“Yeah. We’re having a Christmas party for them, and my brothers held an arm-wrestling contest for the Santa spot. While I was absent.”
That was so not what I expected him to say. In downtown Seattle, a group of bikers arm-wrestled to dress up as Santa. And they’d cheated this guy out of his spot.
His expression could be a meme for indignant badass.
With my fingernail, I discreetly stabbed myself in the palm to keep from laughing. “That seems unfair.”
He grunted in agreement.
“Havoc missed church.” Julia shrugged. “There are consequences.”
“Church?” I have so many questions.
“That’s what they call their mandatory weekly meetings,” she clarified.
“Ah. So, to make sure I have this right, you’re offering to sponsor a second Christmas party so…,” my gaze swung to Havoc, “you can play Santa?”
“He’ll have to arm wrestle for the position, but yes,” Julia replied.
Havoc raised an eyebrow at her as if she were questioning the size of his muscles.
She rolled her eyes at him and then smiled. “Basically, yes. Look at him. It’s in the bag.”
The heated look they shared raised the temperature of my office by several degrees, making me squirm in my seat. When was the last time a man had looked at me like that?
Oh yeah, never.
Ugh. It would be difficult not to be jealous of these two.
“I… uh. I’ll have to run this by the board.”
“Of course.” Julia reached into her purse, plucked out a business card, and passed it to me. According to the card, she worked for a business called Ladies First. “Here’s my contact information. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions. I’ll also email you the details as soon as I get back to the office, so you have it in writing.”
Havoc handed me a second card, this one with a skull wearing a top hat with a bullet hole.
“Don’t forget to Google the club,” Julia said. “I promise you they’re not like any bikers you’ve ever heard of before.”
Clearly. “I’ll do that.”
“We’ll get out of your hair then.” She stood, and Havoc joined her, dropping his hand to the small of her back possessively.
I rose to show them out, but the sound of hurried footsteps approaching snapped my attention to the doorway. I really hoped we weren’t in the middle of an emergency, but with kids, it was always something.
Beth burst back into the room, cell phone in hand. “Someone’s breaking into my house!”
2
Landon
SEATTLE WAS PRECISELY as I remembered: cold, wet, and brimming with ghosts I’d spent almost two decades trying to exorcise.
The Uber stopped in front of my childhood home. When I didn’t immediately move to get out, he announced, “We’re here.”
He turned to look over his shoulder. My vision swayed, and none of his faces looked happy. This motherfucker would eject me if he could. I wrestled myself free of the seatbelt that didn’t want to unlatch.
Maybe my thumbs were too big. I stared at my hands, but they seemed normal-sized enough.
“I have another fare to get to,” the driver said.
