He might be willing to use himself as bait, but he’d be damned if Jenna was by his side when he did so. There was a very good chance Shaw was going to attend the funerals, thinking them a safe place from Steel’s wrath.
Steel hoped Shaw showed so he could prove him wrong, but in the end, the man was a no-show to both events. The answers on how Shaw had even known about Orrin and Hagerty would remain a mystery.
For Valentine’s Day,Steel took Jenna out. Secretly, Steel had been having Grumpy fix up his old truck. He wanted all original parts so it would be worth more if his kids decided to sell it. That truck might have some nostalgic memories for them growing up, but they didn’t have the history with it that Jenna and Steel had. Besides, if they were in a position to sell it, Steel would be in no position to argue its sale. Whatever the kids chose to do was on them, but he’d help them out while he still could.
Jenna came down the stairs in a beautiful yellow dress on her chair lift. It wasn’t like the summer dress she’d had on the day they’d met, but Steel loved the color on her, nonetheless. She had on little black boots over her white flannel stockings. The dress fell past her knees where it flared out a little. The scoop neck showed off one of Mrs. Zarin’s old necklaces. In his will, Mr. Zarin had gifted Jenna and Lilly each one of her jewelry sets. The only one they couldn’t take was the single diamond that she wore every day, as that was to be buried with him. Everythingelse, the accumulation of Mr. and Mrs. Zarin’s lives, was to be sold, and that money placed into trusts to help pay for the college education of any children of either Lilly or Jack Duncan.
Jenna was fucking sunshine. Her red locks were up in a twisty bun that showed off her long neck.
She still hadn’t fully forgiven him for, as she put it,“abandoning me so you could play with a murderer”but Steel was no longer in the metaphorical doghouse. They had a rule in their marriage that they would never sleep in separate beds. Going to bed angry might be unavoidable, though they tried to work things out quickly, but they wouldneversleep apart while in the same house.
Sex wasn’t the only way he made it up to her. The daily flowers, baths, and massages were in addition to him cleaning the house, cooking her favorite meal, and buying her a brace for the couch so she wasn’t reliant on him to sit and stand.
He reached a hand out to help her stand from the chair lift. “You look incredible.”
Her cheeks flushed. “What? This old thing? It was just something I had lying around.”
Steel shook his head, leaning forward to press his lips into her forehead. He knew for a fact she’d bought this dress two days ago because he’d been banished to outside the boutique while she picked it out. Darrin and Viktor had been weighted down with bags upon exiting with her, but Steel hadn’t seen a thing she’d purchased.
“How are you feeling? Do you want to take the wheelchair?”
Jenna scrunched her nose. He felt it against his cheek. “I wish I could burn that thing. I have no idea if I’m going to need it, but it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Does it fit in my car?”
Jenna hadn’t driven herself in over a year. She’d stubbornly continued driving immediately after receiving her diagnosis, butonly weeks later, Steel had, rather forcibly, taken the keys away from her. There was no reason for her to drive when she had him, Ollie, prospects, and a club full of people willing to drive her. In the end, they’d compromised by offering Ollie Jenna’s sedan, much as Mr. Zarin had once offered Steel his old truck.
Ollie would be responsible for gas and insurance, which he was planning on paying for by working part-time as a server at the diner after school. Steel would take him to the DMV next month after he got his license to get the title switched over to his name. But old habits die hard, and the family still referred to the cage as Jenna’s—despite the number of pride flag stickers, the plush pink seat covers and steering wheel cover, and the rainbow Mickey Mouse antenna topper that made it very much Ollie’s.
Steel had told Jenna a little white lie and said that his truck needed to go in for service. Jenna thought they were taking her cage to go out to dinner.
“We’ll throw it in the back of the prospect’s SUV,” he assured her. His old truck didn’t have a backseat.
Jenna’s hands circled around his middle under his suit jacket. “I love seeing you dressed up like this.”
Steel was in a black suit and tie. He only had the one suit because he despised wearing them, which made when he did wear them all the more special for Jenna. “Only for you would I wear this monkey suit.”
Jenna leaned back, tipping her head up at him. “You wore uniforms and military dress for years,” she argued with a smile.
“Yeah, and I retired. Jeans, boots, and a t-shirt were supposed to be my attire for the rest of my life.”
Smiling, Jenna shook her head. “Which makes me love seeing you like this even more. Are we ready to go?”
He nodded before bending down to kiss her. He stepped back to grab their coats. After donning his and helping her into hers, he offered her his arm.
Jenna wrapped her arms around his bicep, leaning her cheek against him. “You still haven’t told me where we’re going.”
“And you love surprises, so quit complaining like you’re antsy with anticipation.” Steel opened the door for her.
Their front stoop had two steps and a metal rail. The small concrete sidewalk looped to the left where their two-car driveway was. On the lawn, illuminated by the dying sunlight, were hundreds of little candles in the snow. Steel knew the moment Jenna saw the old truck idling in the driveway. Her grip tightened on his arm, and he heard her sharp intake of breath.
“Oh, Jack…” They carefully descended the stairs. “Did you really get it working again?”
“Grumpy’s been working on it for close to two years, tracking down the right parts. He got it fixed right before Christmas, but with us going away, I wanted to wait to surprise you.”
They headed down the sidewalk to the driveway. He already had the truck backed in and the heat running. The old truck was lower to the ground, so it was easier to help her in. As he crossed to the driver’s side, he nodded to Darrin and Viktor in the club’s SUV. The prospects were due to be patched in soon. They’d arrived on the same day, so each of their votes would happen on that year anniversary. He was sure both would get the necessary votes, especially Darrin who had basically become Pumpkin’s bitch during his recovery.
Until then, though, they were still assigned to Jenna for protection. Especially since no one knew where Shaw was or what he was planning next.
The diner would be packed tonight. Cage’s construction crew was able to get the new expansion of the dining area done in time for the romantic holiday, and the diner was expecting a full house. Many of the ol’ ladies were donning aprons to help out, which meant their men were on babysitting duty. Tonight was the first night Tally was launching her new menu as well.
