I can’t manage. I want to fall apart or scream, but instead, I get busy. I pull out milk, creamer, and sugar, plus the flavored syrups Celia and Betz like.
I need something to do. I grab mugs. Grab liquor bottles.
Soon, the room is filled with Wild Hair, pouring coffee, adding booze, and filtering out into the cool November air.
Stoney goes with them, listening to their version of the events, and soon, only Betz and I are in the kitchen.
“Let’s make coffee for Carol and Celia,” she says.
The hysteria has shifted to numbness with the work. I can’t do anything but wait.
So, I nod and fill mugs, then put on a second round since we’ve nearly drained the first.
Betz takes the cups. I want to go out near the men, but I’m not sure they’ll allow it since I don’t have anything to do for them. I pull my phone from the front pocket of my hoodie, hoping for word. But probably Merrick has to report to Stoney first.
As the minutes pass, I slip into the bunkhouse. Jami and Christina occupy the same bunk, whispering to each other, the glow of a small nightlight revealing their shadows.
They look up when I come in, eyes glinting in the overhead in the hall.
“How did the raid go?” Christina asks.
So they know about it after all.
“Most everyone is back,” I say.
Jami sits up. “Did they kill everyone?”
“I don’t think so. There was an explosion and fire, but I didn’t hear about anybody dying.” I bite my lip. I don’t know if I should have said as much as I did.
“Are you going to send us back?” Christina asks. “Now that you all have done your thing?”
“What?” I sit on the end of the bed. “Nobody’s going to do that. Iron Jack said you could stay.”
They glance at each other. “But he raided the Kin.”
“And it was a raid that got you here.” Honestly, what was going on with them?
Jami tugs on her sweatshirt. “We don’t figure we belong here.”
“Why not? You’ve been helpful. Doing the wash. Cleaning up. We needed the help with Carol having a baby and Celia being tied up with her.”
The women lock gazes again.
“They’ll be coming if you burned their clubhouse,” Jami says. “I never saw any group of men as vengeful and mean as the Kin.”
My belly quivers at that, but I say, “This raid was meant to chase them off. They won’t be able to live at that club. They’ll move on.”
Jami lies back down. “Maybe.” But she stares up at the bottom of the bunk over her.
There’s a roar of voices loud enough to penetrate the walls. I swear I hear the name Iron Jack. Is he back?
I rush out of the room and slam straight into Merrick!
My voice is nothing more than a strangled cry as I wrap my arms around him. He smells of smoke and timber. He holds on to me, and I stand on tiptoes to press my face into his neck.
“I’m all right, little mouse,” he says.
“You didn’t come back with the others.”
