Eden chuckles.
I throw an arm across her shoulders and kiss her temple. “Where are the other two you hang out with? I’d rather deal with them.”
She lets out a shocked chuckle before she giggles uncontrollably. “They’re coming,” she says with a bright smile.
I groan and pretend to be annoyed.
“You want a drink?” Serena Rose asks from behind me. She’s holding a bottle of water and a can of soda.
I take the water.
“Thank you,” I say through gritted teeth, only for Eden’s sake.
“So, we’re all just going to pretend that he’s not some—”
“Girl, hush,” Aunt Betty says. “Take the stick out of your ass. And where the hell is your husband? Worry about his ass.” Aunt Betty waves her off and gestures for us to follow her.
Chapter 39
Rip
“Hey, friend,” the preacher’s daughter says. She waves, and I look around to see who she’s talking to, but it looks like she’s talking to me. I nod. The mayor’s daughter doesn’t address me, thank goodness.
“You girls, come help me bring the rest of the food out.” Serena Rose gestures to the trio, but not before she gives me a good dose of side-eye.
“Will you be okay?” Thorny asks. She looks around the yard. “Oh, God,” she whispers. “My grandma is walking over here.” An old woman with a cane and salt and pepper hair joins us.
She bangs her cane on the ground next to me. I stand, and she looks up at me. She’s a short, thin woman.
“I’m Florence Rose,” she says.
“Grandma, this is—” Eden begins, but her grandmother holds up her hand.
“I know who he is. Is that your bike?” she asks.
“It is,” I grit out. If there’s one thing on this earth I hate, it’s small talk, and I might not have any manners, but even I know I can’t dismiss Eden’s grandmother.
“I always wanted a bad boy with a bike,” the old lady says. “A big one like you, but in black.”
Usually, nothing surprises me, but that did.
“Walk with me so I can look at it.”
“I thought you hated the police,” Sheriff Rose whispers while he sips a beer.
Making a face at the disgusting drink in his hand, I will myself not to knock it away.
“Why are you at my house?”
“You know why.”
“I’m sick of you and your band of merry thugs,” he says. “Stay the fuck away from my daughter. It makes me sick that you’re using her.”
I chuckle at that. If I were in his shoes, I would confess and not let someone blackmail me, but this spineless weasel is too scared of his wife to do anything.
“I don’t speak about my relationship with anyone, but—”
“Relationship, my black ass.”
