He nods. “You two going to get along for two weeks?”
“Sure. Not a problem.” I stand.
He holds out a hand. “When she gets up, see if she can talk to the new women. Convince them to hang around. Julie said they weren’t too far gone. Unless they have a complication, they can dry out here.”
“I’ll mention it.”
“Thanks. And Merrick?”
I turn around. “Yeah?”
“Be good to that mouse. She’s not like the rest of us.”
My mouth tugs into a grim frown, remembering her sighing with a book on her balcony before she moved to the club. “I know it.”
When Marietta emerges from the room, I’m sitting on the back porch with some of the club members, eating burned toast and bacon.
She steps out with more shyness than usual, wearing loose sweats and thick socks. “I have eggs,” she says.
The men hold out their plates, and she scoops mounds of scrambled eggs out of her bowl. When she gets to me, she manages a timid smile.
Chain roars at that. “Look at who the mouse smiles at!”
The other men laugh.
“Thanks,” I say.
She seems relieved they haven’t realized that she spent the night in a room with me. I didn’t go back to it, opting to take a rotation on the patrols.
“You going to be walking dead at the bar after a night like that,” Two-Shit says.
“I’ll be all right.”
“Sure, he will,” Chain snorts. “He’s got the mouse by the tail.”
Betz comes out to the porch, blowing a long stream of smoke from her vape. “I’ll let the mouse cook the bacon next time.”
“It’s all right,” Two-Shit says. “I like it burned. Low Joe on the roof?”
She nods. “About to come down.” She watches Marietta empty the bowl. “You going to cook more for the chicks in the bunks?”
“I already took them some,” she says.
“Don’t serve them before the men,” Betz says. “Men first.”
Marietta nods and heads inside.
I decide I better catch her and pass on Iron Jack’s message before I have to leave the club for the day. I need a shower and to pack some things before getting to the bar.
I wait a couple of minutes before I stand up to head in. Marietta scrubs at the black grease in the bacon pan. The white edges of her sleeves are already a murky gray.
“Hey,” I say.
She glances up at me. “Hey.”
“You feeling okay?”
“A little sore, but nothing major.” She shuts off the water.
