“Lucky girl,” I said, setting her down. “Where’s Holland?”
My other niece, Holland, was typically never far from Poppy.
“She’s hanging with Lily and Charleston tonight. Sleepover at Payton’s while Hawk and Maverick are on a run,” Devon said.
I was still of a low enough rank I wouldn’t be privy to just what the run was for, so I nodded without comment.
“You ready to go home?” Poppy asked Tenley.
She pointed at me. “Uncle Fash come too?”
“No, baby,” I said. “But I’ll come over next week and read you a book before bed.”
She nodded, sliding her thumb into her mouth, and leaning against Poppy’s leg.
“Okay, sweet girl, let’s go.” Sparky leaned down and picked her up again while Niall shoved his schoolbook into his backpack.
My sister hugged me, Niall and I shared another handshake, and then I watched them walk out the door.
I headed directly for the fridge and grabbed a beer, twisting the top just as Booker walked into the kitchen. “Hey, bud.”
“Hey, Book.” I took a swig.
“You look like the world just dropped on your shoulders.” He grabbed a Twinkie from the pantry. “Have another fight with Tate?”
“Just found out she’s been in love with me since high school and didn’t tell me,” I disclosed.
“No shit?” he said, deadpanned.
“Fuck me,” I breathed out. “Did everyone know but me?”
“Flash, the few times she came to family night, she didn’t leave your side, except to maybe grab you something to eat or drink. She knew what you were sayin’ without any kind of audible language. She knew your shorthand, so to speak.”
“She’s my best friend. It’s not like I wasn’t doin’ the same,” I grumbled, but it was a weak explanation at best.
Booker cocked his head, unwrapping the Twinkie. “Um,yeah,bud. No shit.”
I took another swig of beer.
Booker continued, “She never once looked at another brother, and you know a couple had their eye on her.”
“What the fuck?” I frowned. “Who?”
“Razor, for one.”
I relaxed a little. “Razor has his eye on everyone.”
“Harm,” he said, shoving the entire cake into his mouth.
“Bullshit,” I hissed, but I couldn’t stop my stomach from dropping.
Harm had earned the nickname Charmin’ Harmon because the women thought he was ‘hot as hell,’ plus he had some dark and mysterious history that was like catnip to them. Only my dad and Booker truly knew what his past was all about, but he had obviously gone through some shit, and it made all the club women want to ‘heal’ him with their love, or at the very least, their pussies.
The thought of Tate anywhere near him made me want to slam his pretty face into a bench press. And that thought made me suddenly realize I’d been both an idiot and an asshole.
“Goddammit,” I breathed out.
“Gettin’ it now, huh?” Booker pointed out.
