Julia’s expression softened. “For good?”
“I’m sure he’ll pop back to see his mom occasionally, but yeah. I get the feeling he doesn’t like Seattle.”
Julia fidgeted with her hands. “So… are you sticking around for the adults-only after party?”
Her subject change made me narrow my eyes. “You know something. About Landon.”
She shrugged. “I told you, the guys talk.”
“And?”
“Beth called in and asked the club to check on Landon.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “He’s a vet and he won’t talk to her about his service, but Havoc thinks there’s more. Sage knows something, but he’s the club therapist, so he’s the only one who doesn’t gossip.”
“Interesting.”
Julia nodded. “They love Beth here, by the way. She brought over a bunch of Christmas cookies the other day, and now all the bikers would kill for her.”
I laughed, though she didn’t appear to be kidding. “That’s actually not surprising since Beth’s cookies are the best.”
My thoughts kept stumbling over the new information I’d received about Landon. Of course, he’d been through some shit. The guy had a chip on his shoulder almost as big as mine.
He was a good guy. And he only drove me crazy because I was too fucked-up to even believe good guys existed.
“What exactly does an adults-only after party entail?” I asked.
“Booze, food, dancing—plus the occasional flash of skin you absolutely didn’t request. Some of the guys like being watched, and when they need to blow off steam, they don’t hold back.”
“Do you and Havoc….” My cheeks burned, and I couldn’t finish, appalled that the question had even crossed my mind.
“Have sex in public?” Julia asked with a scoff. “No. I’m pretty sure my man would gouge out the eyeballs of any guy who saw me naked. He does not share.”
Again, I laughed, though she didn’t seem to be joking.
I wondered whether Landon would get jealous. Maybe I should stay and flirt with some bikers to find out.
Or maybe I should wash my brain with soap for even entertaining the idea. Landon had no sense of boundaries, and I didn’t trust men. Nothing productive could come of spending more time with him.
But he cared enough to want to protect me.
Nobody else ever had.
Ben tried, but he was barely a man.
Pain snatched the air from my lungs. I couldn’t think about my brother right now. Down that path lay a pit of despair I wasn’t sure I could survive. Ben was all I had. It was my job to protect him.
“Mercy?”
I was drowning, but Julia offered me a lifeline. I reached for it and held on with both hands.
Taking a breath, I got back on track. “What about the kids?”
“They’re on their way to Carly’s. She and Wasp are hosting tonight’s sleepover.”
“All of them?” I did a mental headcount that helped even my breathing. “There were at least six, and one was a baby.”
