“I think your ribs are only cracked, not broken, but it would be wise to get an X-ray.” To Tap, he added, “Eagle has connections with a doctor who runs a private practice and knows how to keep her mouth shut. He took Naomi there after…” His gaze flickered back to me. “After.”
Tap wasn’t the only one with secrets. I didn’t know who Naomi was, but I couldn’t help but wonder why she’d needed a quiet doctor. I wondered if the whole club had something to hide.
“Thanks. I’ll reach out to Eagle in the morning,” Tap said.
Havoc nodded. “It was nice to meet you, Sasha, but it’s past time for me to get my woman to bed.”
“Thank you, Havoc. Julia. For everything.” I squeezed her hand.
She gave me another gentle hug before joining her husband by the door. “Remember what I said about double-tapping.”
A smile tugged at my lips. I really did like Julia and I hoped to see her again. “I won’t forget. It’s the best advice I’ve heard in a long time.”
Tap groaned and shook his head.
Tap
IWALKED HAVOC and Julia out through the garage, avoiding the rest of my house. As far as I could tell, they were still clueless about my daughter and mother, and I wanted to keep it that way. Nobody needed to see the family photos we had hanging on the wall, or the few family heirlooms Mama kept locked away in the china cabinet. With the way my night was going, it was only a matter of time before that secret was blown wide open as well, but I’d keep it safe as long as I could.
“Why’d you take Sasha out of Buzz’s house?” Havoc asked as we reached his bike.
His question surprised me. Like several of the Dead Presidents, Havoc suffered from PTSD. He had anger issues and he tended to punch first and ask questions later. Despite all of that, he was a good guy who would have never walked away from a beaten woman. “Did you see her?” I asked.
“Yeah. I would have taken her out of there in a heartbeat, but that’s me. That’s not you.”
“You think I’m the kind of man who’d walk away and leave her like that?” I mean, I’d tried, but I hadn’t been able to. Not this time.
“I think you’re calculated,” Havoc answered. “You’re the most careful person I’ve ever met. Hell, some call you paranoid. I know how your mind works and what you’ve been trained to do. You calculate the risks and you don’t put your neck on the line. You stay focused on the greater good. You wouldn’t have risked the mission—the chance to stay one step ahead of the Serpents—for one woman. Taking her out of there was a gamble, and you, my brother, don’t gamble.”
He wasn’t wrong. “I don’t know. She asked me to leave her behind, but I couldn’t.” And I was glad I hadn’t. The past few hours I’d spent with Sasha had been… nice. My usual interactions with women came in the form of a one-night stand after a gig, but this was different. The attraction between us was more than sexual. She was intelligent, witty, and kind, and our conversations had been easy and fun. Hell, this was probably the closest thing I’d had to a date since high school.
“I like her,” Julia said. “She’s strong and resilient.”
“What did you two talk about?” I asked. They’d spent a good twenty minutes together, and when Havoc and I returned, Sasha’s eyes were red like she’d been crying.
Julia slid closer to her husband. “That’s between me and my new friend. I want to see her again. Don’t mess this up and chase her off.”
Havoc nodded. “She’s good for you.”
“What are you two? Matchmakers? Don’t go getting any crazy ideas. Sasha has goals that will most likely get her killed, and you know I’m not into that shit. She’s only staying until she can walk well enough to go running right back into danger.” While the girls were talking, I’d shared Sasha’s story with Havoc. I didn’t want to betray her trust, but she needed the club’s help. Havoc would lay it out for Link, and hopefully they could come up with a viable plan to extract the girls.
“I’ll talk to Link about that and we’ll see what we can do to help, but you’re bullshitting yourself if you think there’s nothing between you and that woman. Julia and I wouldn’t be here right now if you didn’t care about her. You brought a girl home, brother, and you were worried enough about her that you finally opened the door to us. In one night, Sasha was able to get you to do what we haven’t been able to in a year.”
Havoc was right. I didn’t want to admit it—or think too hard about it—but he was. “Shouldn’t you be taking your wife home and putting her to bed?” I asked.
He chuckled. “One last question. Since we’re laying it all out there tonight, how old’s your kid?”
Panic seized my heart. “What kid?” I asked, surprised at how steady my voice sounded when I was freaking out internally. I hadn’t slipped up, and there was no way he could know I was a father. He had to be fishing, and I wasn’t taking the bait.
“Your office smells like peanut butter, and those glasses on your desk had chocolate milk in them. We know where you live now, so you don’t have anything to hide. You should have taken me upstairs to see your house, but instead, you kept me in the garage because you’re still keeping shit from me.”
None of his evidence was condemning, so I shrugged. “I like PB&J, chocolate milk, and my privacy. So, sue me.”
“You have Popsicle sticks. No grown-ass, child-free adult owns Popsicle sticks.”
He was right. Offering Sasha a Popsicle stick to bite down on while she was getting stitched up had been stupid. “I like to build Popsicle stick houses. I don’t advertise it or anything, but I’m a stripping, Popsicle stick house building makeup artist. That’s what I’m all about. I don’t let anyone see my house because I got this shit everywhere and I don’t want them to get the wrong idea.”
“Right,” Julia said, watching me.
