“A man that also wants kids would be nice.”
“Yeah, make sure he wants them,” Blade said. “Some guys just aren’t cut out for it.”
“Like you?” I asked curiously, despite myself.
“For sure. I’m not the dad type. Cool uncle? Sure. But no, I don’t want to be a dad.”
I didn’t say anything in response, but Piper looked back and forth between the two of us for a moment before speaking for me.
“Kat doesn’t want kids either.”
“You don’t?” Blade asked.
“No.”
My reply was short. I was trying not to engage with Blade too much. After my conversation with Jason yesterday reminded me why I wasn’t dating him, I told myself to do a better job at keeping him at arm’s length. I should probably stop having sex with him, too, but that was going to be hard. I found that our physical activities scratched an itch that I couldn’t stand to leave unattended again.
“She also doesn’t believe in marriage,” Piper said.
“Thank you,Piper,” I snapped impatiently. “And Ibelievein it. I know it exists. I just don’t think it’s for everyone.”
“It’s not foryou, you mean.” Blade sounded way too interested in this topic. I didn’t like it. My future was none of his concern.
“You know what? I have a client coming in here in ten minutes, and I have to free draw a unicorn for her. So, I’m going to work on that,” I said, turning my back to both of them as I started working on the drawing, making it clear that I didn’t want to talk about this any longer.
“You know, Blade. Marriage is just a piece of paper. I think that Kat values a more significant commitment than that. You know, a man that sticks around.”
“I can hear you,” I said. Come on, I was still sitting right here.
“Of course, you can,” Piper agreed, and Blade chuckled.
I rolled my eyes and focused on work. I knew that my best friend was just trying to help me be happy, but she had to get this idea of helping Blade and me get together out of her head. They both did.
Twenty-Four
Blade
Over the past week, every member of the Outlaw Souls motorcycle club had spent hours scouring Raymond Groves’s property just outside La Playa with a metal detector. It wasn’t a bad gig, walking around in nature, but now it was time to dig.
This part sucked.
There was no way of knowing how deep the weapons were buried, so using some kind of equipment wasn’t an option. We might damage what was there, or set it off if there was anything like hand grenades in the stash.
So, it was all hands on deck as we all took a shovel. There were only three spots left on the entire property that had been marked with a red X after Hawk determined that there was an old steel water line that ran right through the property. We had all run across it at least once, while looking for the weapons.
I was with Hawk, Swole, and Trainer as we dug into the earth. There wasn’t much talking going on between us. For my part, it was because I was putting all my effort into the work. We’d already gone down about three feet when Ryder came over from the hole his group had dug.
“Well, we don’t have shit over there,” he said.
“You found the source of the steel?” Hawk asked. Standing straight, he leaned against the handle of his shovel with the tip buried in the ground.
“Yeah. It’s a hunk of metal, looks like it might have been part of some kind of appliance at some point, like a stove or washing machine. God knows how it got into the ground here, but it’s useless.”
“Fuck,” Swole cursed under her breath. “This whole thing is turning into one big pain in the ass.”
“Here,” Chalupa said, dragging a cooler over to us. “Have a beer and lighten up.”
“Eat me,” Swole snapped, but she still took a bottle from him.
