."

She turned to him obviously confused as he dug in his jacket pocket pulling out a red velvet box he handed it to her without looking at her.

"If we're going to pull this off you're going to need that," He said.

Taking the box she opened the lid to reveal her engagement ring and wedding band nestled inside, the same one they'd had when they were married. The same one she left on his kitchen table the night she left him for good.

"You kept them."

"Yeah, I did. I don't even know why but....I figured if we're going to do this then, you'll need them."

She pulled them from the box and slid them into place only noticing now that his was already resting snugly on his hand. It looked odd seeing the thick, gold band on his left ring finger after years of it being bare but he didn't seem to notice it.

"Thank you," She said softly.

"Let's get some food."

He was out of the vehicle before she could say anything else, she took just a minute to stare at her wedding rings in the light of the sunset. It felt odd having them back after so long but he was right they needed them to get away with this, rings never crossed her mind when she planned this trip but then that was Ivan.

Always thinking of little things, always looking out for her, always making sure she had her bases covered even if she was getting them involved in ridiculous scheme.