Rev hides a smirk behind his beer. Switch mutters something about needing antacids. Bella and Brooke share a look that’s half amusement, half please don’t burn the house down with your unresolved tension.
I take a slow bite of cupcake, like I didn’t just set him on fire with five words.
Because he’s right. I do look for trouble. And sometimes trouble looks back.
Blade doesn’t answer. He just watches me for a long moment, eyes unreadable, before turning back to his plate. He doesn’t touch the food. Not for a few seconds. Like I knocked something loose. I should feel smug. I don’t. I feel seen. And I’m not sure which of us hates that more.
Switch finally clears his throat and decides to redirect. “Rev, you said something happened last night too?”
“Yeah,” Rev says. “Got word from Tank. Overdose at the motel on Ninth. The kid barely made it.”
Silence drops like a brick. Bella’s hand goes straight to her chest. Brooke pales and I swallow hard. This is where the lines between club and family blur. Where the danger gets close enough to smell.
I glance across the table, meeting Blade’s eyes again. This time, the spark is gone. Replaced with steel. And I realize there’s a whole world beneath the surface of this dinner. One I don’t fully understand. One I’m dancing dangerously close to. And maybe, deep down… that’s exactly why I can’t look away.
FIVE
BLADE
Dinner winds down slowly.Plates empty, utensils scrape the last bits, and lazy conversation replaces the earlier bustle. Brooke starts packing leftovers with the intensity of a woman preparing for a natural disaster, labeling containers and stacking them with military precision. Bella slips away to put Jax down and returns a few minutes later, rubbing her back and sighing like getting off her feet is the best thing that has happened all day.
Bri stands immediately and starts clearing plates before Bella can take even one step toward the kitchen. “Sit. I mean it. New mom rule. Anyone who pushed a human out of their body gets automatic couch privileges.”
Bella laughs and gives up. “I am not going to argue with that logic. But only because it benefits me.”
“Look at you, already learning the perks of motherhood,” Brooke teases, handing her a glass of water. “Next week you will be bribing us with baby photos to avoid changing a diaper.”
“Jax’s butt is Switch’s job after eight p.m.,” Bella fires back.
Switch calls from the living room, “Lies. Slander. I demand a hearing.”
We all snort, and for a moment the tension that lingered from earlier melts away.
I stand and grab a few dishes because sitting still while others work never sat right with me.
“Leave it, Blade,” Bella calls over, pointing one finger like she actually expects compliance. “You are a guest. Guests do not wash dishes.”
“Pretty sure you put me to work enough that I am not a guest anymore,” I say, collecting plates anyway.
“See?” Bri says as she heads toward the sink. “Even he respects the new mom rule. You, sit. Couch. Now.”
Bella obeys, though she gives Bri a look that promises revenge later.
In the kitchen, Bri is already humming, hips swaying slightly as she rinses dishes. Her hair falls forward and I look away before my imagination runs wild.
“Those go there,” she says, pointing with a soapy hand at the cabinet.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her mouth curves in a smile she tries to hide. “You only call me ma’am when you are trying not to argue.”
“Or because you are bossy. Which is most of the time.”
She throws a playful glare over her shoulder. “Bossy gets things done. You should try it.”
“I run with bikers,” I say. “Bossy is our second language.”
She snorts. “And here I thought it was sarcasm.”
