“Something wrong in the club?” Mack’s jaw clenches. He knows it’s more. We all do.
“No.” Darin takes a step back. “We’ll wait for you in your office.”
“Darin Worley, you stop right there,” Nanny demands. He stops mid-turn and faces her. “If it’s more legal matters, or crap from the Rhodes’ and the Candle Light Vigil, I wanna hear it.”
Darin locks eyes with his friend. “Mack, you might wanna talk to her privately.”
“Now, Darin!” Nanny yells.
“Love.” Mack senses the seriousness of the situation and tries to calm his wife. “Wait here. I’ll see what’s going on.”
“No.” Nanny narrows her eyes and shakes her head. “It’s hard, and I’m tired.” Her eyes water, and her voice cracks. “So so tired, but I wanna know. I’ll handle it. Somehow, I will.”
Mack gently pushes a strand of hair from her face. “Love, you handle more than any woman should have to. Let me see if I can lessen the sting.”
May every woman on the planet find a man who loves her half as much as Jacob McLeod loves his wife.
“Don’t keep me in the dark. It doesn’t help.” Her hand clenches his shirt as she sniffles. “We’re supposed to handle things together.”
Mack gently presses his lips to hers before he nods to Darin. I’m with Darin on this. Mack should know first.
Darin, unable to watch his club Queen fall apart, keeps his eyes locked with Mack’s. He’s a big man, strong and confident. Tonight, he doesn’t display either. I swear his body trembles slightly. This is beyond bad. None of us is prepared for whatever this is.
“Harley’s missing.”
Chapter 4
Worley
For half a second, no one moves. I swear, even the air pauses. Every woman in the room gasps and grabs hold of something to keep from falling to the floor. Lily and Emily grab Nana. I didn’t think this through at all. Granddad should’ve been here to support his wife. Well, I wasn’t actually planning on sharing the information in front of the ladies. It’s too late now.
The sight that rips my heart out is watching my best friend’s knees buckle while he catches his wife. Nanny’s hand flies up to cover her mouth. She collapses into Mack’s arms as she screams into her hand. Evelyn McLeod may not mentally come back from this one. Seeing my club Queen broken brings tears to my eyes. I should’ve waited and told Mack privately. I slipped tonight. It won’t happen again.
“Mom!” Maci bursts through the door from the bar and rushes to her parents. She looks up at her father. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”
“Y’all said she was safe,” Nanny cries.
“Harley? This is about Harley?” Maci looks from her parents to me.
Nope. I can’t do it. My club Queen and our former Queen are in pieces. Lily is terrified, with tears running down her cheeks. She needs Jack. Maci is my Goddaughter. All of the McLeod children are my Godchildren. I won’t break another McLeod woman tonight. My eyes lock with Mack’s.
Mack pats Maci’s arm but stays focused on me. “What do you know?” His breaths come hard and deep. He’s about to lose it.
“Not a lot. The center director wants a video meeting with us asap. Nick’s setting it up in your office now.”
“Maci, stay with your mom.” Mack kisses his daughter’s forehead.
“No!” Nanny jerks away from them. Mack quickly grabs her before she falls. “I’m going, too.”
“Love, let me find out what happened. We’ll talk…”
“No.” Nanny pushes against Mack’s chest. He doesn’t release her. “Don’t youloveme. Wait.” She holds up a finger. “Do love me, but don’t keep me in the dark.”
Mack rests his forehead against hers. “Let me lessen the sting.”
Nanny places her hand against his neck. Her thumb moves back and forth over his beard on his right cheek. “You’ve done that since high school. You shielded me and everyone else when we lost Ariel.” She softly presses her lips to his for a brief kiss. “Not this time, Jacob. This is our daughter. We do this together, as a family.”
Mack did shield her and nearly every member of their family from the worst details when we lost Ariel and her baby. It was hard, and I helped him. With Nick’s help, we still keep most of the details hidden from the public. Mack wanted to keep as many of the details from Nanny as possible. We almost succeeded. Unfortunately, we had a DA who didn’t honor Mack’s requests. She shared things in court that nearly caused Nanny to lose her mind.
