“Now I’m really not buying it. What’s happened? Lover's tiff with the old lady?” Before I knew it, he was sitting in the chair opposite me, the sound of his cut filling the air as it creaked when he slid down into place and crossed one ankle over his knee.
“Don’t let her hear you calling her old, or she’ll have your balls in tonight’s stew.” I smirked, quickly rubbing over my eyebrow before looking up at him.
“I’d say I’m not scared of her, but I think secretly, most of the guys in here daren’t even piss in the wrong direction these days. Except Tate.”
My laughter came freely as I dropped both my elbows to the desk in front of me. “I kinda love the way she keeps y’all in line. Saves me a job.”
“You’ve fucking changed.” He grinned.
“Don’t say it…”
“Pussy whipped—that’s what you’ve become.”
I narrowed my eyes at the bastard, even though my smirk grew as though my head hadn’t just been filled with a mixture of blood and soil. “Careful,” I warned him quietly.
“The great Drew Tucker, broken by a woman. What happened to Cape Cock?”
I leaned forward, joining my hands together on top of the books in front of me. “If you don’t quit your trash talk, I will slap my dick down your throat and make you apologize against my balls, fucker.”
“Promises, promises.” Slater grinned as he began to stroke the length of his wayward beard.
“Are you here for anything else, or just to flirt with me?”
His rough laughter broke free, and even though I knew I wanted him gone, that sound was exactly what I’d needed to hear to cut through the dark thoughts that lurked in the back of my mind like a never-ending horror movie.
“Actually, I am. Yeah.”
Turning my palms so they were face up, I gestured for him to go on.
Slater’s eyes found the sole of his boot while his free hand reached out to pick at the worn edges of the rubber. “Few things. I’ve checked around, still no sign of Cortez. From what I can gather, even their wives and kids don’t know where they are. There’s rumors that there was a mass ride out the night of the fire, which we already knew of, but then the second wave of riders took off three days after the girl went back. Or, at least when we assume she went back. I’m still not certain we can be sure she went anywhere near them. She was pretty messed up when we dropped her.”
“She went back.”
“She did?”
“Yep.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Call it a hunch,” I answered, running my tongue over mybottom lip to try to gain some movement.
“Okay,” he mumbled. “Then as far as that front goes, we’re still waiting. No news is good news, right?”
“Sure.” I smiled tightly, not wanting to tell him that no news in the MC world was the worst fucking thing that could happen. Plans of destruction were never made in the hustle and bustle of a crowded bar, and we both knew it. “It works for me.”
He moved forward, rolling his shoulders in his cut before sniffing up and half grinning like he was just about to tell a rude joke. “We got another little problem, too.”
“What kinda problem?” I frowned, my body instantly tensing under the desk.
“A kid kinda problem.”
“What?” My eyes searched his face as I continued to stare him down. “Tate? Or, shit… You…” My mind immediately went to Ayda, and just the thought of kid and her in the same sentence had my balls shriveling up to the size of two peanuts and the nausea roaring to life in my stomach.
“Jesus, calm down, Drew.” He laughed, clearly amused by my not so hidden look of horror. “I didn’t mean that kind of kid, and if I knew before you, I’d imagine that was a bigger fucking problem than anything else you got at your feet right now. Tate’s fine, although I think you’re gonna have trouble with him soon. I know Ayda is set on his schooling, but I dunno. He’s all over Kenny, and he’s asking question after question after question about this life. And he’s looking real antsy right now, stomping around and asking if anyone saw Ayda le—”
“Just get to the fucking point, Slater,” I snapped, cutting him off as my shoulders sagged with relief.
“We got some copycat kids riding around.”
